Donna, 49, shares her true life story;
I lifted my mug of tea to my lips and was about to take a sip, when the door opened and in walked something much hotter than my drink.
“This is my friend John,” my neighbour said, introducing me.
I found myself intrigued.
After that I kept bumping into John, and then one day he turned up on my doorstep.
“Hello,” he said. “Thought I’d pop by to see how you are.”
We got chatting. It was clear that John liked me and I discovered I liked him, too.
He was quite a few years younger than me but that didn’t stop us becoming a couple.
However not everyone was happy for me.
“He’s too young for you, Mum,” my teenage daughter Julie said. “It’s not going to work and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Don’t worry, love,” I replied. “I’ll take things slowly.”
But Julie still wasn’t keen.
Whenever John came over to our house, she’d give him evil stares and then go to her room to avoid him.
This went on for two years, and then he moved in with us.
“You’ll have to put up with it,” I told her.
But the reality was that the tension made life hard and John and I started arguing. Julie blamed it all on him.
I found myself intrigued by John.
“I hate the way he treats you, Mum,” she said. “I don’t like his attitude.”
But I loved him. In the end, Julie moved out to live with a friend.
Things got easier and John and I started talking about having a child of our own, but there was a snag.
I’d been sterilised.
I couldn’t have it reversed under the public system but John insisted he was “serious about us having a child.”
So I raided my savings and paid for the operation to be carried out privately.
We started trying for a baby right away. But it didn’t happen.
Years passed and the monthly cycle of hope and despair drove a wedge between us and we split up.
To my surprise, Julie didn’t cheer at my news.
“I’m sorry Mum,” she said. “All I ever wanted was for you to be happy.”
The truth was John had made me happy so when he asked for another chance, I took a risk.
I went to see Julie and asked her if she minded.
John desperately wanted another child, and I felt awful that I couldn’t give one to him.
“It’s up to you,” she said. “Whatever you decide, I’ll support you.”
And she kept her word.
She made an effort with John and I was thrilled to see them getting on at last.
Then she fell pregnant.
She’d split up with her boyfriend and told me the dad was a bloke she knew.
John and I helped her get her own apartment, and I was with her when she gave birth to my grandson.
I loved going to visit them, but whenever John came with me the atmosphere seemed different.
In time, John and I moved to a new place not too far away.
Julie often came around with the baby and it was lovely.
Then one day, I was looking through the phone bill when I made a discovery.
Every time I went out, John had been using our phone to call Julie. I confronted him about it.
“I’m just checking on her and the baby,” he replied. “I thought you’d be pleased.” But I wasn’t.
I thought: They wouldn’t do that to me, would they? I had to know for sure.
Tune in to this week’s Take 5 Ripper Real Life Podcast to hear what happens next!
Disclaimer: All photos used in this post are Getty stock photos and not real people.
