Years ago, I turned my wife out of the house and shielded my stepdaughter after discovering where shed been taking the girl.
My wife and I had been together six years. She had an eight-year-old daughterjust two when we metwhose father vanished months before her birth. Out of the blue, he turned up on our doorstep in December while I was at work. When the girl first laid eyes on him, he barely glanced her way.
Two weeks passed, and then my wife announced theyd agreed to share custody. She refused to tell me where the man lived or even give me his number.
She always drove the girl to school and fetched her from clubs. But by early January, my stepdaughter grew reluctant to visit her father. She called him frightening, said his place was filthy, and she couldnt sleep there. One evening, in her mothers presence, she begged not to go back. Then came that Friday.
My wife finished work at eight and was meant to collect the girl straight after. By nine, neither had returned, and her phone rang unanswered. I called her sisters, her motherno one knew where she was. I even went to her workplace, but it was deserted.
Just past two in the morning, they finally walked in. I rose, my temper frayed. My wife offered a meek Sorry, her face the picture of innocence, then spun this tale: Her phone had died at work. Shed driven to her exs house but found it empty. With no way to call, she waited. Theyd returned after nine, carrying takeawayclaimed theyd walked to the shop. She went inside, let them finish eating, then dozed off on the sofa. Woke at a quarter to two and rushed home. Exhausted, she said. A long day.
At last, she gave me the mans address and asked me to take the girl there the next day. We arrived to find a rundown shack by the roadside, in one of the poorest corners of town! Cockroaches scuttled, beer bottles littered the floor. The man sat in his underpants, staring blankly at the wall. I turned straight around and brought the girl home.
That evening, I learnt my wife had been giving him moneytopping up his phone from our household budget. Had they become a pair? Either way, the deceit was too much. I suspected theyd been together.
Last night, I told her to leave. The girl stayed with methe only place shed be safe. I wouldnt send her back to that hovel! Her grandmother fully supports her living under my roof, and legally, Im her guardian.
What else could I do? Well see how things unfold.
