Your situation is regrettable, and yet through your experience, others can take a lesson from life.

When you are making a decision that will have a profound impact on your lifestyle and your freedoms, you had better be able to make a solid, realistic decision. Sometimes no matter what you do, the outcome is still going to be unsure, so you must prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. In matters of love, you must balance desire with reason and make sure that the investment you are making is not frivilous. It seems easy for me to say this now, but I tell ya, I grew up with this sort of thing over and over, and I married a woman who thought she knew too long before I came along, and ended up getting burned just the same. Now I've got someone else's daughter who calls me daddy, and has been for the last 19 years, and is doing great things.

Melissa, life goes on, you do what you have to for you and your kid, and so long as you don't give up and keep at it things will work. All it takes is time and determination. In the meantime, keep the faith.