Estranged Husband & Father

By Catherine Carson

After Emma met and fell in love with her best friend’s brother Jack Scott, they married, sure that their love was strong and long lasting. Unfortunately within twelve months her life had changed completely as the man she loved had created a new life for himself thousands of miles away across the Atlantic Ocean.
Now ten years later he has returned but only to secure a divorce from his estranged wife; but what he did not know was that Emma had been pregnant when he had made the decision to remain alone in the United States.
How will he cope when he finds out he is the father of ten year old identical twins boys; but more to the point, how will his sons cope when they discover the father they love and thought was working hard to be with them, knows nothing of their existence?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781326315078

Book preview

Estranged Husband & Father

Estranged Husband & Father

By

Catherine Carson

Standard Copyright © Catherine Carson 2015

ISBN 978-1-326-31466-8 Paperback

ISBN 978-1-326-31507-8 eBook

About the author

Born in Scotland I now live with my husband in the North West of England.  We have three children who, between them have given us six wonderful grandchildren.

I studied commercial subjects at school and college and spent most of my working life in the offices of various companies, starting as a junior in a local garage typing invoices for car repairs.   I left Scotland and crossed the border to England to marry the man I met whilst on a holiday with my extended family and eventually became a secretary with a beer bottling company leaving six years later when the first of our three children came on the scene. 

Returning to the workforce when our children were young adults I finally untied the apron strings to join the offices of a large wholesale book supplier and embraced the advancement in technology since I had first learned to type on a manual typewriter and take notes in shorthand.

During the years I became something of a letter writer as friends and family lived in many parts of the country and indeed the world.  Often friends and family would tell me…..‘You could write a book’ to which I always replied…..‘But would anyone read it’. 

When my granddaughter asked if I would write a book especially for her I confided in my good friend Lisa Schmidt and she told me to go for it.  That book became the first of many stories which had been lurking in my imagination for a good number of years.

Once started I found the stories simply kept coming and often an overheard conversation or a glimpse from the passenger seat of the car would trigger a likely scenario which my imagination would then elaborate and weave into a story.

My hope is that my writing brings a little pleasure into the life of my readers and allows them to leave the mundane world behind for a few hours as they meet the characters I adore creating.

www.facebook.com/catherinecarsonbooks.uk

www.catherinerenacarson.jimdo.com

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Dedication

To all lovers of a little romance

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same names or names.  They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author and all the incidents are pure invention.

Other Books by this Author

The Mouse in the Library

Family Ties

Overall Construction          

Wounded Wolf

Coffee and Cakes

Memories Rekindled

Wholesale Love

Hope’s Conflict

Estates of the Heart

Sibling Rivalry

Fighting for Custody

White Knight Black Knight

Through the Garden Gate…

Love Lost and Found

Alphabet Bachelors

A Dreamer’s Tale

A Precious Jewel

Footbridge of Solace

Demolition of the Heart

When Life Gives You Lemons

Return to the Past

Pretence & Reality

Opening a Can of Worms

~~~~~~

Tapestry of Love-Bk 1

Twins Exchanged-Bk 2

Highland Feud Bk-3

~~~~~~~

Soil, Seed & Betrayal-Bk 1

Desert Prince, Exiled Princess-Bk 2

Body Language-Bk 3

~~~~~~

An Open Book-Bk 1

Afraid to Love-k 2

~~~~~~

A Second Chance-Bk 1

Taming the Playboy-Bk 2

~~~~~~

Estranged Husband & Father-Bk 1

Identical Mistake-Bk 2

~~~~~~

Sigh of the Claymore-Bk 1

Beyond Claymore-Bk 2

Chapter 1

Sue, please don’t blame yourself it was bound to happen sooner or later now that Jack is back in Fullhampton, but if you don’t mind I think I will take the boys home before he and his fiancée arrive. 

Jay and Ed were not happy at having to leave their cousin Flossie’s eighth birthday party before they had taken part in any of the games and Emma felt like the wicked witch as she bundled them into her small car telling them to fasten their seatbelts.

Muuum it’s just not fair, Flossie said that Uncle David has wrapped lots of prizes and Aunt Sue has baked a super cake and now we won’t get a chance to win any of the prizes or taste the cake.  Why did we have to leave?  Jay had always been the one to question everything and over the years Emma had tried to be honest in her answers.

Jay, I promise Uncle David will save a prize for both you and Ed and Aunt Sue has already given me a piece of cake for both of you.  I’m sorry I rushed you both away from the party but I really do not feel well and I will make it up to you both when I feel better.  Emma had been dreading this moment for a long time and knew that the time was rapidly approaching when she would have to tell her twin sons the truth about their father.

Ushering the boys into the small cottage Emma told them to take their coats off and hang them up and go into the kitchen.

The boys were sitting at the table by the time she entered the kitchen and taking two plates from the cupboard she divided the slice of cake Sue had given her between both boys and gave them a glass of milk each.

Tomorrow is Sunday and if I feel better we can go to see Flossie and she can show you all the lovely presents everyone gave her, but for the rest of today I really don’t feel well and I am going to have to ask you both to go watch a little television before it is time for bed. 

Jay was the younger of the two boys by five minutes and Ed took great delight in reminding him of that fact, but in reality Jay was the more mature of the boys and seemed always to be tuned into his mother’s feelings and he knew that there was more to his mother rushing them away from their cousin’s party, but for now he accepted the excuse and did as Emma asked and went into the lounge to switch on the television.

Climbing the stairs to her bedroom she sat down on the bed looking at the photograph which sat on the small bedside cabinet.  A copy of the same photograph was in the boys’ room as well as the front room mantelshelf and Emma knew that Ed talked to the photograph telling his father everything that happened in his life. 

It worried her that he seemed to have placed Jack on a pedestal and hoped that by the time he grew up he would realise the truth about his absent father and not be too hurt by it.

Emma lifted the photograph and sat down on the bed cradling it in her lap. 

The man smiling back at her had captured her heart from the moment she met him and when he had asked her to marry him she was over the moon.

Sue Scott was her best friend at the boarding school they both attended.  Unlike Sue, Emma was an orphan and the monies left for her in trust paid her tuition fees.  Having no family to go home to she spent term breaks in school along with foreign students who could not go home for the short holiday.

During the long summer breaks she would attend a summer school taking part in sports activities or joining reading circles. 

When it came time to leave the boarding school Sue invited her to go home with her until it was time for them both to take up their places at university. 

Anthony and Megan Scott welcomed her into their home and soon realised that their son was falling in love with the quiet spoken young woman who always seemed to have a sad faraway look in her eyes.

Jack was six years her senior and was a partner in an architectural practice already making a name for himself for his innovative approach to architecture.

By the end of the summer he had asked Emma to marry him and although his parents had some reservations they could not deny the love the young couple shared and so gave their blessing.

All thoughts of taking up her place at university were put to one side, as for the first time in her life Emma was happy to be part of a family and wanted to spend as much time as possible with her new husband.

Looking down at the photograph a tear escaped and dropped to the glass.  How could everything go so wrong in such a short time?

Her world came crashing down around her when Anthony and Megan Scott were caught up in a horrendous train crash which took both their lives.

Jack was devastated by his loss and shut Emma out telling her she could not possibly understand how he was feeling as she could not remember her parents and therefore could not know the loss he was feeling.

After the funeral and the reading of the will Jack decided he needed to get away from everything and declared that he intended going to America for a break.

Emma felt Sue was not coping with the loss and when she pleaded with her not to go to America with Jack she gave in and said she would stay with her.  Perhaps it would also help Jack to come to terms if he missed Emma and realised that he too needed her.

The family home had been left jointly to Jack and his sister but Jack insisted that Sue have it transferred to her name only as he already had a home with Emma.

After three months Jack wrote to say that he no longer wanted to return to England.  He had found his work as an architect was much in demand and thought it was the ideal time for him to start up on his own using the money he had inherited from his parents.

The pregnancy Emma suspected had been confirmed but as time went by the gap between Jack’s letters lengthened and when she tried to telephone him she was informed that he was either not in the office or was too busy to come to the phone.  When he never returned her calls she began to think there was no room for her in his new life and in the end she wrote to him saying it would be best if she stayed in England.

When the boys were two years old Emma found a good nursery for them and she finally took up her place at university and trained as a junior school teacher and now taught at the same school the boys attended.

Sue promised she would never divulge the existence of the twins but when she married David Barnard the man she met shortly after her parents’ death and had Flossie she tried to persuade her friend to tell Jack; feeling her brother would be angry if he ever found out about her deception.

Replacing the photograph Emma went downstairs to turn the television off and tell the boys it was time for bed and she promised they would go to see Flossie the next day.

Reviews for Estranged Husband & Father

[Debbie DiFiore · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Horrible so called hero. Truly hated him. Writing needs some polish and editing but I did read it. Just hated the hero. Again he moved on, and she didn't. And they were still married of course. Too long a separation and secret babies too.