A Hidden Sibling
My dad fathered a child in highschool. His side of the family knew, and my mom. We found out years after he died that we have a half-sister.
Dad got a girl pregnant and she decided to go it alone. She moved across the state and had my half-sister. She met a guy, married, and he raised her like she was his own. They had no other children. She didn’t reveal my dad’s identity until after he died.
Apparently, she contacted my Grandma and Mom, but they kept it from us. Years later, half-sister has a kid with medical issues and needs to know family medical history. She contacts mom and grandma, who, again don’t tell us. Meanwhile, after Dad died, my uncle had prints made of a favorite picture of dad.
He gets them framed and gives them to all us kids, as well as my grandma, aunt’s and uncles. Mom gets a picture to our half-sister after their secret meeting. Fast forward another few years. My brother and his roommate live in a nearby large city and hit a bar and pick up and bring home some ladies to “sleep over”.
The next morning, my half-sister sees a photo of my dad on the mantle, turns white, and asks “Whose picture is that?” “That’s my roommates dad. He died a long time ago.” “I need to talk to your roommate.”
She lived her entire life across the state. Hundreds of miles. Her friend was going to school in a large city near our hometown. She was visiting, and they decided to go to bar. They get picked up by my brother and his roommate. That’s how we found out. My brother went to my grandma and asked about her, and grandma first denied it, then gave in and spilled the beans. Small world.