My husband cheated with my AUNT – I caught them at our honeymoon hotel, we’d been married months and had a baby at home
BARISTA and mum-of-one Kelly Fredricks reveals the heartbreak at discovering her partner was having a sordid affair with her beloved aunt.
As her husband’s car came to a stop at the docks, new mum Kelly Fredricks pulled up at a safe distance.
For weeks, she had suspected TJ was having an affair — and this was her chance to catch him red-handed.
“My heart was racing and I didn’t know what to do,” says Kelly, 24.
“I turned the keys in the ignition and pulled up gingerly beside them. When TJ turned to face me, he looked like he’d seen a ghost.
“That’s when I saw the woman in the passenger seat — my Aunt Patty.
Her blouse was unbuttoned and they were clearly up to no good
Kelly
“Her blouse was unbuttoned and they were clearly up to no good. Guilt was etched across their faces.”
In that moment, Kelly’s world came crashing down. It was less than a year after she and TJ had celebrated their wedding in the Cayman Islands.
“I was heartbroken,” recalls Kelly, of Wooler, Northumberland.
“I felt so betrayed that the woman he’d been carrying on with behind my back was my Aunt Patty.”
Kelly and TJ, 28, had been childhood sweethearts after meeting on a dating app in 2012.
‘Everything was perfect’
“I was madly in love with TJ and thought he was ‘the one’,” says Kelly.
“When I was 16 I got pregnant and, even though I was young, I was happy. I was sure we were meant to be together, so we decided to get married.”
The couple tied the knot in March 2017 at a small house in the Cayman Islands where Kelly’s mum’s family lived.
The reception took place at a hotel owned by a cousin of Kelly’s mother.
She says: “I can still remember the excitement I felt that day.
“I was expecting our baby and I wanted everything to be perfect.
“But I realised in the morning that I’d forgotten to book anyone to do my hair and make-up.
“Luckily, my Aunt Patty — Mum’s sister — stepped in and got me ready.”
Patty was 20 years younger than Kelly’s mum and her grandmother’s youngest daughter.
They had always been close and Kelly loved spending time with her “cool”, single aunt.
Kelly adds: “We had the most wonderful day.
“I wore a beautiful cream lace dress and everything was perfect.
“I could only see a happy future ahead and everyone, including Aunt Patty, seemed so happy for us. It was like a fairytale.”
Kelly describes the hotel — where she and TJ later spent their two-week honeymoon — as a “tropical paradise”, with three pools and stunning views.
The couple had such an incredible time on the island that when the celebrations were over, Kelly’s mum’s cousin invited her and TJ to stay on and work at the hotel.
They jumped at the chance, Kelly working on reception and her new husband becoming a bartender.
“It was so idyllic I didn’t want to leave,” Kelly says.
“So when TJ said, ‘Maybe we don’t have to’, I thought my life had fallen into place. It was a crazy plan but I loved it.
“I only had one good friend at home and I’d been struggling to find a job, so it seemed perfect.”
He seemed very relaxed and confident around her. That’s when alarm bells started ringing
Kelly
Kelly gave birth to their son, now seven, in August 2017 and while she did shifts and cared for the baby, TJ worked nights and spent more time with Aunt Patty, who also worked at the hotel as a server.
But it wasn’t long before rumours started to swirl that TJ and Patty were getting a little too close.
“At first I told myself it was all in my mind, but a few girls at the front desk asked me if they were related as they seemed so close,” says Kelly.
“Then, around seven months after we tied the knot, I saw TJ give my auntie a playful kick on the bottom.
“He seemed very relaxed and confident around her. That’s when alarm bells started ringing.”
When Kelly confronted TJ about his flirty behaviour, he brushed it off.
Kelly adds: “He was defensive and would just say Patty was my aunt and he’d never do that.
“I was convinced she’d never do that to me. I struggled to shake off my suspicions.
“Watching them working together at the bar, they were very touchy feely. Patty would laugh and grab TJ’s arm, her hand always lingering longer than necessary.”
Kelly’s worst fears were realised when a friend told her she had caught TJ and Patty kissing in his car.
Again she confronted her husband, but he denied it, calling it a “bluff”.
‘He pulled me off her’
One night, ten months after her wedding, Kelly got a text from TJ saying he and Patty were going out after work and that she should join them.
“I told him it was too late and that I was exhausted,” says Kelly, who had a live-in nanny at the time.
“TJ said he’d be back soon, but I felt sick in my stomach.
“He had recently been working later and later.
“And, after all the rumours, the idea of them going out together made me feel uncomfortable.”
Twenty minutes later, Kelly spotted his car parked on the other side of the road — along with a woman in the passenger seat.
“I couldn’t see who it was, just the long hair,” Kelly recalls.
“I crept outside to get a closer look and he drove off. I quickly jumped into my own car and followed them.”
After Kelly caught TJ and Patty in the act down at the docks, she finally saw red.
She says: “I shouted, ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ at Patty as she opened the car door.
“TJ put himself between me and Patty as I tried to launch myself at her.
I was shocked to see weeks and weeks of flirty messages between him and Patty
Kelly
“But I yelled at him to get off, desperate to confront my aunt.
“Eventually he pulled me off her and took me home.”
After the couple got home, TJ fell asleep and Kelly took the opportunity to search his phone for messages.
“I was shocked to see weeks and weeks of flirty messages between him and Patty,” she says.
“‘Baby, I wish I could be with you’, one read. I was in tears while our baby son slept in the next room, faced with the reality that TJ had been betraying me for months.
“The next morning, he refused to talk about the affair. I told him I wanted a divorce and sent my family a group WhatsApp, outing his and Patty’s affair.
“I felt like my life was falling apart and couldn’t believe how two people I’d loved had betrayed me.
“A few months later, the divorce was finalised and I moved into my sister Sheena’s house with the baby.
“I was sad that our marriage had ended, but also felt life was too short to waste it on people who treat you so badly.”
In December 2019, Kelly and her son moved back to Northumberland, where she now works as a barista and tattooist.
After a year-long relationship with Patty, TJ also returned to the UK, to be closer to his son.
“Our son knows his dad and I broke up, but he doesn’t know why,” says Kelly, who has two children, aged two and one, from a later relationship.
Surprisingly, Kelly has since patched up her relationship with Patty and says she has forgiven both her and TJ.
“TJ and I are friendly for our child’s sake, but it’s very formal,” she says.
“Patty and I are close again.
“It took a couple of years and we never really talked about the details of what happened.
“We just agreed to put it behind us and move on. Life is too short to hold a grudge.
“My mum, Maria, 56, was saddened by what happened, but she is religious and has a ‘turn the other cheek’ attitude.
“She is not one for holding grudges either and is a forgive-and-forget type of person.
‘I felt bad’
“I was very upset, but I have now forgiven them. Holding a grudge will cause more pain to me than it will to anyone else.
“I married too young and TJ wasn’t the right man for me.
“Although I haven’t settled down again, I’ve met some nice men since and, as the saying goes, there are plenty more fish in the sea.
“You only have one life and I intend to enjoy mine.”
TJ admits to cheating on Kelly. “Of course I felt bad,” he says.
Patty adds: “Going through that, you don’t think about it in the moment.
“But knowing I did that to my niece was really bad.”