i have a friend that i met among common friends, amongst the album covers i did for various artists and such. long story, not relevant.
i'm going to make up names for security's sake.
Kelly is in her late 30's, that's the friend i met. we talked a lot about life, where we've come from, where we've been. i like talking to older ladies because there's just something intriguing about women that know these things that only life can teach them, as opposed to the younger girls of today.
after a month of knowing this woman, she came and sat beside me one day and said "i had a dream last night that you were my son-in-law".
one daughter of hers was somewhat nearby and she got upset. i looked at Kelly and said, "if that's your oldest, you have a long wait. you realize that?"
the daughter was 15.
i was 21.

this particular daughter's name is Nikki. Later the kid asked if she could talk to me about that. She apologized for what Kelly said and asked that i not get uncomfortable around her. i just laughed it off and took it as a mom that thought she found what'd make a woman happy. a compliment if nothing less.
after too long the kid took a liking as much as her mom did and felt she could confide things in me.
there are two more daughters, 11 and 13.

now some background:
Kelly remarried after divorcing their father, who had a drinking problem, among other things, though nothing in contrast to the next "father".
The second marriage, Vince, resulted in child molestation. Nikki was 13, if i remember correctly. After finally giving in and telling a friend, after months of hurting over this, Vince was arrested. Nikki has a restraining order on him.

so it's been a couple of years since all this happened. as of last spring, Kelly decided to go visit Vince since he is free again, save for parole. She started seeing him a lot. Vince called the house at one point in time and Nikki had to hear his voice.
after that day she was very distraught, and i could tell every time the kid came around. i finally asked what was up, and after filtering through a lot of unconvincing talk about a "best friend that isn't acting like a friend", she finally started crying and told me that Vince was slithering back into her life.
I was so upset, the next time i saw Kelly i just bluntly said "I haven't seen you around. Seein Vince or somethin?"
"no..." she answered, very emphatic. She diverted the conversation to something more comfortable, quickly, and i left expecting to find out from Nikki what this conversation would yield.
it yielded a summer without Vince, even though Kelly got upset with Nikki for telling, especially to ryan. like i was the last person she should have told.
just now, the kid was talking about her best friend again, but bothered.
i asked "is it Vince again?"
she said that it was, and that the man will be off parole in a month. Apparently for the past couple of days Kelly has been cheery because she can be part of Vince's life again, help him clean up. And both she and Vince are trying to convince Nikki to lift the restraining order, because after all, the other two daughters are going to get to see him now.
Kelly can legally make them do that now, since the "protective order" won't apply due to a finished parole.

I could go into exactly how this makes me feel. Take what this makes you feel and then apply the fact that you know and love this family, including Kelly. I know that no matter what, i'm going to see to it that Vince doesn't go near those children. I doubt i'll take it to Kelly again this time. i'm in the US. any advice about action that a guy of no relation can take?