WOMAN’S PAIN
LOVESTRUCK Lauren Wall was so grateful to her mum for paying for her wedding that she even took her along on her honeymoon.
And while she was delighted her mother and her groom got on so well, it quickly became clear that may have been a mistake.
Just eight weeks after the £15,000 ceremony, her hubby Paul White moved out – and nine months later her mum Julie gave birth to his child, announcing that she and Paul were now a couple.
Lauren said: “Paul always got on really well with Mum. I never thought it strange though, as she was his mum-inlaw and he was just being friendly.
“They’d laugh a lot together. I didn’t think to be worried at all. Who would?
“I couldn’t wait to settle in to marriage but the ink was barely dry on our certificate when Paul changed.
“He went out for hours and became protective over his phone. Four weeks after we said ‘I do’, I found out why.”
Lauren’s sister was using mum Julie’s phone – and found what Lauren claims were texts between Julie and Paul.
And after agonising privately over the discovery, Lauren finally voiced her fears. She said: “Mum denied everything, saying, ‘You’re crazy!’ When I confronted Paul he went white as a sheet – and refused to let me see his phone.”
Days later, Paul removed his wedding ring and walked out on his new bride and their seven-month-old daughter.
DUMBSTRUCK
Although Julie and Paul have always denied having an affair, Lauren said: “I felt like my world had ended. I was a 19-year-old kid with a kid.”
When she heard talk that airport worker Paul had moved in with her mum, Lauren was dumbstruck.
She said: “I couldn’t believe the two people I loved and trusted most in the world could betray me like this.
“It was sick. It’s one of the worst things a mum can do to a daughter.
“Paul may have been a gutless groom but she’s my mum. She’s meant to love and protect me above all others.
“Instead, she stole my husband, shattering my family and my dreams. For that, I’ll never truly forgive her.”
That short-lived dream had begun on Valentine’s Day two years previously, when she and Paul – a year older than her at 18 – went on their first date.
Lauren, of Twickenham, southwest London, recalled: “I met him at a local pub – I fancied him straight away.
“He asked for my number and the next day he texted asking to go on a date to the cinema. We started going out straight after that.”
The blossoming relationship got off to a happy start a few months later when Lauren found herself pregnant.
Their daughter arrived in March 2004 – and the pair then married in the August after Paul got down on one knee to propose. Recalling the lavish ceremony put on with the help of her mother, business development manager Lauren said: “Although we hadn’t planned a family so soon, when our daughter was born we were thrilled.
“Five months later we were getting married in a beautiful church ceremony with friends and family. Mum looked on proudly as we exchanged vows.
“She even splashed out £15,000 on the occasion. And it was a