We're getting flooded with assumptions that the dad knew he had a kid.
Could have been a 1 night stand and he never knew. Of course him and mom could be super religious and swore to each other they're virgins. Or for extra stress, mom 1.0 is mom 2.0's best friend or ex roommate or co worker or something. I dated two roommates in university (not at the same time) and they both knew it, but eventually it was just too stressful and I was spun out of orbit.
(edited for another possibility: One spouse thinks 18 years of child support is a great idea and the other disagrees. Not exactly the first time financial stress collapses a marriage)
Another peculiarity about the story is it has a fixation on:
"people discover their parents aren't their parents"
Well assuming no adoption, birth mom usually is mom, although much more often her husband isn't kids genetic father. It would be quite impressive although possible I guess to discover your birth mom isn't your genetic mom. Maybe an epic fail or record keeping at the fertility clinic, I guess. Statistically it sounds much more likely you'll find out mom's husband isn't dad more than you'll find out birth mom isn't mom.
Could have been a 1 night stand and he never knew. Of course him and mom could be super religious and swore to each other they're virgins. Or for extra stress, mom 1.0 is mom 2.0's best friend or ex roommate or co worker or something. I dated two roommates in university (not at the same time) and they both knew it, but eventually it was just too stressful and I was spun out of orbit.
(edited for another possibility: One spouse thinks 18 years of child support is a great idea and the other disagrees. Not exactly the first time financial stress collapses a marriage)
Another peculiarity about the story is it has a fixation on:
"people discover their parents aren't their parents"
Well assuming no adoption, birth mom usually is mom, although much more often her husband isn't kids genetic father. It would be quite impressive although possible I guess to discover your birth mom isn't your genetic mom. Maybe an epic fail or record keeping at the fertility clinic, I guess. Statistically it sounds much more likely you'll find out mom's husband isn't dad more than you'll find out birth mom isn't mom.