I LAUGHED as a cheeky message appeared on my mobile phone.
“Alright gorgeous? How are you?”
“Not bad,” I replied. “Could be better though.”
“How about I take you out for a drink, see if that makes a difference?” came the reply.
After meeting on an online dating site, I had been chatting to Matt, 32, for a few weeks but we hadn’t met in person yet.
He was from the same area as me, and after getting to know each other online I decided it couldn’t do any harm to meet up for a drink.
There was an instant spark between us when we finally came face-to-face in September 2014, and he quickly swept me off my feet.
As well as being good looking, Matt was warm, friendly and charming and really looked after me. He treated me like a complete princess – so it didn’t take long for me to fall head over heels in love.
We dated for a while before I decided to introduce him to my three kids from a previous relationship.
He was great with them, and their seal of approval was all I needed. Things soon got serious between us and when I fell pregnant with our son, now two, it was the icing on the cake.
On Valentine’s Day 2015, I came in from work to find him waiting for me nervously in the living room.
“You make me feel so happy,” he said, handing me a ring box. “Let’s get married.”
When our son was born in July 2015, I thought my heart might burst with joy. Matt and I became a family and excitedly started planning our special day.
We married in November 2016, and as we exchanged our vows I felt on top of the world.
“You look beautiful,” Matt whispered to me when I met him at the altar.
The whole day was magical, and I was over the moon to become a proper family. For the first time in my life, I felt perfectly content and happy.
The only drawback was that my best friend Charlie wasn’t there to celebrate with us, as she was unwell.
I was gutted that she couldn’t be there, but Matt and I still had an amazing day together and we quickly settled into married life.
But just eight months later, in July 2017, Matt started to change. He became distant and I noticed he was on his phone a lot.
Charlie popped round all the time, sometimes when I wasn’t even there. I tried to shrug it off, but soon I started feeling like a third wheel in my own home.
“Who’s that?” I asked Matt after he’d been on his phone all evening.
“Oh, just Charlie,” he said. “She wants to know if I’m out this weekend.”
“You said you’d be around for a family day,” I pointed out. “I wanted to take the kids out for the day, remember?” To my surprise, Matt just shrugged.
“I won’t be long, only a few hours,” he replied.
I was glad my husband was getting on well with my best mate, but soon I decided enough was enough.
I told Matt I didn’t feel comfortable with them texting each other so much, but he insisted they were just friends.
“You’re crazy,” he said. “I wouldn’t do anything like that to you, you know that.”
Not convinced, I texted Charlie too.
“Sorry to bother you, but I’ve told Matt that texting you as much as he has been is inappropriate,” I said.
“I’m sorry babe, I didn’t mean to upset you,” came her reply.
I thought I’d sorted it all out, and that maybe it was all in my head – but a month later, in August, things came to a head.
Matt and I had a huge row about the amount of time he spent out and about while I looked after the kids.
“You’re taking the mickey,” I said. “You’re out and about having fun while I’m stuck indoors with the kids all the time.”
“Am I not allowed a life?” Matt replied. “I promised the lads I’d go out to watch the boxing in the pub. I’m not cancelling my plans to sit indoors with you.”
“Right fine,” I replied. “Go out, if that’s really what you want.”
I saw red as he stormed towards the front door.
“We’re over!” I shouted, and he slammed the door hard behind him.
It was a horrible argument but we were married, we had a child together, I assumed he’d be home when things calmed down and we’d talk it through.
But Matt didn’t come home that night and when I text him in the morning, he said he’d stopped over at Charlie’s house.
“Why?” I asked.
“You said things were over between us,” he replied.
“Can we talk?” I asked, but Matt refused to text me back and Charlie wouldn’t answer my calls, either.
The pair insisted nothing had happened, but when Matt then announced he was leaving me for good, I was crushed.
A few weeks later, the pair announced they were in a relationship. The depth of their double betrayal shocked me to the core.
I couldn’t help but fire an angry text to Charlie.
"You’re separated,” came her cold reply. I couldn’t believe that the friend who had once felt like my sister could be so cruel towards me.
They’ve insisted they only got together after we split up, but the timing was too coincidental for my liking. They’re still together now and I’ve not only lost the husband I’m still married to, I’ve lost my best friend too.
It was a bitter blow but I’m moving on without them and putting Drake first. I plan to divorce Matt and I’ve already changed my name by deed poll.
I’ll never forgive Matt for leaving me for my best friend. He made me think I was crazy, paranoid, but I knew I’d sniffed out a rat.
Matt said: “Charlie and I both had feelings for each other while I was in a relationship with Emma but nothing happened until afterwards. We didn’t get in a relationship instantly, it was a few weeks later. I was unhappy with Emma and she kept accusing us of having an affair, which actually pushed Charlie and I closer together.
"I used to see Charlie with my friends, nothing went on until Emma and I split up. I did spend the night at Charlie’s house when we rowed, yeah. And I’m hell of a lot happier with Charlie than I ever was with Emma. After the wedding, the relationship with Emma went downhill and it was crumbling for ages, way before Charlie was on the scene.”
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Charlie said: “I didn’t even know Emma when she got engaged to Matt. She broke up with Matt and then he got with me. We used to be really good friends before all of this but she kept accusing us of stuff when it wasn’t happening, and it was kind of annoying. It ruined our friendship. She thought we were having an affair I guess. We used to message each other on Snapchat, but she tried to stop us.
"They broke up that night and Matt went out to watch the boxing. He had nowhere to stay so he came to stay with me for one or two nights. Nothing happened until after they broke up. Her paranoia actually pushed us together. It wasn’t weird, because she was horrible towards me in the end and then I didn’t really care about what she thought. I don’t speak to Matt – we’re not together anymore.”
Last week we reported how a dad cheated on his girlfriend when she was eight months pregnant.
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