I was in awe of the gothic splendour of the main hall of the Wills Memorial Building. A magnificent place, unfortunately funded by the proceeds of tobacco and, indirectly, the slave trade. We filed out into the bright Bristol sunshine and I was joined by my son, William, whose graduation ceremony I had attended. I shook his hand and congratulated him on his master’s degree.

Being a very proud dad, I had to have photographs of him in his ceremonial robes. I moved around to get the sun behind me and managed to snap a few shots before Will’s cheerful expression changed.

“What the hell is he doing here?” he said.

I turned to see a Rolls Royce standing at the side of the road. Its chauffer was arguing with a traffic warden. In front of the roller stood a man of slight build, about five foot ten inches tall with grey hair and piercing blue eyes. At 60 years of age, he was fifteen years older than me and the man I’d least like to find at my son’s graduation.

I moved towards him, but Will was ahead of me, striding across the pavement towards the interloper.

“What are you doing here? I don’t need you and I don’t want you here. Get back in your car and clear off back to London!”

The man put both his hands in front of him, palms towards William in a conciliatory gesture.

“Relax young man, just calm down. I’ve seen what I came for, now I need a quick word with your father and I’ll leave you to your celebrations.”

I put my hand on Will’s shoulder. “It’s okay Son, I can deal with this. You get off to your champagne reception and make sure you save me a glass.”

Will turned and went back to his friends who stood with puzzled looks on their faces. He would obviously have some explaining to do. Most of his mates would know that Will was arguing with Terry Sandford, but few if any would know the reason.

“Is this it, Sandford? No lawyers, no minders, just you?”

“This is it Mr Jennings, just me. I’ve given up talking to lawyers where you’re concerned, it does me no good at all. I just want to talk to you. Just me and you man to man.”

“I’m not aware that we have anything left to discuss.”

“Please Mr Jennings. I’m not a man who is used to begging but if that’s what it takes ... Here, take my card. We’ll meet anywhere you choose. We have mutual interests and we need to work out how to go forward.”

“I don’t need to call you. The Clifton Sausage, 7 p.m., you’re buying,” I said angrily. “I’ll book the table, I’m sure your chauffer will find it for you.”.

I turned and walked off to join Will in his celebrations.

I hadn’t seen Terence Sandford in almost nine years and I’d hoped that I would never see him again.

After only sixteen years of marriage, my darling Vicky was taken from me as a result of cervical cancer. Her death left me devastated, not knowing which way to turn. It had taken a year for the disease to take her from me, yet it still came as a shock when she eventually died. I tried to tell myself that it was an end to her suffering, and that it was better that her battle had not dragged out any longer. However, none of that stopped me wanting to keep her just that little bit longer. Every day I longed to wake up and see her face, even as thin as she’d become.

The days dragged by, and slowly I came back to the land of the living. I had a twelve-year-old son and a daughter of only ten, so falling into a morass of self-pity wasn’t an option. I had some help from Vicky’s sister Madeleine, who was with us at the end and stayed for another two weeks. After that my mother did her best, but mum was torn between me and dad, who was himself not well.

No matter how long you live with someone, there are always some surprises when they die. Mine came in the form of a savings account she told me about once when the end was near. She told me to take the death certificate to the bank and I would automatically get access to the account. She didn’t tell me that the account contained more than £40,000, enough to pay off the mortgage on our house.

By the first anniversary of Vicky’s death, we were starting to get back on our feet. I couldn’t face the idea of my children becoming latchkey kids so I quit my job and started working from home as a consultant. Both Will and his sister Zoe did their best to pull their weight around the house and I tried my best to be both mum and dad to them. Our house was filled with love, but we all knew there was someone missing. Every night the words of Sting would come home to me. “The bed’s too big without you.” he sang and I couldn’t hear it without crying.

Almost fifteen months after Vicky’s death, the letter arrived. At first I thought it was a sick joke, then I thought it was a scam. It purported to come from, a company of solicitors in London. I studied it, I even showed it to Will. We looked up the solicitors on the Internet and they seemed to be genuine. The wording seemed extremely vague.

Mr. Vaughan Jennings, husband to the late Victoria Jennings. You are invited to ring these offices quoting the reference number above. If you do so, you may learn something to your advantage.

I was mystified. Did Vicky have had another secret account? Neither Will nor I saw any trap in it so I rang the office of Wallace, Wallace & Simkins. As soon as I gave them the reference. I was put through to a Mr. Anthony Johnston.

“Mr. Jennings, you are the husband of the late Victoria Jennings?”

“Yes I am, what has this got to do with Vicky?”

“Are you familiar with the name of Terence Sandford, Mr Jennings?”

“There can’t be many people who haven’t heard of him, but of course I have. Vicky used to work for him when we lived in Sunbury.”

“Thank you, Mr. Jennings, it seems that you are the man we need to talk to. Unfortunately, this is a matter that can’t be dealt with over the phone. Could you come into our office so that we can discuss it? We’ll pay you full expenses including loss of earnings, irrespective of the outcome.”

I realised I couldn’t lose so I made an appointment. I arranged for Will and Zoe to go to Mum’s in case I was late getting home, and on Wednesday morning I set off for London.

My experience was that solicitors always kept you waiting, much to my surprise, I was shown into Johnston’s office as soon as I arrived.

Anthony Johnston was a tall well-built man in his fifties. I sized him up as he came across the room to meet me. I guessed six-foot-two, a little taller than me. Broad shouldered I could imagine him playing rugby in his youth. He had brown eyes, salt & pepper hair, a square jaw with a cleft chin. He was probably the sort of man who had no trouble finding lady friends. He offered his hand and I shook it.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Jennings, thank you for coming. Please take a seat.”

He guided me towards a chair and returned to his desk.

“Before we start, I must point out that in cases like this, we like to record our interviews.” He pointed to a video camera fixed to the ceiling in the corner of his office. “Is that okay with you?”

“Cases like what? I still don’t know why I’m here.”

“Cases which involve substantial amounts of money, with conditions attached. It helps us prove to our client that we have explained everything correctly. So are you okay with the recording?”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“Thank you, now let’s get down to business. I represent the interests of Mr. Terence Sandford.”

“Sandford? I’d have thought with his money he’d get the senior partner on his case. Mr. Wallace at least.”

“Both the Wallaces are long since dead I’m afraid. I am the senior partner. Now, if I may continue?”

I nodded for him to continue.

“As you may have read in the papers, Mr. Sandford recently lost his two sons in a boating accident in Acapulco. This means your wife’s children are his sole surviving blood relations.”

“What are you talking about? My wife’s children? You mean my children, my William and my Zoe. My children ... nothing to do with Sandford.” I was starting to get irritated.

“Oh dear, I’m sorry Mr. Jennings. Mr. Sandford said that you were aware of the situation.”

I got out of the chair and leaned across the desk. We were almost nose to nose when I spoke.

“Just what situation would that be, you slimy piece of shit? What are you trying to say about my wife?”

I had to give him credit for the fact that he never backed away. He remained remarkably cool, but then it wasn’t his wife that was being insulted.

“Will you please sit down, Mr Jennings and I’ll do my best to explain.” I fell back into the chair and let him continue. “Mr. Sandford has sworn an affidavit to the effect that for the last two and a half years of her employment, he and your wife carried on a sexual relationship. He thought you knew and that was why you moved to Somerset.”

“Mr. Johnston, I’m trying to stay calm here, but if you continue to cast aspersions on my wife’s character, I won’t be responsible for my actions. Now can you get to the point of why you’ve got me here.”

“I’m trying to do that, Mr. Jennings. Had I known that you were unaware of all this, I would have been better prepared. To get to the point, Mr. Sandford alleges that both William and Zoe are his biological children. He believed that it was quite right for the children should be with their mother. Now Mrs. Jennings has passed, he feels that as their biological father, he is best placed to care for them.”

“NO!” I shouted. I slammed my fist down on Johnston’s desk so hard that his pens leapt off the desk. I got out of the chair and started pacing up and down in the office.

“He can’t do this. Look I’m sorry about his boys. I know how it feels to lose a loved one, but just because he’s lost his family doesn’t mean he can steal mine.”

I was losing it. That’s what the pacing was all about, trying to control my aggression.

“How is any of this supposed to be to my advantage? Just tell me that.”

“I’m coming to that, Mr. Jennings. Mr. Sandford appreciates the way you have cared for his children over the years. As a token of his appreciation, he is prepared to settle on you the sum of £300,000.”

“You what? You mean he thinks he can buy my children? Well, tell him peddle his lies somewhere else. My children are not for sale.”

Johnston tried to stand between me and the door. I pushed him aside. I’d almost reached the door when it opened and I came face to face with him for the first time. Sandford closed the door behind him.

“I should have known better than to send a boy to do a man’s job. Just sit down, Johnston and let me deal with this.” He turned to face me. “Now listen to me, Jennings, I may not have had the benefit of your education, but even I can count to nine. Neither of those kids was early, they were both spot on time. You can try and fight me on this and end up with nothing, or you can give up now and walk away with three hundred grand.”

“You are NOT taking my children. I don’t care how much money you’ve got. I’ll fight you every inch of the way.”

“Be sensible about this, you know I can give them a much better life ... it’s not as if you’ll never see them again. I’m sure we can work something out.”

“Justget out of my life.”

“Look, if it’s the money, I can make it a half million.”

He couldn’t have said a worse thing. I lunged at him, grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him towards me.

“I wouldn’t sell my kids to you for any amount of money,” I shouted. “Now take your money and get out of our lives.”

I pushed him away. He stumbled and fell as I stormed out of the office. All the way home I was in complete turmoil. The arrogance of the man amazed me. To think he could step in and buy a family; he must be mad.

As some of the heat went out of my anger, I started to think about what Johnston had said. It couldn’t be true. I found the idea of Vicky having an affair for two and a half years, to be totally preposterous. I would have known. I tried to think back to that time in our lives. Were there any telltale signs that Vicky was cheating on me?

The allegations were still whirling through my head when I arrived at Mum’s to pick up the children. Will had told her all about the letter so she had to quiz me on the events of the day.

“Well, what did they want? Was it worth your while?”

“It was a waste of time Mum, so no, it wasn’t worth my while.”

“But they said it would be to your advantage.”

“Well, it wasn’t.” I snapped back at her.

“But the expenses covered your costs?”

“I didn’t claim them, alright? Now just leave it, Mum.”

“Can’t I be concerned for my son without being snapped at?”

“I’m sorry Mum, I guess I’m a bit cheesed off. I’ll be okay tomorrow. I hope Will and Zoe haven’t been any trouble.”

“They’re never any trouble. We love having them, you know that.”

The talk of the children brought tears to my eyes. I tried hard to disguise it as I gathered up the children’s belongings, but I guess there’s no fooling your mother. The concerned look she gave me as I left told me I’d been unsuccessful. The children hadn’t been in bed long when the phone rang. It was Vicky’s sister Madeleine.

“Vaughan, how are you?”

“I’m fine Maddy, how about you?”

“That’s not what your mother says. She’s worried about you. What happened today, Vaughan?”

“Bloody Sandford, the bloke she used to work for. He claims the kids are his.”

There was a silence at the other end of the phone.

“Maddy, are you still there?”

“Yes, sorry Vaughan. Can I come over to talk to you, tomorrow? I’ve got something for you.”

I tried to get more out of her but she was having none of it. I had no option but to wait.

At 10 am the following day, I found Maddy waiting on my doorstep. I invited her in and made some coffee. We sat at the dining room table drinking coffee while I waited for Maddy to produce whatever it was she had to give me.

“Vaughan, you know I love you, don’t you. Not in the same way that Vicky did, but enough to want to protect you from things that might hurt you or the children.”

“Of course I do Mads. You’ve been a great help to us over the last year. We’re really grateful to you for all you’ve done. I’m sure Vicky would be pleased.”

“Well there was something else she asked me to do that perhaps I should have done a little sooner. Before she died Vicky wrote you a letter. She knew you would be struggling after she’d gone, so she asked me to hold on to it until I thought you could cope. I’m sorry, but I should’ve given you this before.”

She handed me a white envelope. I opened it and took out the letter inside. As I unfolded the letter I caught site of her handwriting and tears came to my eyes. Maddy squeezed my arm as a comforting gesture as I unfolded the letter and started to read.

The tears were running down my cheeks as I finished the letter. Maddy began dabbing at my eyes with a tissue. I read it again and a third time. The tears stopped and I just sat there.

“Vaughan, are you alright?”

I sat with my head in my hands. “So that’s it, it’s all true.--Why would she do this to me? She gives me two children, knowing someone is waiting to snatch them away from me. How could anyone do that and still claim to love me?”

“She did love you, Vaughan. Writing that letter was the hardest thing she ever had to do.”

“And you, you knew. All that sympathy and helping out while all the time you were laughing at the gullible fool. Bringing up another man’s children and he doesn’t know.”

“It wasn’t like that. We never laughed at you. She loved you and I was jealous of what you two had together. I didn’t know anything until she gave me that letter. She only let me read it so that I could gauge when would be a good time to give it to you.”

“Well, that’s it then. Just got to sit and wait for him to come for them”

“What do you mean come for them? ... Who is going to come for them?”

“Haven’t you listened to anything I told you? He’s going to take them. Sandford’s going to take them from me”

“I don’t understand. How can he take them he doesn’t even know?”

“Of course he knows. What do you think yesterday was all about? He offered me half a mil if I didn’t fight his paternity and custody suit.”

“Tell me you didn’t accept. Please Vaughan tell me.”

“Don’t be stupid Mads, of course I didn’t accept, but he’ll take them anyway. Who would you award custody to? On one side, an unrelated, self-employed consulting engineer with no support network to speak of. On the other, their biological father who can give them anything they want and can pay for any level of support.”

“We’ll fight him. I’ll help you in any way I can. I’m sure we can make the courts see they would be better off with you. Please don’t blame Vicky; she didn’t expect this to happen. I know how much she loved you.”

“Yeah, doesn’t change the fact that she brought all this about.”

“Calm down, and we’ll make plans to deal with this. The first thing to do is to find a solicitor. We need one that specialises in family law. We can do this Vaughan, really we can.”

Like her sister, Maddy was always optimistic. She and her husband, Robert, did their best for me and we nearly pulled it off. Within two weeks of my visit to London I received a summons to take the children to a clinic for paternity test. My solicitor had advised that fighting the test would be a waste of time and money. He was right, of course, fighting at that stage would have made it look like I had something to hide.

After Vicky’s letter I thought I was prepared for the result. I was wrong. No matter how often I told myself that the result will go against me I secretly hoped it wouldn’t be true. When the results came back all that hope was taken away and I slipped into a deep depression. My, carefully preserved, air of normality disintegrated. If it hadn’t been for Maddy, Mum, and the children I would have given up. Maddy realised I couldn’t speak about her sister without falling apart, so she volunteered to explain everything to the children.

Will was adamant, there was no way he was leaving me, no matter what happened. Two weeks later that I received a summons to attend the family court for a custody hearing.

The family court is an unusual affair. It has its own special judges and is held in a committee room. Nothing that happens in that room is ever made public and anyone disclosing any of the discussions can be prosecuted for contempt. On the day of our hearing Sandford had two legal representatives, one of whom was Johnston. Social Services and Children’s Services were represented along with me and my solicitor. It seemed ridiculous to me then, and it still does, that the two people whose future was to be decided were not allowed to attend. Johnston and his deputy presented their case, that the children should be with their biological father. They outlined all the advantages the children would receive by living with Sandford.

My man told the court that I was the only father they had ever known and that it would be extremely traumatic to take them away from a loving father. I could see from the faces around the table that he was having the desired effect. I began to have real hope. Unfortunately Sandford’s team could see the same thing I did. When asked if he had anything to add Johnston stood up and addressed to court.

“The court has been told what a good job Mr Jennings and his wife have made of bringing up the children. This is true and my client is very appreciative. However, that was when there were two parents. Since the death of Mrs Jennings more pressure has been placed on Mr Jennings. Unfortunately Mr Jennings seems to have developed a propensity for violence as a means of dealing with that pressure. I would like to show the court some extracts from a recording of the interview my client and I had with Mr Jennings.”

He opened up a file on his laptop and the picture appeared projected onto the back wall of the room.

“This recording of a meeting we had with Mr Jennings to discuss this matter. I made Mr Jennings aware that the meeting was being recorded.”

The first scene was me grabbing the front of Johnston’s shirt and going head to head with him. Then there was me thumping the desk, jumping up and pacing up and down the office. Finally came the bit with me pushing Sandford in the chest sending him sprawling on the floor.”

My solicitor tried to stop me as I sprung to my feet.

“It didn’t happen like that. That meeting was a goddamned ambush.”

The judge repeatedly told me to sit down and eventually I did.

Johnston continued. “Mr Jennings cannot cope and my client does not feel the children would be safe in his care.”

I looked around the table, and realised I’d lost all the ground my solicitor had gained. The panel retired to consider a verdict, but I already knew the outcome. It only took them 30 minutes to decide that within ten days I would hand over my children to the Social Services who would in turn take them to Sandford. There can be no appeal against the decision of a family court so all I could do was to make the most of the time we had together.

Will wanted to run away so he wouldn’t be there to be collected, but I pointed out that would result in me being jailed for contempt. On the day of their collection there were tears all round. As I hugged them both. William stepped back and looked at me.

“He will never be my father. As soon as I can I’ll be back. I love you Dad.”

Zoe kissed me and assured me she loved me and would do whatever it took to get back home.

After they’d gone I looked around the house, she was still there. Vicky had family pictures everywhere and she seemed to be in all of them. Not surprising really, I took most of them. I thought about cutting her out of them but only for a second. Will might understand, but Zoe certainly wouldn’t.

The court ordered Sandford to make provision for visiting but I couldn’t bring myself to follow it up. As things turned out I didn’t need to. Within three weeks both of them stood on my doorstep. It seemed that Sandford’s idea of caring for and educating them was to send them off to boarding school. Will ran away, went straight to get Zoe and they made their way back home. Of course the police paid us a visit later that day and the following morning Social Services came to take them away again. They were smart kids so the next time they didn’t come to me but went to Mum and Dad. We had three days together that time. Following that it was to Maddy and Robert they went to. The police threatened me with a charge of abduction, but as I pointed out, I didn’t go and get them and I couldn’t stop them coming to me.

When Maddy leaked the story to the press, the Social Services came under a great deal of pressure. They were not allowed to disclose anything that happened in court and so couldn’t defend themselves. By the end of the summer term, both children had managed to get back to me four times. All this time my solicitor tried, without success, to get another hearing.

During the summer break Sandford whisked the children off to Mauritius for a holiday. This ruled out any more runaways. They kept in touch by phone and Skype but I missed them terribly. When Will told me he had a plan, I urged him not to do anything stupid or illegal. He just laughed and told me not to worry.

All the efforts made by myself, Maddy and my solicitor, got us nowhere. It came as a surprise when I was summoned to appear before the family court at the beginning of September. My surprise turned to shock when I found out the hearing was not to charge me with contempt, but to reconsider the original verdict. It seemed Social Services thought insufficient emphasis had been placed on what the children wanted. Sandford was only represented by Johnston and he seemed remarkably subdued. We all sat there looking at each other until the judge called the meeting to order. I was under strict instructions from my solicitor, to remain calm. Once the preliminaries were out of the way the judge turned to me.

“Mr Jennings, at the last meeting of this court you demanded sole custody of William and Zoe. Is that still your position?”

“It is Ma’am.”

“You would not consider joint custody.”

“No Ma’am, it would be too disruptive. Whatever the court decides, it would be best for the children to have only one father. I believe that father should be me.”

The Social Services spokesman told the court that during the interviews with the children it became obvious they wanted to stay with me. There actions since the previous court decision underlined that.

The judge turned to Johnston.

“Mr Johnston, during the previous hearing you claimed Mr Jennings had a propensity for violence.” She actually read this last phrase from the transcript of the meeting. “Mr Sandford was concerned for the safety of the children if they remained with Mr Jennings. Is that still the case?”

“No Ma’am it is not.”

I rocked back in my chair unable to believe what I had just heard.

“Would you care to explain what brought about this change of heart?”

“Yes Ma’am, Mr Sandford accepts that both children want to live with Mr Jennings and he doesn’t believe they would feel that way if he were violent towards them. He suggested we give the entire recording, of the meeting to a psychologist for evaluation. The court has a copy of the psychologists report. In short Ma’am, the report concludes that Mr Jennings had no idea his wife had an affair with my client or that the children were a result of the affair. The psychologist is of the opinion that Mr Jennings was in a state of shock and his reactions were those of a man defending his family.”

“Are you saying you wilfully mislead the court?”

“We did not try to mislead the court, Ma’am. However, we do believe we were guilty of misinterpreting Mr Jennings reaction.”

My solicitor looked at me with a huge grin on his face. I was mystified, everything Johnston said about me was correct but why the sudden change of heart. He’d had no worries about misrepresenting the situation before.