—Yes. Two distinct genetic profiles in the same body.
Maria let out a brief, incredulous laugh.
—That smells like a movie.
“I know,” said the doctor. “But it perfectly explains the discrepancy. Mr. Mendoza’s blood does not match that of a common biological father. However, the cryopreserved sample does show compatibility with all three pregnancies.”
Ricardo looked at him as if he didn’t understand the words.
—So… I am the father.
The doctor took barely a second to answer, but that second felt like an eternity.
—You are the man who fathered them. But biologically, the paternal DNA that the babies inherited does not correspond to the genetic profile with which you have lived all your life… but to that of that twin who was absorbed before birth.
Nobody spoke.
Ricardo felt that his heart was beating in a strange, uneven, almost useless way.
—No —he finally said—. No… that can’t be.
—It’s possible— the doctor replied gently. —In medical terms, it’s extremely rare, but possible. In biological terms, his children would not be descendants of the DNA that appears in his blood, but of the DNA of his biological twin.
Maria stepped back from the chair as if something invisible had pushed her.
—So the father of my baby is… a ghost?
“No,” replied the married doctor. “Legally, physically, and socially, the father is Mr. Mendoza. But genetically, the inherited line comes from a second cell profile that has lived in him since forever.”
Valeria dropped the bag.
-My God.
Ximeña stared at Ricardo with a mixture of fear and compassion.
—Did you know anything about this?
Ricardo hit slowly.
And when he did it, something opened up in his memory.
A white hallway.
A fertility consultation.
Claudia sat facing a specialist, with her hands pressed against her skirt.
The doctor said that his tests were “strange”.
What result contradicted another.
Qυe tal había υпa explicacióп пética mυy rara, aυпqυe пo valía la pпa profυпdizar porqυe ellos ya пo estabaп bυscaпdo hijos a esa edad.
Claudia had insisted on doing more studies.
He…
“Why?” he said then.
“We already have a life made for us.”
And she remained silent.
For the first time in years, Ricardo felt guilt for something other than loneliness, deception, or the ridiculous vainness that had led him to feel young in Europe.
Perhaps Claudia knew more than he wanted to know.
Perhaps that’s why he asked to collect that sample before the surgery.
Perhaps he feared that one day he would need an answer that only medicine could give him.
“My wife…” he murmured. “Perhaps she suspected it.”
The doctor barely nodded.
—There is a document in the file. It says: “Patient reluctant to expand study. Spouse requests conservation due to doubt of mosaic or chimerism.”
Ricardo closed his eyes.
For a moment, the living room disappeared. He only saw Claudia in the kitchen of his house, watching him with that old patience of his, as if she knew that he spent half his life running from what he could not control.
When she opened her eyes again, Maria was crying.
“I didn’t come here for money,” he said suddenly, angrily. “I came because I thought my son had the right to know who his father was. But now he’s telling me that you don’t know who he is.”
Ricardo wanted to answer, but nothing came out.
Valeria spoke afterwards, more serenely, although equally broken.
—Are the three babies… really half-siblings?
“Yes,” replied the doctor. “That’s indisputable. He shares the same paternal profile.”
Ximeña let out a breath slowly.
—So this really happened. We’re not crazy. Nothing was ever revealed.
That phrase bounced around the room with a different weight.
Because until that moment, behind the scandal, behind Ricardo’s clumsy excuses and the logical eye of the three, there still floated the humiliation of having learned about others.
The suspicion of having been deceived by an old man with money and too stingy for his own good.
But now the humiliation had a different hue.
It was no longer just a story of infidelity.
It was something stranger.
More absurd.
Harder to name.
Maria dried her tears with the back of her hand.
—So what do we do about this?
Nobody answered.
Ricardo stood up with difficulty. For the first time since they had arrived, he really looked his age.
