I LIVED WITH MY HUSBAND AND MY EX

As I patted the sofa to the side of me, gesturing to my daughters Gracelyn, then eight, and Kaylynn, seven, to take a seat I felt a lump lodge in my throat. It was summer 2015 and after a year of relentless rows and bickering with my husband, and the girls’ father Stephen, then 28, we’d decided to call time on our eight-year marriage. ‘Daddy and I have decided not to be together any more,’ I croaked. And while seeing our girls in tears was heartbreaking, deep down both Stephen and I knew that our separation was the best decision for us all.

Stephen and I had first met 10 years earlier at the bar where I worked