It has been a few years since I have been home and I had planned for it to be a few years more but then I received a call from my mother begging me to come back for Thanksgiving, she said she had something important to tell us and the whole family was going to be there.

“Family”, I doubt they even knew what that word meant because growing up was hell with my so-called family and immediately I could leave I did. My father always made me feel unwanted and he made it clear that I was his least favorite child so whatever I did never cut it for him.

After the call dropped, I had to immediately call James because going home alone would be torture and I knew having James by my side would be better than alcohol. James and I had been dating since I left home and he pretty much knew the family situation so I knew I could count on him.

“Hey, James, how would you love to go on a trip with me,” I said the moment he picked up and after a series of questions, he agreed excitedly.

We left the day before Thanksgiving because I felt like the less time I spent around my father, the better and after driving for about 10 hours, we finally arrived at the family house.

I took a deep breath preparing myself for what was to come before walking into the house and before I could brace myself I was pulled into a hug by a group of people, I looked up and saw the faces of my siblings smiling at me and I was almost in tears before I heard a familiar voice.

“So you came, I didn’t think you would after all these years,” the voice said and I felt chills because I knew it was my father speaking to me.

I greeted him and proceeded to the dining to meet my mother and for the first time since I left, I regretted leaving. We spent hours catching up and introducing our significant others and then we decided to call it a night.

I spent the whole night looking at the roof of my room which hadn’t changed a bit since I left and before I could realize it, it was morning and time to prepare for the Thanksgiving feast.

We spent the whole day cooking while dancing and I felt like I had missed so much but didn’t want to think much about it and at about 5:00 pm it was time for dinner so we all got dressed and sat at the table after serving the food we cooked.

We usually started the Thanksgiving dinner by saying what we were grateful for and everyone went round till it got to my mother’s turn.

“I am so grateful for my family and for Jenny my daughter being here,” she said and was about to say more before my father mumbled something I couldn’t hear which aggravated me.

“Dad, if you have something to say then say it” I angrily said and he replied by saying that it was clear I didn’t want to be here and he was angry that my mother begged me to come.

“How can you say I don’t want to be here when you practically chased me away, you treated me like I wasn’t your daughter” I screamed at him and his reply broke my heart.

“You aren’t my daughter!!” he screamed back before realization dawned on him.

I couldn’t believe what I had heard and I felt like I was choking so I ran off and James chased after me, I got to the balcony in tears and for the first time, it all made sense why he treated me that way.

I felt hands over me and I quickly realized that it wasn’t James but my mothers so I immediately pulled away, she then said she had some things to say and began talking, she explained that she and my dad were separated for a few months in which she had met someone who swept her off her feet, they had intercourse and were happy for a while before my dad came back begging and because of my siblings she decided that it was best to go back and after a while, she found out that she was pregnant with me. She further explained that my father resented me because of this and he even refused to take a DNA test to see if I could have been his daughter.

I realized that I couldn’t hold this secret against my mother because I understood what she must have gone through and what was going through her mind so I told her that I understood and walked back with her to the dining.

The remainder of the night felt a bit awkward but I tried my best to not spoil it and at the end of the night, my mother explained that the reason why she wanted us around was that she had cancer and even though she was successfully fighting it she wanted to have this dinner with us, just in case.

We all told her that she was going to be fine and promised that this wouldn’t be our last dinner before going to bed since most of us were leaving the next day. I was about to go to bed when I decided to find something to do a DNA test just to be sure and luckily I found some hair on my father's brush which I took and bagged.

The next day, we all said our goodbyes and embarked on our trip, and the moment we got to our state, we went to a lab to perform a DNA test which shockingly confirmed that my dad shared the same DNA with me.

I didn’t bother saying a word about it because our relationship was already damaged and even with this result there was nothing to do to salvage it so I decided to live life with this secret hoping it never came out.

THE END.