I’ve been with my partner for more than four years and we have a daughter together. We also raise her son together. Her ex-husband kicked her and their son out of their house after she was diagnosed with a serious lifelong illness, stating that he couldn’t stay with a sick person.

Despite all the pain that the ex has caused, he is still treated like family by most of the in-laws, particularly by my mother-in-law. She thinks of him as wonderful and a “brilliant dad”, and keeps secrets from my partner about him going over for tea and going to family events. She even went to Rome with him after he had abandoned her daughter. My partner and I are treated like spare parts.

The ex has moved on and is moving overseas with his fiancee. My mother-in-law has been invited to meet her – she has jumped at the chance and tried to keep it from her daughter.

In short, she is completely obsessed with my partner’s ex and has lost the respect of her friends and many family members over her loyalty to him. Am I being melodramatic or are my partner and I, along with our children, being cast out because of this excuse of a man?

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