We always knew that this season of The Family Chantel would have a lot of drama.
What we did not realize is how heartfelt part of this journey would be for Pedro.
He found himself mocked and ridiculed by his family for caring about family bonds and having an interest in meeting his absent father.
Supported by Chantel, Pedro met with his two half-brothers, one of whom shares his name, for the first time.
These days, Chantel Everett and Pedro Jimeno’s marriage is pretty solid.
Pedro’s focus of late has been the quest to learn more about his origins.
He and his sister, Nicole, were born as part of a secret second family to Pedro Jimeno Sr and Lidia Jimeno.
Pedro learned that his father had an official family — including two sons.
One’s name is Jonathan. The otheris Pedro Jr. … meaning that his father has two sons named Pedro.
In shock, Pedro was eager to touch base and learn more … but his family was wildly unsupportive.
Pedro’s mother, Lidia, laughed out loud at the concept of him wanting to meet his blood relatives.
She (and others in his family) also mocked him for feeling shocked that his father was a cheater.
Pedro seems to be the only one of them who cares about fidelity.
Even Pedro’s sister, Nicole, seems to be following in his mother’s footsteps.
As far as Nicole is concerned, she told him, their origins are just part of their past and it’s not something that has her curious.
While that is a valid point of view, it is clear that Pedro feels an emotional yearning to find some meaning in all of this.
On this week’s episode of The Family Chantel, he sat down with Jonathan and Junior.
Meeting his half-brothers for the first time was interesting, especially as he picks up on their similarities and differences.
They have lighter skin than he does, but he notes that one of them could almost be his sister Nicole in a wig.
Pedro and his half-brothers compare notes, sharing what they understand of how this happened.
His mother was still a student when his father gave her a ride home. A year later, he came looking for her.
From then on, they carried on a relationship, with him providing for her but being gone much of the time on “business” trips.
The truth was that Pedro Sr. was already married.
While Pedro and his sister grew up without suffering financially, they saw very little of their father.
When he would visit, Pedro said, they spent most of their time in their rooms — as supposedly their father did not wish to see them.
Jonathan and Junior had a very different experience with their father.
For them, he was always around and always present, helping them to grow into responsible and emotionally mature adults.
It cannot be stressed enough that this was clearly painful for Pedro to hear.
Junior and Jonathan certainly pick up on how different Pedro’s experiences were from their own.
It’s a sad thing, knowing that he chose to do this to two families.
Perhaps, by forging this connection between half-brothers, Pedro can spin this into something positive.