A man has shared his apprehension after his daughter revealed she wants to tell his other daughter that she is her real mum. The complicated family tree began 15 years ago when his daughter Sarah*, now 31, fell pregnant at age 15. Taking to social media to share his story, Steve* and his wife Rose*, both now 53, revealed that at the time they supported Sarah as best they could, offering her therapy and telling her they would support her whatever decision she made.
Steve explained: “She never told us anything about the father, which always upset her, so we never pushed the issue. She originally wanted to terminate but kept cancelling, and eventually told us she wanted to give her up for adoption. However, five months into the pregnancy, when she was discussing with a social worker for a couple to adopt, the couple dropped out of the adoption. After trying to find more couples, Sarah asked us if we wanted to adopt.”
Steve explained that he and Rose were both 38 and had been discussing having another child, so after much deliberation they agreed to adopt Sarah’s baby, a girl named Ellie*. He continued: “Two years after Ellie, me and my wife had our son Logan*, now 13, biologically.”
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Discussing why they had never told Ellie she was adopted, he added that they had always wanted to but felt it should also come from Sarah. He went on: “Sarah never became close with Ellie, not even as sisters. She moved out after the birth and lived with Rose's sister. She has always shown sisterly love to Logan, but never to Ellie. We have asked Sarah many times to tell Ellie the truth, but Sarah keeps claiming she is not ready.”
Fast forward to now and it seems that history is repeating itself as Ellie, aged 15, is pregnant. Steve explained: “This time it is a completely different situation, we have met the father, he is a childhood friend of hers and they decided they wanted to lose their virginities to each other. We had the talk with Ellie long ago, as we did with Sarah. We approached the situation calmly and have since met with the father and his parents. Ellie is insistent on keeping the baby. She is three months along.”
If this scenario already sounds complicated, Steve later updated Reddit users with an unexpected twist. He shared: “Ellie told the family about the pregnancy, including Sarah and she didn't react well but told her she would support her.
“Afterwards Sarah reached out to us, very upset, but said she was ready to talk to Ellie, first about the adoption with us, but she said that she wanted to tell Ellie about her father alone. We sat down and had the discussion, Ellie was of course upset, but calmed down after a while.”
Steve revealed that he knew Ellie and Sarah had discussed Ellie’s biological dad but they hadn’t pried. However, Ellie had told them that she knew who he was and said she didn't want to reach out, so they moved on.
Following on from Ellie and Sarah’s chat about Ellie's true parentage, Steve got a call from his furious sister-in-law, Renee*, who is married to his half-brother Ethan*, 32. After calming her down, he discovered that Ellie had told Ethan that he was her biological father.
Steve added: “I had to sit down for a while. I called Sarah and we had a long conversation. She told me that yes it was true that Ethan was Ellie's biological father. Sarah and Ethan were close when they were young, they were only eight months apart. Sarah says that when they went through puberty feelings changed and that every time she went to her grandmother’s they would hide away from everyone and have ‘their own time’,”
Devastated, Steve urged Sarah to tell him if she had been assaulted by Ethan but she assured him it was always consensual. The reason she had never revealed the identity of Ellie’s dad was that she was ashamed of the fact that the father of her baby was her uncle.
And what has made things even more murky is that Ethan always knew Ellie was his daughter and has been lying to everyone for years. Following the revelation, Steve revealed his whole family has been blown apart as his own mum and step-dad try to come to terms with the complicated family tree. It has also resulted in Ethan’s wife leaving him with their kids.
Furious with his brother, Steve finished: “Ethan has tried to reach out to Ellie now but I don't want her speaking to him, I'm still her father and I don't think she is safe being in touch with him. Thankfully, Ellie has shown no interest in talking to him.
“I asked her why she reached out to him before talking to Sarah or us about it, and she said she just wanted to know his side of the story but feels betrayed for being lied to.” Concluding the story, Steve added that all he can do right now is concentrate on being the best dad he can be to Ellie but is completely floored by all the family skeletons.
People who read the complicated Reddit post were just as stunned as poor Steve, however, they couldn’t help but add a little humour to the mix. One person wrote: “What in the House of the Dragon did I just read?”
And another person penned: “Teen pregnancy, late pregnancy. This fam needs solid family planning lessons.”
While a third reader advised: “As an adoptee, you all made a big mistake keeping the truth from her until she was 15. Expect major trauma to ensue for her. I hope she has access to counselling because that would be really traumatic even if she wasn’t pregnant.”
*Names have been changed to protect the identities of all involved.
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