Chapters (45)
- Chapter One
- Chapter Two
- Chapter Three
- Chapter Four
- Chapter Five
- Chapter Six
- Chapter Seven
- Chapter Eight
- Chapter Nine
- Chapter Ten
- Chapter Eleven
- Chapter Twelve
- Chapter Thirteen
- Chapter Fourteen
- Chapter Fifteen
- Chapter Sixteen
- Chapter Seventeen
- Chapter Eighteen
- Chapter Nineteen
- Chapter Twenty
- Chapter Twenty-one
- Chapter Twenty-two
- Chapter Twenty-three
- Chapter Twenty-four
- Chapter Twenty-five
- Chapter Twenty-six
- Chapter Twenty-seven
- Chapter Twenty-eight
- Chapter Twenty-nine
- Chapter Thirty
- Chapter Thirty-one
- Chapter Thirty-two
- Chapter Thirty-three
- Chapter Thirty-four
- Chapter Thirty-five
- Chapter Thirty-six
- Chapter Thirty-seven
- Chapter Thirty-eight
- Chapter Thirty-nine
- Chapter Forty
- Chapter Forty-one
- Chapter Forty-two
- Chapter Forty-three
- Chapter Forty-four
- Acknowledgements
All that time you were having a baby with someone else. You were working away a lot, home about every three weeks to see the kids, then off again. I flick, flick, flick through Katy’s pictures and see that you were there when Jamie took his first step. There are even some pictures of you in bed with baby Jamie.
Jamie wearing a T-shirt saying ‘My Daddy is a Scientist’. I’m suddenly able to time it. Yes. I remember that day. You came home from the airport with presents. You’d bought me perfume from the airport shop as usual and I remember thinking that you did love me after all. Any little token would convince me. You had the same T-shirts for Charlie and Laura. Later on you took them out to McDonald’s to give me a break and yes, you did take them to see your other son. The next few pictures are of you and all your children. All the children I know about so far.
I go back to the thread. For a second it’s as if there’s a whole world out there mocking me. How did you not know, Caroline? How could you have been so stupid? But then it ebbs away and I realise I was right. This isn’t just a bit of fun with another woman. This is seriously fucked up and it bolsters me. I was right. I was. Katy has posted another comment under the picture. ‘Seems like Jack made a lot of promises he couldn’t keep.’
I somehow manage to log into all the fake accounts and make them like each other’s comments. Then I post another Alicia picture. You and her kissing. ‘#cheatingbastard #allgirlstogether.’
In a strange way, I am starting to feel some camaraderie with your women, especially Katy. Closer to them and further away from you. After all, I suppose, I am one of them. You lied to us all. Katy posts again. It’s a picture of you and Jamie. All smiles, a little boy who looks so like you. Our children are blonde like me. But Jamie is a mini-Jack. Katy is wondering how many more women there are. How many women you have lied to. She’s obviously bitter and I’m starting to feel sorry for her and Jamie.
This is bigger than revenge. Yes, she knew that you were with me. She had my children at her home. I think about that day, when you brought Charlie and Laura home. When we all sat around the table later on and they were so quiet. I put it down to the fact that Daddy was home and they were behaving. None of the squabbling or poking each other, the kind of childhood behaviour that was normal for them when it was just me.