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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

DP not invited to sisters wedding after affair

253 replies

Turntheheatingdown · 12/02/2017 06:39

DP and I have been together for 14 years. Last year I found out he has been having a 10 month affair and we split. We have DS aged 3.

In October we agreed to try again. I didnt tell my family as I wanted to be sure I was doing the right thing. I accepted people were going to think I was making a stupid decision and after everything I had been through I wanted to protect myself from more stress.

When my DSis found out about DPs affair she sent him a text telling him what she though of him. In a fit of anger, DP contacted her fiance and told him about some of her past behaviour from before they were together. She has been the OW once. So, in essence, he tried to break up her engagement (he didnt succeed) and they have not spoken since.

So, wrongly or righly I have been keeping two sides of my life separate (much as he did I suppose when having the affair for 10 months and telling OW I didnt exist).

My wedding invite arrived this week and DP opened it, saw only me and DS invited (I'm a bridemaid and DS is pageboy) and has exploded. He thought my family knew we were back together and thinks it was a snub.

I guess I had buried my head in the sand about the whole thing and thought I had a couple more months to come clean.

I have told my family this week that we are back together and without any prompting DSis has said he can come to the wedding. I can tell my family are disapointed we are back together and they are worrying about me but no one has made any bad comments (well to my face anyway).

Ive said I want him at the wedding but am not prepared to agree to that unless DP apologises to DSis for what he tried to do. Its her big day, she shouldnt have to be made uncomfortable on it! At the moment she doesnt even want to be in the same room as him as he hurt her so badly. Wedding is 5 months away.

DP absolutely refuses to apologise, says if I think like that we are over and he will do everything he can to stop DS attending the wedding including turning up at the wedding (3 hours away) and making a scene.

I don't know what to do.

OP posts:
shockthemonkey · 12/02/2017 14:23

Hi OP

Been thinking about you

WhooooAmI24601 · 12/02/2017 14:49

The thing that stood out most for me in all of your posts op is that he hasn't ever apologised. Not to you, not to your family, not to anyone. So he's not sorry for the affair, he's not sorry for shitting on you, he's not sorry for having broken your heart. He's not sorry for crapping on his DC (which is what happens when you partake in an affair once you've got children; you shit all over their lives as well as the life of your DP). So he's learned nothing and changed nothing.

It's easy to say "I'd leave if DH had an affair" (and I'd like to think I would) but nobody really knows what their breaking point is. Do you think this might be yours? To even begin to rebuild your trust he has to show you that he's changed. He's showing you every single day who he is. He's not changed one iota. Staying with someone who doesn't care for your happiness is a waste of a life. It's a waste of your time, energy, love and joy. All of which he's trampling over.

ToastieRoastie · 12/02/2017 15:16

I echo previous posters - you need to take care of yourself and your son and leave this man.

On the house and debt - whose name is the debt in and who is named on the deeds of the house? If you're both on deeds, is it as tenants in common or joint tenants?

Also his behaviour is classic deflection. He knows he was in the wrong with the affair, it is far easier to him now to blame your break up on you (and your family) then to admit it was his affair that has ultimately led to this. This might be thestory he tells people because it puts him in a better light than a long affair. You need to rise above it if he starts saying stuff - just repeat to yourself and others that he choose to have a long affair, you tried again but the betrayal was too great to forget.

Darlink · 12/02/2017 15:25

He's a spoilt bully

Turntheheatingdown · 12/02/2017 17:43

Hi

We are tenants in common in equal shares, debt has been secured against the house as he got 2 ccjs.

Its all such a mess.

Thank you all for your kind words

OP posts:
KERALA1 · 12/02/2017 17:51

Is it a joint debt or his?

ohfourfoxache · 12/02/2017 18:00

It may be a mess, but it's nothing that can't be sorted

MixedGrill · 12/02/2017 18:03

It is a mess, OP, but it can be sorted.

You can get good legal advice on what he might reasonably owed in the light of the debts, ccjs, his failure to contribute etc.

You have a good job / income: one that has supported you all over the last 7 years and which will go a lot further without this cocklodger soaking it all up.

You have a family who love you, want to support you and who behave decently.

So, not all a mess, not by a long chalk.

seven201 · 12/02/2017 18:28

Leave him. After the house and debt is all sorted you will be able to breathe a great big sigh of relief and get on with your life. He is a disgusting excuse for a human being.

Stripyhoglets · 12/02/2017 18:29

The debt may just be secured against his half then. You need legal advice though.

Turntheheatingdown · 12/02/2017 18:39

1 debt is a personal debt of his, the other in joint names.

I saw him earlier when he dropped DS off- he threw his coat in my face and drove off. Had a text from him saying

"I'm sorry for some of the things I said. I felt let down and let my emotions get the better of me. "

Its so ridiculous that I'm in this mess

OP posts:
Turntheheatingdown · 12/02/2017 18:41

Although the debt in joint names was not run up by me or our family life at all, it was his company debt paid off by a 0% credit card deal in our joint names in happier (???) times

OP posts:
Naicehamshop · 12/02/2017 18:42

HE felt let down!!?

Have a long, hollow laugh and get on with your life without him.

WeCouldBeMenWithVen · 12/02/2017 18:52

Your DP is a remorseless scumbag. Don't be hoovered in by his bullshit. Please leave Flowers

Wingsofdesire · 12/02/2017 19:04

So, his position is:

Your sister confided in him and trusted him with secrets about her behaviour in the past, of which she was ashamed and didn't want her partner to know.
When she found out about him having done the same thing as her - only to you - she came down on him like a tonne of bricks. She betrayed his trust, in his eyes. He couldn't trust her in the way she had trusted him, so he broke her trust and told her partner her bad secrets.

In his eyes, what he'd done was no different to what she'd done. He felt that in the same way that he hadn't judged her, she shouldn't have judged him.

Now, let's work out what's wrong with this - because what is wrong with it is what makes everything so painful and so unviable.

What it might be helpful to think about is: he feels everyone is judging his betrayal of you, and he wanted your sister's betrayals also to be known about, so he would be seen as someone who's made a mistake, but can be forgiven for it. That's what's driving this - his desire to clear his name, effectively. That doesn't make it right, but it does understand his absolute insistence. Asking him to apologise is, to him, asking him to say he's more guilty than your sister - and that's what he can't swallow.

What's wrong is he's failed to take on board that you are her sister, and that his was current behaviour, not past.

He's made the mistake of thinking her trust would trump her feelings for you.

He basically didn't think about how much she loves you, and that in turn shows how he still hasn't felt how much he's hurt you.

He hasn't thought about how much he's hurting you in trying to make you choose him over your family.

He hasn't thought about how much he's hurting you in using your little boy and your commitment and desire to seeing your nan in a pincer action.

He hasn't thought about any of this. I think because he can't - because he is missing a chip. And that chip is the vital one - the difference between a gentle, happy life for you and your son, and a miserable, painful one being tossed from one unbearable emotion to another.

...

What you need to let go of is:
the hope and quite strong underlying belief that it is better for your son to be brought up with his father and you than with you separated, and maybe with other partners.

And:
the trust that ultimately he must love you as you love him.

...

What you need to really grasp is:
although of course in an ideal world we will all be deliriously happy, the first person to consider here is your little boy. He is utterly dependent on you both, and he only has one moment of being each age that he is. This is his childhood. This is it.

And it will get worse if you stay together.

And even things which you might not consider as high stress for him - such as the business today of where he was going and if he's going to his nan's - and possibly catching on that you're upset or at least stressed - these sort of seemingly low-risk exposures to stress do in fact have a very strong and negative cumulative effect on little ones.

So you need to act sooner rather than later.

It goes without saying that it will be better for you, as well, to get out of this situation. It will take its toll on you as well as your son. It will, over time, really degrade your life. And you too have only got one moment of being every age you are.

...

I think that if you're strong enough, just calling time is best. But you might need some moral support to do this - you might need some counselling or other support.

But your main task is:

Understand that you have to do this. Be strong for your son. Protect him from this harmful situation by ending it.

VanillaSugar · 12/02/2017 19:07

Look at it this way - paying off his debt and getting rid of him is an investment in your future. It will be money well spent.

He is a classic psychopath.

VanillaSugar · 12/02/2017 19:09

FlowersFlowersFlowersCake

Wingsofdesire · 12/02/2017 19:16

Yes, textbook psychopath. That's why it's so painful - normal reasoning won't work on him, and he doesn't have normal reactions to pain he's causing in others.

And that's why you may need help in working out how to get free and how to go forwards, because you do have a child together, and how you deal with your and his involvement needs to be very carefully set out.

You will do it, I'm sure - and I am very sorry you are having to go through this. Try to get it done and behind you as soon as you can, really.

ConfusedCod · 12/02/2017 19:19

Yeah he sounds like a charmer.

Affair, vicious attack on your sisters relationship when he rightly deserved a dressing down (and if he was actually sorry about it would probably have taken that rant on the chin 'you're right, I'm a dick')

Ditch him or regret it.

Fedupd0tcom · 12/02/2017 19:20

Leave your dp. You are too good for him and he has caused you and your family a lot of pain. How dare he expect to be at the wedding after what he did, both trying to break your DSis' engagement and the affair and trying to prevent your DS from going/threatening to make a scene. He is clearly a selfish and controlling individual. You have many grounds on which to leave him. Put yourself, your son and your family first. This man is a disgrace and is emotionally abusing you, please walk away hon xx

ConfusedCod · 12/02/2017 19:21

Ahh crap, I told myself I'd start reading right to the end before jumping the gun.

Apologies op, you've made the right decision, what a tosser Flowers

user87654321 · 12/02/2017 19:24

What are his good points, op?

MixedGrill · 12/02/2017 19:44

He threw Dd's coat in your face and issued a (non) apology by text. An apology that could be translated as "you let me down so I said stuff like preferring OW that I should have kept to myself but you made me angry and I lost control"

Hahah. How 'let down' did he think you might have felt over a 10 month affair, whilst living if your money, and running up debts in your name? Let down? He doesn't know the meaning.

Turntheheatingdown · 12/02/2017 19:47

I honestly can't think of good points other than he makes me laugh sometimes. Thats pathetic isnt it.

You are right, I'm clinging on to hoping he will change and be the man i thought he used to be. That isnt going to happen.

I also need to get past the desire to have that textbook family unit. It makes me feel sick to the core that we are damaging DS and his childhood and I don't want DS to grow up thinking his fathers behaviour is an acceptable way to have a relationship. No money is worth that. I can make more money.

OP posts:
MixedGrill · 12/02/2017 19:47

OP, this is very traumatic for you.

Would you consider counselling? To give you some emotional support for the separation?