Tried To Turn A Ho Into A Housewife ...

"Once a man has been deemed a father, either because of marriage or because he has acknowledged paternity (by agreeing to be on the birth certificate, say, or paying child support), most state courts say he cannot then abandon that child — no matter what a DNA test subsequently reveals." NYTimes   (Shiiiiiiiiit)

Mike’s first inkling that something was amiss in his marriage was in 2000, when he was digging through a closet looking for the source of some mice. He didn’t find any nests, but he did come upon a plastic grocery bag of love letters to his wife, Stephanie, from her co-worker Rob. Confronted, Stephanie confessed to a fleeting affair but assured Mike that L., then nearly 3, was his.

A year later, according to Mike’s undisputed court testimony, while changing the sheets, Mike found Rob’s photograph tucked under Stephanie’s side of the mattress. Despite Stephanie’s assurances that L. was his child, Mike’s doubts haunted him.

The marriage deteriorated, and as L. approached her 5th birthday, Mike asked Stephanie to take a DNA test with him and their child. They told the girl that all three of them had to take a test for the doctor. Mike remembers telling her that rolling the swab inside her cheek wouldn’t hurt one bit.

“The day the results came back was the most devastating day of my life,” Mike said, beginning to cry as he described opening the envelope from the lab and reading there was no chance he was L.’s father. “This little girl,” he whispered, his throat tight, “is not my child. I ran upstairs, locked myself in the bathroom and cried and dry-heaved for 45 minutes. I felt like my guts were being ripped out.”