**Diary Entry 12th June**
Fifteen years wed raised our son together before my husband dropped the bombshell.
Ive always had doubts, he said abruptly over dinner. We need a DNA test.
I laughed at firstabsurd, surely. But the humour died when I saw the steel in his eyes.
It happened on a Tuesday. The way he looked at me sent a chill down my spine.
Ive held this in too long, he admitted. Our boy doesnt look like me.
He has your mothers eyesweve talked about this! I argued.
Doesnt matter. Either we do the test, or its over.
I loved him. I adored our son. Thered never been another man in my lifeonly him. But to keep the peace, we went to the clinic.
A week later, the doctor summoned me urgently. My hands trembled in that sterile corridor. When I stepped in, he didnt mince words.
Youd better sit down.
Why? Whats wrong? My pulse roared in my ears.
Then came the words that shattered everything.
Your husband isnt the boys biological father.
Thats impossible! My voice cracked. Ive never been unfaithful!
The doctor sighed. Thats not the strangest part. Youre not his biological mother either.
The room spun. I couldnt breathe.
What? How?
Well retest to rule out error, he said. Then well dig deeper.
The second test confirmed it. For weeks, I moved through fog. My husband barely spoke, his gaze heavy with suspicion. I held our son at night, weeping.
We began investigatingtracking down old hospital records, staff from that time. Fragments emerged: our child had been switched at birth. Another family had ours; wed raised theirs. Worse still, we uncovered this wasnt the first time it had happened there. The hospital had buried their mistakes.
I didnt know how to feel. The boy I loved wasnt mine by bloodbut he was still my son. It took my husband months to come to terms with it.
Somewhere out there, our real child lives. And God knows if he even knows the truth.
**Lesson learned:** Life doesnt follow neat scripts. Sometimes, the family youre given isnt the one you expectedbut love isnt bound by blood.
