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Tracey's Story
My partner and I have been together for a
little over three years. Three years ago seems like an age away as I sit here
and write this. It wasn't the perfect beginning. I was flattered by his
insistence to take me out when all the while I knew he was married and had
twins, a boy and a girl - the perfect family. But in reality I could see he was
a very unhappy man searching for love and recognition.
We fell in love
instantly and all the while I was telling myself how wrong I was and asking
myself 'what the hell was I doing'. He was sure about his feelings for me and
told me he wanted to leave his wife. His children were very important to him but
he knew they would naturally stay with their mother...... .read
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Zoë's Story
When I met my partner two years ago, I knew
he had children and I have never had any of my own. I was completely open
minded about it and right from the word go everything gelled between us all.
The kids had no hang ups and I didn't have any expectations. Even the ex
seemed supportive and has since moved on.
I dearly love my partner and am quite
overwhelmed by the amount of love and respect he and his children show to
me, so I took a huge leap of faith, sold my house, moved to a different
county, and bought a house with him. The kids, a boy aged 10 and a
girl aged 12 live with us three days per week, the last weekend of every
month and half of the holidays........read
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Nadine's Story
Well, I'm not quite sure where to
start really but I suppose the beginning would be my best option. I
met my now husband in December 2004. We had met through a texting
service that we both had access to on our mobile phones. We
instantly hit it off and within a couple of days we met.
I travelled 200 miles to the other
end of the country to meet him for a night out. I took along my
friend along for obvious reasons. He and I had chatted about our
separations from our ex's and I was relieved to hear he and his wife got
on really well together as my ex and I were not. It pleased me they
got on because I didn't want to get into a relationship that was full of
bitterness.........read
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Sadie's Story
I, like many other women, nursed my
partner through a very bitter divorce. Although his ex-wife ended the
marriage, she found it very difficult to accept him moving on and was very
abusive, both verbally and physically to me during that time.
My partner agreed to a very generous
settlement with regards to child maintenance as my three step-children had
a fabulous nanny who had been with them all since birth. (Both parents had
very good jobs). A couple of months after the final papers, the nanny was
unceremoniously sacked and the unemployed boyfriend was moved in to the
house to take her place.
When my partner went back to the
courts in an attempt to reduce his payments........read
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Sally's Story
I met my husband three years ago through a
friend and we hit it off straight away, engaged and married within eight months, we
both knew we were made for each other. My husband had a son who at the time was five
years old and was the end result of a previous relationship, they weren't
married and was actually only together six months when miraculously she fell
pregnant after telling him that she couldn't have kids. They had actually
split up when they found out that she was expecting.
As the type of
responsible bloke my husband is, he said they should make a go of it even though
living with her was a living hell. She was unpredictable, holds a very
strange relationship with her brother that has split up previous relationships,
lying, violent and abusive....... .read
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Charlotte's Story
I didn't think at the age of 19 I would
acquire a 2 and a half year old little boy and an ex-wife!! It was never my
dream to grow up meet my knight in shining armour fall head over heels in love
and.... have to go through his divorce, CSA settlements and general break up
warfare!
My man and I are not
married but will be officially engaged in July when his final decree comes
through. It just seems so long to wait to be able to call my man my own. Even
then it kills me I have live as part of his other life. I love his little boy as
if he were my own and he's the smartest most boisterous fun loving kid I've ever
met. It surprised me it took me less than a day with him to realise I could love
a little person that wasn't mine.
However it's not all
plain sailing........ .read
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Rebecca's Story
I met my now husband at work, he had
just split with his wife and asked me out. He has a suspicions his ex had
been seeing someone else and he could take no more (he was right, his best
friend) although she still denies seeing him until after the split. I knew
he had two children, which was ok.
As soon as our relationship started,
so did the abuse. Mainly text messages, really abusive, so much a
solicitor had to get them stopped, although not for long. My husband had a
vasectomy when they were together, so she loved the fact I couldn't have
children and used that at every opportunity. She married again and as soon
as they were hitched she made the children call her new husband dad!
(apparently the children asked if they could).
She uses the children all the time to
get at my husband.........read
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Eleanor's Story
I met my partner three years
ago at a friends birthday party, we kissed and agreed to go out on a date.
Over a week later he phoned me to ask me out, we went out got very drunk
and he confessed that he had a six month old baby boy and that he never
wanted any children and maybe never will. My friends had failed to
inform me of this fact so it came as a bit of a shock to be honest but I
figured in this day and age it must be a common feature of dating a 20/30
something man!
After a few months of dating
I needed to get out of my parents house so we agreed to move in together.
We bought a house big enough for weekend visits from his son and soon had
the bedtime routine sorted with little Charlie sleeping through the night.
One of the things that attracted me to my partner was the fact he was such
a brilliant dad.........read
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Joanne's Story
My husband's previous marriage ended in divorce, after her serial adultery, in
1997. They have one son, born through IVF, born on Christmas Day 1992.
After their separation the house, owned in joint names, was repossessed and
sold. My husband's father broke off all contact with my husband as he considered
the divorce to have brought shame on the family.
In 2000, after limited contact with his son, the ex-wife informed my husband she
was remarrying, their son would be taking his stepfather's name and asking for
my husband's consent for the stepfather's adoption of their son. My husband
refused and she severed all contact........ .read
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Karen's Story
I have been with my partner for nearly two
years, not a long period of time but we have been good friends for many years. I
saw him go through the breakdown of his marriage, and as a friend he did confide
in me. At the time I was in another relationship and encouraged him to go to
counselling with the Ex to see if they could come to some agreement with regards
to their children.
They went their separate ways and myself and him grew closer, and now are very
happy living together. They have three beautiful children who I have known for
years and they always spent time with me, I felt like the cool big sister, but
now his visitation rights dictated by his ex have been decreased....... .read
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Sarah's Story
I knew my partner before he left his wife.
I met him because he was a regular customer a my place of work and we were
always friendly towards each other but that was it. He split up with his wife
and I did not see him for a few months however when he did return he was asking
to contact me which did eventually happen. My parents did not approve of the
situation and told me to finish it immediately which I just could not do. Anyway
6 months later we managed to get a place of our own and we have been together
ever since. It will be 4 years this year we would have been together.
He has two boys and a younger girl and luckily for me the kids have not been a
problem. We see then every weekend and they stay one night every week........ .read
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Liz's Story
I have been with my partner for a couple of
years now. I have two boys 3 and 6, my partner has one son aged 4. We are fine
most of the time but we bring our boys up completely differently!
When I first found out I was pregnant I was so nervous because I knew more about
cars than I did babies. So when my boys came along I brought them up with a bit
of rough and tumble, where as my step son was and still is wrapped up in cotton
wool.
Now we all live together and we started off fine but now I'm finding it really
difficult as my step son doesn't really listen to me......... .read
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Tanya's Story
Oh lord where do I start!!!
When I met my partner 2 and a half years ago he told me he was divorced and had
2 kids and I thought OK I can deal with this as I came from a divorced family
and both parents re married. How VERY VERY wrong could I have been.
When we got together I realised they didn't have the most conventional of
divorces, by that I mean they still did family things and went on holiday
together and had slept with each other a couple of times, she would phone for
just a chat in the evenings while we were trying to enjoy us time....... .read
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Abby's Story
I have been with my boyfriend for 4 years
now and he has been divorced for over 8 years, although his ex wife or the X as
he calls her doesn't seem to think so. They do have children together a 17 year
old boy (always in trouble) and a 9 year old daughter (who is a daddy's girl).
Now don't get me wrong but yes I did know he had kids and an ex wife when we got
together but no one told me how hard it would be and if they had I quite frankly
would have run for the hills!!
In the early stages of our relationship it didn't affect me at all, it was only
when we moved in together that it all started to bug me. The teenager from
hell lived with his dad (my boyfriend) as at the time the X couldn't cope....... .read
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Helena's Story
My story I suppose is a bit of a cliché in
that we met at work, both of us in relationships that were already dead really,
and we became very close friends. Me and my ex split up due to a complete
breakdown in communication and we lived in the same house for six months living
completely separate lives before he moved out (leaving me in £10,000 worth of
debt and not paying any of the mortgage since he moved out).
Eventually me and my friend from work started seeing each other even though he
was still living with his partner and to be honest after having a failed ten
year relationship the situation suited me....... .read
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Gillian's Story
I met my partner about a year ago after
spending two years alone dealing with the aftermath of an abusive relationship.
To be honest, I was not looking for anyone special, but just wanted to start
"living" again. Life has a habit of playing tricks on us though and I ended up
meeting my soulmate and the man I have been looking for for most of my life.
On our first date, my partner told me he had a past - namely an
almost-but-not-yet-ex-wife as well as two daughters (now 15 & 13) who lived with
him on alternate weeks. My immediate reaction was to pull back a bit....... .read
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