Love rat uncovered
DELLA WAS CONVINCED SHE WAS ABOUT TO GIVE BIRTH, BUT HER PARTNER WAS NOWHERE IN SIGHT
Della Churchill was home alone when her body was racked by painful contractions. The 23-year-old was just 32 weeks pregnant with her first child and naturally called her partner Ryan, 35, for help.
‘I had stabbing pains all over my stomach. I knew the baby wasn’t meant to come for another month, so I was really panicking,’ Della, from Lincolnshire, UK, tells New Idea. But that evening, in April 2016, her boyfriend Ryan was out with friends.
When he didn’t answer Della’s desperate calls, she had no choice but to book a taxi and head to hospital on her own.
‘I called all of his friends but nobody would answer,’ Della sighs. ‘It was only 9.30pm, I didn’t think they could be drunk.’
Her boyfriend’s lack of contact made Della suspicious.
When the pair had met at a friend’s house party back in November 2014, Ryan had something of a reputation as a ladies’ man.
While Della was attracted to the handsome wind-turbine worker, she was wary about starting a relationship with him.
But Ryan won her over and when Della discovered she was pregnant he was thrilled.
‘I didn’t feel ready to become a mother,’ Della admits. ‘But Ryan was so happy when I told him and convinced me having a child could be good for us.
‘He always promised to be there for me and our baby, so when he didn’t answer his phone the night I went into labour, I was livid.’
Thankfully medics were able to halt Della’s contractions – avoiding a premature labour – but she was kept in hospital overnight for observation.
It wasn’t until the next morning that Ryan showed up.
‘I asked him where he had been, but all Ryan could do was cry and apologise for not being there for me and our baby,’ Della recalls. ‘Ryan threw all the excuses under the sun at me, claiming his phone was on silent and then that the battery died. But I didn’t believe a word of it.’
The tearful boyfriend claimed he’d walked home with a kebab after his night out, but with no kebab shop on the route home, Della wasn’t sure of his story.
‘I knew he was lying to me,’ she says bluntly, but for the sake of their unborn baby she put the incident behind her.
When baby George was born a month later, in April 2017, Ryan was by Della’s side.
The pair settled into life as new parents but a couple of months later their bliss was shattered when Della bumped into a friend of Ryan’s.
With the night Ryan had gone missing still niggling at her, she decided to confront him.
She knew he’d been with Ryan on the night she suffered labour pains – so she seized the chance to discover what had really gone on once and for all.
‘He confessed that after leaving the nightclub, all the boys had gone back to Ryan’s house to carry on partying,’ Della recalls.
‘They brought a few girls they’d met with them – and Ryan had cheated on me with one of them.’
‘He said he’d seen a half-naked girl leaving the bedroom with Ryan. There was no doubt about what had been going on.’
Della went straight home to confront Ryan about the situation.
The tearful love rat ‘admitted everything’ and begged for another chance, Della says.
‘He couldn’t believe he’d ruined it over one night, but I didn’t want to hear it. I told him it was over and kicked him out for good.
‘I was heartbroken but I knew I deserved better than the lying rat.’
Now a single mother, Della is moving on and focusing on raising George.
‘At least I got a beautiful baby out of all this. He’s all that matters,’ the doting mum smiles.
‘Every mum knows the agony of labour, but thanks to Ryan, I’ll never forget mine,’ she adds.
‘RYAN HAD CHEATED ON ME. A HALF-NAKED GIRL WAS SEEN LEAVING THE BEDROOM WITH HIM’