Dear Coleen

I HAVE been married for 15 years and my husband cheated on me five years ago.

I was never allowed to talk about it and just had to continue with the marriage. He has never shown remorse and I wasn’t happy but was scared of being alone so that’s why I stayed.

He really treated me appallingly during that time and it broke me.

Due to his constant lying, I ended up having to communicate with a friend of his over a property we bought from him. This led to us speaking a lot and, eventually, we confessed we had feelings for each other.

We started having an affair and he really wants us to be together. He’s also experienced infidelity, although he wasn’t married.

He makes me feel so good about myself and helps me forget about all the day-to-day stress.

He is in a position to offer me a nice life compared to what I’ve had to put up with from my husband.

I asked my husband for a divorce recently, the night before our 15th anniversary, and he was angry and sad, but the next morning he acted like nothing had happened.

Maybe I won’t end up with this friend but I know I want to get out of this marriage. My children are 15 and 13 now and I stayed with my husband partly because they were young. I know I am wrong for cheating but what do I do?