Marrying the love of your life and then nine months later discovering that your mother is giving birth to his child: it happened to Lauren Wall, a 34-year-old business development manager from Twickenham (a suburb of London; ed.). The painful deception took place fifteen years ago, and now she found the courage to tell her remarkable story in the British press.
Lauren Wall was barely 19 when she said yes to airport employee Paul White. Oh the irony: her mother Julie had paid all the costs for the wedding, suitable for a total of 17,500 euros. To thank her, Lauren took her on her honeymoon. And apparently, it clicked a little too well with the new son-in-law. Eight weeks later, Paul left his wife, Lauren didn’t understand why.
Nine months later, the truth came out: Julie finally revealed that she and Paul had been a couple all this time and… that he is the father of the child she had just given birth to.
Wall did notice that things went well between them. They laughed a little together, but she didn’t find anything behind it. “They were just friendly to each other, I thought,” said Lauren in ‘The Mirror’. But unfortunately: they had just signed the marriage contract when Paul’s behavior changed. For example, she was absolutely not allowed to look in his mobile anymore.
Four weeks later, her sister used their mother’s mobile. To her great surprise, she discovered a lot of text traffic between Julie and Paul. Lauren Wall’s mother denied that something was wrong and even called her crazy. But when she confronted Paul, he became as white as a corpse, and she was still not allowed to check his phone.
A few days later, Paul took off his wedding ring and disappeared with the northern sun. Lauren was left alone with their seven-month-old daughter.
“All wedding photos destroyed”
Lauren met Paul in a cafe and saw him right away. He asked for her number, and the next day they went to the cinema. She soon got pregnant. Not much later, both got married too. Paul said he wanted to stay with her forever, and Lauren’s mother looked proudly on.
The fact that Julie and Paul just stabbed her in the back came as a sledgehammer blow. These were the two people she preferred and trusted the most. And it’s terrible to be made to look at them like that. “My mother is normally the one who has to protect me, isn’t she? But this is almost the worst thing she could do to me.” After the breakup, rumors spread that Paul lived with her mother. When Lauren subsequently saw her mother on the street with a tummy, she immediately feared the worst scenario. Her thoughts went wild, but she kept claiming it was a cyst. “When I got home, I destroyed all our wedding photos.”
Our daughter
After the birth of the child, the new couple finally revealed the truth. Until then, her mother had always claimed that Paul was not the father, but deep down, she knew better. “When that confirmation actually came, my world collapsed,” Lauren Wall stressed.
Five years after the first allegiance, Paul got married to Julie. “And yes, I attended that ceremony. It was unreal to see my mother marry my ex-husband, but I did it for the good of our daughter. We were married on August 14, 2004, and they did so on August 15, 2009.”
The relationship with her mother remains damaged even after all these years. Her mother is the one who has taken the first step towards reconciliation. She got into Lauren’s car when she dropped off her brother at her home, and she apologized, crying. However, she immediately let her get out again. A few weeks later, she wrote another letter to apologize, from then on, they started contacting each other from time to time.
Trauma unprocessed
“But that doesn’t mean I processed this trauma,” Lauren makes it clear. Paul never even apologized for it. She told him, he could explain it to their daughter, but paul didn’t want to take old cows out of the ditch.
Lauren has now found a new partner. She’s currently pregnant with her fourth child. They say time heals all wounds but Lauren Wall’s mother (53 in the meantime; ed.), and she tries to behave normally, but their bond will never be the same as before. “I will never be able to trust her completely again,” Lauren made it clear.
