Shes brought my granddaughter for the weekend again, complained my neighbour, Margaret, when we met on the stairwell. I just cant get the girl to eat properly! Mummy says princesses dont eat much! she tells meeats two spoonfuls and thats it! She looks absolutely peaky, pale as a ghost from not eating enough!
From the very start, Margaret had taken a real dislike to her son Daniels wife, Charlotte. Honestly, it was from the moment she first clapped eyes on herjust because Charlotte was seven years older than her son, who was really still a boy, fresh out of school and barely eighteen.
He didnt so much as know a woman before her! said Margaret indignantly. No wonder he was head over heels! She swept him off his feet with her experience, thats all!
Charlotte was undeniably stunning though, striking and elegant. She kept herself in great shape, dressed with effortless style, and was building a solid career. I never saw anything suspicious in Daniels attractionthere was nothing magical about it; men, after all, are visual creatures. She certainly turned heads.
Being health-conscious, Charlotte followed a strict diet and promoted balanced eating at home. Naturally, she taught her daughter these habits tooeat modestly, never overindulge, always mind your health and figure.
Just a few months after theyd met, Charlotte fell pregnant. Whether it was to spite her future mother-in-law, who was doing everything to break them up, or simply because she was keen to marry, who knows? It might have just been chance. Either way, Daniel was determined to marry her, even though he was only eighteen and Charlotte was twenty-five.
Daniel started his BTEC course at college after finishing school, and managed to combine his studies with part-time workthey set up home away from both their parents. First, they rented a small flat, then scraped together enough to buy a bedsit.
The young couple seemed happy together, but Daniels mum never let up, always finding something to criticise about Charlotte. The way she cooked, how she ironed Daniels shirts, how she dressed their childnothing was ever good enough. Margaret only saw faults, never any merits, and made her disapproval very plain, both to Charlotte and to Daniel.
Eventually, Charlotte kept her distance from her mother-in-law to avoid the endless friction. She managed everything herself: taking their daughter to nursery, to gymnastics, to chess clubalways dashing from work to one place or another. And still she somehow managed to squeeze in trips to the gym, get her nails done, pop to the hairdressers. She simply wasnt at home as much as shed like to be.
Daniel would come back to an empty flat: daughter busy with her clubs, his wife either accompanying her or out taking care of her own things.
One evening, their neighbour, Janea 38-year-old widowed mum of two teenagersknocked on the door. A tap had started leaking in the shared kitchen and she asked Daniel if he could take a look before it flooded the downstairs neighbours.
As Daniel was handy about the house, he soon turned off the water and fixed the problem. While he worked, Jane was preparing supperbangers and mash, as it happenedand as a thank you, she offered Daniel a plate. He gladly acceptedCharlotte rarely cooked these days, not having the time for home-cooked meals.
From then on, Jane often invited Daniel to stay for tea in the communal kitchen, whenever his wife and daughter were out. They spent cosy evenings chatting over shepherds pie and homemade biscuits. Once, a spark ignited between thembefore they properly realised what was happening, theyd grown too close, unable to imagine their days without those shared, comforting evenings.
Of course, in a building like theirs, everyones business is common knowledgea lot of eyes and ears around. It wasnt long before someone tipped off Charlotte that Daniels visits to Jane were for much more than neighbourly chats.
The row that followed echoed round the whole landing. Charlotte, proud as ever, packed Daniels things and threw him out on the spot.
It was latetoo late to head to his parents house, so Daniel had nowhere to go except Janes, where she welcomed him.
At this point, Daniel and Charlottes daughter was six. Daniel was 25. Charlotte, 32. Jane, 39.
Margaret, when she first heard her son had left his wife, was over the moonshe thought shed finally got her way! But when she learnt Daniel had moved in with a woman fourteen years his senior, and one who already had two children, she was gobsmacked.
Her reaction was odd and unexpected. For so many years, shed accused Charlotte of being too old for Danieland now she met this even older woman with silence and acceptance. Perhaps she just saw shed brought the whole thing on herself.
The dust settled on the story long agofifteen years now. Daniel and Jane are still together, though theyve not had children themselves. Despite the age gap, theyre happyDaniel is now forty, Jane fifty-fourand Margaret treats them kindly whenever they visit, no criticism or bickering at all. Its quiet, peaceful, almost idyllic. And I think, after all these years, Daniel has truly found happiness.
So I wonder, is it really impossible to find happiness when the womans older? Or do such things matter much less than we think?
