An unexpected snag

Wouldn't you know it, Seth surprised me last night when she found out that she and Fernando were brother and sister. I emailed Jill the saga of the white belts, and might share it later on my blog. For now, I want to focus on the trouble I landed in because of this relationship.

Here's what I wrote about their past:
By morning, Fernando and Seth had reconstructed or guessed some of the story. Fernando’s mother had traveled to Canada as part of an agricultural delegation when she was a young woman. She had met Fernando’s father, who was a farmer just outside of Lucan. They fell in love, and inevitably, before long Fernando’s mother became pregnant.

On February 17th, 1900, two babies were born. Fernando Torres, and Seth Kayte. They didn’t know why Seth hadn’t traveled back to Valencia with the happy mother and father, but Seth knew that in the wee hours of February 18th, she had been left at the doorstep of the church in West McGillivray.

Fernando had grown up with two loving parents. He was an only child, but they had doted on him and raised him well. He went to school much longer than most children his age, and loved to play football. When he discovered drag, they gave him their blessing, and he began to travel around Europe, and eventually Canada, following his dream. He was world-reknowned, in select circles, as The Duchess.

Seth, on the other hand, had grown up with two other orphans, and the two elderly clergymen who ran the workhouse. She had befriended one girl in town, Reggie, and had occasionally inherited a hand-me-down of Reggie’s old clothes, but that was the extent of the family care she had received. All she knew of her family was the ring she always wore around her neck, and then on her middle finger, reading ‘HERS.’ She had always thought it meant that her parents had wanted the ring to belong to her, to be ‘hers,’ but there was no way to know.

There was no proof. Only the coincidence of Fernando’s birthday, and the day Seth had arrived at the church. Tragically, Fernie’s parents had passed away in an earthquake just two years earlier. There was no one to ask. But in the harsh light of morning, as the sun rose and its rays streamed into the Belt Emporium, there was no mistaking the family resemblance. They were brother and sister.

Their pasts are entirely different, and Seth is now FURIOUS about it. All her life she had wanted a family, and not having one has really shaped who she is. Now she finds out that her parents abandoned her, yet somehow saved Fernando, and she hates the parents just as much as she hates Fernando.

I'm not sure how to get out of this mess. It all happened so mysteriously 27 years ago, and there would be no evidence of what happened. It might turn out that in fact, the people who took Fernando to Valencia are not, in fact, his parents, either. The real parents of both children gave them both away. Maybe the mother gave birth and didn't have the father around and couldn't raise the kids (but in a small community like Lucan or West McGillivray, wouldn't someone know?). So she gave one to the church, one to someone else and the child somehow ended up with Mrs. Torres? But then even if this did happen, how would my characters find out about it? They are not about to head back to Lucan to do the research, they are about to engage in a battle with rival drag troupe the Suns of Ipswich. It's a plot problem, my dear readers, and I've got to figure out what I want to do about it.