Charlene’s mum begged her to patch things up with Jamie. Why did she even care?
I opened the front door to find a figure on my doorstep, flowers in hand. Taking the flowers, I sighed. This didn’t change anything.
‘I need more time,’ I said, closing the door.
Walking into the kitchen, I found my mum making tea.
Seeing the flowers, she raised her eyebrows.
‘Jamie?’ she asked.
I nodded.
‘Maybe you should give him a chance, love,’ she said. ‘He seems to be making an effort.’
I rolled my eyes.
‘So he should after what he did,’ I said.
A few weeks before, I’d walked in on him in bed with one of my friends.
I’d been shocked and heartbroken.
I’d had no choice but to move out of our home, and in with my mum Michelle.
But deep down, I knew I still loved Jamie. Every time he came round, it made me realise how much I missed him. However, I wasn’t ready to forgive yet.
Mum seemed to take Jamie’s side, no matter what.
‘I just don’t want you to throw away something good,’ she explained. ‘Everybody makes mistakes.’
I thought about it long and hard over the next few weeks and realised Mum was right.
Everyone deserves a second chance, I told myself.
I called Jamie and told him I was coming home.
‘You won’t regret this,’ he said.
I moved back in and for the first few months everything was great.
Mum was delighted for us.
‘I’m so glad you’ve managed to sort out your differences,’ she said.
But while things were on the up with Jamie, it was my relationship with Mum that was trickier.
‘Oh, hello again,’ I said, opening the front door to find her outside for the umpteenth time.
She had started coming over all the time.
‘I miss having you around,’ she told me.
It was sweet, but I also wanted time with Jamie on our own. But when I mentioned it to him, he made me feel bad.
‘She’s making up for lost time,’ he said.
‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘I’m being mean.’
Only, I soon noticed it wasn’t me Mum spoke to when she was round.
She’d always be chatting to Jamie.
One afternoon, she arrived.
‘Isn’t Jamie home?’ she asked.
‘In the shed,’ I replied, gesturing outside.
'I'm just trying to get to know him'
‘Great,’ said Mum, heading out there.
She stayed in the shed all afternoon, while he was fixing up a motorbike.
‘Since when were you interested in bikes?’ I quizzed her, as I took them both a cuppa.
‘I’m just trying to get to know him,’ she said. ‘For you.’
When the three of us went to the shops together, the two of them would always walk off in front, nattering away.
And in the house, they always seemed to sit beside each other.
I started feeling like a third wheel in my own relationship.
‘You don’t fancy my mum, do you?’ I asked him one day.
He burst out laughing.
‘Have you lost your mind?’ he asked.
‘It just seems like you’re really close,’ I said.
‘Don’t you want us to get along?’ he asked.
‘Of course,’ I said.
But I couldn’t shift the feeling of mistrust.
He’d cheated once with my friend, who was decades older — in her 60s actually! So it wasn’t as if Jamie didn’t like older women.
Then one day, Mum came to speak to me.
‘You should lay off, Jamie,’ she said. ‘You’re going to drive him away.’
‘Why? What’s he said?’ I asked.
‘Just that you’re paranoid he’s going to cheat again,’ she replied. ‘And it’s putting strain on the relationship.’
‘He shouldn’t be speaking to you about this,’ I snapped.
But when I confronted Jamie about it later, he looked confused.
‘I didn’t say a word,’ he said. ‘You must have said something.’
The strain soon became apparent in our relationship.
But instead of trying to make me feel more secure, Jamie did the opposite.
He started going out more and coming back hours after he said he would.
One night, he didn’t come back at all.
‘Where have you been?’ I yelled at him, next morning.
‘I stayed at my mum’s,’ he said.
His mum and I didn’t have the best relationship, so I couldn’t even check.
When I talked to my own mum about it, she sighed.
‘It’s all in your head,’ she said. ‘You can’t keep dwelling on things he’s done in the past.’
I started to feel like I was going crazy, and the only thing keeping me sane was my faith.
I was a Christian and went to church every Sunday.
One Sunday, Jamie came home in the early hours again, so I barely said a word to him, before heading for the church service.
While there, I prayed things would be good between us again.
If only I believed in Jamie, as much as I believed in my God.
I arrived back home around 4pm.
As soon as I walked through the door, my ears pricked up. I could hear something upstairs.
I didn’t say a word.
I tiptoed upstairs.
There was the sound of rustling, as though someone was in bed.
I swung the door open, expecting to see Jamie asleep.
I was in for a shock. He was far from asleep.
Jamie was upright, on the bed, on his knees.
He was naked from the waist down and in between a pair of flailing legs.
‘Jesus!’ I screamed, as I spotted who those legs belonged to.
It was… Mum.
My jaw fell open. She looked like she’d just been slapped.
She jumped up and grabbed her clothes.
‘I can explain,’ she said.
‘Get out!’ I roared at her.
She didn’t need to be told again.
She scarpered and I looked to Jamie.
It was several seconds before I found my voice.
‘Paranoid, am I?’ I spat at him.
‘I’m sorry,’ he gasped. ‘I don’t know what happened. She was drunk — she came on to me.’
‘And I suppose you fought her off?’ I exclaimed. ‘Get out — and don’t come back!’
As soon as he was gone, I burst into tears.
I couldn’t believe it. How could two people who were meant to love me, do such a thing?
Not only that — it was disgusting.
Mum was knocking on 60 years old. Jamie was 27.
After everything Jamie had put me through, Mum had encouraged me to take him back.
Had she just wanted him close to get her grubby mitts on him?
And it only got worse from there. Ranting to our family on the phone, it all came out.
‘I’m so sorry,’ said my relative. ‘But she’s got him living there now, as well.’
Jamie had moved straight out of our house and in with Mum.
Then, a few weeks later, I made a discovery.
I knew I’d have to tell Jamie, so I rang him and left a message.
Days later, he turned up at my door, begging me to take him back.
‘I’m so sorry for what I did,’ he said. ‘I want our baby so much, and I want us to be a family.’
He told me he was no longer with my mum.
‘Why did you move in with her in the first place?’ I asked.
‘I had nowhere to go,’ he said.
‘What about your own mother?’ I pointed out.
‘I was too ashamed to tell her what I’d done,’ he said.
I agreed to give us a try, for the sake of our child, but over the next couple of weeks, every time we had sex, I couldn’t stop picturing my mum.
‘This isn’t going to work,’ I told him.
We’ve now gone our separate ways and have agreed to stay civil for the sake of our child.
As for the grandma though, that’s one family member my baby can do without.
Charlene Chandler, 32,
Portsmouth, Hampshire
When asked for her side of the story, Michelle said: 'Me and Jamie have always been close and have always had feelings for each other. One thing led to another and that was it. I've still got feelings for him now. You can't help the way you feel. I'm not seeing him at the moment, but he has said he doesn't love my daughter any more.'