Alex narrowed his eyes, trying to make out a familiar silhouette among the motley crowd of visitors to the park. He was sitting on a bench, ostensibly reading a newspaper, but all his attention was focused on the woman who had just walked past him.
It was her. It was Catherine.
Fifteen years had passed, but he would have recognized her from a thousand. The same soft features, the same smooth gait, the same kindness in her eyes. But something had changed in her appearance. There was a confidence, a strength that he didn’t remember from their life together.
And… children. Three boys walked with her. Two older ones, maybe fourteen years old, and one very small, about five.
Alex froze, as if he had been struck by an electric shock. Catherine and children. The words didn’t compute. Memories poured over him like icy water: their marriage, their unsuccessful attempts to have a child, the doctors’ final, devastating verdict—his infertility—her despair, her tears, and finally, a divorce. Painful, but as it had seemed to him then, inevitable.
And now she was walking in the park, surrounded by children. Her children.
A tangled mess of confusion and betrayal twisted in his soul. He felt deceived. How could she have hidden this? Or was he mistaken? Maybe they were her sister’s children, or a friend’s. But something deep inside him, a primal instinct, told him that wasn’t it. There was too much warmth, too much tenderness in the way her gaze rested on them.
Alex ran a hand through his graying hair. He needed to calm down, to collect his thoughts. He decided to act carefully. He had to learn more. He had to understand. As the sun set and the city was plunged into darkness, Alex felt a profound loneliness. He suddenly realized that for fifteen years, he had been living in vain. He had chased a career, but he had no family, no children, no love.
Memories swept over him, taking him back to the days when his love for Kate was all-consuming. They met at an architectural exhibition. She was a young doctor, full of energy and empathy; he was a novice architect who dreamed of changing the world with his projects. They were united by a passion for life and a desire to create something durable, something that would outlive them both.
Soon, they were married. Their apartment, with its high ceilings and large windows overlooking a quiet courtyard, became their fortress, their refuge from the storms of the outside world. They dreamed of children, of laughter filling their home, of little feet running on the parquet floor. But time passed, and the cherished two stripes on the pregnancy test never appeared.
Endless visits to doctors began, a grueling gauntlet of tests and examinations. Hope was replaced by despair, faith by disappointment. The verdict sounded like a sentence: sterility. A single word that destroyed their dreams like a crystal castle built on sand.
Alex remembered how Kate cried at night, burying her face in her pillow so that he wouldn’t hear. He would hold her, trying to comfort her, but he felt helpless. He was suffering too, but his suffering was different. He dreamed of continuing his line, of an heir, of a little person who would look at him with admiring eyes and call him “Dad.”
The idea of IVF arose like a ray of hope in the dark realm of despair. They both agreed. The clinic, with its sterile corridors and the smell of medicines, became their second home. They went through hormonal therapy, painful procedures, and a waiting period full of anxiety. Several attempts were unsuccessful. Every failure was a punch to the gut, every negative result another crack in their relationship.
“I can’t take it anymore,” Kate said one night, looking at him with tear-stained eyes. “I don’t want to torture myself and you anymore. Maybe it’s just not for us. Maybe we should just be the two of us.”
Alex was silent. He was also tired of the constant tension, of the sleepless nights, of the guilt that he couldn’t give her what she wanted so badly. A decision had matured inside him, one he had been postponing for a long time, afraid to say it aloud.
“I can’t live without children,” he said, looking away. “I want to be a father. I can’t imagine my life without it.”
Kate didn’t answer. She just looked at him, and in her eyes, he saw a deep, aching understanding. Divorce was inevitable. He insisted on it, feeling that otherwise he would just break down. He didn’t blame Kate; he blamed fate, the doctors, himself. He just knew that he couldn’t be happy, knowing that his dream of fatherhood would never come true.
They broke up without scandals, without mutual accusations. Two people who had once loved each other but could not overcome an obstacle that turned out to be stronger than them both. After the divorce, Alex threw himself into his work, trying to drown the pain and loneliness in projects. He built houses, shopping centers, office buildings, but none of them could fill the emptiness in his heart. He dated women, but none of them could replace Kate. He understood, with a dull, persistent ache, that he had made a mistake. But it was too late.
The first thing Alex decided to do was to turn to their mutual acquaintances. He tried to be careful, asking questions so as not to arouse suspicion.
“How is Kate? How is she doing?” he asked Susan, Catherine’s former colleague at the hospital.
“Oh, Kate is doing great,” Susan answered. “She works like a horse, but she’s always positive. Her children are wonderful, so different, but all smart. She’s never complained, does everything herself.”
Alex felt Susan’s words tighten around his heart like a tourniquet. “Did Catherine get married?” he asked cautiously.
“No, why?” Susan was surprised. “She’s all about her kids. And I’ve never seen anyone with her. She handles everything herself.”
This information gave him a sliver of hope. If she wasn’t married, then… who was the father? The next on his list was Mr. Peterson, an old family friend who had always treated them like his own children.
“Mr. Peterson, hello,” Alex began, his voice trembling slightly.
“Alex! Hello! I’m glad to hear from you. You completely disappeared after the…” there was silence on the phone. Alex held his breath.
“Yes, Kate is doing well,” Mr. Peterson finally said. “She raised three boys alone. It’s not easy for her, of course, but she copes.”
“I don’t understand,” Alex muttered. “How is that possible? We couldn’t have children.”
“Life is a complicated thing, Alex. Kate is a strong woman. She did what she had to do.”
A vague guess was being born in his head. “Did she adopt them?”
Mr. Peterson hesitated for a moment. “Well, let’s just say there was no adoption. The children have her surname.”
This answer was like a blow. Then she gave birth to them herself. But how? Had medicine really advanced so far that she managed to get pregnant despite his infertility? Or… a crazy thought flashed in Alex’s head. The IVF clinic. The frozen biomaterial. They had, after all, once discussed it.
He decided to turn to Ian, his best friend, who had supported him even in the decision to divorce. Meeting at a small café, Alex immediately got down to business. He told him about his chance meeting with Catherine, about the children, his suspicions.
Ian sighed. “You know, Alex, I always thought that you made a mistake by divorcing Kate. She loved you very much.”
“I know,” Alex replied guiltily. “But then it seemed to me that I couldn’t be happy without children.”
“And are you happy now?” Ian asked. Alex was silent.
“Listen, Alex,” Ian continued. “I don’t know all the details, but I can say one thing: not everything is as simple as it seems. Kate has gone through a lot. She deserves happiness, and these children are her happiness. Don’t destroy it.”
“I don’t want to destroy anything,” Alex objected. “I just want to know the truth. I have a right to know.”
Ian looked at him with a long, searching gaze. “A right? And what right do you have, Alex? You gave her up. You missed your chance. Maybe you should just leave her alone.”
“Ian,” Alex whispered, “I can’t. There’s too much at stake.”
He realized that the only way to find out the truth was to talk to Catherine herself. He hesitated for a long time before dialing her number, his heart pounding wildly.
“Hello?” he heard a familiar voice.
“Kate? This is Alex,” he said, his mouth dry. “We need to talk.”
There was silence on the phone. Alex already thought that she would hang up, but suddenly she said, “Okay. When?”
They agreed to meet in two days at a small café on the outskirts of the city. On the day of the meeting, he arrived early. When Catherine entered, he hardly recognized her. She looked tired, but there was a decisive fire in her eyes.
“Thank you for coming,” he began, his voice hoarse. “I wanted to talk about the children.”
Catherine looked at him silently. In her eyes, there was only sadness. “I know,” she answered. “I was waiting for this question.”
“I need to know, Kate. How did you have children?”
Her face was like stone. “It’s none of your business, Alex.”
“None of my business?” he exploded. “After everything that has happened between us, after all these years, I have the right to know!”
“A right?” she scoffed, and there was bitterness in her voice. “You gave up that right when you left. When you decided that children were more important than me.”
Alex fell silent, as if he had been struck. Her words were true, and he could not argue with them. “Please, Kate,” he whispered.
Catherine took a deep breath, as if gathering courage. “After the divorce,” she began, “I couldn’t just give up. I couldn’t forget about our dream. I knew that we had frozen embryos at the clinic.”
Alex froze. He remembered the endless procedures, the hopes and disappointments. He remembered how they had signed the consent together for the storage of embryos, just in case they decided to try again. But he was sure that after the divorce, it was all over.
“You continued trying? Without me?”
“Yes, Alex, I continued,” she said. “I knew that it might seem selfish, crazy, but I couldn’t do otherwise. I felt that I had to try, for my own sake.”
“And… that?” he asked, holding his breath.
“The first few attempts failed,” she said, and there was sadness in her voice. “I was devastated. I almost lost hope. But then… a miracle happened. I got pregnant. With twins.”
Alex felt the world around him begin to spin. Twins. His sons. The very boys he had seen in the park. They were his children.
“Twins,” he whispered. “It’s incredible.”
“It was incredibly hard,” Catherine interrupted him. “Alone, without support, without you. But I coped. They are my life.”
“And the youngest?” he asked. “He’s about five years old.”
Catherine looked away, a shadow flashing in her eyes. “That’s another story, Alex.”
“What story?” he insisted. “What happened?”
She took a deep breath and finally spoke. “I worked at the hospital’s maternity ward. One night, a newborn boy was left there. The mother had abandoned him.” Alex listened with bated breath. “I couldn’t let him be left alone. I couldn’t allow him to grow up in the foster care system. I knew I could give him love and care. I took custody and then adopted him. His name is Sam.”
Alex was stunned. Catherine had turned out to be stronger than he could have ever imagined. She not only fulfilled her dream of becoming a mother, but also saved the life of a little, defenseless child.
“And he… he knows that you are not his biological mother?”
“Yes,” replied Catherine. “He knows. We have always been honest with him. He is part of our family, and we love him just as much as the twins.”
He was silent, digesting what he had heard. He felt crushed. He had missed so much. He had given up the family that could have been his.
“Why didn’t you tell me anything?” he asked, and in his voice there was resentment. “Why did you hide it from me?”
“Because you left, Alex,” answered Catherine. “You made your choice. I didn’t want to break into your life and ruin everything. I was afraid that you would try to take the children. I was afraid that you would hurt me again.”
“I would never…” Alex began, but he faltered. He couldn’t give any guarantees. He himself did not know what he would have done if he had found out about everything before.
“I don’t blame you, Alex,” said Catherine, and there was fatigue in her voice. “But I can’t change the past.”
“What should I do?” he asked, feeling a faint hope.
Catherine looked at him with a long, studying gaze. “Time will tell, Alex,” she replied. “Time will tell.”
She got up from the table, and Alex realized that their conversation was over. He wanted to stop her, to say something important, but the words stuck in his throat.
Alex decided to start small. He learned from Catherine that one of the twins, Leo, had an important football game the next day. Alex decided to go and support him. He stood in the stands, feeling awkward and out of place.
After the game, Alex approached Leo. “Hello,” said Alex, his voice trembling. “I wanted to say that you played well.”
Leo looked at him with bewilderment. “Thank you,” he replied.
“I’m a friend of your mother,” Alex added, feeling like an idiot.
A few weeks later, Alex began to visit Catherine and the sons regularly. He helped them with their homework, played cars with the youngest, went to the cinema with them. He tried to be just a friend, without imposing himself in the role of a father. The twins gradually began to get used to him.
One evening, when Alex was leaving, Catherine stopped him. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for what you are doing.” She came closer to him and kissed him on the cheek. It was a chaste kiss, but it lit a spark of hope in Alex.
However, despite all his efforts, Alex felt that there was still a huge gap between him and his sons. They accepted him as a friend, but not as a father. Once, Leo asked him, “Uncle Alex, did you ever want to have children?”
The question took Alex by surprise. “Yes,” he answered. “I always dreamed of children.”
“And why don’t you have them?”
Alex fell silent. How could he explain to Leo that he was his father, but he himself had refused him many years ago?
That evening, Alex realized that he had to tell them his whole story. He had to tell them about his past, about his mistake, about his regret. He had to give them the opportunity to decide whether they wanted to accept him into their lives as a father.
He shared his thoughts with Catherine. She agreed.
The next day, Alex gathered the twins and told them everything. He told them about his love for Catherine, about his dream of children, about his infertility, about the divorce, about his regret, and how he accidentally met them in the park and found out the truth.
The twins listened to him in silence, with their eyes wide open. When Alex finished, there was silence in the room.
Max was the first to speak. “So, you are our father?” he asked.
“Yes,” answered Alex. “I am your father.”
Max and Leo looked at each other. Alex couldn’t understand what they were thinking.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Leo.
“Me neither,” added Max.
Alex understood their confusion. “You don’t need to say anything,” he said. “Just think about it. Decide what you want to do next.”
A few days passed. One evening, Catherine came to him. “They want to talk to you,” she said.
Alex felt his heart sink. He followed Catherine into the house. The twins were waiting for him in the living room.
“We talked,” Max said. “And we decided that we want to get to know you better.”
“We don’t know what will come of it,” Leo added, “but we are ready to try.”
Alex felt tears running down his cheeks. “Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for this chance. I promise I won’t let you down.” He went to his sons and hugged them. They were his children, his family, and he was ready to fight for them to the end. It was only the beginning of his journey to redemption, and perhaps, happiness.