I ran off with hubby's best man

Thursday 31st May 2007

As Beth Brown, 27, from Dumfries & Galloway, posed with her grinning groom and his muscle-bound best man, who was she really dreaming of having and holding?

What do you see when you look at my wedding photo? The beautiful ivory beaded dress? The stunning bouquet of lilies? It looks like a perfect day. Now, take a closer look. Notice the uncomfortable smile on my face, the preoccupied look in my blue eyes? Because deep down, I knew I'd made the worst mistake of my life.

I'd been with the groom, Eddie Gray, 29, for three years and we had a one-year-old daughter, Samantha. He wasn't the best looking bloke in the world, but he could charm the tail off a donkey and was great with my kids, Craig, now 11, Sophie, 9, and Chloe, 6.

Two months after we moved in together in 2001, his best mate, Kevin Sibbring, 27, had popped round. Talk about sexy! Kevin was muscular with beautiful blue eyes.
'Eddie's out,' I'd said.
'What's a nice lass like you doing with Eddie?' he'd replied.

Speechless, I'd shut the door. Kevin had a girlfriend, Alison, and was Eddie's best mate. Why on earth would he have said that? The next day Kevin was back. As I opened the front door, he kissed me passionately. I enjoyed every minute of it, but afterwards, I felt so guilty.

After that, things weren't easy. The four of us often socialised and sometimes when we were out, Kevin would shoot me a loaded glance. I was determined to stay with Eddie, though, even though there were more bad times than good.

I thought things would change when Samantha arrived on 10th September 2002, a year and a half after we'd got together. With parenthood came commitment and when Eddie proposed six months later, I said yes. My mum, Francis Brown, 47, and stepdad, Ian Warwick,
52, stumped up £3,500 for the wedding.

As the plans gathered pace I felt like I was in a giant ball careering downhill. I couldn't get excited. On the morning of the big day, I had to talk to someone. So I cornered my sister Vicky, 18.
'I can't go through with it,' I said and burst into tears.
'It's a bit late now,' Vicky gasped.
I knew she was right.

So in a trance, I went through the motions but the afternoon was a farce. As Eddie tried to catch my eye at the altar, I glared straight ahead. Then it was Kevin's speech.
'I think you'll all agree,' he boomed, 'Beth looks beautiful.'
Was it only me who noticed the meaningful look he shot me?
Apparently so. Eddie was too busy chucking back the booze. As soon as we got to our bridal suite, he passed out.

When the honeymoon at the Station Hotel in Dumfries was over, I took three jobs, one at
a bookies and two cleaning pubs. After one rare occasion Eddie and I had sex, I fell pregnant.
Eddie fell into the role of excited dad-to-be, coming with me to the scan appointments.
I was about to breathe a sigh of relief. But even after our son, Samuel, was born, in February 2005, things didn't improve. I gave up my three jobs and tried to salvage the marriage.

But six months later, after three years of 'wedded bliss', we split. I know what you're thinking. Now I was free to pursue my dream with Kevin. But it wasn't like that.
I had the kids to concentrate on. The last thing I needed was a man to muddy the waters.

It was tough on my own with five kids. I hardly had time to brush my hair let alone find
money for a night out. Until my cousin, Sammy, 24, came to my rescue.
'I've arranged a babysitter,' she said. 'We're going out.'

At The Yard, in Dumfries, I spotted a familiar pair of blue eyes straight away. Kevin. It's a cliché, but everyone else in the room melted away.
'How's Alison?' I asked.
'We split up,' he replied.
My heart actually did a little leap.

We spent the whole night chatting. My instincts were right. Kevin worked hard as a roofer, and he was honest and caring. After all those years of keeping my desires under wraps, I felt like a teenager.
'I have a confession,' he said. 'Watching you marry Eddie was torture. I had to leave early…'

The speed of events took my breath away. Six weeks later, Kevin moved in. Explaining it to the kids was hard. Kevin was Daddy's best man, now he's Mummy's. I texted Eddie to tell him too, but he didn't reply.

I'm expecting our child in December, and Kevin and I hope to get married later this year. One thing's for sure, I won't have my eyes on the best man this time.

Eddie says: 'I've always worked hard running my own landscape gardening company and I got all the kids up for school every morning. Beth didn't kick me out, I left because of how she was behaving. I still see the kids twice a week and get on better with Kevin than I do with Beth.'

Want to read more unusual romance stories? Check out:

Sean's fatal toyboy fantasy

Punch up at the altar

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