Dear Prudence,
I have never married or had kids. Never felt the need. My relationships have been long-lasting but peter off naturally as life has taken us in different directions. While in my late-50s, I fell in love with “Diane” and I proposed. My sisters think it is the greatest “joke” in the world that their bachelor brother finally wants to tie the knot. All of them have been divorced once or twice and most bitterly so. I have never joked about their love lives until now.
My oldest sister “joked” to Diane about me being a serial monogamist and how I always have someone waiting in the wings so beware. So I “joked” back about how it’s better to be a serial monogamist than a serial cheater. You could hear a pin drop. My sister ended two marriages because of her infidelity and two of her kids still refuse to speak to her because of it. My sister went up and locked herself in the bathroom. So I am the bad guy now. Diane wants to keep the peace but I am tired of that. I love Diane and want to spend the rest of my life with her. My sisters can’t be happy for me? So what do I do now?
—Stones and Glass Houses