My In-Laws Demanded We Pay Them Back for Our Wedding They Funded as a Gift Two Years Ago

When Emma and I got engaged, her parents, Jerry and Linda, offered to pay for our wedding as their gift to us. Of course, we were overwhelmed by their generosity.

Em and I were both fresh out of college, struggling with student loans and entry-level jobs. If we wanted a wedding, it was going to take years of saving up to make it happen. And when it came down to it, the idea of a perfect wedding seemed like a distant dream until Jerry and Linda made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.

“They want to pay for the wedding, Simon!” Emma said one day after spending the evening with her family. “My dad said that it would be an honor to do it.”

I was surprised, but also it was something that Emma’s father would do, just because she wanted it so much.

“Will you let them do it?” she asked, holding a glass of water.

“Yes!” I exclaimed. “I want to marry you, and this seems like the way we’ll get our perfect wedding.”

I mean, it was perfect. The cost must have been close to $100,000.

The wedding was everything we could have imagined and more.

It was a beautiful summer day, and our closest family and friends were around us, celebrating our union. Emma had wanted to get married on a vineyard, decorated with twinkling fairy lights and fragrant flowers.

And then, there she was: Emma dressed in her white gown, her bouquet of pink and white roses held tightly as she walked down the aisle. I felt like the luckiest man alive.

The ceremony went off without a hitch. And later, after we had cut the cake and drank enough champagne, we had a quiet moment with Jerry and Linda. They were beaming with pride, telling us how happy they were to give us such a beautiful start to our married life.

“This is our gift to you,” Jerry had said, his arm around Linda. “We want to make sure you start your life together on the right foot.”

Linda nodded, smiling at us both.

“We’ve saved for Emma’s wedding for years. This has been such a pleasure.”

And throughout that entire time, they never once mentioned the word “loan” or suggested that we would need to pay them back at any point. As far as we knew, it was a gift, pure and simple, and we were grateful.

Now, fast forward two years into the future.

Emma and I have been settling into our lives together, finally moving from a cramped apartment into a cozy house with a garden for Emma. We also adopted a rambunctious puppy named Max. We were both advancing in our careers.

Life was good.

One Sunday afternoon, Emma and I invited Jerry and Linda over for dinner at our home. To be honest, we were excited to share some big news with them: we were ready to start trying for a baby.

As we sat around the table eating our weight in chicken wings, laughing and reminiscing about the wedding, Jerry’s expression suddenly grew serious.

“Simon, Emma,” he began. “There’s something we need to talk about.”

Linda and Jerry exchanged glances in front of us. This wasn’t going to be good.

Jerry took a large gulp of his soda, and then sighed deeply.

“It’s about the wedding,” he said slowly. “We need you to pay us back for it.”

The words hung in the air like a lead balloon. I knew, judging from Jerry’s expression, that something was off. But I didn’t ever imagine that they would want $100,000 from us.

“Pay you back?” Emma repeated, her voice suddenly hoarse. “But you said that it was a gift!”

Linda sucked in the air through her teeth before chiming in.

“We thought it was understood that you would pay us back when you were able to. We’ve been having some financial difficulties lately, and we really need the money.”

I was completely floored.

“We had no idea,” I said simply. “You never mentioned anything about this being a loan. We wouldn’t have accepted if we had known.”

Jerry’s face reddened, and he looked down at his hands.

“We didn’t want to burden you with it at the time, but things have changed, Simon. We need that money back. And look, you guys moved into a new house, clearly you’re doing well.”

Emma was on the verge of tears. She sat at the edge of her chair, holding her fork tightly.

“Dad, we just told you that we’re trying to have a baby. That’s been our focus, and we’re still paying off this house. We don’t have that kind of money lying around.”

Linda’s eyes flashed with anger as she turned to her daughter.

“Well, you need to find it somewhere. We’ve done a lot for you, Emma, and it’s time you stepped up.”

The tension was palpable.

We continued the rest of the meal in silence. Linda attacked the roasted potatoes and continued to help herself to garlic bread. Jerry just sipped on his soda while holding his head.

Finally, they left us alone. And Emma broke down into tears.

“I can’t believe they would do this to us,” she sobbed. “How could they be so cruel?”

“We’ll figure it out,” I promised, even though I had no idea how.

The week that followed was horrible. Emma and I racked our brains trying to come up with a solution. We considered taking out a loan, but the thought of more debt was overwhelming.

“I’m going to take the lotto,” Emma said, pulling out her phone. “I can do it online and we can just hope for the best.”

Oh, the foreshadowing this was.

A few days later, Emma’s sister, Sasha, called us. She was upset and mentioned something about a lottery.

“Explain, sis,” Emma said patiently.

“Didn’t you hear?” Sasha asked. “Mom and Dad won the lottery a few months ago. But they have been hiding it from everyone, but now they’re in trouble because of it. Something about taxes. They’ve been trying to get money from Tim and me, too.”

Emma and I were stunned.

Jerry and Linda had come into a windfall of money and still had the audacity to demand money from us?

It was beyond comprehension.

“We’ll ignore them,” Emma said. “They can take some time away from us to sort themselves out.”

But still, I was stressed out. I wanted to have at least a portion of the money available when it came up again.

Then, something unexpected happened to us once again.

“Aunt Mildred passed on,” Emma told me when she was in the kitchen chopping up veggies for soup. “But she has left me all her money! Her entire inheritance is all mine!”

We were shocked and saddened by her passing, no doubt. But also deeply touched by her gesture.

“We have to meet with her lawyer tomorrow, Simon,” Emma said. “Can you get time off work?”

The lawyer explained that Aunt Mildred had heard about the situation with Jerry and Linda and decided to leave money behind for us because she couldn’t believe her sister’s actions.

I knew that Sasha would spread the word.

“The money was originally supposed to go to your mother, Emma,” the lawyer said. “But when Mildred discovered the truth, she called for me to change her wishes legally. The money is yours.”

When it came down to the details, the inheritance was much larger than the cost of our wedding, and in her will, Mildred specifically mentioned that it was to help us create a secure future for our family.

As the news spread among the family, Jerry and Linda had no choice but to reflect on their actions. Their greed had cost them dearly.

One evening, as Emma and I were assembling a new bookshelf we had bought, Jerry called.

“Simon,” he said.

I put the phone on speaker.

“What is it, Dad?” Emma called from over my shoulder.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what happened,” Jerry began. “We were wrong to demand that money from you. We were just scared at the thought of losing it all when it came to paying the taxes. We lost most of it, anyway.”

“We’re sorry,” Linda’s voice came through, softer than I’d ever heard it.

“We accept your apology, but if this happens again, I’m going to lose all respect for you,” Emma said. “We need to see actions, not just words.”

What would you have done?

If you enjoyed this story, here’s another one for you:

I Noticed That Money Was Disappearing from Our Family Stash — I Was Shocked When I Found Out Who Was Taking It

Judy and her family get into the habit of saving money in a “family stash jar,” which is used for emergencies or family outings. But soon, she starts noticing that someone in the family has sticky fingers, helping themselves to the money. Judy has to figure out who it is and what is the reason for such dishonesty.

I’m sure that it’s the same for most families. But in our family, honesty is the foundation of everything. I’ve always trusted my husband, Ethan, my 24-year-old son, Josh, and my 17-year-old daughter, Emma, implicitly.

So, when money started disappearing from our family stash, it felt like a punch to the gut. We’d always kept a communal jar of cash for emergencies or spontaneous outings, but lately, large sums had been vanishing without explanation.

“I must be losing my mind,” I said out loud to myself when I noticed that the jar looked a little different from when I had last put in some money.

At first, I thought that it was a simple miscalculation. But as the missing amounts grew from a $50 here, $100 there, and eventually $300 in one go, I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

“Who has sticky hands?” I asked the empty kitchen.

It gnawed at me, the uncertainty and suspicion creeping into my thoughts. I hated feeling this way about my family.

“Are you sure that it’s someone from the house?” my best friend, Misha, asked me when we met for cheesecake and wine.

“It has to be,” I said. “We don’t have a helper, and the gardener does come, but he only works outside. I don’t think he’s ever seen the inside of the house. If someone is stealing from the jar, then it has to be family.”

Misha nodded.

“Then you should install a hidden camera. Do it as close to the jar as possible,” she said.

Read the full story here.

This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.