Facing The Future After Domestic Abuse.
My lovely boyfriend is moving in, so why am I so afraid? (TW — domestic abuse, addiction.)
Almost two decades ago, after my first divorce, I met a man. A man who swept me off my feet. He was funny. We went out to fun places on weekends. He had lots of friends. He liked the same music as me and we would go clubbing and to parties, dancing. I was showered with love and affection by him. He had three children of his own and fully accepted mine.
He even asked that they call him Dad.
When I said I was seeing him, to my family, they were horrified. He was most upset about this, and said it wasn’t fair they were treating him like that.
I went to his home one night, after a date. His landlord had been looking after his own kids, and my boyfriend's kids too. The clock was approaching midnight. All the kids were still wide awake. The landlord had gone to bed, leaving vomit on the bathroom floor. His friend was staying on the sofa downstairs, which he had wee’d on in his sleep. Beer cans and ashtrays lay everywhere. We both agreed it was no place for children and all went back to mine.
A few weeks later, his children urgently needed somewhere to stay after something had happened with their mother. Heartbroken for them, but…
