

Episode 1
Season 6 Episode 1 | 41m 49sVideo has Closed Captions
Revisit a woman looking for her father and one looking for her birth mother and sister.
We revisit a woman who was looking for her American Air Force father, and a woman searching for her birth mother and sister to find out what happened next.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback

Episode 1
Season 6 Episode 1 | 41m 49sVideo has Closed Captions
We revisit a woman who was looking for her American Air Force father, and a woman searching for her birth mother and sister to find out what happened next.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch Long Lost Family: What Happened Next?
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship[man] Can you find my son?
It would mean the world.
[woman] I miss my brother.
We just don't know where to turn.
Over the past decade, we've helped hundreds of people find long lost relatives.
-We've found your mum.
-Ahhhhh!
I don't want to let you go.
I've imagined this moment my whole life.
My whole life.
-Are they brother and sister?
-They are half siblings.
Phew!
I'm your bigger brother.
Debbie!
Debbie!
-Hello!
-Oh!
Lovely to see you.
[Davina] But meeting is just the beginning.
The reunion opened a can of worms.
How easy is it to build a relationship after a lifetime apart?
We became close from day one.
I wanted to find her all my life, and she's not what I thought she was.
This is the series where we find out what happened next.
This week, a woman who spent a lifetime wondering about her mysterious father.
[woman] There's always been a space in my heart.
He's the only one that can fill it.
And a daughter whose search for answers has unexpected consequences... [woman] I went looking for my mum but actually I found an entire family.
...with more new relatives to meet.
Hello.
Sometimes on Long Lost Family, the search process doesn't go quite as planned, and what happens next takes us all by surprise.
And this was the case on our first story, which hasn't been shown until now.
[woman] When I was a child, I would dream over and over and over again that my dad would come into my school in his US Air Force uniform and he would ask for me.
And I'd run up and give him a hug.
And that was where the dream ended every time.
I always hoped that one day he would come back for me and that we would be together.
I need to find my dad.
[gulls calling] -[child] Gran, maybe they can... -[indistinct chatter] [Davina] Sixty-seven-year-old Jean Smith and her husband Roger raised their family on the south coast.
[Jean] Been married for 40 years.
Ruby wedding last year.
Um, we've got three children and six grandchildren.
[Jean] Beautiful.
They're fun.
We love them to bits.
[indistinct chatter] Family is just everything.
[Jean] Fabulous.
-Want an ice cream now.
-[girl laughs] [Jean chuckles] [Davina] Jean's own childhood was also full of love.
She was adopted as a baby by adoring parents.
This one is my adoptive mum and dad and me when they first had me, so that would be around 11 weeks.
Oh, they were wonderful parents.
They definitely made me feel special.
They told me they loved me all the time, so there was no doubt about that one.
But knowing she was adopted, Jean always felt that something was missing.
I used to feel homesick, it's the only way I can describe it.
I felt homesick when I was at home.
You are desperate, desperate to know who your birth parents are.
But when I was younger I never wanted to search just in case it hurt my adoptive parents' feelings.
So it wasn't until Jean was in her 30s that she began to look for her birth parents.
[Jean] It took me about three years to find my birth mother.
The first thing she said to me when she saw me was, "You're more like your dad."
It made me want to find my birth father to get the whole picture.
Jean's birth mother was able to give her some information about her father.
[Jean] She did say that he was called Johnny Perkins.
They'd been together for six to eight months.
She was also able to confirm something Jean had been told as a child, that her father was an American GI in the US Air Force.
Jean found out that her father's squadron had been stationed in Cambridgeshire in 1952.
According to the adoption records, when her mother fell pregnant, Airman Johnny Perkins had been prepared to stand by her.
[Jean] They had discussed marriage and decided that it wasn't a good idea because they were both so young.
The decision was made to have Jean adopted.
And after her birth, Jean's mother never saw Johnny again.
[Jean] She presumed that he'd got shipped off back home.
I've often wondered if he thought about me.
And did he ever feel any sort of love?
And did he take a piece of me back in his heart to America when he went?
Jean began searching for her father through US military archives.
I started this, golly, 30 years ago, and I've written to many, many, many places in America.
This is one of the letters I've had back from them.
"We've searched for the military personnel records of the individual named in your request and have been unable to locate a record."
It's just devastating.
I've tried everything I can think of and still got nowhere.
As the decades passed, Jean's need to find her father has only intensified.
He's my dad.
He's always been part of me.
I need to find him.
[Nicky] Jean refused to give up.
So she turned to us for help.
As John Perkins is a common name in the US, we knew he would be hard to find searching records alone.
So, we decided to add Jean's DNA to an online database to see if any blood relatives came up on her father's side.
Immediately we got a match.
A half-sister called Sandra Ramirez living in America.
-Hi, Sandra.
-Hello.
-How are you?
-[laughing] Hi.
[Nicky] But we were just too late.
Within 24 hours of the match appearing, Sandra had emailed Jean herself.
This is a first for "Long Lost Family."
You beat us to it.
Yes.
I kind of jumped the gun, you know.
I'm just ecstatic.
I'm very interested in genealogy and as soon as I saw that DNA match, I sent a message to her, and I actually knew instantly who it was.
-[laughs] -Wow, so you knew you had a sister?
I've kind of known in the back of my mind that my dad had a daughter somewhere and I knew it was from when my dad was in the military before he met my mother.
It must have been a strange feeling to know that Jean had been searching for your father for decades.
Yeah.
It's really sad.
Our father had already passed away.
-Your father's gone?
-Yes.
-I'm so sorry.
-1995.
He was pretty young, he was only 63, so...
It was a shock.
I thought we had more time, you know, but... Did you tell Jean that your father's no longer with us?
-Yes.
Yeah.
-Right, okay.
It's kind of sad that Jean doesn't get to meet our father.
He was a very kind person.
Um, everybody liked him.
And what would your father have made of this situation now?
Do you think he would have wanted to meet her?
I think he would have.
I really do.
He would have included her in the family.
-What about the rest of the family?
-Yeah.
We've got a big family.
Four brothers and one younger sister.
-Oh, wow!
-And they're all open to meeting her.
Everybody wants to.
Tearing up just thinking about it.
I'm just so glad that she finally put her DNA, you know, out there.
I've got a big sister!
[laughing] [Davina] But before Sandra and Jean see each other for the very first time, we catch up with another story.
Nearly five years ago, Annie Sims was searching for her birth mother.
But that was just the beginning.
When she was born, Annie Siobhan Sims was put up for adoption by her birth mother Joan.
"I, Joan Wallace, mother of Siobhan, born 2nd of the 8th, '67, confirm that I wish my child to be adopted."
What was she thinking when she signed that?
What was she going through?
My whole life changed because of that letter.
With that signature, she changed everything.
A mother of two herself, Annie had always wished for siblings.
But she'd grown up with her adoptive parents as an only child.
-[Annie] And this says it all.
-[daughter laughing] I'm standing alone in the sea with a ball!
Just waiting for someone to come and play with me.
[Annie] I was very happy growing up, but it was just me.
I've got no brothers and sisters.
And now my parents have gone, I don't have anyone to share any memories with.
When this was taken, this was a treat because it was my special day.
My parents celebrated my adoption day the day that I was brought home to them.
We used to have presents and a card and they made a special thing of it.
Despite the celebrations, Annie couldn't help thinking about what her adoption meant.
[Annie] I knew I was adopted, but that also always meant that I knew that someone didn't want me.
And as I got older I did feel a bit like why didn't my mum try and keep me?
Annie applied for her adoption file.
It revealed that her mother Joan was 20 at the time of her birth.
And there was another unexpected discovery.
"Joan is a good mother to Kim, her first illegitimate child."
I had no clue there was a sister.
My sister.
I always just thought it was just... just me.
[sighs] How could you keep one and then give one away?
Annie Sims discovered that her birth mother kept her older sister while giving her up for adoption.
I wanted to find out, well, why?
Annie started by visiting her mother's last known address in Folkestone, Kent.
This is where it all happened.
But when I came, it was too late by then because everyone's moved on.
There wasn't really a trail that I could follow from here.
Over 20 years later, Annie was still no nearer to finding her mother.
[Annie] I think I need to know why she made the decision she made.
Ultimately, my mother didn't want me.
And why was that?
I will always want to know.
[Nicky] When we took on Annie's search, we couldn't find any records for her mother, Joan Wallace, after 2010.
So we launched a search for Annie's sister Kim.
Kim responded to our letters saying she'd grown up with her mother and a younger sister called Lucy, who very sadly died of unexplained causes the year before we made contact.
Kim gave us an address for Joan in Bristol.
-[Joan] Come on up.
-Okay, thanks.
And excitingly both mother and daughter agreed to meet me there.
-Hello.
-Hello.
-Hi.
-How do you do?
-Very well, thank you.
-Come in.
-Hi.
-This is Kim.
-Hi, Nicky.
-Kim.
-Do come in.
-Thank you.
Fantastic.
What was it like getting this news that Annie was looking for you?
I was overwhelmed, excited.
I can't...
I can't describe how I felt.
Because when I found out about it, it was on the day of my other daughter's inquest 'cause she died last year.
-I'm sorry to hear that.
-Yeah, Lucy died last year.
I've always thought of Annie, and wondered how, if we could ever get in contact because I loved her dearly, you know.
She was such a beautiful baby.
She was so good.
She just... she never cried.
She was just amazing.
-So... -We've always hoped.
Even my sister Lucy, definitely, we talked about Annie.
She's always been part of our lives.
-So what happened?
-You know, I had Kim and I was living with my mum, but she wasn't having another child in the house.
She was upset enough about Kim.
But I said, "Well, I'm gonna have her, I'm gonna keep her."
And so I got a bedsit and I asked them if I could have her in there, and Social Services said, "No, it's not big enough, you can't have two children."
-Yeah.
-They just said, "You've got to have her adopted."
You can imagine how heart breaking it was, it was just awful.
Yeah.
I think, you know, there's a lot of guilt.
-Yeah.
I feel really guilty.
-[Nicky] Do you?
I have done all my life, and ashamed that that happened, you know?
-But it's all come right, hasn't it?
-It has.
I keep thinking, is this a dream?
I just keep thinking, what does she look like?
Would you like to see a photo of her?
Ohhhhhh!
[laughs] [Nicky] Here we are.
Oh, my God!
She's blonde like me!
-She looks like you, Mum.
-She looks like me!
Doesn't she?
[Kim] Yeah.
Wow!
Hi, Annie.
[Joan] Aww.
Oh, God!
It makes me think I've missed out on her whole life.
[sighs] Bless her.
Yeah, sweet little thing, she was.
Oh... How amazing.
I just...
I hope she can forgive me for letting her go.
[Davina] A few days later, I went to see Annie.
-Hi.
-Hi.
-Nice to meet you.
-How are you?
And I was able to give her the news she'd been waiting decades to hear.
We've found her.
-Really?
-Yeah, we've found her.
Is she all right?
Yeah, she's fine.
Really?
What about my sister?
We found her too.
Oh... Oh, wow!
Oh... gosh!
Oh, gosh!
Both of them thought about you nonstop.
-You've never been a secret.
-Oh... Wow!
And I know you've wondered, you know, whether this was a decision that your mum had made lightly.
But I can tell you that it certainly wasn't.
And it was really tough for her.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What does that mean?
Oh, it means everything.
And you had another sister, but very sadly she passed away about a year ago.
Oh, wow!
Um... okay.
[Davina] There's your mum and your sister.
Wow!
Yeah.
Yeah!
I don't have my adoptive parents anymore, so it's like I'm on my own and that makes me feel like I'm not on my own.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Three weeks after my visit, Annie returned to Folkestone to reunite with Joan and Kim.
-How was your journey?
-It was fine, thank you.
-It was all right?
-Yeah, yeah.
The family met at a hotel close to the bedsit where Joan and Kim were living when they last saw Annie.
-Good luck.
-Okay, thank you.
Oh...
I don't know who to go to!
Hello.
Oh, my goodness!
Oh, my.
Oh, don't get upset.
You're my big sister.
Aww!
Oh, it's lovely to meet you, Kim.
Oh, my goodness!
You okay?
-Yeah.
Are you okay?
-Yeah.
Annie, I've just got to tell you, I didn't want to give you up.
I felt really guilty all my life.
-Well, you don't need to feel guilty.
-I just have.
'Cause I didn't wanna give you up.
I've always thought of you as my little sister.
Always.
And Lucy always thought of you as her older sister.
-She was always talking about you.
-She was?
Really?
-Yeah.
-[Kim] Yeah, all the time.
Just a shame, it's like I missed her.
-[Kim] Yeah.
-So I've lost one daughter and now I've found another.
I think it's amazing.
It feels like I've always known them.
It's really, really nice.
She is part of me, and she always has been.
And she's beautiful.
I've got a sister, I've got my mum back, and it feels great.
Annie, Joan and Kim have got to know each other really well over the last few years.
Annie's taken trips with her sister and sees her mum as much as possible.
-Hello.
-Oh, hello.
How are you?
I'm all right.
How are you?
-Well, just winging it with everything.
-[laughing] I think we've got a great relationship.
We sort of fell very naturally back into being mother and daughter.
Oh, it's lovely to see you.
I miss you.
Aww.
Yeah, I miss you too.
[Annie] The year that I managed to find my mum was the year after she had lost my sister Lucy.
So my poor mum.
I guess fate brought us back together at that time, which is sort of something lovely to happen.
-Speak to you soon.
-All right then.
Bye-bye!
[Davina] Annie never got a chance to meet her sister Lucy, but she has become close to Lucy's son, Jake.
[Annie] It's lovely because I've managed to connect with Jake, and we seem to get on really, really well.
Hi, Auntie.
How you doing?
-I'm fine.
How are you?
-I'm good, thank you.
-It's nice to see you.
-You too.
[Davina] And being related isn't the only reason they've bonded.
Me and my Aunt Annie, we both have a lot in common because we were both adopted.
-So, this is what I was given... -Right.
...when I was first adopted.
So it's basically old photos of me as a baby.
Well, that's great, 'cause then you know where you come from.
-Exactly.
-Right.
-[Annie] So that's Lucy.
-[Jake] Yeah.
I lived with my biological mother, Lucy, up until I was four years old, and, um... she tried her best to look after me, and she tried, and she did love me, and I know that for a fact and I remember.
And I do have happy memories with her.
So this is, er, me and my mum Lucy when I was 2.
-Oh.
-July '94.
-You've got such curly hair there.
-Yeah.
[Annie] That's lovely, that one.
[Jake] Because of my biological mother's mental health problems, she, unfortunately, wasn't able to look after me.
Um, so I had to be fostered.
And eventually when I was 7, I was adopted.
Yeah, that is a nice one.
With the blessing of his adoptive parents, Jake reconnected with Lucy during the last few years of her life.
When that photo was taken, that was the first time I had seen her in 16 years.
Well, thank goodness you had that chance to reconnect before, um, it was too late.
[Jake] Absolutely.
When she passed away it was... it was very difficult because we still had that bond.
The love was always there.
You know, it was never faded.
I haven't been to the beach in ages.
No.
No.
Oh, it's lovely to see you.
[Annie] I'm in awe of how well grounded Jake is.
I think he can see that his life could have been very different if he hadn't been adopted.
The same way I do.
We've both had really great, positive adoptions, with lovely families.
We grew up in a really loving household.
It's worked out well.
[Jake] I think adoption is a wonderful thing.
It does mean that the child will have parents that absolutely love them, who really want kids.
You know, my adoptive parents, they wanted kids so badly, but they always tell me they're glad they didn't have kids of their own 'cause then they wouldn't have got me.
So it's, it's all worked out.
It's like it was meant to be.
Jake completes Annie's connection with her mother's side of the family.
But it's not quite the end of her story.
Remarkably, there are new discoveries still to make on her father's side too.
Jean Smith first came to us looking for her American father.
It just feels like part of you is missing.
And you wanna know all the answers.
It's really important to me that I can find out everything that I can about my dad.
Using DNA, we located Jean's half-sister Sandra in America.
But before we could get in touch, Sandra contacted Jean directly.
Sadly, Jean got the news she'd been dreading.
Her father had passed away.
Jean will never get to meet her dad, but I'm hoping that, having gained a sister, who was so determined to find her, and who can answer all her questions about her birth father, is a real silver lining.
I'm meeting Jean to talk through the unexpected way her search has developed and find out what's happened next.
-Hi, Jean.
-Hello.
-How you doing?
-Yeah, good.
Lovely to see you.
-And you.
Take a seat.
-Thank you.
So normally, obviously, I'd be giving you some news, but actually you've got news for me.
Yes, it all happened the wrong way round.
-It was DNA that did it.
-Yeah.
I did my DNA, and the DNA database informed Sandra that she had a match.
She put a message onto the database and emailed me.
-Wow!
-Do you wanna hear it?
-Yeah, I'd love to.
-Okay.
And I nearly deleted it because I didn't know the name on the email.
-Oh, my gosh!
-So I almost deleted it.
Then it says, "Hi, Jean, I'm Johnny Perkins' daughter."
-[gasps] -And that was like, oh, my gosh!
"I would love to hear from you.
I always knew Dad had a daughter in England.
I have tons of questions.
I found you on a DNA database last night.
I'm so happy you posted your DNA.
Your sister, Sandra."
Oh, my goodness!
[laughs] I was just...
I was shaking.
I said, "Is this real?"
-You know, I couldn't... -I mean, that is amazing.
-Just couldn't believe it.
-Your sister.
I know.
But the bit that she said that she knew about me, that I was staggered because I didn't know whether he was gonna keep it secret.
What's this contact with Sandra meant to you?
Everything.
Everything, really.
Especially because she contacted me.
-Yeah.
-That is just the most amazing thing.
I never expected that.
And the excitement of all these siblings.
[laughs] How many siblings have you got?
Four brothers and two sisters.
-Six!
That's amazing!
-I know.
Going from an only child to having all these brothers and sisters.
That's really special.
But I am really sorry to hear about your dad.
Um, how did you hear that he'd died?
Um, well, we started to email backwards and forwards, and then Sandra said that he had died about 20 years ago.
Um, of a heart problem, we think.
For the next two weeks, I was in bits.
It really did affect me.
And I started thinking about the things that could have been, um, if we'd have met earlier on.
It did, it did hit me hard.
Was Sandra able to give you a picture?
Yes.
This is one that she sent me which he's in his uniform.
[Davina] Wow!
-He looks lovely.
-Yeah.
Yeah.
It's so special.
It's just putting a face to the dream that I used to have.
I can still picture that dream as clear as day.
And now I can put a face to it and imagine him actually walking in.
So what has Sandra been able to tell you about your dad?
He used to be a rally driver.
And I love driving fast.
[laughs] He was in a band.
He played music, and I used to sing and play guitar.
So it's all kind of lots of things that we had in common.
So I know that you and Sandra, you've got a lot to catch up on.
I'm so sorry that we can't get you to the States.
[Jean] Never mind.
We'll make it work somehow.
-Hi!
-Hi.
[laughing] Aw, how are you?
-I'm good.
-Are you?
-Now I'm nervous.
-[laughs] -At last!
-Yeah.
Aw, you look lovely.
Oooh, oh, my gosh!
You do too.
Wish I could reach out there and grab you!
Yeah, I know.
Just wanna have a hug.
Yeah.
You have questions.
I have questions.
How long have you, er, been looking for dad?
About 30 years or so.
He's just been so in my heart.
I mean he's, he's just part of me.
So to find him was something I wasn't gonna let go of.
Actually I wrote a letter, um, just in case we found him, if he'd have still been alive.
-Really?
-Yeah.
-Wow!
-If I read it to you, you can see what it says.
For sure.
I'd like that.
"Well, Dad, what can I say except how amazing it is to actually find you after 30 years of searching?
I hope..." [clears throat] Don't know if I can do this.
"It's been hard...
Always there was that space in my heart for you.
Did you ever think about me over the years?
Can't wait to see you and tell you that I love you.
Your daughter Jean."
That's what he would have had.
[sighs] I can't imagine what you've been through.
Yeah, I really wished you would have been able to meet him.
Yeah, just to hug him and hug you as well.
[chuckles] Yeah.
I think that Dad would have... he would have welcomed you.
-Thank you.
-He would have welcomed you with open arms.
We're all welcoming you and want to meet you and want to know everything.
-And we're his kids.
-Wow!
And to have six of you, that's crazy!
Six kids, yeah.
Seven now!
Er, this picture is all of us kids.
[Jean] Wow!
Really, really old picture, but... [chuckles] ...it's one I had of all of us together.
Going from an only child to having six brothers and sisters is, is crazy.
So there's one more surprise for you today.
Okay.
[laughs] And brother Jim's gonna come on and talk to you as well.
[laughs] Oh, my!
Hello, Jean.
Hi.
-Are you good?
-Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
[laughs] Very, very good.
-So good to see you at last.
-Well, it's good to see you.
Oh, my.
But not good to see you crying.
I know.
Well, it's happy tears.
[laughs] Definitely happy tears.
You're coming into a pretty receptive family.
More the merrier.
Welcome, really.
-[laughs] -I want you to come over here so you can meet everybody.
Yeah.
Well, if I could come over tomorrow, I would.
Yeah, when the time's right, it will happen.
We'll make it work somehow.
It'll work.
[Jean] Absolutely brilliant.
Just felt like they were family.
Oh, feeling really happy, really elated.
Sandra thought my dad would have welcomed me if he'd have been alive.
I just feel so loved and so happy.
I think my dad would be looking down on me now and be happy that we are a family, a welcoming family, yeah.
[Davina] Annie Sims first came to us looking for her mother and sister.
Having formed strong relationships on that side of the family, Annie has now become interested in her father's side.
[Annie] My mum told me that my dad was half Indian, and that was so unexpected that I just wanted to find out more.
I did find out that he'd passed away, so sadly.
I'll never be able to get to meet him.
But along the way I messaged a lady called Gail who had a family tree that included my birth father's surname.
And she said, "If that's your father, then I must be your sister."
And I just thought, how on earth have I managed to do this?
I can't believe it.
It can't be.
I was just thrilled.
Gail didn't grow up with their father either.
But a DNA test confirmed that she and Annie were sisters.
They were delighted, but seven months on, they still haven't met in person.
[Annie] It feels like we've got a really strong connection.
We've done FaceTimes, but at the moment Gail's living in Germany in a year where we can't travel anywhere.
So it's really frustrating 'cause we just would like to get to know each other properly.
But I cannot wait to meet her.
Fortunately, Annie will not have to wait much longer.
It's been eight months since Annie Sims discovered a half-sister on her father's side.
The pandemic kept Annie and Gail apart.
But a travel window has now opened up.
[Annie] I've finally made it to Germany, and I'm really excited that finally I'm gonna get to meet her.
Gail will be the first person I've met on my father's side of the family.
It feels so important after all this time to actually see her face-to-face.
Annie has travelled 500 miles to the southwest region where Gail lives with her husband.
[Annie] We've done a lot of FaceTimes.
We seem to have the same sense of humor and just enjoy the same things.
So I hope she likes me, because I like her already.
Gail is waiting to meet Annie at a hotel near her home.
[Gail] I didn't know I had a sister.
She came out of nowhere, out of the blue, it was an absolute surprise to me.
But a wonderful surprise and probably one of the best surprises I've ever had.
So for me it's that important to meet her now, um, in real life.
[Annie] Having a closer relationship with Gail will be particularly special because I didn't have that growing, didn't have any brothers and sisters.
[Gail] I'm feeling nervous, but I think it will be really fun, um, and just excited, really.
Just can't wait now.
I can feel my heart pounding a little bit.
It's just a really, really special day in my life and hopefully in her life too.
-Hello.
-Hello.
Oh, we can't touch, can we?
-We can't touch.
-Oh.
-We can go like that.
-We can go elbow.
-Oh, my goodness!
-Awww.
I just started to get a bit emotional.
-Oh, yeah!
-Yeah.
It's quite overwhelming, even though we've obviously chatted online.
-I know.
-It is, like, really different seeing you in person.
-Oh, my goodness!
-Oh, wow!
Hello, in real life now.
That's weird for me now looking at you, and you look like both my girls.
-Mushed together.
-Mushed together like a face swap.
To actually have her sitting there in front of me, it's magical.
-Brilliant.
-[laughing] I felt like there was something there straight away, like an instant sort of chemistry.
Does it feel weird to have a little sister?
-No, it feels great.
-Awww.
And you're my younger sister, so does that mean I boss you about, I don't know.
-I don't think so.
-No?
-[laughing] -You can try.
[Gail] It honestly feels like I've known her forever.
I felt an instant connection with her.
I truly believe that it's fate that has put us together.
So I was looking around to see what I could find about my father, um, and it's just luck that I came across you.
I know.
But obviously, um, our father and my mother were married when I was very young, and then he, he left.
And he was never in my life.
And obviously now he's passed away, so unfortunately I can't share any further information, really, the type of person he was.
-But that's fine though.
-That's okay 'cause we've got each other now.
Well, we have.
I don't think I need to look any more.
[Annie] I never thought I'd have any kind of idea about my birth father or his family, but I've found Gail now.
It's been just perfect.
I just thought it was a chapter that had ended, obviously.
-Absolutely, but yes.
-It's just the beginning of a new one now.
You didn't know what was coming up around the corner.
It is significant to me that I've got someone else in my life and someone who's so lovely as well.
I'm really happy.
It's been a life-changing experience for me.
There's no more questions really.
I know where I came from.
I know everything I wanted to know now.
And on top of it, I've got both sides of my family, and I'm looking forward to spending the future with them.
[peaceful music playing]
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