For their 50th anniversary, my in-laws invited the entire family for dinner at a fancy restaurant. They insisted that only adults would attend, so we left our kids, Fred, 9, and Sara, 7, at home. Once there, I was shocked to see all their other grandchildren at the table. The worst part is that my husband knew what was going on.

He turned to me and said, “Well, you have to admit that even though it took my parents a long time to warm up to Fred and Sara, they did actually make a lot of progress.” To my horror, he added, “However, this is a family occasion, and they insisted that only blood relatives be present.” In fact, Fred and Sara are my children from a previous marriage, and even though they are not his biological children, my husband has always treated them as his own because he loves me. But this wasn’t the case with his parents; they always wanted their son to raise his own children rather than marry me, a woman who came with “baggage,” as they said. I found what they did horrible; my kids are still considered to be strangers. They are polite and amazing children, and they do not deserve to be treated this way. But I have to admit, I have been even angrier with my husband than with my in-laws because he should have stood up for our family, but he didn’t. I don’t know what to do next..

Yours, Nadine