Dear Queenie,
My husband got a girl pregnant while he was away in university. He knew about the child but the mother never let him have anything to do with their daughter and anyway, he came back here to live so he completely lost touch with them.
Recently the girl came here on school holiday and called him to ask him to show her around the island. He was delighted to meet her and the two of them started going around together leaving me alone at home.
My husband is delighted to have a daughter after all this time (we don’t have any children) and I am happy that he is happy, but the girl doesn’t want anything to do with me.
Queenie, how do I deal with the way they leave me out of things?—Left out stepmother
Dear Stepmother,
Talk to your husband about this. Tell him how you feel about being left out, and ask to be included at least part of the time in his dealings with his long-lost daughter.
Try to be patient with the girl when she comes here and matters should improve as you and she get to know each other. And as long as the girl lives elsewhere and only comes here on vacation, you will not have to deal with her very often or for very long at a time.
