Switched at birth (FACE)

15 (final)

"Don't worry..." Papa spoke. We waited for the door to open, and I grew tense when I heard the clicking noise. It was Matthew. "Hmm? Alfred? Francis? What are you doing here?" He asked. I gave him a serious look, and he seemed to catch on. He looked at my Papa nervously and began to step aside. "Oh....come in..."

We both nodded and walked inside the house. "MATTHEW? WHO WAS IT?" Arthur called. Arthur peeked his head out and smiled once seeing us. "Francis! Alfred! What a surprise! Come in! I'll get the kettle started!" He cheered. He walked over to Papa, and my Papa quickly kissed his cheek. "Hey, we need to talk. Can we sit for a bit?" Papa spoke. Arthur gave him a questioning look and looked at me, confused.

"Yeah, is everything okay?" He asked. Papa nodded and began to pull him to the dining table so we could all sit down. I held onto Matthew's hand, and he looked at me nervously. "I'll tell you what happened later...it was an accident..." I whispered.

He nodded at me, understanding, and we all took our seats. We all looked at Arthur nervously, and he looked confused. "What's going on? This is a weird vibe you are all putting out. Am I in trouble?" He laughed.

"No, darling, but this is serious," Papa spoke. Arthur nodded and began to fix himself in his seat. "Alfred, do you?"

"Yes!—uh, I can start..."

Matthew squeezed my hand under the table, and I squeezed his back. "The truth is..." I started as I looked away from Matthew. "Yes?" Arthur asked.

"I didn't tell you the full truth. Matthew and I are indeed cousins, but I didn't tell you what else the DNA test found." I took out the papers and slowly unscrambled them. "What else did you find?" He asked.

"Well...Matthew and me—we were switched at birth somehow...Papa—he is Matthew's real dad," I spoke. Arthur was silent and looked at Matthew, confused.

"That's not possible...wait, switched at birth? What? What are you saying?" Papa had been holding Arthur's hand, but Arthur pulled away. "If Matthew isn't my biological son, then who is?" He asked.

He looked like he didn't believe me.

Matthew grabbed the papers and began to slide them over to him. "Alfred is..."

Arthur grabbed the papers, shaking, and it was like his whole world came crashing down. He covered his mouth, shocked, and my Papa tried to comfort him. "Mattie...you are my son still," Arthur cried. He grabbed Matthew's hand and looked at him sadly. He had started to cry and looked worried about what we might think. "I do not want you to feel like this changes anything; you are still my son," Arthur spoke.

"I know, but so is Alfred...biologically. I am Francis's son too...we must acknowledge that," Matthew spoke.

Arthur finally looked at me, and tears fell from his eyes. He kept his mouth covered with his hand, and I cringed into my seat. Papa grabbed Matthews' hand, and Arthur slowly reached for mine. "We will figure this out," Papa spoke. There was a sudden silence as I could tell Arthur was trying to process everything."I suppose that explains the weird tea thing," He suddenly laughed. My eyes widened at what he said. He had remembered that odd encounter a month ago.

"Tea thing?" Papa asked. I began laughing, and I shook my head. "We made our tea the same way," I laughed. Matthew began to laugh, and I leaned against him. "Well, what should we do?" Papa asked. "Nothing, what's done is done. However, they both have two dads now!" Arthur laughed. It was like they ignored everything and accepted what had happened.

"SO YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED?!" I shouted. I grew excited, and Arthur face palmed. "Oh? Arthur, this is so sudden. I suppose I will marry you," Papa pretended to be shocked. "That is not what I meant; I just mean that they literally have another dad," Arthur tried to defend.

"So, no wedding?" Papa and I said in unison as we pretended to cry. My papa and I began to hold each other sadly, and Arthur looked at us, annoyed. "I wouldn't mind a wedding," Matthew laughed.

"Whose side are you on?"

"I am on the side of LOVE!"

The three of us laughed, and my Papa began to poke Arthur's face. "Oh, and you should not have to feel like you have to call me dad, if you decide to one day...I won't mind, but of course, it is too early to even think about that. I want the two of you to go at your own pace and be comfortable."

Arthur smiled at us; Papa nodded in agreement, "Yes, and there are still other things to take care of with this information, but we will not stress it right away," He spoke. "Like what?" Matthew asked. "Well, we can talk about it another day," Papa smiled.

"Mattie, let's hope they get married so we can tell people we are cousins and brothers; it would confuse everyone," I laughed. Arthur shook his head, annoyed and Papa laughed at my way of thinking.

~

The rest of the night, we continued to talk about everything. There were questions we would not have right away, but we all accepted the unknown. We were happy with this weird family that was created by fate. If I had not gotten that test, I would have never met my biological father, never met my cousin, and never got the chance to see my Papa finally fall in love.

I wanted more out of this—more than I could explain in words. I wanted to call Arthur dad eventually, but not on the terms that they would expect. I knew he was my dad, and I knew that eventually, we would get closer to make it seem more that way. However, I do not think I would start calling him dad on those terms. I believe that deep down I feel that I would call him dad if they were to get married.

It is not because my Papa would be happy but because he would officially be my father if that makes any sense. Legally...this sounds terrible, but I wanted him to stay around me forever, and I thought maybe that would be the only way. However, I know that deep down, he would never leave, just as I know Papa would never leave Matthew and me.

It is a complicated explanation to consider, but I wanted us to live together and be a real family. I wanted to wake up in the morning to Papa making breakfast and Arthur drinking his tea in the kitchen. I wanted to walk a room over and be able to wake Matthew up by throwing myself on him.

I wanted more than just to call him "dad." I wanted everything that came with it and more. I was sure Matthew felt the same way. We both agreed that we wanted more than just to call them a title.

We wanted an entire family.