Baby Daddy?

Report: Edwards Ready to Accept Child

Rielle Hunter contemplating a move to South Carolina.

Is L'Affair Edwards finally reaching its conclusion? As a federal grand jury in Raleigh, North Carolina, continues its investigation into whether John Edwards broke campaign laws while concealing his affair with employee Rielle Hunter, The New York Times reports that the one-term senator is getting ready to go public as the father of Hunter's 19-month-old daughter Frances—despite having unequivocally denied fathering the child on previous occasions. Though Edwards staffer Andrew Young once claimed Frances' paternity, Young is now working on a tell-all memoir that will reportedly admit that it was all a ruse to protect his former boss. What's more, the NYT reports that Rielle Hunter is contemplating a move to Wilmington, North Carolina, not far from the Edwards family's restricted-access beach home. An acknowledgement of paternity would not only be a nail in the coffin of Edwards' credibility, but could "shift Ms. Hunter's image from that of a predatory celebrity stalker... to that of a mother concerned about her child's rights." Holding the public acknowledgement back, NYT reports, is Edwards' cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, who "has yet to be brought around" according to a family friend.