The letter I found in my father's box changed everything I knew about myself

My father died in 1998. Last month I was clearing his old wardrobe in the Ibadan house, the one we grew up in, and I found a metal box under his agbada. Inside was a letter from a woman in Abeokuta dated 1963. My mother's name is not the name on that letter.

The woman wrote that she was carrying his child and that she would raise it alone. She said she would not trouble him again. My father never mentioned her. My mother never mentioned her. For 60 years I have been greeting my mother's people as family, calling them aunty and uncle, and none of them is my blood.

I sat on that veranda till 2am with the letter in my hand. My wife came out and asked what happened. I told her nothing. I have not told my children. I am 65 years old. What will I do with this truth now? Olorun mi.