The Forgotten Man
My grandfather had achild out of wedlock with my grandmother’s sister. His sister-in-law was married to a man who was away on duty while they had an affair. She gave birth to the child three months before her husband returned since he was gone for the whole year. She didn’t want the child and was going to turn him into an orphanage at birth so her husband wouldn’t find out.
My grandfather wanted nothing to do with that child either. My grandmother found out about the affair and as big-hearted as she was, took that child in and raised it as her own. But it didn’t quite turn out as she planned. He grew up with issues due to this. He had 13 siblings and some considered him a brother. Others treated him like an outsider.
He grew up troubled as you can imagine and knew of his reality even though my grandma tried to keep the secret. He grew up and became a junkie. A horrible addict. To this day you can see him in the family videos but my father and his siblings never point him out. Some relatives have cut him out of family pictures. They never speak about him.
I was only a child when this happened, around 7-9 years old. I remembered him but I thought I only dreamed him up until I was a teenager I saw him in one of my birthday videos. My sister and mother told me the truth. That he in fact was real and what happened. That’s how well my family has kept him a secret. I myself thought he was a dreamed man.