A young single mother grows suspicious when everyone comments on how different from her and her ex her little son was, so she has a DNA test and learns a terrible secret.
The happiest day of Gina Barrino's life was the day her son Brandon was born. She woke groggy from the anesthetic they had administered for the emergency Cesarean and the nurse placed her baby in her arms.
It was love at first sight. The moment Gina looked into her baby's blue eyes, she was head over heels. She kissed his tiny head and inhaled his delicious baby scent. Being a mother was a dream come true, even the fact that Brandon's dad didn't want to be involved in their lives couldn't shake her.
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Gina and her boyfriend Greg Lassinger had been living together for three years when she fell pregnant. Greg hadn't stepped up and proposed, instead he told Gina he didn't think they were right for each other and that he didn't want to be forced into a commitment.
To her surprise, Gina hadn't exactly been heartbroken over Greg's attitude. Somehow the existence of that little life growing inside her had become the most important thing, not Greg. Gina moved out and restructured her life in expectation of her baby's arrival.
Love is what makes a family, not biology.
When she went into labor she had told Greg. After all, he was the baby's father and had a right to know. But he didn't show up at the hospital. Gina's doctor decided it would be safer for her if they performed a Cesarean section, so she was asleep for Brandon's entrance into the world.
She held him in her arms a few hours later and was delighted with his beautiful blue eyes. "His eyes will darken," her mother said. "Yours did! Sorry to tell you we all have brown eyes!"
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Gina smiled and cuddled her baby. She'd never felt happier! A few days later, she left the hospital with Brandon to face all the challenges being a single mom entailed. It wasn't easy, and there were days when she cried, but she always lifted her chin and faced the next hurdle.
By the time Brandon was one, he was the most adorable moppet anyone had ever seen. Gina's mom had been wrong! Brandon's eyes stayed a beautiful bright blue, and his hair was a lovely auburn red.
"Oh my!" people would exclaim. "What a beautiful boy! I bet he takes after his dad!" Gina would smile and nod, but the truth is that Greg had dark brown eyes and pitch-black hair like Gina, and there were no blue-eyed redheads in either family.
When Brandon went to nursery school, the other moms commented on his looks and coloring, and one mother had asked if Gina adopted him. "No!" cried Gina. "Why would you think that?"
"Because..." said the other mom, embarrassed. "He doesn't look anything like you...I thought he was adopted! Sorry!"
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That night, Gina was watching a late-night show when two women came on talking about how they had been accidentally switched at birth. The story expanded to detail the protocol in the hospitals which was supposed to make sure mistakes didn't happen -- and sometimes failed.
Gina got up and went into Brandon's room. She looked down at her lovely boy. "He's mine!" she whispered. "And I love him, but what if...What if there's ANOTHER boy? What if there WAS a mistake?"
The idea started to prey on Gina's mind, so eventually, she decided to do a DNA test. She swabbed Brandon's little cheek and her own and sent off the samples for testing.
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Two weeks later she received the results. They were not related! It was time to find out the truth.
Gina contacted the hospital, and even though they initially told her a mistake was impossible, they agreed to open their files to her.
She discovered that two boys had been born on the same day. One was her own baby, the other the child of a homeless woman who had died in childbirth. The babies were registered as Brandon Barrino and Dylan Lassinger.
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Lassinger? Gina gasped. Why did the homeless woman's baby have Greg's surname? Unless...Of course! Somehow Greg had switched her baby with the homeless woman's and taken him for his own.
Gina was furious. She went straight to the police and accused Greg of kidnapping and custodial interference. Greg was forced to hand over Dylan for a DNA test and the results proved that he was Gina's biological child.
Greg went to prison, and so did the nurse he'd bribed to switch the babies and fob the paperwork. He'd wanted the baby, but not Gina, so he used his wealth to 'steal' Dylan.
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As for Gina, she now had two beautiful boys -- Dylan and Brandon -- and as they grew up, the boys told everyone they were twins!
What can we learn from this story?
- Love is what makes a family, not biology. Gina had loved Brandon even though he wasn't her biological son, but she wanted to be sure that Dylan had a good, loving home too.
- Secrets are hard to keep and easily overturn our lives. Greg never imagined that Brandon was so different that he would arouse suspicion and lead Gina back to her own child. He ended up in jail for his crime.
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