'Too much, too young'

Christmas 1989 - so we met in a pub in Hertfordshire. Me, Elaine and Paul. It struck me again how well they went together, how in tune they were. No longer just friends but lovers. Lovers who had left 6 children behind to be together. Not that it was meant to happen that way.

I can't remember all the details now but sometime after that party their relationship moved from friendship to love. And as it was love, furtive meetings had not been enough for either of them. They wanted to be together, to have a life together. They couldn't go on living a lie.

Initially they had rented a house in Hertfordshire so they could meet up and spend time together. Elaine said it became her 'bolthole', away from the worries and responsibilities of her life, a time to be with Paul. But things had progressed rapidly between them and they decided to end their marriages and move in together. They bought a small house and made a home for themselves and a future home for Elaine's boys. They knew Paul's children would stay with his wife. Until they left, their partners had no idea what was going on.

Nor did Elaine's children. She begged them to come with her. She told them she'd made a home for them. That everything would be alright. But they wouldn't come. The 9 year old and 7 year old would not be moved.

Later on, she thought that perhaps they thought she would stay if they refused to go with her. Later on, she also thought that she should have just taken them to her new house and argued with them later. Later on, she thought a lot things.

But on the day she left, when they wouldn't go with her, she went anyway. She thought she could get them to join her later.

She was wrong.