Im walking out, I tell you!
Turns out my gut feeling about Oliver was right Id never really known my own husband.
Fine, if thats how it is, go then. You cant force affection, I snapped.
How about this? Sophie and I will take the girls in. They deserve a proper mum and dad, Oliver blurted. The girls need both parents.
Id met Oliver through mutual friends, and he struck me straight away as a quiet, charming bloke. There was a certain bewilderment about him, something oddly endearing. All the other men I’d known up to then were confident, sure of the hardwon truths of life. Olivers hesitance was a fresh breath.
We talked all evening, and I was fascinated. But when Lydia, my friend whod invited Alex to her birthday, slipped away as Oliver excused himself to the loo, she whispered, Watch him, love hes got a trailer with him.
Trailer? What do you mean? I asked, puzzled.
Literally, Lydia replied, hes got two kids.
Two kids? I thought, since not a word had been said about children or a wife all night. If there were kids, surely there must be a wife too.
It turned out there was no wife at all just a beloved woman hed been planning to marry, who had vanished, leaving behind twin daughters. Oliver now raised those girls with his own mother.
Now thats a proper turnup, I mused. A decent bloke, thats a rarity these days. No wonder he seemed a bit lost anyone would be.
Why didnt you tell me about the girls? I demanded when Oliver returned to our flat.
Everyones scared to say it, he answered honestly after a pause. You might run off too, and I dont want that.
I wont run, I promised, realizing I had no desire to flee. I kept my word.
Oliver walked me home, and we agreed to meet again. Hed grown fond of Alex, a pretty, bright twentyfiveyearold, and the fact that hed got threeyearolds in his life didnt faze her. He confessed, My mum threw me out when Lydia invited me to her birthday. She says Ill go feral if I stay. Kids dont make life any easier, you know?
His mothers reaction was understandable. Her own daughterinlaw had fled a year earlier, abandoning the twins. Instead of handing the girls over, theyd taken them in, a sort of civic duty in todays world.
Alex confessed she liked Olivers quiet, slightly odd, singledad vibe. By twentyfive shed already endured a disastrous marriage a wild student fling that never turned into anything lasting. It had been a marriage, but thered been no happy life.
While they were still only meeting, everything seemed peachy, as Oliver liked to say. Both were finalyear university students. Once they started living together after registering their marriage, they discovered they held completely opposite views on life.
So what? many would say, and theyd be right most couples have opposing outlooks. Do we all divorce then? We need to learn to compromise.
Emma started to compromise because Oliver refused to. My word is law, hed declare.
Fine, I said, the wife will fear her husband! But everything Oliver said turned out not to be what a girl expects.
After university, Alex landed a job straight away, but Oliver couldnt find a suitable one. Every post he tried had the wrong hours, a dim boss, or some other flaw. Theres nothing I want here! he complained.
Unemployed Igor, whod once been a barrel of laughs, settled at home. Weve got enough, love, hed say. They managed. Alex inherited her late grandmothers modest council flat not the fairytale home shed imagined.
Igor did nothing around the house, which Alex found absurd. Then get a servant, your Majesty! she teased, or perhaps hire a cleaning service.
She realised shed bet on the wrong horse. Not only had she not reached the finish line, she hadnt even left the starting blocks. Igor turned out to be a halfbaked pastry.
A hurt Oliver returned to his mother, while Alex spent three years not looking at any man again thank you, thats enough.
Then Oliver reentered her life. Soon after, he proposed and introduced her to his family the charming twin girls and his mother, Zoe.
Alex felt she wanted to be with them; by then she was head over heels.
At home the atmosphere was tense. It was understandable: a promising young woman was feeling desperate, but she wasnt coerced she was voluntarily pulling herself apart.
Never thought youd be like this! her mum shouted. Whyre you running off? There are decent men out there, why choose this pathology?
Mom, Olivers perfectly normal, Alex protested weakly.
Of course he is, her dad chimed in, but that normal bloke will hang his own neighbours! Do you know whats waiting for you?
Whats waiting for me? Emma asked. If Id given birth to twins, what would happen? Same thing here!
Nothing like that, her father raged. Your own kids are one thing; other peoples are another! Mum ran off, but you cant rewrite genes! Theyll grow up with
Why would they grow up with? Alex wondered. Oliver and I will have a proper family with a loving mum and dad. A persons upbringing matters as much as genetics.
Both sets of parents skipped the wedding the brides mother stayed home with the granddaughters. So the ceremony was modest: a quiet café with a few witnesses.
After the wedding, Oliver, the man with the trailer, moved into the council flat. Soon the Novels family welcomed a third boy Alex gave birth to a shared daughter.
Gradually the grandparents thawed, the grandchildren were now real grandchildren, and they started chatting. They didnt split the kids: they were smart enough to see that a split would only cause conflict. So they lived peacefully, thank God.
The older twins went to nursery while the little one was looked after by the grandmothers. Even the inlaws got on well.
Olivers first wife lost parental rights the parents and the stepmother rallied, shouting threats. But they couldnt claim maintenance; Sophie vanished for good. Perhaps that was for the best.
The girls knew Emma wasnt their biological mother; they remembered fleeting flashes of another mum from early childhood, so hiding the truth served no purpose.
Time passed, the girls grew and delighted their parents. Alex and Oliver worked together an ordinary, normal family.
The first wife resurfaced when the girls turned fourteen, as if nothing had happened twelve years earlier.
Oliver returned home from the shop looking dazed, emptyhanded, and announced, I ran into Sophie!
What Sophie? Alex asked, having long stopped bringing up the errant mother of the twins. Shed even forgotten her name.
My Sophie! Oliver replied.
The word my cut her like a knife. Who was she now? Emma felt a flutter of unease. Everything seemed the same, yet different.
Where did you meet her? Alex pressed.
At our shop, he answered.
What was she doing? Shopping too?
She was juststanding there.
Just standing? Was she waiting for someone? Whatll happen to her? Emma wondered aloud.
What did she say? Did she say anything? Oliver replied reluctantly.
What? Why should I have to pull all the strings out of you?
It turned out Oliver had stumbled upon the love of his life again Sophie, unchanged, a sweet treat in his otherwise dreary existence. Hed never stopped loving her.
Alex, meanwhile, was
Sophie later claimed shed finally pulled herself together. No more jokes about her. With Oliver, shed moved on to a younger woman, and there were no children from that fling.
Shall we start over, love? Sophie whispered, lightly touching his hand. Ollyboy, she called him in their secret nickname.
Oliver felt a surge, as if those long years had vanished. Do the girls remember me? Sophie asked.
The girls no longer thought of her; they had Emma as their mum.
Of course they do! Oliver lied. Love knows no bounds.
Yes, then forward: a mother is a mother! the beautiful woman declared. I know youre married! Divorce, take the girls, and well live together like before!
They swapped numbers. Call me, Ill be waiting! Oliver said and headed home. How could he tell his wife about divorce and the plan to take the girls? Hed lost his mind and pressed on, caring little for faithful Alex or the two girls whod grown accustomed to him. Hormones, he thought, were to blame.
He took a deep breath and shouted, Im leaving you!
My gut feeling about Emma had been right; Id never truly known my husband. A single brief meeting with his ex was enough for him to change everything.
Alex paused, gathered herself, then said, If thats how it is, go then. You cant force love.
But theres more! Sophie and I will take the girls. They need both a mum and a dad! Oliver snapped.
Is that so? Alex asked calmly. And who do you think will hand them over?
How can anyone hand them over? Were the biological parents, the laws on our side! Oliver protested. Any court would side with us!
Fine, fine, Alex replied, tone unchanged. What about their mother losing parental rights? Did you forget the law?
Well decide everything, even the custody! Oliver declared. You tell the girls.
No way, Alex retorted. Whoever dreamed it up, theyll be the ones to drive.
It was a Sunday, everyone was home. The doting dad then announced the bombshell to the girls: Soon well all be together!
Were already together! twins Annie and Tara chorused.
No, I mean your real mum! their father clarified.
The girls glanced at each other, then Annie said, Who are you talking about? We know our mum! and pointed at the palefaced Emma.
No, you have another, biological mum!
Is that the one who ran off a hundred years ago? The one Aunt Zoe always wanted to punish? Tara asked sarcastically. You speaking of her now?
Shes changed, realised her mistakes! Oliver said.
Were happy for her, Tara replied. Let her reform, but what does that have to do with us?
How does it matter? Were a family now! Alex stayed silent, leaving the decision to the girls.
Dad, are you serious? Annie asked. You really think we should live with that other woman?
Dont speak of your mother like that! Oliver shouted, suddenly serious. If you dont want it, well sue you and Sophie!
He stormed off, heading back to his beloved, with nowhere else to go, and later filed for divorce.
Oliver also followed through on his threat, suing for the girls return. The court, however, ruled in favour of Alex and the twins after ten years the childrens interests, now fourteen, outweighed the fathers. Who would hand the children to a mother stripped of parental rights? Emma had already prepared all the paperwork; after all, shed formally adopted the girls.
Sophie and the twins met in court for the first time in years. The loving mother, fighting fiercely for family restoration, didnt even go to hug them.
This is madness, we wont let it happen! Oliver howled.
Good luck, dad, Tara wished him, and the three of them went to a café to celebrate the win with their mum, not with that other aunt.
