I need advice on family drama

Natalie

Ok so I am going to lay out my situation in the most unbiased way I can and I’d like your honest opinion on how I should handle this.

My baby shower is on Sunday the 19th, and I collected RSVP about 3 weeks ago and yesterday I paid (about $20 per plate) for the people accounted for. I have all of my party favor gifts made up and I’ve spent a LOT of time trying to make this day perfect

I became best friends with this girl named Jessica about 12 years ago. I set her up with my fiancé’s brother and they ended up dating for 3years. Jessica broke up with the brother because he stole $1200 from her and spent it on opioids/heroin. Even after they broke up, Jessica and I still remained best friends. Fast forward 3 years to today and She is engaged and has two daughters currently. We lost touch about 1.5years age and rekindled our friendship a couple of months back. Now we talk on an almost daily basis and go out to lunch.... it’s like we picked up where we left off.

My fiancé’s brother has also moved on and is getting married next year to A new girl. So here is the dilemma. When I sent out shower invitations, I asked the brother and his new girl if they felt any kind of way about me inviting Jessica to the shower. They said they didn’t wanna be buddy-buddy and have to sit and chat with Jessica, but it wasn’t an issue. So I went ahead and invited Jessica.

So this evening (less than a week before the shower) I get a message from the brother and his girl saying that if Jessica is coming, then they are not. They didn’t give me any specific reason when I asked why? They just said they don’t want to be around her and the only way they would come is if I un-invite jessica.

What do I do? I feel like the brother has backed me into a corner and forcing me to chose between him and my best friend. Me and my fiancé are stuck in the middle as we both like Jessica and feel let down by his brother for not sucking it up for a whole 4 hours next week to welcome our first baby into the world. Is it that big of a deal to sit at separate tables and not talk to each other? Or do I really need to take back my invitation from Jessica? Or should I tell the brother to suck it up and be an adult for one day??

So how do I handle this??