Man Finds Out He Was Raising a Stranger’s Daughter for 15 Years — She Proposes Adoption Soon After

• A man discovered his wife was keeping a secret that affected their family for 15 years.
• The secret almost ruined her relationship with her husband and daughter.
• But after involving private investigators and family therapy, there is hope for rebuilding their brood.

A school project about a family tree revealed a long-kept family secret. A father stepped in to help his daughter with the project when she wanted to know more about her paternal grandfather, only to find out his wife had kept something significant from him.

The man explained that his father was half Native American. However, in the middle of the project, the father realized his daughter had no Native American blood.

The man did not think any of it would affect his wife and daughter. "I assumed there was a mistake; my first thought was that my father hadn’t been part Native American,” he expressed in a post on Reddi sharing his story.

To make sense of the situation, he took a DNA test, and it became apparent from the results that his daughter of 15 years was not his biological child.

Being confronted with the truth left both the father and daughter very emotional. His daughter was distraught by the news. "She started crying; she hugged [sic] so tightly and just kept saying over and over, "I love you, Daddy," wrote the father."

The man was forced to confront his wife, and he learned that she had been cheating on him with multiple men while they were dating. She got pregnant and made him believe he was the father that's why they had gotten married in the first place. She confessed that none of the people she had relations with meant anything.

The wife did not even know who the father was, but she knew she had to create a stable life for her child, so she let her husband believe he was the father because he was the most successful. This truth did not only drive a wedge between her and her husband but her daughter too.

Life after Confronting His Wife about the Infidelity

When the truth came out, emotions were still high, and people said things they did not mean. It was the daughter specifically who was extremely angry at her mother. She called her names and even wanted to disown her.

The daughter made it clear that should her parents get a divorce, she wanted to stay with her father. The incident happened shy of Christmas, and she demanded that her mother not spend the holidays with them.

The mother left to go to her parents' house. However, the couple decided to wait until after New Year's Eve to make any decisions about their marriage. Both the father and daughter needed time to process everything that had happened.

The space helped them calm down. The father was meant to celebrate his birthday just a few days before Christmas, and their child agreed to have a video call with her mother.

Following his confession on Reddit, the man posted an update, adding a few more details to his initial post. Several commenters pointed out that his daughter's reaction might have come from the fear of losing him.

His daughter expressed her fears to him too believing that in many families that fall apart due to infidelity, it's the fathers who would distance themselves from the family and see their children twice a year. She feared the same would happen to her family. But the man assured her that he still considered her his daughter, despite what the DNA tests said.

On the man's birthday, the family had their promised video call. Throughout the conversation, the daughter was quiet, and at the end of it, she only had one question for her mother.

She asked who her biological father was, and her mother responded, "Your real dad is sitting next to you."The statement made her cry, and she apologized for the bad names she called her mother. The father also admitted that it felt good to hear his wife acknowledge him as the father of their child.

Despite the DNA results proving that his wife had lied about their daughter, the man still had a tough time believing that his wife was unfaithful since she had never given him a reason to be suspicious.

But due to the lies he learned, he decided to do a bit of digging and hired a private investigator to follow his wife while she was at her parents' house. The PI did not find any proof of her cheating. She only left her parents' house to go to the supermarket; even her parents said she only left her room to eat. But his investigation did not end there.

He hired another investigator to look into his wife's phone records and bank accounts but found nothing. The evidence made him reevaluate his life and his relationship with his wife.

Initially, the man said he and his wife only got married because she was pregnant. As much as they did not marry for love, they grew to love each other during the 15 years they spent together.

He gushed over how much of a great mother and wife she was and that her dedication to their family might have been a sign of remorse and guilt.

Therefore, looking at the evidence, the man believed he and his wife could save their family. They will be going to the couple's counseling and family therapy to help bring their brood back together.

He also did more reflecting on his birthday. The man admitted that it was a bit hurtful to hear his daughter ask about her "real father," but he knew it was not said with the intention of hurting him.

Even though the couple was going through their ups and downs, they still prioritized their family. The man gave his wife a chance to explain again after he had calmed down and even spent Christmas Eve with his in-laws, daughter, mother, and brother.

The night ended with the man going home with his wife. The couple spent the night eating Christmas cookies, and the mother asked her husband to give her another chance to prove how dedicated she was to their family.

They also spent Christmas as a family. Even though there was still a bit of tension, they did their best to ignore the elephant in the room. They had their traditional Christmas breakfast, watched a movie, and opened parents.

One of the gifts for their daughter was a video console, and she asked them to have a family game night which got her mother emotional. The big secret might have almost torn them apart, but they were all willing to rebuild their trust and beautiful family.

The man also said he was not ready to lose the best 15 years of his life. He believed his wife was sincere in her apologies and wanted them to keep their family together, so divorce is off the table while they try to work their way back to normalcy.

Here's another story about a woman who discovered she had raised a stranger's child for 55 years.