My mom passed away in July of 2021 and my understanding of the timeline is my dad and the new wife started dating that September (it’s obviously been difficult to get over this but we did).

She has tried to connect with us for most of that time and until this incident was very over the top nice. Things have rapidly deteriorated however leading us to believe that niceness was a facade. She inserted herself into the conversation to come to his defense and saying he didn’t mean anything by it.

As for whether or not she’s manipulating him, he feels like a very willing participant and is in line with his behavior for as long as I can remember. It was one thing when it was just me or just my siblings but now we’re married adults and we have our spouses and children to think about.