[Davina] For thousands of people across Britain, someone is missing from their lives.

[woman] I have no recollection of my mum at all.

Not a smell, not a memory.

Nothing.

[man] I feel something's missing.

I would love to get rid of the loneliness that I do feel.

[woman] I've carried this secret for years and years and years.

All my life I've carried that shame.

Finding someone when the trail has gone cold can feel like an impossible task, but that is where we step in.

-[Nicky] Your birth mother.

-That's my mum.

Offering a last chance to people desperate for help.

-So do they want to meet us?

-They really do.

"I last saw you as two boys, now you're both grown men.

To see you both again would be like a dream come true."

With no idea where our searches will lead, we've travelled the world, hoping to solve some of our toughest cases yet.

[Nicky] She's lived for more than 50 years with this horrible feeling that you will feel rejected.

She seeks forgiveness.

I used to say a little prayer and hope the Lord would keep him safe because I knew I couldn't.

[Davina] And finally, unraveling mysteries that ha ve overshadowed entire lives.

-I've waited so long.

-I'm so glad you kept trying.

I really am so glad you kept trying.

[Davina] This week, two stories of families shaped by unanswered letters.

A daughter searching for her father who hasn't been heard from for nearly 40 years.

Is he still alive, or am I looking for someone that doesn't exist anymore?

And a mother haunted by her son's silence.

I hope that if he read the letter that he'd want to find me, that he'd want to know me.

[dramatic music playing] [contemplative music playing] Our first story begins in Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles, with a daughter searching for her father.

[woman] My mother always said, "He will want to know you."

She always felt it, always.

[Davina] Wendy O'Hagan has never met her father.

He was last seen on this bridge nearly 40 years ago when he was arrested by security forces.

[Wendy] My understanding was that the British army at the time were in our town and they gave him 48 hours to leave Derry.

Situated on the border of the Catholic South, Wendy's hometown of Londonderry was at the heart of the Troubles.

[Wendy] We've experienced bombs in the middle of our street, and I have seen people being shot, and there's quite a lot that you forget and then you suddenly remember what the war was like.

Wendy grew up in the Bogside, an area well known as an IRA stronghold.

Her mother Sarah still lives in the neighborhood.

-Hello.

-[Sarah] All right!

[Davina] You all right?

Despite the Troubles, Wendy had a happy family life here with her younger brothers and sisters.

[Wendy] It was no different to any other family, to be honest.

We had a very, very strong, close relationship.

But things were not as they seemed.

At seven years old, Wendy discovered that the man she knew of as dad was not her real father.

Generally on a Friday evening, I tended to share it with my mother, watched a movie or whatever.

That's when she said to me, "Your father's American."

And then she just burst in tears.

First of all you think, "Am I hearing things?"

And I thought, "Is it a story or is it real?"

She said, "Your father is beautiful and you're just like your father."

Wendy learned that her dad was in fact an American sailor called Grant Williams who had started dating her mother in the summer of 1975.

He was stationed at an American naval base that had been in the city since the 1940s.

The men serving there were under strict orders to stay impartial in the Irish and British conflict and were discouraged from mixing with local girls.

Despite this, Sarah and Grant began a relationship.

[Sarah] Grant was my first love.

The two of us were always very happy.

Nice times.

[contemplative music playing] It wasn't just the US Navy who frowned on servicemen dating local girls.

Wendy's grandfather also disapproved.

We weren't allowed to date Americans.

We were hardly even allowed to bring a Derry fellow over your door.

They didn't, they weren't allowed over your door.

We would have come up around here, it's so beautiful here.

But neither her grandfather's disapproval nor the tensions in the area stopped Wendy's mother and Grant being together.

This would have been our view here, this was so gorgeous.

-The first time you showed me.

-Eh?

No, no, it's lovely.

It was a confrontation with the British army on the Craigavon Bridge that would abruptly end the affair and see Wendy's father expelled from Ireland.

[woman] My understanding was that he'd actually got in a fight with the British army and in 48 hours he was deported.

She didn't know where he was going to go, when she was ever going to see him again.

And then to find out she was pregnant must have been the devastation of her.

With Grant deported, Sarah had to inform him of the news by letter.

They continued writing to each other throughout the pregnancy.

[Sarah] That's the only thing that give me hope, was getting these letters and me sending letters to him.

That's the only thing that give me reassurance to go on for the child that I was carrying.

But soon after Wendy was born, the letters from Grant stopped.

My mother thought that he'd just maybe had met someone else, had moved on, and she continued to live with a broken heart.

It would be nearly ten years later, after Wendy's mum had married and started a family, that the truth behind Grant's silence would be revealed.

My grandfather had told my mother that Grant had actually been writing and that my mother said to him, "Where is my letters?"

And then he told her, "I burnt your letters."

Why?

They said, "Because I didn't want you or Wendy to leave."

[Wendy] What did you find?

Wendy now lives in London with her young family.

But she's never lost the desire to find her father, and with the support of her mother, she's been searching for him most of her adult life.

I can honestly say to you I have thought of him every single day.

In the 20 years she has been searching, all she's managed to track down is a photograph of Grant from a fellow serviceman he used to know.

This is the only image she has ever seen of her father.

[Wendy] I was so excited.

I thought a photograph would have been enough, but it's not.

Although Wendy's mother has always been adamant that Grant would want to be part of her life, there is no evidence that he has ever tried to find his daughter.

Is it because he has family that he doesn't want to know me?

Has he passed away, is he still alive?

Or am I looking for someone that doesn't exist anymore?

I would like to know.

I would like to know.

[Nicky] Apart from a rough idea of Wendy's father's date of birth and the fact that at one time, he'd been connected to the US military, all we had to go on was his name.

Working on the assumption that he had moved back home, we were faced with the daunting prospect of having to search for every single Grant Williams in the United States.

But luckily, and surprisingly, we discovered that Grant is a relatively unusual Christian name for American men of that generation.

We were able to narrow our search to a handful of men who fitted the right profile.

We wrote to them all, hoping one of them was Wendy's father, and the response from a Grant Williams living in New Mexico caught our eye.

Although his reply didn't confirm that he was the man we were looking for, the letter contained a clue that gave us hope.

He signed off with the abbreviation "VR."

Now, that means "Very Respectfully."

And you rarely hear that outside military circles.

It looked like we had our man.

We contacted him, and he confirmed he was Wendy's father.

Now married with five children, Grant agreed to meet me at his home in New Mexico.

When the letters between Grant and Wendy's mum stopped over 35 years ago, did Grant ever think he'd have a relationship with his daughter, the daughter he'd never seen?

And we know those letters were intercepted, but what did Grant think?

Did Grant not maybe just think, "Well, she just doesn't want anything to do with me"?

-Hello.

-Grant?

-Yes.

-Nicky Campbell.

-Nice to meet you.

-We found you at last.

[Grant] Yes, come on in.

How's it been since you found out that Wendy was looking for you?

It was quite a shock at first.

Anxious to learn more about her, of course.

I have a thousand questions that are in my head.

I'm really excited about it.

But let's talk about back then in Northern Ireland.

Right at the time of the Troubles and you met this girl.

I met this girl, Wendy's mother, yes, Sarah.

And that was just a wonderful thing.

We hit it off right away and spent lots of time together.

We didn't want to split up.

It was circumstances that brought all that about.

So, what happened?

Why did you leave?

Sarah lived on the south side of the border, and where I was working was on the north.

I think I was under a little suspicion for how much time I spent over there.

And I'm under suspicion by either the British army or the constabulary.

But you were doing it for... so you could see Sarah.

-Yes.

-And they thought... Sympathizer, IRA sympathizer.

Quite often there would be somebody behind me in a military vehicle.

Those were the kind of things that were going on that kind of led to my needing to leave.

-What happened?

-We were headed home.

I was giving her a ride home.

There was a knock at the window, and I rolled down the window, and a soldier asked me for my ID, and then they opened the door and dragged me out and beat me in the street.

They put me in the back of a vehicle and they took me down to the local jail and threw me in jail.

How did your superiors in the military react?

That night they rushed me in a unmarked car, they took me to Belfast and they got me out of there.

And I was given orders, no contact, and don't ever talk about this.

But I didn't care about what they said about no contact, and I sent Sarah letters so she had my address aboard ship, so she could communicate and, um... Ah, God.

When, uh...

When she sent me a picture and on the back it said, "Wendy Rose Marie, born 6th April 1976."

-You still have that photograph?

-Yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

-Can I see it?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Could you?

-Yeah.

-Huh?

-Yeah.

[sighs] [Nicky] Beautiful baby.

Mm-hmm.

Turn it over.

[Nicky] "Wendy Rose Marie, 1 week 5 days."

I looked at that picture a lot for a long time.

I wrote her that I wanted to come back.

-And pick up where you left off?

-Yeah, yeah.

My last letter wasn't replied to.

[Nicky] Your letter was intercepted by Wendy's grandfather, by Sarah's father, and she never received it.

Really?

[exhales sharply] I thought that they might have... You know, I was just off their radar, they had forgotten.

I mean, they went on with their lives, and I was just a bad memory or just didn't exist.

I didn't know if Wendy knew about me or what had she been told.

Did you ever look for Wendy?

For the last 10 or 12 years, I started searching.

I just didn't know enough to be able to find them.

So, what on earth do you think she looks like now?

[Grant] I haven't got the foggiest idea.

I don't know if she's... Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

She's beautiful, look at her.

Oh, my gosh, she has my eyes and my nose, wow.

Even though I have never met or known Wendy at all, um, I love her.

You know, I know she's my daughter, and I feel very strongly about this, and, um... You could ask any of the few friends that I have that know me really well and this is completely out of character for me to sit here with you today.

I'm usually pretty private, big stretch for me.

I appreciate you speaking so openly and so honestly.

I think it's important because it explains everything, because she loves you as well.

That is... that is great, that is a great surprise.

Thank you.

[contemplative music playing] [Davina] Before we tell Wendy that we've found her father... Our second story begins in Sheffield with a mum longing to hear from her son who she last saw more than 30 years ago.

[woman] Just after he'd been born, I did write a letter, explaining why I'd made the decision for him.

And the baby would grow up and always knowing that you were given out of love.

[Davina] Fifty-two-year-old Helen Harrison has no idea if her son has ever read the words she wrote to him when she was a teenager.

I hope that if he read the letter, that he would want to find me, that he would want to know me.

So I don't think he has read the letter.

Yeah.

Yeah, I don't think he's read the letter.

Helen's husband Mark has been helping her try to find her son for years.

[Mark] A few months ago, she had almost given up on ever finding him.

I said to her that, "If you do that, you will go to your grave never knowing what's happened."

And I think she then realized, you know, she needed to find him.

She just wants to know, you know, that she did the right thing.

Helen grew up just a couple of miles away from where she now lives in central Sheffield.

She was raised along with her twin sister Alison and younger sister Christine by her parents Harry and Pam.

[Helen] It seems sunny to me, my childhood.

Mum was always there when we got home from school.

Dad always had time for us, always.

He was quite a well known character in Sheffield because he had his own business.

He had started from humble beginnings and worked his way to where he was.

I think he had high hopes for us.

We were his princesses, you know, his little girls.

He was my dad, and I just absolutely loved him to bits.

But at the age of 16, Helen's secure life at home was to be shattered when she got involved with a local boy.

[Helen] I knew my parents wouldn't be that thrilled with him.

But I think I only knew him for six to eight weeks and then obviously realized a lot further down that I'm now pregnant.

We'd all gone down to Cornwall to spend the summer there.

I didn't look pregnant, and I was definitely in denial of it.

The reality of telling my parents was scarier than actually being told I was pregnant.

The stigma of having an unmarried pregnant daughter, I just knew that, because he was such a proud man, that that was not going to go down very well.

After five months, Helen knew she could no longer hide her secret from her father.

I can remember him just looking at me and saying, "Get out, just get out."

[Davina] At the age of 16, Helen Harrison discovered she was pregnant.

Fearing her father's reaction, she hid her pregnancy for five months.

But eventually she had no choice but to tell the truth.

[Helen] He didn't want anything more to do with me.

He just wanted me to go, and I just thought at that point, just go.

Although being an unmarried mother still carried a stigma in the late '70s, local councils were now obliged to provide housing for girls in Helen's situation.

In Sheffield this meant one of the city's high-rise estates.

Built in the 1960s to much fanfare, by the time Helen was a teenager, the flats already had a reputation as an undesirable place to bring up a family.

[Helen] As a 16-year-old girl, I just couldn't imagine myself living there.

The flats were notorious for drug dealing, not very nice characters, and a lot of people seemed to suffer from depression.

It was a very, very frightening thought to live alone on those flats with a child.

As the reality of Helen's situation hit home, her father offered her a way back into the family on one condition.

He said to me, "What sort of life are you going to offer to a child on your own?"

You know, "There are people out there who desperately, desperately want to love a baby."

If she wanted to return home, adoption was her only choice.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to keep her baby, Helen had to find a way to get through the final months of the pregnancy.

[Helen] I'm going to think I'm having this baby for someone else, almost as a surrogacy.

That is definitely how I dealt with it.

Even though it's going to be horrendously heartbreaking for me, that it is going to be so much better for him.

I kept focused on the fact that adoption was the right choice.

Helen was only 17 when she gave birth to her son, who she named Antony.

It was the most heartbreaking thing to have to do, knowing you were leaving your baby and just hoping that the decision you were making was right.

He was definitely a baby that was loved when he'd been born.

All Helen could do was leave Antony a letter in the hope that one day he would understand the reasons behind her decision.

[Helen] I did write the letter many, many times.

For me it needed to be perfect.

In the 35 years Helen's been waiting for a reply, she's married Mark and they have two sons of their own.

Now she's writing once more to the son she had to give up, in the hope that this letter will reach Antony.

[Mark] It's the most important thing in her life.

I think she just wants to know that he's happy, and I think she'll be fulfilled by that.

For anyone in Helen's position, there is always a risk when searching for a child who's been adopted.

There's no guarantee, even if they're found, that they'll want contact.

But now that she has taken the first step, there's only one way in which we could help.

Because of the confidentiality surrounding an adopted person's new identity, we had to work with a specialist intermediary who is legally allowed to access their records.

Eventually we got the news we were hoping for.

Helen's son had been found and he agreed to meet me.

He's now called David and lives in Harpenden in Hertfordshire with his long-term girlfriend and their two children.

As the years have passed, Helen's hopes that she'd ever receive a reply to the letter she sent her son have all but vanished.

But I wonder why has David remained so silent?

Maybe he just didn't get the letters, it could be as simple as that, or perhaps it was just not the right time to find out about his past until now.

[doorbell rings] -Dave.

-Thank you.

Pleased to meet you.

-Come in.

-Thank you very much indeed.

[Nicky sighs] Come follow me.

[Nicky] What do you know about your adoption, what have you been told?

-Very, very little.

Uh... -Really?

I was told about nine, ten years old that I was adopted, and actually that's all I knew.

Actually, just that I was adopted and no details.

-That was it.

-So when you were nine, ten years old, you're old enough to think about stuff, aren't you?

Yes, but I didn't dwell on it.

I was probably more scared at the time of being told that I'd be taken off my mum, thinking that anyone could walk through the door and say, "I'm going to take you back," and I was petrified of that.

Did you ever talk about it again?

No, you know.

I was happy with that, you know.

And I never really gave it much thought.

I really didn't.

You know, I was happy with my life.

I had a lovely life, beautiful parents, loving mother.

You couldn't have asked for a better upbringing, really.

For your birth mother, Helen, to hear what you've just told me will be amazing.

Because all her life she's thought, "Did I do the right thing?

Has he been happy?"

And she actually gave the social workers a letter explaining her emotions and explaining to you why you had been adopted.

-Did you ever get that letter?

-No, no.

It was never passed to me, so I don't know whether it was lost or it was never just passed down to me.

[Nicky] Hmm.

She's written you another letter now.

Okay.

-"Antony!"

[laughs] -You don't feel like an Antony!

I don't feel like an Antony.

-More a Dave.

-Yeah.

[Nicky] Yeah.

"Dear son, I hope with all my heart this letter finds you well and very happy.

When I had you, I was 17 years old and not with your father.

I want you to know you were loved and for that reason I believed I would give you a better start in life by letting you go.

It was a hard and very heartbreaking decision.

So I hope you have been very happy growing up surrounded by a loving and caring family.

I hope you read this letter as it is written and that is with love and care, love Helen."

That's lovely.

To hear that is just wonderful, really nice.

-What other things are you wondering?

-Thousands of questions, really.

What does she look like?

Does she look like me, you know?

Wow.

Wow.

I can't help but feel a little bit of betrayal towards my mum.

And your mum's gone now, has she?

She's gone, yeah, because obviously she'd raised me for so long and...

I do feel a slight bit of betrayal.

[Nicky] Well, that's natural.

A lot of people feel that.

This doesn't one tiny little bit diminish the love for your mum -and your mum's love for you and... -Yeah.

...and the love in your family, that doesn't change one iota.

[Dave] Sure.

She did the right thing at the time, and that was what needed to be done.

To have the letter and the photo and actually know who I'm meeting, and... the person that gave birth to me.

Wow.

I just want to meet her now.

-Do you?

-Yeah.

[Davina] Wendy O'Hagan has never met her father, an American serviceman who disappeared from Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles nearly 40 years ago.

We finally tracked him down living in New Mexico in the United States.

I'm on my way to tell Wendy that we've found her dad, and that she's heard lots of rumors about him and snippets of information, so this news today will actually bring her what she's always wanted, and that's the truth.

[knocks on door] -Hey, Wendy.

-Hi, Davina, how are you?

[Davina] All right, how are you?

-Can I come in?

-It's so yucky outside.

[Davina] It's horrible.

Wendy, just to sort of touch on your search, you've wanted information and not been able to get it.

-How hard has that been?

-It's been very hard.

Just even last night I sat on the computer again thinking, did I miss something out here?

Analyzing everything because you don't have... you don't have the answers.

-Yeah.

-You've been looking for a long time.

-Yes.

-But your dad has been found.

Really?

Really?

Really?

-He is so thrilled.

-Really?

-He's so thrilled, he's so happy.

-Where is he?

He's in New Mexico.

[sobbing] All that way!

When he got deported, he was told to never have any contact with anybody in Ireland ever again, and actually he broke those rules and contacted your mother and carried on writing to her, and he was so, uh, upset to find that his letters hadn't got through.

-So he did write?

-He did.

-He did write.

-He did, he did.

-Do you want to see a picture?

-A new one?

-Do you want to see a picture?

-Yes, please.

[whispering] This is your dad.

[sobbing] He's wanted to find me?

Yeah, and his family knows about you.

They've always known about you.

You've never been a secret, and his wife has been trying to help him find you.

They've been looking for me?

-He's been so happy.

-They've been looking?

-Yeah.

-I thought youse were going to come back and tell me they didn't want to know me or... or he was passed away.

He's always felt such a close connection to you.

-Really?

-Yeah.

He's got a most treasured possession that he gave to us to show you.

[gasps] Here's his most treasured possession, and on the back, if you look on the back... [Wendy sniffles] -This is my mother's writing.

-Yeah.

"Wendy Rose Marie, 1 week 6 days, born April 6th."

Oh, my God.

I'm so glad this has happened.

I've never been so happy, thank you.

Four weeks after receiving the news that we'd found her father, today Wendy will see him for the first time.

She wants to meet him in London, the place she now calls home.

Grant's made the 5,000-mile journey from New Mexico to be there.

Good morning, good to see you.

-Yeah, you too, are you ready?

-Big day.

Yeah, absolutely.

Let's go.

Thank you.

Oh, look at this.

So how have you been sleeping?

I haven't been sleeping very much.

[laughs] -[Nicky] No?

-I'm just so excited.

I want her to know how much she was on my mind and that she was loved and that I have never forgotten about all this.

[Nicky] How long is it going to take you to tell her your story?

-I don't know.

-It's going to take a lifetime, isn't it?

-I hope so.

-[chuckles] [Davina] Do you have any fears?

No, because for me I have the feeling he wants to see me.

-And it's done a lot for you... -Yeah.

-Mm-hmm, massively.

-Just that?

And you haven't even met him yet?

[Wendy] No.

[laughs] [Davina] But I look at you, and you're actually so young.

Yes.

And very lucky.

And you've got such a life ahead to look forward to with your dad.

-[Grant] My knees are getting weak.

-[Nicky laughs] And, uh... this is where I say goodbye.

Ah, all right.

-Thank you so much.

-It's a pleasure.

All right.

Oh, boy.

[clears throat] -Hello.

-[laughing] Hello.

Hi there.

Thank you, thank you very much.

So listen, I'm not going to go any further and your dad's just in there.

[Wendy sighs] Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

Oh, it's so good to meet you.

-I look like you.

-I know.

Let me look at you.

Oh, my God, you do.

Do you want to sit down?

Yes, please.

Okay.

[sighs] I'm so happy I've found you.

Me too.

I'm really happy.

I tried 20 years.

I've been looking for you 20 years.

I looked for you too.

I just couldn't...

I couldn't find you.

That doesn't matter, what's more important is it's here now.

-It's here now.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, the one thing that I will never, ever lose... my mother's faith in how you felt, and my mother always knew that you would love me.

And that always...

Please don't... And that always made me realize that you did care.

I...

I do.

And she always looks at me and says, you know, "I just wish he could see you now."

Oh, you don't know how happy that makes me feel; I never knew what anybody thought.

-We couldn't... -No.

No, no.

Yeah, I didn't know.

Everything disappeared, everything got cut off.

All the communication was lost.

I understand.

[sniffles] It's fine, it really is.

You know what, we can live in the past.

I lived in it for too long looking for you.

-Yeah, I like that.

-Let's start now.

Okay.

[Wendy] I think this has made my father very happy and me extremely happy.

I don't have to look or search again.

That's it now.

[laughs] Look how long your fingers are.

[Wendy laughs] [Grant] I started off thinking about this being a chapter of my life, that it would be closed today, and it's not closed.

It's just going to be a really long chapter.

And I'm looking forward to reading it all.

[Davina] When Helen Harrison gave up her baby son for adoption in 1977, she left him a letter in the hope that one day he would read it and make contact.

After years of silence, she has written again, a letter we were able to give him when he was eventually traced, living in Hertfordshire.

Now that David's finally read Helen's letter, I get to deliver his reply.

The one that she's waited for for 35 years.

-Hi, Helen.

-Hi, Davina.

[Helen] Come in, it's so cold.

Would you like a drink?

[Davina] Please, thank you.

Thanks so much.

What's it like when somebody asks you how many sons you've got?

In my head I answer three, but I actually speak two, making it feel as though it's someone I don't want to associate with, because it's not like that at all, it's just to go through that whole thing, and it's just such a personal thing, isn't it?

It's such a stigma around how people think about, you know, "You gave... you gave your baby away?"

Well, you're going to able to say that you've got three sons because your son has been found.

[Helen] And does he want to see me?

Is he happy?

-He's so happy.

-Is he really?

I'm so pleased, I'm so pleased.

I can't believe it.

I really can't believe it.

Oh, thank you.

Do you want to know a bit about him?

Yeah, I'd love to know a bit about him, anything.

-He's got a lovely partner.

-Yeah.

He's got two kids.

-You're a grandmum.

-Oh, really?

I can't believe it.

I'm just so happy that he's happy, and that he doesn't feel that I...

He got your letter, the last one.

-He never got the first one?

-He never got the first one.

He got your last letter, and he wanted to write one back.

-Really?

-Would you like to read it?

[Helen] Yeah, I would love to read it.

[Davina] There it is.

Oh, I can't believe... "Dear Helen...

The first and most important thing that I want you to know is, whatever the circumstances surrounding the adoption were, I will never be angry, bitter or resentful.

I have been told that you were just 16 when I was conceived.

I can only imagine how that must have been so difficult for you.

I find myself constantly hoping that your experience was not too painful or that you had a compassionate and caring family member, friend offering you support.

I simply cannot wait to get to know the person that gave me the gift of life.

I just keep hoping that when that day arrives, I live up to any expectations that you may have of me.

Until then, yours sincerely, Dave."

Oh, God, that is so nice.

-Isn't that the most amazing letter?

-Could never have imagined that.

Oh, God, I'm so happy.

I am so happy.

Oh, bless him.

[sniffles] I'm proud of him already.

[Davina] Today, after 35 years, Helen will finally get to meet her son.

Best of luck.

-See you later.

-All right.

-How are you doing?

-Fine.

-Are you ready?

-I'm ready.

Okay.

Helen wants to meet Dave in a central Sheffield hotel, close to where Helen grew up and where her son was born.

[Nicky] Well, since our conversation, what's it been like?

I've had time to process it and take it all in and... yeah, it's just overwhelming, really.

-Yeah.

-I just can't wait to meet now.

It's just so many emotions all going on at once.

[Helen] I just imagined he wouldn't be found.

[Davina] You never thought he'd be found?

Yeah, because we'd tried.

I just couldn't imagine the day that I will meet that baby.

It just feels like something's been lifted.

I just can't explain how much it means to me.

I just can't wait to meet him.

I just can't wait.

[Dave] I would like to be able to call her mum, you know, rather than Helen.

I don't know how long that will take or... You would like her to play a role of a mother, in a sense.

-Yeah, in some ways, definitely.

-That's interesting.

Rather than a friendship, you know.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-[Nicky] I'll leave you here.

-[Dave] Okay.

-[Nicky] And all the very best.

-Thanks very much, Nicky.

-I'll see you later.

-Yeah, thank you very much.

[Davina] All these years of feeling miles apart.

[Helen] It's getting closer and closer.

[Davina] It's getting closer and closer.

[contemplative music playing] So I'm going to say goodbye to you here.

-Okay.

-So this is where you go meet your son.

-He's just inside.

-Thank you.

I'm just so happy you'd meet me.

It's just so untrue that you were that little tiny baby and you're so lovely.

Oh, my God, I can't believe it.

I'm just so glad you've been happy.

I'm just so, so glad you've been happy.

-It means so much.

Yeah.

-Very happy.

[laughing] I must admit, I have read your letter every day, and it just... every time I read it, I felt like, I really know you.

-Really?

-Yeah.

I cried through every line.

-Really?

-Yeah.

I feel really bad now.

No, I was so happy that... because it was everything I'd wished for.

Okay, yeah, I was really pleased when yours said, "as long as you're happy."

It was actually a really lovely letter, a really lovely letter.

Really?

I thought yours was so nice, I just thought... [gasps] ...what must he think to mine?

Really?

[Helen] I just wanted to love him.

I just wanted to put my arms around him and hug him.

It did feel like I was hugging my son.

Have you ever thought, "I wonder who I am"?

Honestly, truthfully, no, I didn't.

No?

When my mum told me, I was about nine, ten... [Dave] I hadn't thought of her, you know, for 35 years, a long time, and I was still really worried that I would not have a connection, um, and I did feel a connection straight away.

There is definitely something there that feels like my mum, you know.

People have always said to me, "How many children have you got?"

And I always think three and I've always said two, and now I can say three.

[laughing] [Helen] There's, you know, 35 years of waiting, and today has meant the absolute world to me, meeting Dave.

I feel as though he is, he's my son, and I feel as though I've known him forever.

[Davina] Next time on "Long Lost Family"... Two brothers searching for their father who walked out on them nearly 40 years ago.

[man] It wasn't right what my dad did, but I'd like to think it's time to move on and forgive and forget, really.

And a daughter searching for her mother who she's never known.

[woman] I was brought up to believe that my mum wasn't in my life out of choice.

The most important person in my life was missing.

It was as if she never existed.

[peaceful music playing]