Twin sisters, Celine and Beatrice, lost touch after a terrible incident at their high school prom. Years later, Celine’s husband, Rick, discovered that he had not been living with the woman he had married.
Celine and Beatrice were identical twins, and even their grandmother couldn’t tell them apart, so they often played tricks on the older woman. However, they would all laugh about it and move on, mainly because they only had each other. Their parents died years ago, and their grandmother did their best, but she only had her pension to raise them.
This was fine by them because they never needed much. They shared clothes, shoes, and everything under the sun. However, they started growing their own personalities in high school and enrolled in different classes. Their school was huge, so most of the students and some of the staff had no idea they were twins. Some only knew Celine and others only knew Beatrice.
This gave the girls an advantage. Sometimes, they would switch places for a few classes and enjoy tricking their classmates. No one ever noticed, and it was good fun for the girls until they turned their tricks on each other…
“What?” Celine scoffed. “That’s crazy. She’s just emotional. She’ll be back.”
***
“Would you like to go to prom with me?” Rick asked Beatrice, and she nodded her head many times eagerly. The people around them clapped, and everyone seemed happy… except Celine.
When she found out about it that night, she cried into her pillow, hating that her sister had been on Rick’s radar before her. They were together in biology class and were partners for some projects. One time, Celine switched places with her sister and met him. It was love at first sight, but she had no idea Rick liked Beatrice back.
Well, he must like me, too, right? We look the same. Would he notice if I went with him to prom? Could I convince Beatrice to change places with me? Yes! That’s what I’ll do! Celine thought that night and decided to ask her sister in the morning.
“No! I can’t do that. I like Rick! I feel like he really likes me, too. We have to stop switching places, Celine. It isn’t nice. It’s time for us to have our own lives, separately from each other,” Beatrice refused, shaking her head. Her eyes were sad.
“Please! He’s so gorgeous! Please! I can’t believe you won’t do this for me!” Celine begged.
“Celine! He invited me!”
“He must like me, too, then. We look the same!”
“Stop, please. No. I’m not switching. Never again,” Beatrice said with finality, shedding a single tear and walking away from her sister.
Celine was furious at her sister for the first time in her life. This was their only disagreement ever, and she couldn’t believe it.
When Beatrice bought a dress with the money she had earned working part-time at an ice cream shop, things got even worse. Celine had spent all her extra money on food and snacks. Her jealousy was too great. However, she pretended that everything was fine.
“You aren’t going to the prom?” her grandmother asked. “I have a little money saved up. We could buy you a dress at Goodwill or something.”
“No, grandma. I’m not going. I hate dances. I’ll stay home and read a book,” Celine shook her head and smiled.
“OK, dear. I’m playing bridge that night with Mrs. Figgins, so you’ll have the house to yourself. That sounds cool, yeah?” her grandmother laughed, and Celine nodded.
That night, their grandmother left early for her bridge game, and while Beatrice was in the bathroom getting ready, Celine did something crazy. She grabbed a chair and arranged it on the door handle so it couldn’t open. Her twin sister would not be able to get out of the bathroom.
Then, she rushed to their room, grabbed Beatrice’s dress, got dressed, and did her makeup.
“CELINE! CELINE! There’s something wrong with the door! CELINE! HELP ME! GRANDMA! SOMEONE!” Beatrice kept yelling, but Celine swallowed thickly as she finished her makeup, put on her shoes, and ignored her sister’s desperate screams.
Once outside, she couldn’t hear anything, so Celine dashed into the night to meet Rick for the prom. She pretended to be Beatrice the night, but it didn’t matter. Rick was holding and dancing with her. They even kissed at some point.
Things got a little heated in his car when the party was almost over, and it was magical. Any shed of guilt was swept away at that moment. She didn’t care. She deserved this night, and Beatrice would have to forgive her.
However, when she got home that night, her grandmother was waiting in an armchair.
“What did you do?” she asked, her arms crossed and her expression sour.
“Nothing, Grandma. I’m back from prom. It was awesome,” Celine said, smiling as if nothing had happened.
“Celine, tell me everything right now,” the older woman demanded, getting up from the armchair.
Beatrice raised her hands. “Please, calm down. I’ll explain everything. Please. The whole truth.”
“Grandma, I’m Beatrice,” Celine mumbled, lying because her grandmother knew this was Beatrice’s dress.
“Stop it. Your sister came home crying, saying you stole everything from her,” the older woman said.
Celine sighed. “Fine, but I liked Rick. I… I wanted to have this one night. He thought I was Beatrice, too. But it’s alright. I’ll tell him at some point, and I’m sure it’ll be the same. We look the same,” she justified.
“It’s not fine. It won’t be fine. Your sister is gone. She packed a few bags and told me she was leaving… forever, Celine,” her grandmother crossed her arms again.
“What?” Celine scoffed. “That’s crazy. She’s just emotional. She’ll be back.”
The older woman shook her head and wet her lips simultaneously. “You just lost your sister… all for a stupid boy. I hope you’re pleased with yourself. This will haunt you for the rest of your life,” her grandmother said and went to her room.
Celine rushed to her room and saw that her grandmother had not lied. Beatrice had emptied her clothes, shoes, and the few things she owned. “No, this can’t be happening. She’ll be back. Where would she go?” she asked herself, and her hands started shaking as she sat on the bed.
Beatrice didn’t return. She was gone for good, and no one knew where. But a few weeks later, Celine discovered she was pregnant and was shocked when Rick asked her to marry him immediately.
“Our kid needs us together, Bea. We can do this! Let’s get married,” he said so brightly and beautifully. It hurt Celine’s heart that he still thought she was Beatrice, but it didn’t matter now.
Nothing matter except her child. She was pregnant – not Beatrice – and she had to do what was best for her little family. “Yes!” she answered.
They got married in a courthouse, and her grandmother refused to come. She promised never to say anything for the sake of Celine’s child, but she would not support her in this.
Celine thought it wouldn’t matter. Her new family was all she needed, but four years later, she was forced to beg her grandmother for some information which led her back to Beatrice. Then, she had to ask her estranged sister for the biggest favor of all.
Ten years later…
“I’m sorry for your loss, Mark. It’s terrible,” Rick told his close friend, who had just lost his father. They were at the cemetery and had just watched the casket lowered down.
“I can’t believe we’re at the age where we attend these things. It’s insane,” Mark shook his head and looked at his friend with solemn eyes. “I’m going to stay here for a while. I need to be alone.”
“Sure, man. But I’m just a phone call away. My wife has already added your favorite casserole to your fridge. We’re there for you, man,” Rick assured his friend
He walked away from Mark and made his way toward the cemetery parking lot, but something caught his eye. Beatrice Smith was written on one of the tombstones, and he froze. It was his wife’s name. Well, his wife’s name with his last name. Rick couldn’t stop staring at it for some reason, although his wife was right at home, waiting for him to return.
Of course, someone else in town could’ve had that name, but according to the dates written underneath, this person died six years ago at 22. She would’ve gone to school with him. Then, he saw the words under the dates.
“I forgive you, Celine. Rest in Peace. I’ll always be there for them.”
“Who is Celine?” Rick asked himself quietly. That inscription seemed even odder than everything else. However, he shook his head and went to his car, determined to put it off his mind. He went home, kissed his wife, played baseball with his son Julian, and slept.
His entire week was typical, but he couldn’t put the thought of the tombstone off his head. Something about it was alarming. He had no idea why. However, his intuition never failed. That’s what made him a good businessman. Rick knew he had to investigate a little, and due to the late woman’s age, his first stop was their high school yearbook.
He had never looked at it much. In fact, it had been forgotten in an old box in the attic. But he found it and went to his office to peruse it. His graduating class was huge, and it was crazy how he barely knew the kids he studied with. He was paying attention now, and what he discovered was crazy.
Rick focused on the picture of his wife, but the problem was the person right next to her. Her carbon copy. Her spitting image. Beatrice and Celine.
“My wife has a twin? Why have I never met her? That’s so odd. Aren’t twins friendly?” Rick wondered aloud. “And… wait a minute. Beatrice and Celine. The tombstone said Beatrice S., my wife’s name, but the inscription….’I forgive you, Celine.’ Was that some sort of mistake?”
And suddenly, a memory popped into his head. As if the universe wanted him to solve this mystery. Six years ago, his wife had been skinny and pale. However, she magically got better one day. He was glad she was back to health. However, she liked a different perfume, and suddenly, their conversations flowed freely. She was hesitant to touch him for a while, though, which was odd. But their intimacy was restored somehow, and it was the best time of his life.
Even the way she kissed was much better, and it was like Rick fell in love all over again. That’s why he hadn’t given it much thought when she was suddenly interested in biology documentaries, unlike before, and how she suddenly loved shrimp, although she had hated them. None of that mattered because he was more in love with his wife than ever.
“But what if?” Rick muttered, alone in his office still.
“Honey, what are you doing? Are we going out to dinner with your parents?” Beatrice spoke from the doorway. She was arranging her wristwatch and smiling at him.
“Beatrice, who is this?” Rick asked, his face revealing his confusion and consternation.
“What are you talking about? What is that?” she asked, confused.
“Our yearbook. Who is Celine?” Rick continued.
Beatrice’s stiff body and her blank expression showed too much. Rick was too shrewd not to notice. “I… I …” she hesitated, and that was all he needed.
“Are you Celine? What’s going on? Who is buried at the cemetery?” he demanded, jumping from his desk chair and slamming his hand on the table. “Are you my real wife?”
Beatrice raised her hands. “Please, calm down. I’ll explain everything. Please. The whole truth.”
Rick saw it that night and wanted to rip it into pieces.
“Sit down and talk. I won’t tolerate even a little more lie, Beatrice or Celine or whatever,” Rick snarled and sat back down.
Beatrice sat in front of his desk. “Let’s begin in high school,” she started and told him everything about prom, what Celine did, and how she ran off into the night.
A few minutes later, Rick was just as confused. “So, you’re the real Celine? Why didn’t I know you had a twin sister? That’s crazy!”
“It was a big school, but no. You technically married Celine, although she legally changed her name later. But the real Beatrice,” Beatrice revealed and let him think for a second.
“So, our son – my son’s mother is dead?” Rick asked, despair on his face.
“Yes.”
“And why are you in her place? I don’t understand,” he continued, unshed tears in his eyes.
“Because Celine asked me to. Begged me. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was crazy, and I never meant for this lie to get so far, but it happened,” she replied sadly.
“Why?”
“Six years ago, Celine was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. There was nothing she could do, so she begged our grandmother for my number and begged for me to take her place. I told her she was insane, as always. I could never do that, but she was so frail and broken…”
“She hated the idea of leaving her son without his mother. She was crying and in hysterics at some point, so I agreed to calm her down,” Beatrice explained. “I wasn’t going to. I was looking for ways to convince her to tell you the truth. But she died. It was so sudden. So terrible.”
“So you went along with it? You switched places as if this was a game!” Rick said, furious and in pain.
“Yes, and I’m so sorry for that, Rick. But as I was grieving and keeping this secret, I fell for you again, and I love Julian so much. He feels like my kid,” she added, tears falling at last.
“No. No! This is insane! I can’t! HOW COULD YOU TWO DO THIS?” Rick demanded, rising again and pacing the room. “Why didn’t you bury her with her real name?”
“Beatrice is her legal name. She had fully taken that name, but I decided to add her former one in the inscription with the words I couldn’t say to her when she was alive,” Beatrice explained, crying. “She begged me for forgiveness while begging me ‘to save’ her family. I thought it was better to keep her wish.”
“I can’t even look at you. What am I going to tell Julian? This is… unbelievable,” Rick paced. “Get out of my house. Don’t come back.”
“Rick, please. Listen, I know it was wrong, but there’s something I have to show you –”
“I DON’T NEED TO HEAR OR SEE ANYTHING ELSE FROM YOU! LEAVE!” he screamed, and Beatrice rushed out of his office.
She grabbed what she could from their room but right there in their bed, she left what she needed to show him: a letter from Celine with the truth and why she did everything.
Rick saw it that night and wanted to rip it into pieces. However, he couldn’t. He might need it to tell his son the truth later. For now, though, he was innocent and had to pretend. Therefore, he told Julian that his “mother” was leaving elsewhere for a while, but she visited him often.
And after a few months of it, Rick couldn’t run away from his love for Beatrice. He thought of all the differences he had noticed when they “switched” six years ago. The truth is that he had fallen in love with the real Beatrice without knowing she was a whole other person.
So many questions ran through his mind: How could he reconcile this huge lie? How could he move on from it? Most of all, how could he live without Beatrice?
He loved her. So much. So dearly. More than he had loved Celine. That was a sad and tragic truth to admit. But it was a fact. Beatrice was the one he was supposed to marry in the first place. So, he asked her to meet up and forgave her, begging her to return home. They had been together for six years, after all.
They both visited Celine’s grave, and Rick said a few words, but he also forgave his wife’s late twin sister, mainly because she had given him such a fantastic son.
Beatrice was happier than ever back home, and Julian rejoiced at having his parents back together. Rick hid the letter in the attic along with the yearbook. They would think of a way to tell Julian at some point, but it wouldn’t be anytime soon.
