I’ll try to keep this short (ish!) so may leave some stuff out but only to keep it readable.
DH and I were both married before. DH has 2 children who are adults now and I have 3 who are teens now. When we got together DH was pretty open about the 5 yr affair he had during his first marriage but said it was during a period where she was having affairs too and their marriage had been over for a while. (Bit of a red flag I ignored).
Our relationship is almost like in 2 parts. First 5 years we didn’t live together but saw each other an increasing amount of time - to the point that he would spend half the week with me and half in his house. During this period DH totally love bombed me with the most amazing thoughtful gifts / trips. My children liked him and our blended family was brilliant - holidays together and we had a lot of fun. He was supportive when my parents died with 12 months of each other. We married during this 5yr phase.
2020 came along and DH moved in with me permanently, quit his job and started his own business. It was Covid and I am working full time as well as trying to homeschool kids (2 of whom are neuro diverse), I was still grieving my parents death and had some other problems with my ex husband. DH and i had also made a financial investment largely with my inheritance and it was not going well. Added to this I realised how lazy DH is in the house - I do everything. Essentially the effort he put in when he was just visiting my house disappeared. His children also stopped speaking to me and to this day I don’t know why. I have tried (and cried) asking him why but he either doesnt want to ask them - or he knows and won’t tell me. I’ve not seen them in about 3 years and I am no longer invited to events on that side. He has also been drinking heavily and tells me last minute that he is going away to either visit his kids or go on trips alone. He never tells me when he is coming back. I am just expected to accept his lack of planning and to be honest, I now have. I don’t really care when he goes away for work or for how long. I just rely on myself and focus on my children, work and house.
A few months ago he went away and left his iPad which was pinging. So I looked at it. He has started an emotional affair with someone he works with and they’ve met up a few times for dinner and to moan about their partners. He has tried to get her to meet him for a weekend (at his expense) and they are still planning to meet up. The worst part though is the way he has portrayed me. He has lied about so many things and essentially said I am a money grabbing, cold, heartless bitch who has ignored him for the last 5 years and has had an affair (I haven’t - it’s laughable to even think I would have the time or energy and besides that’s just not me). There are so many outright lies in there, it couldn’t even be that he just sees things differently.
I also read the last few messages with one of his children where it’s clear he has told them I am horrible to him and I have betrayed him in the past. There are also references to being ‘allowed’ to visit them. This is total bullshit as my only issue is that I ideally wanted to know what his plans were. Clearly he has been misleading people about me and now I think I can guess why my relationship with his kids broke down. All of this while he is trying to persuade me to get a new puppy and talks about the future.
Its made me look back and now I see things a little clearer. I’ve always had a bit of a doubt about his faithfulness but I put it down to maybe some jealousy on my part. I also now feel ashamed that I believed everything he said about his ex wife. He is lying about me now so perhaps the whole “she had affairs” was a load of rubbish. He has to be a good liar to have a 5 yr affair during his first marriage doesn’t he?
This is where I am now… I’ve not said anything and I am biding my time. My kids still like him and he works away for a month at a time so I don’t see him a lot. There is so much distance between us but we are pleasant to each other when he is home. I just feel stuck and not quite ready for the fallout of splitting up. I also want to wait and see if he genuinely does meet this other woman and I assume their emotional affair will develop at that point. But that’s just me doubting myself and worrying I will split us up based on just words. I know he will tell me he was lonely and never had any intention of doing anything. But it feels like I am just hurting myself even more.