IN STYLE 18 YEARS AFTER SPLIT weddings 41 years apart
woman.” Although Rob and Jan’s paths crossed occasionally, they didn’t speak for years.
Jan says: “Adam played football and we’d both go and watch him, standing at opposite sides of the pitch. It was strange. We even made it through two of our sons’ weddings without talking.
“Lee was married first. Rob and I were both with different people and just sat in different places.
“When our son Adam had a wedding reception, again we didn’t talk to each other.
“The only time we ever did was after we lost a grandchild. I was in hospital, crying.
“Rob put his arm around me and said, ‘It’ll be OK, sweetheart’. I don’t know why we never talked.”
That all changed in 2013 when their daughter Cara told her mum that Rob’s wife had died of ovarian cancer. The tragedy broke the ice. “I gave him a call and offered my condolences and said I was there for him if he needed me,” says Jan. “A couple of weeks later, he gave me a call and we chatted for 90 minutes and arranged to see each other for a coffee.
“I found it was like being back with my best friend. It was so bizarre – we picked up where we had left off 15 years earlier.”
PROPOSE
Rob says: “It was wonderful. We just started to get along like we always had done.”
The couple decided to start seeing each other again – but kept it from their children until Jan ended the relationship she was in.
She says: “We told them, ‘We have good news and bad news. The good news is we are back together. The bad news is you are only getting one Christmas present from now on!’”
Rob decided to propose for a second time to Jan on Christmas Eve, 2015.
The couple were at Adam’s house when suddenly the room went quiet and Rob got down on one knee. The couple, who now live in
Cannock, West Mids, married in 2017 at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Coleshill, Warwickshire, in front of 50 guests.
Jan says: “It had always been my dream to walk down the aisle so we decided to do it this time. We had gospel singers too.
“We’ve still got our wedding bands from our first marriage but we decided to get new ones this time round, to mark a fresh start.”
Rob says: “When I saw Jan at the end of the aisle in her white dress, I cried.
“We decided to have our first dance to Ed Sheeran’s Perfect as it seemed to fit the situation. We even had dance lessons for it.”
Both say their relationship is stronger than ever.
“We appreciate each other so much more now than we ever did,” says Rob.
“We are the same people, but also we’ve changed a lot and I think now we can step back and realise what we’ve got in each other.
“I’d always told Jan the first time around she was the one I was going to grow old with.
“When we got divorced, I thought that wasn’t going to happen any more. But it’s funny how life turns out.”
We appreciate each other more than we ever did. It’s funny how life turns out
HUSBAND ROB ON SECOND MARRIAGE TO HIS FIRST LOVE