Dear Prudence,
Recently my stepfather has become close with the intellectually disabled daughter of some family friends. She’s 30, but has the mental age of a child. She’s also very pretty, and I know her family has been concerned in the past that men have tried to take advantage of her. She and my stepfather spend hours texting, even late at night. He regularly intervenes if he thinks she has been “wronged.” Not only does she call him Daddy, but he now insists the rest of the family refer to her as his daughter. He openly says he loves his “new daughter” best and that she’s “his angel, his princess, his sweetie-pie.” Several of his biological children already don’t speak to him; the others have tense relationships because he constantly criticizes their jobs, weight, or partners.
I have no reason to accuse my stepdad of actual misconduct, but the situation feels off to me. Neither my mother nor the other family seem to think anything of it, though. When I said gently to my mother that his contact with this woman seems excessive, she got upset and said it was sweet, and that my stepfather has health problems and we should let him be happy. Now I feel like the villain for even questioning it. Am I just being paranoid, or is this behavior inappropriate?