In a quiet town in northern Mexico, whispers continued about a case as strange as it was unusual: a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law… pregnant at the same time.
It all began when Daniela—the newlywed daughter-in-law—saw her husband Esteban leave for Canada, where he had found a temporary job.
Almost at the same time, her father-in-law, Don Ernesto, left for Oaxaca, supposedly to care for his ailing mother.
For almost a year, only two women stayed in the house: Daniela and her mother-in-law, Doña Rosa María.
Surprisingly, a few months later, both women discovered they were pregnant.
When the news spread through the town, people didn’t know what to think. Some said, “Surely Mrs. Rosa María confused menopause with a late pregnancy,” while others whispered,
“How is it possible that Daniela is pregnant if her husband has been out of the country for more than seven months?”
But inside the house… not a single word was spoken. Rosa María continued to take Daniela to her doctor’s appointments as normal.
The two women—both with large bellies—cooked together, cared for each other, and seemed to live in perfect harmony.
Until one cold winter morning, they both went into labor at the same time.
Due to heavy rains, neighbors rented a van to take them to the district hospital, 30 kilometers from the town.
At the hospital, just as the doctors took both women to the delivery rooms, chaos erupted.
The doctor in charge of Rosa María came out, her face pale.
The baby had been born still inside the unruptured amniotic sac, and initial tests revealed traces of a foreign stimulant in the umbilical cord.
Minutes later, Daniela also gave birth. But what the doctors discovered stunned everyone:
The two babies had matching DNA.
Subsequent tests revealed the unthinkable: the babies were paternal half-siblings.
But Esteban—the husband listed on both medical records—had been out of the country for more than eight months. He couldn’t be the biological father.
The truth came to light when an agitated nurse pointed to the hospital’s security cameras: a bearded man wearing a face mask had fled through the back exit just minutes after both women gave birth.
It was Don Ernesto—the father-in-law—whom everyone believed was still in Oaxaca.
In reality, he had been living secretly on a small farm near the town for almost a year… and had maintained relations with both his wife and daughter-in-law.
The family collapsed overnight. Daniela was on the verge of losing her sanity when she discovered that the father of her child was her own father-in-law.
Doña Rosa María, for her part, raised her baby in silence, her heart broken—also a victim of an indescribable tragedy.
Don Ernesto disappeared without a trace. He left behind two babies born on the same day, in the same hospital… but with no one daring to say who their father really was.