8:35am Monday 26th October 2009
By Mike Laycock
STEPMUM Dawn Smith told today how she fell in love with her husband’s long-lost son after he cared for her in her darkest hour.
The 34-year-old was speaking out after The Press exclusively revealed last week how Ben Smith had been re-united with his father after 17 years apart – only to run off with his stepmother.
We reported how Ben was now starting a new life with Dawn in Lincoln, 80 miles away from his father, Andrew Smith, of Ostman Road, Acomb. Since then, numerous national newspapers have reported on their story.
Dawn said today that while Ben, 18, might legally be her stepson, that was never how she or he had viewed their relationship.
“I had never been involved in bringing him up and when we first met, he was already an adult,” she said. “People might say I’m almost twice his age but age doesn’t, or shouldn’t, matter.” She said Ben had been there for her and helped her through a nervous breakdown last autumn. “I was suicidal and he stayed with me by my side through the night to ensure I came to no harm,” she said. “He helped me when I was desperate and we became friends.”
She said they had started going out last New Year’s Eve and their relationship had since gone from strength to strength.
Meanwhile, Dawn has also told a Sunday newspaper how she became pregnant after going out with Ben, but lost the baby because the pregnancy was ectopic.
Ben said he had never thought of Dawn as his stepmum.“We were like mates who might have worked together,” he said. “It was a few months before I started thinking about her in a different way. It dawned on me that I fancied her. I couldn’t tell anyone because she was my dad’s wife.”
Dawn said she was having similar feelings, saying she felt guilty because Ben was her husband’s son, but at the same time it did not feel wrong. “There’d been a lot of chemistry between us.”
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/trade_directory/