amanda holdiness has felt incomplete her whole life. raised by a single mother, grandmother and godparents, she has never known her father and spent years searching for him in vain. but tonight her story finally gets a happy ending. here's abc's elizabeth vargas with another look. >> i'm so nervous right now. i cannot wait till i get that call. >> reporter: amanda holdiness's life is about to change. [ phone ringing ] on the other end of that call -- >> hey there. >> reporter: -- someone with an answer to a question she's been asking her whole life. >> so are you ready? >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: who is her father? ♪ happy birthday we started following her quest to find him two years earlier. a doting mother herself with her own son making his birthday wishes. moments that harken back to her own childhood of birthday wishes. wishes that have always been the same. to find her dad. >> i wanted to have a father that i would be the apple of his eye. >> reporter: her mother had given her a name for the man she believed was amanda's father,

. >> reporter: amanda holdiness's life is about to change. [ phone ringing ] on the other end of thatall -- >> hey there. >> reporter: -- someone with an answer to a question she's been asking her whole life. >> so are you ready? >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: who is her father? ♪ happy birthday we started following her quest to find him two years earlier. a doting mother herself with her own son making his birthday wishes. moments that harken back to her own childhood of birthday wishes. wishes that have always been the >> i wanted to have a father that i would be the apple of his eye. >> reporter: her mother had given her a name for the man she believed was amanda's father, but other details were scarce. >> she described him having dark brown hair and i was thinking about elvis. >> reporter: and amanda says she described a 345man who wasn't thrilled at the time he was going to be a father, so amanda's single mother moved back home to mississippi to raise amanda with the help of her own family, never to hear from him again. the absence of a father was felt all the time, but especially p