How lonely she looked, that woman with her children. I saw her, having dinner with her three children. She was there, alone with her children, drinking wine. Where was her husband? How sad she looked. Drinking alone. Nothing is sadder than someone drinking alone. As I sat, with my husband, I watched her. There was sadness in her eyes. What had happened to her? A wedding ring on her finger indicated that she was married, but there she was, with her teenage son, and a couple of younger children, but no husband. Where was he?

I had always been jealous of Sue. She had everything I had dreamed of. She had the most beautiful home, with a spa and an indoor pool. I knew that their house had been paid off many years ago. Her husband, Steve, earned a good salary as a manager of a local building company. Sue drove around in a latest model car. She only had her cars for two years, and then it was replaced with a new one. I drove an old people mover that seated eight.

John and I had left our four children at home so we could spend some precious time together. It was easier to do this now, as we had a couple of teenage children, and our children like to see us spend time together. We enjoyed going to the Diamond Creek hotel, and sitting on the balcony, watching the cars go past. There we were, spending time together, enjoying each other’s company. And there she was, all alone, with her three children. And she looked so sad.

I discovered later that her husband had told her that he had to work late. She knew that wasn’t true. She had suspected for some time that he was seeing another woman. She didn’t confront him with it, as she valued her marriage, and thought it was better if she just ignored it. But she knew, and it hurt her so much. Hadn’t she always been a good wife to him, and a good mother to their children? Why was he doing this to her? It hurt her deeply, but she tolerated it. She thought that it was better for children to have their parents together, and it would be much easier for her financially, so she put up with it. But she was miserable, and didn’t want to go on like this any longer. She knew her husband had been cheating on her for some time – this wasn’t the first affair that he’d had. And now she had had enough. It had to stop.

As she sat there alone, with her children, drinking wine and eating dinner, she planned what she was going to do. It would have to look like an accident. No-one would suspect her. No-one else knew that he had been cheating on her. She was too ashamed to tell anyone. No-one would suspect anything. As far as everyone else was aware, their marriage was fine. So she planned what she would to do her husband, as she sat there, with he children, alone and drinking.

She knew that her husband was planning on cleaning the gutters on Saturday. She decided to loosen the top rung on his ladder. That way, it would look like an accident; he would fall and seriously hurt, if not kill, himself. Perfect. There would be no more cheating! She smiled, thinking what a great plan she had come up with.

When Saturday arrived, she told her husband she had some shopping to do, and she took her keys and her car and took their younger children with her. She didn’t want to be home when it happened. They had fun shopping, stopping for lunch. She was quietly confident, knowing his cheating would soon be over. She felt bad that she had left Adam at home with him, and sorry that Adam would have to handle the “tragedy”. But she knew that her son was quite capable of phoning an ambulance, and his grandparents, who lived a couple of streets away.

When she arrived home, all was not as she had planned, and she felt sick when she discovered what had happened. It was Adam who climbed the ladder. Her husband had let him help, and had let him climb the ladder. Her son had fallen, as she had planned her husband to do, and now was in hospital, in a coma. That’s not what should’ve happened. Sue felt sick at what she had done. It wasn’t meant to be like this!

Her son was in a coma for six weeks. When he finally came out of it he had suffered serious brain damage. Months of physio were needed before he could even walk again. He became completely dependant for eating, dressing and so on. Sue had to look after her son. He was a constant reminder of her cheating husband. Steve’s cheating continued. This was a new beginning for Sue, it wasn’t supposed to be like this.