My jealous brother-in-law raged at me because I embarrassed him by gifting my wife expensive...

My jealous brother-in-law raged at me

because I embarrassed him by gifting my

wife expensive jewelry. So, I gifted my

wife a matching bracelet to piss him

even more. I lost my job in March.

Software company laid off 40% of the

staff and I was one of them. My wife

picked up extra shifts at the hospital

without a single complaint. 6 months of

her working 50-hour weeks while I sent

out 200 applications and got maybe 15

interviews. She never once made me feel

bad about it. Never complained when we

canceled our anniversary dinner or when

we had to skip her best friend's

destination wedding in Hawaii. She just

buckled down and carried us through the

worst months of our lives. When I

finally landed something in September, I

spent the next 3 months saving every

extra dollar. I wanted to do something

special for her. Something that said I

saw everything she did for us this year.

I found this necklace at a local

jeweler. $400 single solitire diamond on

a white gold chain. Nothing flashy, just

elegant. Something she could wear to

work or out to dinner. The jeweler even

threw in a nice box and gift wrapping. I

picked it up on a Tuesday and hid it in

my closet for 3 days before giving it to

her. I gave it to her the week before

Thanksgiving. She cried when she opened

it. Said it was the most beautiful thing

anyone had ever given her. She wore it

every single day after that. Fast

forward to Thanksgiving dinner at her

parents house. My wife wore the

necklace. Her sister-in-law noticed it

first while we were setting the table

and asked where she got it. My wife told

the whole story, how I surprised her,

how we'd had such a rough year, how it

felt like things were finally turning

around. My sister-in-law said it was

incredibly sweet. Her parents agreed.

Even my brother-in-law seemed fine with

it during dinner. He nodded along, said,

"Congratulations on the new job." The

whole conversation lasted maybe 5

minutes. Then we moved on to talking

about football and her mom's new pie

recipe. I thought everything was good.

We had a great dinner, helped clean up,

said our goodbyes. 2 days later, I'm at

work and get a text from my

brother-in-law at 11:00 p.m. He said I

was selfish for letting my wife wear

such flashy jewelry to a family dinner

that I was showing off and making it all

about me. That now he's under pressure

from his wife to get her something

extravagant for Christmas. And it's my

fault for setting unrealistic

expectations. I read it three times

because I couldn't believe what I was

seeing. The necklace wasn't even that

expensive compared to what I'd seen

other people wear, and my sister-in-law

never said anything about wanting one

herself. She just thought it was a nice

gift. I didn't respond right away

because I honestly didn't know what to

say. But I knew I had to tell my wife

about it. We don't keep secrets from

each other. When I showed her the texts

that night, she went from confused to

furious in about 3 seconds. She grabbed

her phone and called her brother

immediately. I stayed on the line but

kept quiet. This was between them. They

argued for 20 minutes. My brother-in-law

kept saying we were being inconsiderate,

that not everyone in the family has

money to throw around, that we should be

more aware of how our spending affects

other people. That he felt humiliated

watching his wife admire something he

couldn't afford. Then he said something

that made both of us go silent. He told

my wife she was going down a slippery

slope of becoming a superficial person,

that we were forcing our financial

success on everyone else and rubbing it

in their faces, that the old version of

her would never wear something so

expensive just to show off. My wife, who

worked herself to exhaustion for 6

months to keep us afloat while I was

unemployed, just sat there with tears

streaming down her face. Then she said

something I'll never forget. She told

him if he couldn't be happy that she got

one thoughtful gift from her husband

after the worst year of her life, and

she had nothing more to say to him, and

she hung up. 3 hours later, my

sister-in-law texted. She'd heard the

whole conversation from the other room

and was mortified. She said she never

asked her husband to say any of that,

that she was genuinely happy for us, and

that she'd try to talk some sense into

him. She apologized five times in one

message, but the damage was done. My

wife barely slept that night. I caught

her crying in the bathroom at 2:00 a.m.

We decided right then that we weren't

spending Christmas with my

brother-in-law and his wife. We'd do a

separate dinner with her parents on

Christmas Eve. Her parents understood

and didn't push us to make up with him.

They just said they supported whatever

we needed. And here's where I might be

the problem. I already ordered my wife a

matching bracelet for Christmas. $500

this time. Arrives next week. My

brother-in-law can stay mad. I'm done

caring what he thinks.