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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

It's all a mess

26 replies

carrotsoup · 07/01/2011 23:40

This is my first post here. I came across the site while googling for any advice on the crap that is my life.

A couple of years ago I met a man who I fell for very quickly. Everything seemed perfect. We'd both been married before and had uncomplicated divorces - or so I thought.

He had been separated since 04 and divorced a few years later. She worked in the same place as him now (although this happened post divorce) but its a big place and he told me he bumped in to her from time to time. One day he told me he'd told her he had met someone and she was really happy for him. She (allegedly) had been with someone else since fairly quickly post separation. He was happy for her.

Roll forward to a couple of months ago and we are in the midst of preparing for our Christmas wedding. And one day my world came crashing down when I discovered he'd been having an affair with her for longer than we had even been together.

To make matters worse (as if they could) three days previous to that day I had started to miscarry. The mc was only confirmed by the early pregnancy unit the day before I found out about the affair. He went back to work the following day and after work took his slut out in his car after work for sex in the car behind a derelict house up the road! Classy!!!!! Apparently they did this about once a week and another day or two he went to her house for sex after work. It really can't have been more than sex because he was always home within an hour an a half of the time he was due to finish work. It takes 45 mins to drive to her house and a further 15 mins to drive from there to our house. That leaves half an hour and in that time he also had a shower before he left her house to make sure I couldn't smell anything off him!!! On the car days it was five minutes to the place they went, max ten minutes in the car for sex and five mins back to the office. I have been through months and months and months of phone bills and reread every single text message he sent me so I do know the times check out. Apparently it was once every few weeks before we moved in together and then she asked him to go to her house more and to start going out in the car. The day I found out was one of the car days. Something just didn't add up that day, don't ask me what. I had never ever ever been suspicious but that day I just felt there was something wrong and asked to see his phone bills on line which very clearly showed her number repeatedly coming up.

He ended it immediately. The following day he went to a solicitor and had a letter sent to her requesting all contact stop immediately.

I sat distraught for almost a week. I couldn't quite take in what had been happening for the entire time I was with him. I was aware there was a problem with sex between us from we started living together last summer but he convinced me he was just tired etc. Of course now I know that he had already had sex by the time he came home and was physically unable to. But even though i was upset about the sexual problems we were having and told him - sometimes in tears - he never stopped screwing his tart.

4 days after that day she phoned his parents very late at night complaining I was sending her abusive messages. She has had no contact with his parents since before they separated so this was very out of the blue. His mother phoned him and he told her everything was ok and just to ignore her. He subsequently told her the problem was his ex wife was jealous we were about to get married and was trying to cause problems.

2 days later I made a decision to go out that evening to do something I needed to do. It would be the first time i had gone out since i found out 6 days before as i hadn't even been able to go to work. As I was getting ready to go out he came in to the bedroom and told me the police were in the kitchen and wanted to speak to me. The stupid slut had gone to the police and made a complaint I was harassing her. Of course this was complete nonsense as I have never ever had any contact with her, directly or indirectly, not before i found out or since. The police told me that because an allegation had been made they had to caution me and tell me i would be arrested if i made any further contact with her. i cried and told them the truth about what had been going on. He stood sheepishly by and admitted everything, the text messages she alleged i had sent her where from his phone and were the messages where he told he i knew everything and that it was over and she was never ever to contact him again. He sent her one further message telling her to stop contacting his parents and if she did or contacted anyone else known to him about it he would go to the police. the police woman was v understanding and said the harassment legislation is often abused like this but she still had to record the warning she had given to me.

I have never had any contact with the police in my life and still cannot believe that happened to me.

anyway roll forward and i was stupid enough to go through with the wedding. more fool me. i don't think he is still in contact with her but i know i should never have married him. but i was afraid if i didn't i would lose him for good. but would that really have been a loss?

he has shown no remorse. he says he is sorry but that is just a word. he thinks things are ok when we act normally towards each other. i want remorse, i want the sack cloth and ashes...........but i get complacency.

i have no idea what to do and am literally wishing i wasn't alive. i don't trust him, don't believe him, don't even like him most of the time. i wish i had the guts to walk away and get on with my life but something is keeping me here - and it sure isn't his determination to make me feel he's sorry.

i have never felt pain like i do right now and have been in for so many weeks now.

how does anyone cope with this situation?

i appreciate your patience if you have managed to read to the end of this. i just needed to get it all out.

M

OP posts:
carrotsoup · 07/01/2011 23:46

i should say i went through with the wedding because he begged me to, begged me to give him a chance blah blah blah.

OP posts:
RealityIsShaggingWithIntent · 07/01/2011 23:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Doha · 07/01/2011 23:47

you can't be expected to cope when living withsomeone like this. As you say he is not sorry for the afair,just sorry that he has been caught.
I would be out that door like a shot without looking back.

carrotsoup · 07/01/2011 23:55

Thanks for your replies. I don't know why i am not out the door. I can't understand why i am still here. if this was happening to a friend of mine then i would tell her to run as fast as she could.

He tells me how much he wants to make it up to me but then doesn't actually do anything.

He paid for everything to do with the wedding bcus i wasn't sure if i should get married or not. however money isn't a massive issue to either of us so its not really a big hardship to him. he said he wanted to pay to convince me how much he wanted me.

but i want actions, not money, nor words.

he says he doesn't know what to do or how to do it. i just feel so so so so low.

OP posts:
perfumedlife · 07/01/2011 23:57

I can't believe you married him Sad I can only think you are trying to get his validation because what he done was so hurtful.

Really sorry, you have to leave this poor excuse for a marriage with this non man.

carrotsoup · 08/01/2011 00:05

I married him because my feelings were / are genuine. I love him. Its not easy to switch that off in an instant.

i have struggled to even believe he has really done this. if you knew him you'd probably think he was quiet, boring, sensible..............maybe i never knew him. i know i am in denial half the time but it just hurts too much.

OP posts:
Maelstrom · 08/01/2011 00:06

The truth is that you are never going to trust him again, and that you are going to be afraid of what his ex could do or not.

So the question is... do you want to continue living like this? To try to cope with that situation is frankly, not a solution. You either fix it or you leave.

I would leave, trust is something that once is broken, it can never be put together again as if nothing had happened.

Maelstrom · 08/01/2011 00:08

you know, there are plenty of people who end up a relationship with someone they love. It is possible, you don't need to wait for love to die, you can wait for it to die in a more comfortable situation: Away of his life and why not, his cowardice.

Doha · 08/01/2011 00:11

Do you have any DC's?

You need to get him to leave or for you to leave and go saty with family or friends until you can make sense of this hell that is now your life.

Perhaps with a bit or distance you will see the situation a bit clearer and realise that this man has failed and is continuing to fail you very badly.

I would and could NEVER trust him

Anabellesmumanddad · 08/01/2011 00:14

Hey there Carrot

I don't have much advice but I just wanted to say that I think you have absolutely been through the wringer... I am really astonished at how brave you were and how willing to believe in hope to marry him. You are a brave person.

Please don't give yourself such a hard time. He is the one who ruined your trust in him.

It honestly sounds to me like you are in real shock. You've experienced major trauma here. The sudden and massive betrayal. and the miscarriage. I'm so sorry to hear that you had to go through that.

If you are still having sex with him, I would advise you to resume contraception. You need time to sort out your hear and probably getting pregnant to someone who you have been so betrayed by is NOT a good idea.

I also am big advocate of getting individual counseling to help you sort through this big messy situation. Even a free support phone line can be really helpful.

You are TOTALLY entitled to genuine remorse from him. Sounds like you need to make sure he knows he is NOT forgiven yet.

Whether you break up or not is not something you have to decide today. Give yourself time to work through things. Believe it or not, things will get better... slowly.

perfumedlife · 08/01/2011 00:16

I know you say you love him, but surely that 'him' you love doesn't exist? The entire time you have been together he has been cheating on you, with his exwife. He even backed out of sex with you to sleep with her. This is the real man, not the one you knew before the truth came out.

I wonder why, when you learned the full horror, you didn't call off the wedding, at least for a year, to see if the trust could be repaired.

You are in love with a version of himself he made up, its not real

FaffTastic · 08/01/2011 00:28

You've had an awful time of things lately.

How were the police able to issue you with a warning without any evidence??

perfumedlife · 08/01/2011 00:32

So are you saying your h sent her texts from his phone, pretending you wrote them, warning her off?

TimeForACHEEKYWine · 08/01/2011 01:23

i dont know why you married him either but love is blind sometimes and like you said hard to switch off :(

carrotsoup · 08/01/2011 01:42

No the messages were written from him to her. She alleges I sent them pretending to be him. She told his parents I had sent her a solicitors letter - even though it clearly said it was from him. I wasn't with him at the solicitors as that was the day after i found out and i didn't even have the strength to pick myself off the floor let alone go out anywhere.

The police say under the Protection from Harassment Act they can issue warnings to anyone a complaint is made against. The word of another person is deemed sufficient to issue the warning. Obviously if further action is required evidence is needed. She claims she deleted the text messages as she was too distraught to keep them. Fortunately he had them on his phone and was able to show the police the only messages sent to her were the ones in his sent items by producing his online bill. The police have now spoken to her about her harassment of me and he also made a formal complaint about her to the police.

She no longer works on the same site he does as she's been moved to somewhere else.

I know i am the most pathetic person in the world, just as many of you have said, because i married him. But then its only because i am so worthless that he could even do this to me.

OP posts:
Anabellesmumanddad · 08/01/2011 06:23

You are NOT pathetic. I think you were willing to believe in hope. At worst you were naive. and insecure.

Yes, it probably was a mistake to marry him but EVERYONE makes mistakes. Don't let your past mistake define your future.

You may have decided to marry him, but you can always make a different decision.... anytime you like, you can decide to choose a different life. One without him, if that's what you want.

I agree that since he has duped you from the beginning you have a false sense of him as a person. The reality is that he is a prize asshole and a bag of slop.

DozyDoll · 08/01/2011 06:52

Forgive me but how long was the time between you finding out and you getting married?

DozyDoll · 08/01/2011 06:59

You were in shock - I am stunned and in a state of disbelief just reading this, so goodness how you must have felt when you got married - grief of your lost baby is horrendous enough before you can even begin to untangle the trauma he caused you personally.

You married him - huge mistake, but without a doubt an even bigger mistake would be staying with him. He does not deserve you. You deserve respect and inner peace - you deserve to be with someone wonderful and if that is not possible in the short term (which it isn't with him) then you owe it to yourself to leave him and gain that self respect and inner peace as a single free woman.

He can never make you happy.

LmO · 08/01/2011 08:49

Imagine your life without him, how does it feel, what does it look like?

Do you think you'd be happier/more settled without all this stress?

Have you considered counselling? Would he go with you?

Could you ever trust him again? Will this relationship ever get any better? Perhaps it is best to try and accept what has happened, do not blame yourself, but give yourself a chance of a happy future and leave now.....?

LoveBeingADaddysGirl · 08/01/2011 09:02

What stands out to me is you saying you weren't sure whether to get married so he paid for everything, do you mean he also organised lots of it? So did he basically take over? He is possibly seeing getting married as both of you moving on.

I think lots of men try to brush it under the carpet and just move on, but you can't fo that as easily. You can't carry on like this, you either need to leave or get it sorted out properly. You need to speak to him and a cousellor. What support have you had for the mc?

Lydwatt · 08/01/2011 09:25

You are not pathetic or worthless...and no-one here thinks that. You deserve so much better than this and I feel so sorry for all you have been subjected to.

I really do think the idea of going to stay with someone else for a little while is a good idea. Is there really no-one in real life you can confide in? Could ou try going to relate and getting some counselling? I also agree that you are in shock from all that has happened in the last few months.

If I could give you a big hug, I would right now, you need someone on your side here, give you support to make the big tough decisions you are facing.

I know you love him, which means he must have some endearing qualities...but to be totally frank, your husband sounds like a total a@!se.

maras2 · 08/01/2011 09:42

Carrots,you are not pathetic.He's a total git and doesn't deserve you.Shame you married the tosser but that can be sorted out later-no big deal these days.Can't offer much advice but your post really moved me and I too would like to give you a great big girlie sister cuddle and hug x x x

LifeMovesOn · 08/01/2011 10:13

I am so sorry this has all happened to you.

How was he about your miscarriage? Has he shown any understsanding about what you went through there, or has it all been lost (in his eyes) with everything going on since you discovered the affair and then the wedding?

I was on the losing side of my husband's affair and, whilst I can't begin to imagine how you feel given the OW was his first wife, I agree with what LBADG says - men seem able to easily brush this under the carpet and 'move on'. That's what my ex kept saying, he wanted to brush it under the carpet so we could move on. Easy for them to say - it's all part of how they deal with their guilt.

My husband did this and constantly asked me what he could do to show me how sorry he was. I, like you, needed evidence of his remorse, but didn't have a clue how he could show me.

I personally think the fact that he reported her to the police is a good thing. If he was that loyal to her, he wouldn't have done.

Whether you want to hear any positives about him is a test in itself.

Good luck sweetie, with whatever you decide to do.

YOU are the most important person in all of this, so it's YOUR decision what to do with the rest of your life.

Keep in touch so we can help/cyber hug.

Take care of yourself

grumpykat25 · 08/01/2011 10:30

Bloody hell. Your husband is a total arsehole. I think maybe you need to get away for a bit. A week off work, and stay with mum/dad/best mate/whoever you can just sit around with and have a bit of a think.

For me, this would be a deal breaker. But you're not me, so you need to decide what to do for the best for YOU. Not him. Ignore him and his wants, this is time to sort YOU out.

If you do decide to leave, perhaps go and speak to someone about anulling the marriage? You must have grounds, based on the unimaginable stress of losing your child and all trust in him at the same time.

You also need to come to terms with the awful loss of your child, which sounds like it's not even on Hh (horrible husband!)'s radar.

Good luck, and remember, this is about YOU. Not him.

Maelstrom · 08/01/2011 10:31

OK, lets start with practical things.

The things are not going away on their own, and you are not going to leave this behind you until the main issues are tackled. Yes, he may want to sweep everything under the carpet and that may work with men, but not with us, so... if you love him so much and really want for this to work out, book yourselves some marriage counseling sessions with Relate.

You really need to deal with what happened and confront those feelings, your husband will also get a chance to hear in detail how much this has hurt you and together find ways to move on.

Now, if at some point you realise that rather than moving on you want to leave him, is OK. Counseling could also help to make leaving more smooth.

You need your confidence back either to stay or to leave him, so give it a shot.