OF A CHEEK
for but Nicky did not care. She said: “It felt so wrong that we weren’t together.
“My heart was in my mouth when I clicked on the page but then it sank when I saw he was pictured with another woman. Even so, I couldn’t stop myself. I had to send a message.”
But Facebook’s strict privacy settings meant Nicky’s message went into Scott’s junk folder so he never saw it and couldn’t reply. She was not about to give up and decided to go one step further.
Virgin
She said: “I messaged Scott’s girlfriend in the hope my message might reach her.
“I explained I was an old friend who had been trying to contact him for 20 years. I didn’t tell her we’d been together or that he was the love of my life.
“She didn’t seem too happy at firstt but I lied and told her all I wanted from Scott was friendship. She agreed to pass my message on.”
Within hours, a message from Scott dropped into Nicky’s inbox.
He said he had been trying to find her for years on Facebook but had misspelt her name.
He said: “My girlfriend wasn’t too happy when she told me about the message. She suspected Nicky had been getting in touch to say I was the father of one of her children. I explained that was impossible as Nicky was a virgin when we met and I had respected that. We never slept together.
“I told my girlfriend I wouldn’t reply to Nicky but I did, on the sly, and we ended up meeting.
“My girlfriend didn’t find out until a few months later and she sent me a message calling me a cheat.
“I didn’t really feel guilty as the relationship had been coming to an end when Nicky got in touch. I told the woman I was splitting up from that it was none of her business.”
For the next eight weeks, they secretly sent Facebook messages and texts, all day every day. Nicky said: “It felt like no time had passed at all.
“He’d had two children from previous relationships but confessed no one had made him feel like I had.” In April 2015 the pair met at Scott’s mum’s house behind his girlfriend’s back.
As soon as Nicky spotted S Scott in Kidderminster, the 2 21 years just melted away.
She said: “He was outside t the house having a cigarette a nd he l ooked so h handsome.
“As soon as I got out of t the car he wrapped me into a big hug and it just felt so right. We went to a coffee s shop and talked for hours.
“As I went to leave, we couldn’t help ourselves – we had to have a cheeky snog. I felt like a 17-yearold girl all over again.
“Two weeks later he c called to tell me he and his g girlfriend were over.
“It’s strange to think she ac accidentally played a part in getting us back together but I think I’d have found Scott one way or another. I was a woman on a mission.”
The pair spent a year travelling between Kidderminster and Nicky’s family home in Bournemouth, Dorset, before Nicky and her brood made the decision to move north a few months ago.
They’re now one big happy family. And the icing on the cake came when Scott popped the question during a romantic walk in the Malvern Hills on Valentine’s Day this year.
Foggy
Nicky said: “I was over the moon when Scott asked me to marry him, although it was so foggy I could barely see him get down on one knee. I’ve been married before but this time it feels so different.
“We’ve organised our wedding in no time at all. Scott says he doesn’t want to hang around because he’s already waited more than 20 years for me.
“I can’t wait to grow old with him. It’s how things were always supposed to be.
“We don’t need to have children together because both of us have done all of that already. It’s our time now and we just want to be together.”
They will marry on August 5 in their local church in Kidderminster, followed by a knees-up in the town hall.
And their first dance will, of course, be to their song I Swear. Scott’s ex was unavailable for comment.