“I took my fiancé to visit my parents. He ran out screaming, ‘I can’t believe it!’ in the middle of the night.”

When they saw me, they were stunned. They had no choice but to explain the situation to me.

“We’re married and we love each other. We’re committed, honey. But we also have the right to see other people if we want to,” my mother explained gently. “There’s nothing wrong with the way we live. And you have to understand that.”

Today, listening to Adam, I relived that same wave of emotions.

“No, that’s not it at all,” I said. “I’m completely devoted to you. I don’t want that kind of lifestyle.”

But Adam wouldn’t even hear about it. He simply wouldn’t listen to me. Instead, he started talking about his mother’s infidelity, which had caused his parents’ divorce. I made him see betrayal everywhere.

“Everything is a red flag for me, Sasha.”

She packed her bags and went to the hotel, saying she needed to think about our engagement.

I spent the rest of the night crying, feeling the full weight of my parents’ decisions in my relationship.

“You need to talk to him,” my mother said, handing me a cup of coffee. “Go see him.”

I went to the hotel. We barely spoke; the silence was heavy with everything that had been left unsaid. I didn’t know if Adam still wanted to be with me or not. I suggested we go to my grandmother’s house so we could talk things over in a more relaxed setting.

“Yes,” he said. “That sounds good to me, because this hotel is too cold anyway.”

There was a coldness between us that had never existed before.

“I’ve never hidden anything from you,” I told her. “I didn’t know how to bring it up. It’s not something I like to talk about, because I had a hard time understanding it myself.”

Adam sighed, rubbing his temples.

“I understand. But it affects me too much, Sasha,” he said. “I just need time.”

We spent the rest of the week at my grandmother’s house, trying to end the family visit as best we could. My parents apologized to Adam, but it didn’t matter anymore.

It wasn’t about them anymore. It was about how their actions had stirred something in my fiancé. On the way home, Adam and I decided we wanted to stay together and see where life took us.

“But I think we should go to therapy,” I said, offering her a drink.

“I think it’s a good idea,” she said, biting her lip. “Because I need to overcome my own traumas before I can accept your parents.”

Today, Adam and I started talking about everything. His fears, my shame, our future. We could only move forward and heal together.