Agree with most of that other than you somehow managing to blame his wife!
Not “blaming” his wife at all.
What I am saying is that to a dullard childmind, having got away with boorish and outright callous behavior in the past, without the repercussions one might expect, maybe his childmind thinks he can BUY his way out of everything with her.
He clearly lives under the delusion of “ask forgiveness, not permission,” knowing he could never get the latter, but a few quid has been successful in receiving the former.
Maybe it’s me, but after almost 37 years of marriage (longer than he’s been on this earth, so he could be my kid!), he sounds like the kind of **** I’d want my daughter to swerve hard to avoid!
As the saying goes, we know what you are, now we are just haggling over the price!
That’s not “blame,” it’s self-worth and personal dignity…not to mention the kids!
Call me old fashioned, but you can’t throw money at the real things in a relationship, because they don’t have a price tag.
But, I don’t want to come off as the Morality Police, either. They have their own relationship, and it’s their business to sort out. But, on the interwebs, we get to discuss our feelings on that matter, right?