Miracle and her new hubby Charles have vowed to start a family — even though her new man is 12 years older than her grandpa…
I was standing behind the till of the launderette, folding clothes, when the door swung open.
Charles, a familiar face, waltzed in and we locked eyes.
My stomach flipped.
With his dapper outfit and sparkling eyes, there was something about him.
Suddenly, he slid a piece of paper and a pen across the counter towards me.
‘Write your number down, please,’ he said, confidently.
Charles had been popping into the launderette for a few months and we’d become friends.
I liked to hear his stories while he waited for the dryer to finish.
Some days, he’d come in with just one shirt or a pair of trousers and insist on me being the one to serve him.
I had a feeling he was flirting with me.
Only, he looked old enough to be my grandad.
‘He clearly fancies you, but isn't he a bit long in the tooth?’ my colleague Karen whispered.
‘We have a good vibe,’ I told her.
Truth was, I liked a mature man.
I found Charles attractive but was scared to admit it, for fear of what people would think.
'He's got to be three times your age!'
However, I scribbled my number down and a few days later, he called to ask me on a date.
‘He’s here!’ my mum Tamika yelled as Charles pulled up outside the house.
Peeking through the window to get a look at him, she gasped.
‘He's got to be three times your age, Miracle!’ she said.
I hadn’t asked him yet, but I assumed he was in his 60s.
I rushed out the door before she could pepper me with more questions, then Charles drove us to a bar in town.
I was worried that we wouldn’t have anything in common because of the age gap.
But the conversation flowed and the electricity crackled between us.
He had so many interesting tales and made me feel totally at ease.
‘I feel as if I’ve known you forever,’ I said.
Soon, we were seeing each other most days.
And our love life didn’t disappoint, either.
People assumed we kept things chaste because of his age, but his body worked just fine!
I liked to surprise him by walking round the house in sexy lingerie.
‘Girl, what are you doing?’ he’d laugh.
But he loved that I kept him on his toes.
It was a few months in before we broached the elephant in the room.
‘What year were you born?’ he asked over dinner.
‘I’m 24 so I was born in 1998,’ I said. ‘What about you?’
‘I was born in 1937,’ he said.
Silence hung in the air as I frantically did the maths in my head.
Hang on, that makes him 85… I thought to myself, stunned.
He was a mega 61 years older than me.
I tried to hide the shock on my face.
Thinking back, I remembered he’d told me some war stories.
No wonder he’d described things so vividly. He’d actually lived through it!
My head whirled as I worked out he was 12 years older than my grandad Joe and had almost four decades on my parents.
But it was already too late.
I realised it didn’t matter to me if he was 55 or 100. He was my knight in shining armour.
For weeks, I’d been batting off questions from my mum about Charles.
But it was getting serious and I knew I couldn’t skirt the issue any longer.
So, taking a deep breath, I told her.
She was remarkably calm.
‘As long as you'’re happy, I’m happy,’ she told me.
I sighed with relief, but telling my dad was a different story.
‘I’m in love with a customer from work who treats me like a princess,’ I began, nervously. ‘He’s 61 years older than me.’
'Please just give him a chance'
His smile switched to a look of horror.
‘Hell no!’ he shrieked.
‘Please just give him a chance,’ I begged. ‘Just meet him and you'll come to love him.’
‘It’s not happening,’ he insisted.
‘Then you’ll lose me forever,’ I said, dissolving into tears.
I was ready to give up everything for Charles.
Thankfully, I didn’t need to.
When Dad saw how happy Charles made me and got to know him, he loved him, too.
Meanwhile, Charles and I grew even closer.
But our age gap did lead to some funny moments.
Charles found new technology bewildering and didn’t even own a bank card.
It made me chuckle that he still used cheques!
And as for music and films, sometimes, it was like we talked in different languages.
A year later, we were lying in bed when Charles turned to me.
‘In my eyes, you’re already my wife, but let’s make it official,’ he said.
‘I’d love to,’ I cried.
It was a whirlwind, but realistically, I knew I’d be around a lot longer than him.
We didn’t have time to waste.
The wedding day was wonderful, with all my family supporting me.
Dad even walked me down the aisle.
We jetted off to Florida on honeymoon a few weeks later and after hopping off the plane, we went to hire a car.
‘Is this your dad?’ a member of staff asked.
We both laughed.
Luckily, we both had a fun sense of humour, so it didn’t bother us.
‘Yes, this is my daddy,’ I replied.
I didn’t care if people mistook him for my father — or even my grandpa — and I ignored the stares.
I loved to show off our loving relationship online, but the backlash was shocking.
‘These people don’t even know us,’ Charles soothed.
‘They don’t know how happy we are and they don’t matter,’ he said as abusive messages started pinging on my phone.
A few weeks after the wedding, I told Charles I wanted to try for a baby.
He didn’t have any children of his own and I wanted to give him a chance to be a dad and leave a new generation behind.
But because of his age, we didn’t know how easy it would be, so we booked an appointment at an IVF clinic.
I was so excited at the thought of starting a family together, but I could feel the judgment as soon as we stepped into the room.
The expression on the nurse’s face changed as her eyes darted between me and Charles.
It was so uncomfortable, I ran out of the room and left the building, with Charles on my tail.
‘Let’s forget about it, they're judging us,’ I sobbed in his arms.
Not long after the appointment, Charles tested positive for Covid and was very poorly.
Being in the most vulnerable age group, I was so worried.
‘I might not be here in five years,’ Charles said one day. ‘We need to make the most of every second.’
His words struck a chord and when Charles recovered, we started looking into IVF again.
Maybe Charles’s age will be a barrier to us having children, but I’m staying positive.
I want to have a part of Charles with me when he’s gone.
I don’t know how much time we have left together, so we try to have fun experiences every day.
People accuse me of being a gold-digger or taking advantage of him, but he’s with me of his own free will.
Our relationship may look weird to some, but love comes in all sorts of guises.
Miracle Pogue, 24