I Took Away My Dad's Girlfriends Keys After She Tried To SEND ME TO BED! | r/BestOf

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_01] Hey Waffle Gang, I do hope you are well. My name is Mark and today we're checking out some more Reddit Stories. And if you do love a Reddit Story, why not consider in the like, subscribe, maybe that notification bell too. And let's crack on with today's first story. Much love guys. Now today's first story comes from Charlie Zhu who says, Am I the arsehole here for taking away my dad's girlfriend's keys after she tried to send me to bed?

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah, you're gonna be shocked when you see OP's age and she was being sent to bed. For context, I, 21 female, have 4 siblings. 26 male, 23 male, 12 female and 10 male. Our uncle has been our legal guardian since our mum passed and my dad has been out of our lives. My 23 year old brother and I are home for the summer from college. My oldest brother lives in the city. Since we've come home, my uncle's been away on a work trip. So it's just been me and my siblings around the house.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_01] Further context. My dad used to be a problem drinker and was basically estranged for half of my life. Very limited contact and growing up, it's always been my siblings and I taking care of each other. For the past year or so, my dad has been wanting to reconnect with us. Mainly my younger siblings. He's been getting better in his habits. He was clean for three years and managed to keep his act together.

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_01] Because of this, we've allowed a couple of visits from time to time. Four months ago, he started seeing someone new. Quite a bit younger than him, in her 30s, and she seems to have this strange obsession with playing mum. She visits way more frequently than he does and seems to be under the impression that she's our new step mum. I think it's kind of weird, but we just let her do her thing since she's not harming anyone. She does have this patronising way of addressing us.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_01] It's better with my oldest brothers, but with me, it gets a little ridiculous sometimes. Again, I kind of just ignore it and go about my own business. A few weeks before my brother and I came home, she was helping my uncle pick up our younger siblings from school and driving them home. Because of that, she was given a key to the house. Since then, she's around all the time and just playing parent to my younger siblings. But not really doing much because my older brothers and I take care of the responsibilities.

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_01] In short, the situation started when we had her and my dad over for dinner. My brothers cooked a great meal and it was all going good until my dad ended up making a very insensitive and inappropriate joke during dinner. And she corroborated that joke by making a really ugly insinuation about our late mother. Not gonna get into that. We saw them out and that was that. We put the kids to bed and kind of talked about what happened and informed our uncle about the situation. We were all unsure of what to do.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_01] The next afternoon, both my brothers were busy with work and I picked up the kids from school and got home to my dad's girlfriend in our kitchen. This was the first time she let herself in when nobody was home and it caught me kind of off guard. She'd basically come to apologize on my dad's behalf. She said that he felt so ashamed he couldn't bear coming here. I sent the kids to their rooms and explained the situation to her. I also communicated to her that I found her comment to be extremely inappropriate and in poor taste.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_01] She started laughing it off but I was clear with her that we wouldn't tolerate anything like that again. And then she said something like, Oh, it's so cute that you're trying to be their mom slash their adult. I kind of just blinked at her. The remainder of that conversation she had the same attitude. Just not taking me seriously and treating me patronizingly. Naturally, I got fed up and got started on dinner. I don't know where she went for the next while. I think she went into the kids' rooms to help them with some homework.

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_01] But she stuck around for the rest of the night. Out of the kindness of my heart, I cooked extra food for her. Even though she didn't ask for permission to stay and lo and behold, she stayed for dinner. Later on in the night, she was fawning over the kids again. And around 10, in a stepmom manner, she says like, Okay, my dears, it's time for bed. My younger siblings were in the living room watching TV. They're usually pretty disciplined at going to bed themselves. At this, they looked over to me.

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_01] Gave me the look like, what is this lady doing? And I just shrugged and they went off to their rooms because it was close to their usual bedtime anyway. Now, wait for this. I'm in the kitchen cleaning up. Dad's girlfriend is on her phone at the island. She looks up at me and says, You too, hon. It crosses my mind that she could have been joking. But I devise after a moment that this was not a joke. And she was in fact sending me to bed. So, I naturally say, What? She says, It's getting late.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_01] Time for bed. And kind of tuts at me. To remind you guys, I'm 21 years old. I go to college and I'm working almost full time in the summer. I've been taking care of my family since I was 12. This woman has been dating my estranged father for barely half a year. So, I give her the benefit of the doubt. That she clearly has some mental issues and is a little crazy. I tell her that I think it's time that she went home. She is insistent that I go to bed, still acting like she's my mom.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_01] This gets me a little ticked off. I explain to her that I feel disrespected being talked to like that and that I'm an adult. And as an extension to our previous conversation, I need her to take me seriously because I don't joke around my family or my siblings and she's on thin ice. She continues to laugh me off and goes on this super patronizing tone. Again, she uses the phrase, It's so cute when teenagers try to act like adults. She throws in some stuff about me having a hissy fit and being rebellious.

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_01] At this point, I'm just so fed up by everything. I simply say, You have five minutes to get your things and leave this house. In response, she scoffs and gets up and walks off to the bathroom. And on the way, I hear her say something along the lines of, No wonder, Anatole? Dad says you're a frigid little priss. When she's in the bathroom, I go over to her handbag and her keys on the couch. She has a gigantic key ring and a ton of keys, so knowing she won't notice, I remove her house key from the ring. And I go back to my room.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_01] I hear her leave maybe 20 minutes later. The next day, I get a bunch of texts from her, panicking about the key. I told her I took it. She said some stuff, called me a brat, saying she was going to tell my uncle and brothers, and I was being childish. I told her I was at work, and if she wanted to talk, she could call me at four. Otherwise, she could go bother my brothers about it. But they're at work too, so good luck with that. She went off again with the, Stop pretending to be an adult thing, and said that my younger siblings were like her kids,

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_01] and she needed to take care of them. And this was unsafe. The last text I sent her was, This is the last time I say this. You've been disrespectful of me and my brothers since we met and dismissed my attempts to communicate with you. I'm no longer investing energy into enduring your behavior. I'm going to be honest. There is very little chance you are going to get that key back. This is not helping those chances. Like I said, 4pm, you can call. She yapped some more, then blew up my brother's phones,

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_01] and texted my uncle as well. I'm writing this as this is occurring. I told my brothers a bit about what happened when she came over, but they don't know the full story. My uncle is also in the dark about this, but I'll tell them what happened if I need to. Look, I don't doubt in her heart that she does truly care for my younger siblings. I don't think she's a bad person or anything. Plus, my uncle trusted her enough to give her entry into his house. She just really pissed me off.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_01] The whole stepmom act is also really facetious to me. I'd have no problem lending a help out around the house if she was respectful and communicated. That's what she wanted, anyways. Am I the arsehole here? Gentle update. I had to put this in the comments, but for those who didn't see. After my dad's girlfriend freaked out, my uncle called me and said, What's this she's saying about you stole her keys and kicked her out? And he was already laughing as he said this, because he knows and trusts me and he knows I'm a level-headed person.

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_01] And I told him, yeah. She tried to put me to bed and called me a priss. And that cracked him up hard. When I told my brothers too, they were like, Wow, I'm surprised you didn't knock her out. They both knew she could be a little weird, but never had been like that. I think it was because it was the first time she and I were alone. She's not coming back to the house, not picking up the kids again, only sees the kids when they hang out with dad and all his brother is around. My uncle has full custody of kids. They are safe.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_01] We'll have another update prepared soon. That's going to be very interesting. And we have those updates in a moment. Bloody hell, she sounds absolutely unstable. Showing up uninvited, insulting their late mom and refusing to respect any boundaries and then trying to send a 21-year-old to bed? What the fuck? And I think Obi played that pretty well, taking away the key in that moment. And you just need to ensure that she stays away now, because, you know, she thinks she has some authority.

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_01] She ain't going to change that anytime soon. KLG says, Not the arsehole. I guarantee you that was not the first time she was in the house when no one was home. You need to talk to your brother and uncle. It'd be a good idea to change the locks. This woman doesn't sound stable. Your uncle should have her and your sperm donor blocked from being able to pick the younger kids up from school. Obi laughs and says, This needs to be the top comment for calling my dad a sperm donor. Update is in the comments, but I'll add it to the post.

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_01] Just showed my older brother and he's cackling his head off. Another commenter says, Am I the only one confused as to why she seems to be under the delusion or impression that you're a teenager? You don't owe her anything. But you should hold a family meeting to confront and figure out what your dad is telling her and set the record straight. Obi says, See, I wish this were a whole misunderstanding, but she knows my age. We've talked about these parts in my life in light conversation. She knows I'm coming home from college with my brother and even then.

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_01] I'm working my ass off driving the kids to school, picking them up, packing them lunch, going to work, driving them to sports, making dinners. Even if I was 17, I earn some respect to my name and a rite of passage to being an adult I feel like. And one more commenter says, I would have told her to fuck off and get the hell out. Even if I was a teenager, I wouldn't be going to bed because she said so. I go to bed when I want and don't have bedtime scheduled like the younger kids in the house.

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_01] She's not my mom, stepmom, aunt, grandma or anybody else of importance to tell me when to go to bed. Like I'm a little kid who has to do what she says. Especially when she's saying it in my own house. But she has nothing but a guest in it. And since your dad wasn't there, she wasn't even that since you didn't invite her over. Plus, she's a non-resident of the house. She expected you to go to bed and leave her unsupervised in the house to do who knows what in it while everyone is in their rooms.

[00:10:54] [SPEAKER_01] So, since she took her keys before she left, why didn't she notice while she was leaving that she didn't have them since she would have needed them to lock the door behind her? Opie replied saying, So, Opie comes in with their first update and says this update is actually bonkers. On one hand, I'm so tired of this shit.

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_01] On the other, I'm happy to at least give you guys a good story. Warning, this story is a long story. If you don't like how long it is, you may skip it. You don't have to read it. The next person who comes into the comments to complain that it's too long or I need to learn concision or I shouldn't have passed elementary school. I swear to God, I will find you. First of all, to all those who are concerned about the mental stability of my dad's girlfriend and the safety of our family. Do not worry. The children are safe and sound. As I said, I've informed the adults of the family about everything.

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_01] The kids always have one of us around and yes, my uncle has full legal custody of them. My dad is, in the nicest way possible, a spineless, pathetic shit. Even if his girlfriend wanted to use him to do something, she wouldn't be able to. My uncle has a stable career, is renowned in his field, loved in the neighborhood, so there is no possible legal battle that could be put up. Furthermore, we're keeping an eye on her and she only sees the kids when my dad sees them. Since the beginning of summer, she hasn't picked them up.

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_01] That was always going to be temporary and no, she won't be picking them up again. We took your guys' advice and called the school. The kids are out for the summer already, but they know for next semester. We do have cameras around the house. We confirm that the incident was the first time she was at the house alone. This isn't meant to relieve myself of any responsibility, but I really didn't see that incident coming. She was on good terms with my uncle. Friends with my oldest brother.

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_01] She loved the kids, the kids loved her, besides the occasional weirdness towards me and brother number two. It seemed fine. I see lots of why did she have the key in the first place. Again, she was a trusted adult in my uncle's eyes. She was his brother's girlfriend and he thought he knew her well. She volunteered to help pick up the kids after school on my days my uncle got a little busy. So he gave her a key to the house so she could get the kids home safely.

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_01] A lot of you expressed frustration for how I handled the situation, saying I should have been more proactive or been meaner to her. All fair. I'm sure some of you would have done much better than me. I'm simply a low-energy person who is not very reactionary. That's all I can say. But those disappointed that I didn't respond with violence don't seem to understand that you can't risk that with kids in the house. That's not something I want them to see and God forbid if it escalates, it could put them in danger.

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_01] As it turns out, you guys were right. She was mistaken about my age. Not that it excuses her behavior. She thought I was 18. My uncle cleared it up with her. Yes, I did get an apology after what happened. No, I really can't give a shit. She apologized by saying she was so, so sorry about what she had said and she sensed disrespect from my end which made it offensive. I just said okay and left it at that. She apologized to the rest of the family as well about her joke at dinner.

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_01] And about the comment my dad supposedly made. I've done good authority that she just fabricated it. You guys don't have to believe me but I know my father to the bone and he isn't like that. Other than that, thank you for all the ceaseless support. I'm reading all your comments and if I'm not responding, I appreciate all your thoughts and advice. For the ease of the rest of this, my dad's girlfriend will be called Sorrel. My older brothers are Henry, Eldest and Teddy, Second.

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_01] Alright, get some goddamn popcorn, here we go. It's my little brother's elementary school graduation. And the whole family's there. And my uncle via FaceTime. Henry's girlfriend, who after hearing this whole story, hates Sorrel, is there as well. Very happy occasion. Dad is banned. Boo hoo. After the photos are taken, we all go to the park. Little brother loves watching the ducks and digging for snails. And I notice Henry is very distracted by his phone. Ask him what's up.

[00:15:09] [SPEAKER_01] Turns out he was sending photos of the graduation to our dad, which is fine. But he's now asking to come say hi to us at the park since he's nearby. We decide okay, it's a special day. We're all in a good mood. Kids want to see their dad too. So dad shows up with Sorrel. Immediately, as soon as they get out of the car and greet the kids, Sorrel looks to me, makes a snarky joke. Oh, hi everyone. Hi, hey. Oh, and there's mum. I'm mum. Haha.

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_01] For the sake of the happy children, I just exchange glances with my brothers and say nothing. Throughout the park time, she mostly interacts with the kids and Henry. Teddy and Henry's girlfriend get us hot dogs and we move to the picnic bench to eat. And I'm hungry as hell, so I wipe up three dogs in a matter of five seconds. Here Sorrel says the second thing of the day to me. We're going to have a lot of yakking to do after that. And she gestures to her mouth with her fingers. Context, I'm healthy and slim.

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_01] Have a high metabolism, so I naturally eat a lot. I take this as her saying that, so I have to pull the trick. So I say, I don't do that and keep eating. Fast forward, Henry and his girlfriend have gone to the bathroom. We're wrapping up. Sorrel turns to my dad and goes, babe, if you're tired, I can take the kids home. Teddy snorts into his water cup and says something like, Lady, you're crazy. I say, nah, we're good. She says, are you sure? I don't mind driving. I tell her, I drove. She says, you can drive.

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_01] That makes my younger siblings look at each other and giggle. At this point, I'm just sitting back, sipping on my soda, helping my little brother sort the rocks that he collected. And I don't care what comes out of this lady's mouth anymore. Dad steps in. Context here, I learned driving from my dad. He used to be a street racer. And he goes, yeah, she drives like a bat out of hell. My car is sitting down the street in view. He points to it and says, that's her ride. Nice, isn't it? I spent years working on it.

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_01] Sorrel goes to my dad. Ah, so that's where all your money ends up. Dad says, oh no, her money. Sorrel starts asking me a bunch of questions about how much the car was, how much money I make, etc. It was really weird. Henry and his girlfriend return. More small talk happens. We get on the topic of Henry's work banquet. Context, it's a big gala event held at an opera house. There's an earlier mingle for my brother and a plus one. And the family comes for the banquet.

[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_01] My brother's girlfriend has to get knee surgery the day before, so I'm supposed to go as a plus one. So he's talking about the whole event. My brother asks our dad and Sorrel if they'd like to be there, but it's very late notice, so it's okay if they can't. They say, of course they'll come. Henry's girlfriend says, so sad I won't be there. So Sorrel goes, who are you walking in with then? Henry says, I asked Charlie, me, by default after we found out girlfriend couldn't be there. Sorrel's like, your sister,

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_01] isn't that kind of weird? And she does this face scrunch thing. Henry's girlfriend wasn't putting up with it. She just said, uh, no, not weird at all. Then Sorrel says to Henry, alright, but we'll get some photos together, right? And before he can say anything, his girlfriend goes like, yeah, there's the family photo stuff at the end. I don't know if they have it for extended family though. And turns and walks off to throw away the trash. That kind of wraps up the park day. Two nights later, Henry is back at his apartment with his girlfriend. I'm home with my other siblings.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_01] I get a FaceTime call from him. I pick up and he says, get Teddy right now. I get my other brother. Henry is apparently bewildered by something. I can hear his girlfriend in the background. He tells me he's sending me screenshots. I say, okay, Teddy and I read them. The screenshots are of Henry's text conversation with Sorrel. He only had Sorrel's contact in case of emergency, when she was picking up the kids from school last month. As we're reading them, Henry explains that she initiated a light text conversation after the incident with me.

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_01] Just asking after our general well-being, making small talk. He held her arm's length, but to be nice, text her back. The text he sent me started off with Sorrel asking about the gala again, and what she should wear. Henry politely texts back that he already communicated this with his dad, so she can just ask him. After a few more texts, she goes back to the topic of his plus one for the carpet event. She says that it would be so good for her networking, blah, blah, blah. She works as similar sector as my brother,

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_01] that he should make sure to get photos of them together. And was he sure he wanted to go with me as his plus one? And she said the brother-sister thing might be kinda weird, like people might mistake that we're dating. He responded curtly that it's very normal and he's taking me. And then she starts asking about where he takes his lunch. Context, it was mentioned at the park that my brother sometimes misses lunch because he sleeps in and doesn't have time to pack it in the morning, especially on days he has to drive the kids to school.

[00:19:59] [SPEAKER_01] She then offers to bring him lunch at his work. The last text reads, Wouldn't want my baby boy to go hungry. My jaw is on the floor. Teddy is cackling. I can hear Henry's girlfriend in the background going, that bitch, that bitch. None of us have any idea if she meant baby boy in a weird stepmother way or it was a sexual innuendo. Because God knows with this woman at this point, we come to the decision that these screenshots are going straight to my dad.

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_01] We consider maybe it was just a weird millennial thing, the way she texts, and we're thinking we probably will have a conversation with her about her behavior. Me and my brothers, because as of right now, we're reckoning with the fact that this lady may be impregnated by our brick-headed father and be the future mother of our next sibling, which would be a fucking nightmare. The same night, Henry tries to talk to our dad about our concerns with Sorrel, but he gets brushed off. Gala day. I go to the mixer with Henry,

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER_01] and Teddy arrives later with the kids in tow. At the banquet, she's doing a weird mum thing again, telling the kids to go make their plates, lecturing them about vegetables, etc. I have to keep an eye on them, because my little sister is allergic to almost everything on the planet, and my little brother is autistic and has sensory issues that will cause him to throw up when he tries to eat something that he forgets he doesn't like. I pack meds and sandwiches for the kids in lieu of the issues mentioned above.

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_01] Little brother had stacked his plate upon Sorrel's instruction, but when he got back to the table, the food on the plate was touching, so he couldn't eat it anymore. Sorrel starts tutting and tells him to eat, but by god, you could hold a gun to his head, and that kid will not touch his plate. Parents of kids with autism, you know what I'm talking about. He says he's lost his appetite, and asks me if I have any food, and I silently give him the sandwiches I've packed, because I knew this would happen.

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_01] Sorrel tells me to stop babying him, looks to dad for support. Dad puts his hands up, he knows he can't step in about shit. Little sis comes back next with Greek salad on her plate. Henry and I automatically start picking the olives out, stone fruit allergy, and Sorrel starts again with the babying comment. These kids are gonna grow up to be picky eaters if you baby them like that. Henry explains she's allergic. Sorrel suggests that we can fix it with exposure therapy.

[00:22:17] [SPEAKER_01] I tell her that she will vomit if she eats olives. I then suggest that she go take some photos with Henry, because I'm starting to grow irritated with her presence at the table. When Sorrel returns, I'm giving my little sister her mealtime meds. I've been administering my little sibling's medication since I was 16. Sorrel slides into the seat next to us, puts her hand out, and starts saying in a hushed voice, What are you doing? What are you doing? She can't take that with food. I gather that she's mistaken it for my sister's HT meds,

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_01] which she's seen us give her two hours before dinner, usually because it can't be mixed up with food. But I'm giving her diabetes mealtime meds. Funny enough, it's my little sister that speaks up first. She's quick as a whip, and she says, No, I need to take it now. It's metformin. If I don't have it, I'll poop myself. This makes us laugh. Sorrel goes, Oh, oh, I thought it was a synthroid. Teddy says, Nope, I gave that to her in the car. Sorrel goes, Oh, you could have told me that. Teddy says, Why would I?

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_01] Me ret. Means come on now, apparently. And I probably butchered that pronunciation. I do apologize. After the dinner and speeches are over, we get in line for family photos. While we're in line, my little sister starts to feel sick from the soda she drank, and I take her to the bathroom. She ends up vomiting, but feels better immediately afterwards. Some of it ends up on my dress, so I have her go get water and go back to the family while I clean up in the bathroom. As I'm cleaning up, Teddy starts texting me. Apparently, they had reached the head of the line and were waiting for me,

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_01] but Sorrel kept insisting they go on ahead and get photos taken. Clearly, everyone found this incredulous and Henry had them step out of the line. Sorrel and Dad ended up going ahead to take their photos and rejoin the family. When I get back to them, Teddy was holding onto my scarf and he puts it back around my neck. Then Sorrel reaches over and tugs part of the scarf down to cover more of my chest. I guess, and she's like, That's better. More family friendly. And winks at me. I readjust it and say,

[00:24:16] [SPEAKER_01] Please don't presume to touch me ever again. I didn't mean it in a rude way. I said it very calmly. I literally just meant what I said. But this offends her greatly. She grabs Henry and says, Oh my God, did you hear her? But my dad pulls her away a little and he's whispering to her to calm down and whatnot. We get to the carpet for the photo. Sorrel starts ushering and arranging us like, Dad over here. Okay, brother here. Little ones in front. And she puts her and my dad in the center. Like they're the parents.

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_01] With her hands on the shoulders of the kids in front. My older brother's on either side. She put me off to the side. Obviously. I can't care anymore. I just want to get out of there and go home. After a few photos, Henry kindly suggests we take some of just him and his siblings. And then he pulls me to the center. And as we're arranging, he whispers to me, Good job putting up with this. We're almost done. A few more photos. Then Sorrel says, How about just me and the boys? And she has me and my little sister step off.

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_01] Then she giggles, Wait, wait, carry me. And proceeds to jump onto my dad and Henry and have them lift her in front of them. We do a last full family one to finish it off. For which she arranges me behind her. So she pretty much completely blocking me from the camera. Again, I'm tired and exasperated. So I could not care less. As the banquet wraps up, we head on outside getting ready to leave. Henry takes the kids for a bathroom trip before the drive. We're making small talk. At some point, the topic of dessert comes up

[00:25:43] [SPEAKER_01] and I make a comment about the creme brulee they had and I pronounce it in French. Because it's a French word and I'm French. And Sorrel interrupts and goes, Creme brulee in a really exaggerated mockery of how I said it. And she laughs like it's funny. Unfortunately, that was my last straw. And I say, Anatole, which is the dad, take your girlfriend and get in the car right now. Because I'm about to kick this woman in the head. She scoffs and looks at me like I'm acting out and says, Sweetie, that's no way to talk to me or your dad.

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_01] I tell her that a glue on her eyelashes falling off. It is. And I start walking to my car. I'm pretty sure I hear her calling me a bitch as I'm walking away. I get in my car and I see and distantly hear her and my dad and Teddy arguing. Henry comes back out with the kids and Teddy takes them back to the other car while Henry stays to hash it out. Sorrel is obviously having it out about me because I can hear her angrily pointing at my car as she's talking to Henry. I changed out of my heels in the car

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_01] and Teddy texts that he's gonna start driving home with the kids. He said he basically told Sorrel to go fuck herself and my dad to dump her. After a while, Henry comes back to the car and gets in looking very haggard. I ask him what happened and he just leans back and blows out air with a hand on his forehead and says, I'm not gonna try and pronounce that one, translated like she has gone crazy. So I start the car and we're about to get on our way when I hear her rap on my window and Sorrel and my dad are standing there. So I open the car door.

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_01] Sorrel is crying hysterically and blubbering something. Her makeup is running. My dad's supporting her by the elbows and I immediately regret not just driving away but now it's too late and they're standing in the way of the door. I can barely understand what she's saying but it's something along the lines of, I don't know what I did to deserve this treatment. I don't know what I did to you. You don't have to be so protective about everything. Whatever. So I tell her that I personally am done with her but out of respect for a relation with my dad, she can have a conversation with Henry or my uncle tomorrow

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_01] but I think she should just go home for now. She stopped crying but she's still talking hysterically and says, no, but like what is your problem with me? Everyone was fine until you came back. You're starting all of this for no reason. Like you don't want the kids to have a mom. Like I raised them too and I say that yes, actually I don't want kids to have a mom like her nor do they and I reach to close the car door but she steps in the way and keeps going. Why are you so territorial? Not everything's a competition. I'm not here to steal your spot.

[00:28:09] [SPEAKER_01] Just because you think you should be the only woman around does not mean you should treat other women disrespectfully. At this point, I'm trying to budge her out of the way so I can close the door. My dad is in the background telling his girlfriend that they should go. Henry is chiming in saying, dad, get out of here and she's struggling to stay in front of the door. I go into the glove box and I grab this key to our old storage unit that we don't use anymore. I yell at her to shut up and this silences her momentarily. I hold up the key,

[00:28:38] [SPEAKER_01] look close enough to our house key and I tell her to fetch and toss it behind her. She goes to get the key. I'd accidentally grabbed a $5 bill with it so before I close the door, I stuffed the $5 into my dad's dinner jacket and I don't remember what I said because I was so mad but it was something like, go buy yourself a better side piece and I rammed the gas out of there. So, we've just gotten home. She blew up Henry's phone on the drive back and kept trying to call him. I sincerely hope this is the end of the story and I won't have to give another update. If I do,

[00:29:07] [SPEAKER_01] it will either be because my dad has left her or he's gotten her pregnant. Praying it won't be the latter. I'm turning in. I'll answer questions in the comments. Thank you for bearing with this story. I hope I never have to hear or see this woman again but I'm guessing that's not likely. Opie gives the first little update within that same post basically telling people to sod off if, you know, they think it's fake or whatever. Then Opie comes in to address some common questions. Someone says, why are you still letting her around?

[00:29:37] [SPEAKER_01] Why are you still tolerating her? Why didn't you just get her out of your lives? And Opie says, after the dinner incident, we saw her on two more occasions which were two days apart. At the park after the graduation and at the banquet. She was only at the park because she tagged along with my dad whom my little brother wanted to see. And she was at the banquet because my oldest brother was still optimistic that we could repair something with her. I, as well as Teddy and his girlfriend, advised him to rescind his invitation. This part was too long to include in the story but that night

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_01] when he spoke to his dad about Sorrel, his dad basically begged and begged him to give her another chance and said they could all talk as a family after the banquet. He also said the texts and Sorrel's snarky jokes were just harmless part of her character. The banquet was already the next day anyway so my brother thought they can come and we can discuss things afterwards. Neither of those events involving her was at my call to say whether or not she should be there. Plus, as I'd already mentioned, the only reason we considered maintaining our relationship with her is the possibility

[00:30:36] [SPEAKER_01] that she could be the mother of our next sibling. I want to reiterate that these events starting from the family dinner took course over the period of three days. It happened very quickly and for the majority of that time we're deliberating the right course of action. Two, what about your dad? Why are you treating him so good all of a sudden? First, he's a no-good deadbeat and now he's allowed at all these events. Uppy says we're not really treating him any differently. He was banned from the graduation but my little brother wanted to see him afterwards.

[00:31:05] [SPEAKER_01] He was invited to the gala because Henry felt bad that he wasn't allowed at the grad. He does not normally attend family events with us. The gala is the first thing he's come to in many, many years. Regularly, he sees the kids every other week for the past half a year now. He was an absent and not good dad for most of my life. Thus, I refer to him so harshly. I do recognize that people have the potential to change and I'm not going to so quickly squander a chance for my younger siblings to grow up with a dad better than the one I knew.

[00:31:34] [SPEAKER_01] So I'm getting ready for work as I write this. This morning, Henry was at the hospital with his girlfriend who's recovering from knee surgery. But we had a family FaceTime with him and my uncle kind of unpacked everything. My uncle is going to talk to my dad about this whole thing. Our consensus is that we don't really want to see her again and she's not allowed on visits or to contact the kids. We've also blocked her number. And at some point later, Opie comes in with another update and says, so it's been about a month

[00:32:03] [SPEAKER_01] since my last update. Terrell is pregnant. We found out from a family friend who still followed her on social media and saw that she had posted ultrasound photos. This is obviously hard to process for all of us and we're trying to make a joint decision on how to proceed. So I would appreciate everyone's empathy in regard to our actions and choices. What we are doing now is basically collecting a paper trail on her just as much as documentation as we can get in the case that she somehow manipulates this pregnancy into a legal advantage,

[00:32:32] [SPEAKER_01] which is unlikely, after we made this discovery, my uncle reached out to Anatole, dad, and he basically said that yes, they were expecting, but they didn't mean for us to find out like this and were working on a way to tell us personally. He said he would respect whatever we decided in this matter, but vouched for his girlfriend and said he had changed and wanted to be a better dad for his new kid and obviously, they were still hoping for the chance that they could be included in the family. Personally, I suspect Sorrell

[00:33:02] [SPEAKER_01] may have been texting through his phone, though my uncle didn't have any suspicion, so I don't know. My brothers and I also went through the rest of her Facebook and found some other upsetting things. Prior to the ultrasound photos, she'd been posting photos of our family, mostly our younger siblings. One example is when our little brother got sick two months back. She'd come over to take care of him and she posted a photo of him in his pajamas, sitting in front of his lunch and smiling, and the caption was, sick day, and I get to spend the time with

[00:33:32] [SPEAKER_01] my precious baby. And to be honest, my gut reaction when I saw that photo was honestly, it made my gut turn. So, my uncle saw these as well and basically sent her an email saying that she had to take down all the photos with my younger siblings in them, never to put their faces online again, and if she didn't, he would write a cease and desist letter and pursue legal action. She sent back a very apologetic email, like apologized very profusely and took down the photos. Some other stuff we found on our social media,

[00:34:01] [SPEAKER_01] which were not as concerning, was just captions of her talking about our family situation, not naming anyone or giving away too much, but victimizing herself. Given that we're still trying to make a decision about all of this, Henry opened a very cautious line of communication with her through text. She'd been very apologetic and congenial in just giving information about the pregnancy. Henry said that after he asked, she had showed him more ultrasound photos, prenatal labs, appointments, basically confirming that she wasn't lying.

[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_01] The only off-putting thing she said in their text is he reminded her of the father she always wanted for her kids. Eh? So then, about a week ago, Sorrel texts Henry asking him to come to her next ultrasound appointment. Henry automatically was going to say no, but he showed us first and I told him, say yes, see what she says. This, I've kept more to myself, but I'm still suspicious that this pregnancy might be a sham. I still feel there's something more going on. Whether or not

[00:35:01] [SPEAKER_01] is entirely fake, but it's not something I'm going to push really hard with my family because we're all troubled and overwhelmed to different degrees and I don't want to add to it. Henry replied that yes, then some days later she said her ob was out of town and she had to push things back and she only liked seeing this specific ob. I've made a large mental note of this yesterday and this is what prompted me to make the update and I'm still working through some emotions related to this. It was the day after my little sister's birthday. I was home alone

[00:35:30] [SPEAKER_01] with my younger siblings. Anatole, the dad, came to hang out with the kids, watched a few episodes of their favorite show with them and brought presents for my little sister. There was one specific present that he said was from Sorrel which I took and I opened it in the kitchen later in the afternoon. If this has been forgotten since my first post which is understandable, I share a mother with my two older brothers who passed away when I was a kid. One of my very few memories with her is a tradition she liked to do every summer making

[00:35:59] [SPEAKER_01] Masamora Morada pronunciations again I do apologize but it's yam slash corn pudding dessert from Peru together and we continued this tradition after she passed. And when I got older I naturally took over and did it with my younger siblings. I know our mother isn't their mother and I'm not their mother either but it just keeps a part of her with us. I never got to learn Spanish from my mom like my brothers did so for me it's a way to connect with my Peruvian heritage. So the present Sorrel had given

[00:36:28] [SPEAKER_01] was two mason jars of Masamora Morada. She had made Anna note to my sister part of it saying oh I hope I made it as good as Charlie did. Honestly I just felt so sad in that moment. I don't know if it's dramatic to say but I felt like this very precious thing I had with my siblings had been tarnished like touched by this ugly gesture. I knew in my gut when I opened it that it wasn't just some innocent loving birthday present for my sister and I don't have any way to prove it

[00:36:58] [SPEAKER_01] but I know she did it as a dig at me. I think she found out from one of my younger siblings talking about it and they know it's a tradition from my mom that I do with them and I just know Sorrel understood that significance even if I can't prove it. And I know I'm just venting to strangers on the internet at this point but the worst part is those jars are just sitting in our fridge right now and my little sister and brother have no idea not that I would ever want them to and this thing from my mom I never imagined it was like in danger

[00:37:28] [SPEAKER_01] of a situation like this like I literally feel violated not to be dramatic again so after that happened I was feeling very intensely oh dear I'm so sorry I walked Anatole out and told him I refused to see him or hear from him again until he left her I know that's a very emotional thing to say but I think I was trying to express how much I wanted Sorrel away from us in terms that Anatole would recognize I haven't talked about this to my family yet but I'll probably tell

[00:37:58] [SPEAKER_01] my brothers and uncle today I just did not feel like I had the words for it yesterday nor was I in the right state I want to say again that we're still in the middle of going through this stuff and we haven't decided what to do yet concerning our relationship with Anatole and Sorrel and our next sibling personally I don't think the risk of having those two people in their lives is worth a connection with their child as I unceremoniously expressed to my father yesterday I'm at a loss if you've read this far thank you I appreciate all the words of advice

[00:38:28] [SPEAKER_01] and I'm just going to read out a highlighted comment on the back of this to a beam loads of people saying that Sorrel has some unhealthy obsession with the kids in this situation and needs to be cut out but this commenter said hey Charlie I'm a psychotherapist I'm sorry you're navigating this and have been for some time unfortunately the behavior of your father's girlfriend that you're describing really lines up with symptomatology often seen in people with borderline personality disorder BPD obviously

[00:38:58] [SPEAKER_01] I'm not your dad's girlfriend's therapist so I can't make an official diagnosis but I want you to know that I 100% believe you and the behavior Sorrel is engaging in are meant to be manipulative and divisive unfortunately for whatever reason you're receiving the brunt of her ire I would be very cautious and recommend you your brothers and your uncle all getting behind setting extremely strict boundaries with her and your father your experience and your feelings matter I truly commend you for being such a great mother figure to your siblings and looking out for them the ways you have

[00:39:28] [SPEAKER_01] where acts of motherhood are self-serving yours are selfless you're clearly a great caregiver and I wouldn't be surprised if there are some loud insecurities that she is projecting onto you as a result she will likely continue to attempt to gaslight deny and wiggle her way in but firm boundaries that you and your family draw will keep you safe just a theory but I agree it sounds like she lied about the pregnancy to keep your father tied to her slash so he won't leave her if he's as much of a pushover as you say he's a prime target for someone with BPD

[00:39:58] [SPEAKER_01] anyway sending much warmth and encouragement your way but OP does have another update too and says so it's definitely been a while and sorry to keep everyone waiting for this I kind of want to keep this brief because I've been away at school for the past couple of months and I don't want to dwell on this any longer a month after the summer my brother Henry gets texted by Sorrel saying that she lost the baby in that duration Henry had little to no contact with her our dad was staying clean apparently and he got to visit our younger siblings

[00:40:28] [SPEAKER_01] maybe once or twice every month so that was over and we didn't really think about it anymore our dad's birthday was in the fall and he came and had dinner with us he had another barbecue that out of us only Henry went to because Sorrel was going to be there according to my brother during that barbecue Sorrel was very drunk and clung on to him a lot and kept trying to get him to take her home as in back to our house he didn't see or hear from her after that the last altercation happened this past week

[00:40:57] [SPEAKER_01] during Easter break my brother Teddy and I were home with the kids Teddy went out for groceries and I was at the back of the house watering the garden when my younger sister came and told me that Sorrel had dropped by apparently Sorrel had told her that she had left some stuff in the house that she needed to grab and she had a present she had to leave in my room the kids had already been warned about Sorrel and we also threatened Sorrel to involve the law if she ever came to the house again plus we hadn't thought about her in the past like half a year so this was unexpected

[00:41:26] [SPEAKER_01] I immediately ran back into the house but Sorrel was not in there and I ran into the driveway and saw her getting into her car with a giant purse I was already on the line with the police I grabbed her out of the car and we had an altercation where I ended up hitting her over the head with a watering can and she sat on the ground crying until the police came she kept saying that she had left a hoodie or something in the house and she was just coming back to grab it but then they searched her purse and we found a bunch of my clothes including some of my bras and like 5k worth

[00:41:55] [SPEAKER_01] of my jewelry we talked to the police for a while and they took Sorrel away to the station he also did a short check of our house to make sure everything was okay we checked the cameras she was only downstairs and then in my room and in Henry's room for some reason but I guess she didn't take anything later our dad came to get Sorrel's car and tried to apologize on her behalf saying she's been under a lot of stress from the miscarriage and what not after that incident I had very extensive conversations with both my siblings regarding Sorrel

[00:42:25] [SPEAKER_01] basically to under no circumstances ever speak to her and call us or the police first thing if they ever saw her we ended up filing a civil protective order and got a TRO which is I'm assuming temporary restraining order until the hearing I think she's also been charged with petty theft I'd already suspected this but a few days after my dad showed up with a bag of clothes and jewelry I thought that I had lost or misplaced apparently Sorrel had been stealing shit from me for over the course of the past year and a half

[00:42:54] [SPEAKER_01] when she'd been around the house before we cut her off he said they got into a huge fight and she admitted to it and he found it all in a closet anyway that's the end of that hopefully and I really don't want to give another update and again everyone's saying that you know she needs to be completely cut out of your life completely what does this guy really bring to your lives

[00:43:23] [SPEAKER_01] truly her behavior has only escalated time and time again and I can only see it getting worse from the pattern that we've seen so far but now I'm going to turn this one to you guys bloody hell this one went on for a while let us know your thoughts down in the comments below and just a huge thank you for being here today getting involved in the stories your love your support your time it always means the absolute world to me so thank you so so much for being here truly it's absolutely amazing and hopefully I'll see you in the next one

[00:43:53] [SPEAKER_01] take care and much love