Nc just incase it's outing and I apologise in advance for the long post
To start off, I've always had a rocky relationship with my dad, he left when I was 8 and it's been an extremely rocky road since then but there's too much to explain. I spent my teenage years trying to have a relationship with him, phoning him regularly but he would always cut the conversation short, he dipped in and out for a few years as he lived the other side of the country.
I let him know when I got pregnant with my oldest dd, kept him updated and told him once she was born, I invited him to her christening, with 2 months notice but he was too busy with work to come. I kept trying to keep our relationship going, ringing him and inviting him to meet his granddaughter but it never happened. I got pregnant with dd2 2 years later and he acted the same, it was at this point I decided to no contact then, that was 14 years ago.
I've kept in contact with his side of the family and have a great relationship with them as do my 3 dd's, unfortunately my papa died last month and me and dh decided to travel up for his funeral, which meant I would see him and my step mother again. It was extremely awkward and uncomfortable but I kept it polite. My dad literally said 2 words to me the whole time and didn't even speak to my dh, this being the 1st time the had meet (we have been together 18 years, married 10), My stepmum asked for my number, I felt kinda ambushed as it was in front of several family members, and tbh I felt maybe it could be a good time to reconnect so I gave it to her.
At the end, when we were leaving stepmum ask if it would be OK to get in touch, it was at this point I said yes but they weren't going to meet my dd's, there's not a chance in hell I was ever going to put them into the position where he would walk away and hurt them, like he hurt me. My stepmum then started to argue with me that it wasn't fair, that I didn't know half the story of what went down, but I do as I lived it. I looked at my dad and he just looked away and didn't say anything. I then told her she's welcome to him and that this was his last chance and I'm finally done.
Since then everyone has agreed with what I've said and my dh has kept telling me I didn't do anything wrong and he is extremely proud of me and how I handled everything. My aunt has been ringing me to make sure I'm OK, she and the rest of the family have now gone no contact with them to as they are angry at how he's treated me. But stepmum has messaged me to say that I was out of order in not giving them another chance and that my dad loves me, he just struggles with showing emotions.
Was I out of order to deny them access to my dd's, I'm really starting to doubt myself