When We Met

The telephone rang as I rinsed some cups out into the sink. I picked it up to hear the sound of Pete, my husband through a crackled reception.

"Dianne, it's only me, I'm just calling to let you know I'll be a bit late again tonight."

I was barely able to make out his words but I got the gist.

"Hi darling, it's okay" I replied. "You just finish over there and then get back here when you're done... I have a little surprise".

Before he could answer I'd placed the phone back onto it's reciever and a smile broadened across my face. 'It's just not fair! I thought to myself. We hardly ever got the chance to spend any quality time together, it was always work, work, work. I'd first met Pete ten years ago at a friends birthday party. We'd both been let down by our dates, so after chatting for a while, we decided to team up. I was twentyfive, slim and good looking. Now here we still were ten years down the line and not a lot had changed, apart from a few extra crows feet and slightly greying hair. Pete worked most days, sometimes not coming home for weeks at a time, so, that night I thought I would treat us both to a nice tea and a bottle of wine. I had never doubted his fidelity once in all those years. But after he'd got home later that day, after we had the surprise meal I'd gone out on a limb to prepare, he went upstairs and left his mobile phone on the table. Suddenly it made a noise and I just picked it up. It was a text from Pete's boss, saying that Pete had forgot to lock up at the office. I figured that as his boss knew about it, he must have aready been to lock up, so the text wasn't so urgent. I would just wait to tell Pete when he'd finished upstairs. But, as I waited, I accidentally managed to scroll down to his other texts and found numbers which bared the name 'Sarah' above them. Without a second thought I clicked onto the first one as it read " don't forget to bring milk on your way back over." Who was this Sarah, I asked myself. Had Pete been unfaithful? Although, there may have been a valid reason for the text, she may just be a friend, or the girlfriend of a colleague. We'd been married for ten years, and quite happily up until now. When he came down, I told him about the text from his boss and we finished our meal. I kept the fact that I knew about the other texts a secret. If I was going to confront him, I needed to have more evidence. There was only one thing for it! The next time he went to work, I would follow him. That next day, he got up at four thirty as usual, he had his breakfast and then left. I rushed out behind him in my nightgown and slippers. I'd never followed anybody before, what if he saw me? What would I say? I started the engine and switched on the lights. In the movies, they always had them turned off, but it was pitch black and I felt for sure that would just raise more attention. Off I sped after him. It appeared as though he was just on his way to work, until he took a different route off the motorway. This is it, I thought to myself. This is where I find out the truth. Surely enough, after twenty minutes, we arrived at a little house in a seemingly respectable estate in Burnley. I watched him go up the path. To to my surprise, instead of knocking, he got a key out of his pocket and let himself in. I made a short note of the address and drove back home. Each morning Pete left for work, I followed him. Each time, he would visit this house just before. The last time I followed him, he must have forgot his key, and a tall, slim woman appeared at the door. Was that her? I asked myself nervously. If there was nothing going on, why hadn't he mentioned this before? That was the day I'd decided, enough was enough. I would wait until Pete left for work 'again', then I would knock on that door and find out who the hell it was that was screwing my husband. After an hour or so he got into his car and I waited until it went out of sight. I knocked and a child answered. "Is your mummy there" I said. She walked over and stared at me in surprise as she noticed I still had my slippers on.

"Yes" she spoke.

"Oh, hi I'm a friend of Pete's." By this time my hands were froze and I was dying for a pee.

"Pete?" she inquired with a sideways glance.

"Yep, the man who's just left."

"You mean Mike" she said again.

"I'm sorry, I think there's some mistake, the man who's just left your house, his name's Pete, he's my husband!"

We both stared back at each other in horror as the realisation hit home. I agreed to go back later that day after she'd taken her kids to school. It turned out that 'Pete' who's real name was actually Stephen Hill, was also married to this other woman, 'Sarah' and they'd had two children together. When I found out I was totally devasted. All of this time, I'd felt so guilty for not being able to give him a child when all along, he'd been keeping a secret family! That same day, the two of us arranged a surprise for 'Steven' at my house. As soon as he got in, he just glared at us both and then retreated back towards the door. Damn right too! I thought to myself. He knew what this was about. A few days later, we contacted the police. Steven Hill was arrested and bailed to appear in court. He didn't even try to deny it and there was no excuse for what he'd done. When it was over, the judge gave him five years in prison for bigamy and fraud. It's now seven years on, and he already has another family. Although his new wife knows about what he did, she feels certain he wouldn't do that to her. She loves him... just as I did, and probably still do though I hate to admit it.