One of my mother’s friends was the ‘other’ other woman. Yes, her married lover had a wife in one town, a mistress elsewhere and when he visited Manchester he stayed with my mum’s friend who was besotted with him for twenty years or more. She lived a very hand-to-mouth existence, but when Bill came calling she bought the most expensive ingredients for his meals and waited on him hand and foot. He never took her out, never bought her gifts, and made no financial contribution to her food bill.
He was open about his marriage from day one, of course his wife ‘didn’t understand’ him - but it was only after ten years or so that he ‘confided’ in her that he also had a long-term mistress who was very ‘demanding’. Mum’s friend broke off the relationship many times, but he kept turning up and she never once turned him away. Then one day he stopped coming and it took years for her to discover he’d died.
