Long story short, when I was 18, my dad died suddenly of a massive heart attack and no one was expecting it. Call me a pretty, pretty princess all you want, but one of the first things I thought to myself (even though I was not even thinking about marriage at that point) was, "My dad was supposed to walk me down the aisle... who's going to walk me down the aisle?" My uncle (my dad's brother) told me he would have been honored. My mom remarried (very) shortly after and it caused a LOT of bad/hurt feelings on my dad's side and we all went from being very close to not even speaking for a couple of years. We've since reconnected, but things are still pretty distant. Recently, I asked my stepfather to do the honors and it literally made his day. He was so happy that I asked.. we have a bit of a rocky history as well. I was just talking to my grampa (dad's dad) on the phone recently and he said, "I wish your dad could be there for your wedding." I said, "I know... I wish he could give me away..." My grampa said, "Oh, your uncle will do that. Don't you worry."
I didn't know what to say. They are wary of my stepdad bc of the quickness with which he came into our lives, but I know I'll need to confront this at some point. Any advice? I don't want it to be an issue, but I also don't want them to show up and be hurt. It's been 9 years since my uncle said that and a lot has happened since then. I couldn't believe my grampa even remembered. Thank you so much for your thoughts.