To: I agreed to care for Linda’s son while her and her husband were deployed, they were my best friends. Daniel was 13 at the time, I was 26, worked as an RN.
Me: My advice to you is NEVER do anything to change how things are now.
You took a path, for whatever reason and you gained a son from it, that you otherwise would not have had.
Your son and his father get on extremely well together and your life continues as it does with this guilt which you have, but that came with what you did, back then and is the price you have to pay now.
If it ever came out that you did what you did, as a minimum, you would end up in prison for the rest of your life as a P******** and it would become public knowledge and anyone could find out your history and what you did to get the unpleasant recognition that you would then have.
Being a P******** in prison is the lowest form of scum in the prison system and you would be violently assaulted and even killed in there, for what you did and by owning up to it, the Judge would give you the harshest of sentences within his remit.
Think of the shame you would bring to everyone you know and who knows you which you could never overcome – you would make yourself an outcast from society, because you have “guilt” feelings now.
You got away with it, good for you, half your luck.
Carry on as you are – don’t let your silly thinking put you into a form of hell, beyond anything which you can possibly imagine – take my word for it.