My man proposed because he felt GUILTY he was cheating as I delivered our son

NATALIE Cox was delighted when she finally got together with her childhood crush Dwayne.

He was her older brother’s ‘cool’ mate and she’d known him since she was 11.

Getting together, blending their families and having their own son made her life complete. And when Dwayne proposed it was the icing on the cake.

But her world soon came crumbling down. Natalie found messages on his phone from another woman, which led Dwayne to confess he’d been unfaithful and had only asked her to marry him because he felt guilty.

Here, Natalie, 34, from Cambridge, shares her shocking story of betrayal with Fabulous Digital: 

I’d known Dwayne since I was 11. He was the year above me at school and friend’s with my brother, so I’d always looked up to him.

Dwayne lost his mum when he was  12 and from then, my soft spot for him grew.

In time, we went about our own lives – I had my two girls while Dwayne had his own daughter.

I’d moved away from our home town of Cambridge and settled into my own life in Ipswich, but I always stayed in touch with Dwayne.

Then in 2011, when I was 26, Dwayne and I finally realised that we were meant to be together.

Dwayne visited me in Ipswich that weekend and when his trip ended with a kiss, we knew that this was it.

The distance and the kids meant it took some adjustment, but we made sure to visit each other every weekend.

I felt my heart break as he confessed he’d cheated just after our son was born and that he’d then proposed out of guilt

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My girls adored Dwayne as much as I did but, over time, the 50 miles between us began to take their toll. So we began discussing his move to Ipswich.

The girls were thrilled when I told them Dwayne was going to be living with us permanently.

Dwayne fitted so easily into our lives and everything was perfect. But when I suffered two miscarriages within a year, I was crushed.

Then in January 2014, I discovered I was pregnant again. We were scared but hopeful and as the weeks went by we became more and more excited.

At our 20 week scan, Dwayne broke down in tears when the nurse revealed we were having a boy.

We’d said we didn’t mind the gender, as long as our baby was healthy, but I think that with a household of girls, Dwayne was secretly hoping for a boy.

My heart melted when I saw how thrilled he was. ‘I’m having a boy!’ he cheered to himself.

A few months later, in August that year, our son was born. ‘I’m going to love you so much,’ Dwayne whispered into his ear as he cradled him in his arms.

Our family was complete and I couldn’t believe how lucky I was. Then in the December Dwayne proposed.

I was over the moon. I had everything I’d ever wanted. Life was bliss, but we missed home and our families so we moved back to Cambridge. Life felt complete.

Dwayne and I spent the next few weeks getting the house in order. It felt so special – it was our place, not just mine.

We limped along for another three years but we could never rebuild the trust between us

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Then two weeks later, I was in the living room unpacking the last of the boxes while Dwayne was in the kitchen. I need to ring my dad so I used his phone.

I picked up Dwayne’s mobile to dial my dad when a text message suddenly came through.

‘How could you leave me? I love you,’ the message read, from a number I didn’t recognise.

I was about to confront Dwayne but something held me back. I decided that if I wanted the truth, I would have to get it myself.

I unlocked Dwayne’s phone and dialled the mystery number that had text him.

I didn’t know what to expect but when a woman answered the phone, I felt my stomach lurch.

‘Realised you missed me?’ the woman said, thinking it was Dwayne. ‘Who is this?’ I asked, taking a deep breath.

She told me her name was Jess* – and that she was Dwayne’s mistress.

The woman told me that Dwayne had been cheating on me with her. ‘He told me he loved me and that he was going to leave you. We started hooking up after your son was born,’ she revealed.

It was too much to bear. Dwayne had just proposed, we had a newborn baby… how could he?

Confronting Dwayne, he admitted everything. ‘It was just one time, it was a massive mistake. I’m sorry,’ he pleaded, as he broke down in tears.

I felt my heart break as he confessed he’d cheated just after our son was born and that he’d then proposed out of guilt.

I’ll always have some love for him but I could just never get over the day I exposed him

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It was crushing but I didn’t want to raise another child alone and so for our son’s sake, I agreed to give our love another chance.

We limped along for another three years but we could never rebuild the trust between us and eventually called time on our relationship.

Dwayne is a great dad and we’re still civil for our son’s sake. I’ll always have some love for him but I could just never get over the day I exposed him.

Dwayne said: “Yeah it ended quite badly. We have a child together so we have to get along. Yeah that is correct (that I had an affair with Jess).

“It hadn’t been going on long, it only happened once. It was just after he had popped out.

“To be honest it just happened, it wasn’t intentional. I just wasn’t happy, all the usual. Yeah, (I did propose), it was a guilt thing.”

He continued: ““Yeah (we did try to make it work) but it was all hate from one side and I figured what’s the point in me being here?

“Yeah I do regret it, as soon as it happened I regretted it, but it was too late then.

“I shut it down straight away (the affair) and said it could never happen ever again but I think she just fell in love. There had been a couple of texts between us but it was one sided.”

Sadly, Abigail isn’t the only one to have fallen prey to a cheating fella. Vicki Low, from Scotland, busted her man playing away… but took him back anyway.

And it has been revealed there are seven types of cheater – is your partner one of them?

*Some names have been changed