A newlywed bride was mysteriously estranged from her parents for five years after her wedding. Then, just as mysteriously as they had left, her parents reappeared, bringing with them a bombshell revelation that reshaped her view of family and threw her life into disarray. An anonymous woman took to Reddit’s “Relationship Advice” topic on October 20, 2021, to narrate her unique love tale and wedding.

She had started her professional career as an assistant to her future husband, who was her supervisor at the time, some nine years before.Despite their mutual attraction, they repressed their feelings for around 2.5 years until they couldn’t. They consulted HR at that moment to verify that their connection was handled properly within the workplace.Their love blossomed, and the woman fell pregnant around a year later.

Given their strong bond, shared life, and the anticipated arrival of their child, they chose to marry despite having only been officially dating for around 1.5 years. While they were secure in their decision, they were aware that it would raise eyebrows, particularly among her overprotective parents (ages 62 and 57). Her parents attempted to excuse the comment, stating that it did not reflect their general attitude and that they should be allowed to meet the children nevertheless.

To keep her parents informed, they shared the truth about their relationship’s development, highlighting its professional origins and HR participation. They left out the infant from the talk for fear of overwhelming them. The wedding went off without a hitch, save for a little intervention from her mother, who expressed reservations but was reassured. The true surprise came when her parents chose not to attend the reception and instead chose to leave.

Communication attempts were met with silence, and it became clear that she had been barred from multiple sites. The woman resorted to texting her parents, expressing her adult independence and hoping for their understanding and support of her decisions. The woman had been married for five years and had not heard from her parents throughout that time. They weren’t big on social media, but a recent post commemorating her fifth anniversary, referencing their two children and a third on the way, broke the silence.

Her parents left a call within a month after the post, expressing their newfound awareness of their grandchildren and a wish to meet them. Their subsequent questions regarding her lack of response perplexed her. She questioned their motives, conflicted by their unexpected reemergence and her gut intuition that five years was too long to bridge the gap. It appeared to be about the kids rather than honoring her choices.

However, concerns lingered, and she wondered if she was being unjust by putting a time limit retrospectively, given that her previous email had signaled an openness to reconciliation if they eventually acknowledged her choices and marriage. Notably, her husband was not of the same racial origin as her, which had previously generated no difficulties. Her and her husband ignored the idea of racism in her parents, but it lingered in her mind.

In the midst of her inner anguish, the woman wondered if reaching out to her parents was the appropriate thing to do, and if so, how to begin the difficult process of repairing their broken relationship.In an October 22, 2021 update, the woman eventually initiated a Zoom discussion with her parents, who were joined by her husband. They showed an interest in seeing the children but were met with conditions since the couple wanted to guarantee that they could trust them and that they would positively affect their children.

Her parents brought a letter they claimed to have written on her wedding day during the conversation. It was revealed that their absence was due to their dissatisfaction with her marrying her old boss, believing he had cheated her. They left between the wedding and reception to avoid causing a disturbance, but they wanted her to know that despite their reservations, they were there for her.

They explained that they hadn’t delivered the letter sooner because of her email demanding their respect, which made them feel embarrassed. They realized how much they had missed in the previous five years after seeing her anniversary message. When the woman asked why marrying her former boss was such a huge deal, her parents said it wasn’t what they had envisioned for her wedding and future hubby. She also wondered why they went to the ceremony if they didn’t agree with the marriage.

Her father’s remark indicated that they had come for the symbolic gesture of walking her down the aisle, which reminded him of her late older sister. This news upset and bewildered the husband and wife because it appeared her parents had intended to quit the wedding all along but had not expressed this to them. Tensions rose when her father used a racial insult against her husband, forcing her to abruptly end the call.

Her parents attempted to excuse the comment, stating that it did not reflect their general attitude and that they should be allowed to meet the children nevertheless. “I’ve spent 5 years wondering how they were so offended by me marrying my boss that it earned no contact for a half-decade,” the woman said of her parents.

The truth, however, was more disturbing—her parents’ underlying prejudice had been the cause. This discovery convinced her that she had no intention of exposing her mixed-race children to their prejudiced grandparents, therefore ruling out reconciliation. What would you have done if you had been in the woman’s shoes?