Son’s apology demand creates distance

Dear Amy: Several years ago, my father and his wife visited me for a week.

I spared no expense trying to ensure that they enjoyed themselves, particularly his wife. (She married him after I was grown. My own mother died when I was five.)

The week was full of shopping, casino time, outdoor activities, and sightseeing.

I thought it went great.

After our “guests” departed my wife dropped a bomb on me. Apparently, my father’s wife had spent the week trashing both my father and me to my wife. She advised my wife to divorce me and to “take him for everything you can.”

I was LIVID! How DARE she?

After hearing this, I picked up the phone and called my father to demand an explanation and to get an apology.

His wife answered the phone and I do admit that I didn’t hold back. (I called her a “rotten b**ch.”)

I then told my father, only to have him lay into me.

I hung up on him, and ended up writing him a long letter where I laid out my position. I demanded an apology; otherwise I never wanted to hear from him again.

I haven’t heard from him since.