I recently got pregnant with my ex boyfriend after one night, we hadn't seen each other in years and both made a stupid mistake. He has moved out of our hometown. Afterwards, he confessed that he is with someone else and they have a new baby.
I plan on keeping the baby, I am happy to be a mother even though it isn't under the best circumstances.
He has made it clear that he wants nothing to do with the child, and I have accepted that. I feel so guilty that my daughter won't have a father because of my poor choices, but I know I will be an amazing mother and I am ready for the challenge of single parenthood.
I have remained very close with his family, and still call his mother 'mom'. He has been fine with this. However, he has now asked me to keep his identity as the father a secret. This is difficult for me because I do not lie, and this would be a lie I would have to carry out for a lifetime. I think it is cruel to lie to this child's grandmother, I think she has a right to know and decide whether she wants to know her granddaughter.I also think it would be awful to see her all the time and have to deceive her about my child. We live in a relatively small town.
However, two things haunt me: one, his new...partner(girlfriend seems inappropriate since they have a child together) seems to have some mental issues, and he has expressed his fear that she will kill him if she finds out. I'm not sure if he really means this or not, though I know her to be volatile. I would feel awful if I felt I had some responsibility in someone getting hurt. I also don't want to disrupt his daughter's life, as her mother's reaction is unpredictable. He also says this will hurt his family(mother, sisters, etc) which is the last thing I want to do.
Part of me feels that his mistake was deceitful and he should accept the consequences. My mistake was out of love, and I am takng responsibility. But I don't want to hurt his family, or expose our children to possible trauma.
Any thoughts?