1.The Early Years - We had it all.....
We really did, we had it all, or I thought we did. My name is Gary Saunders and at the time this story started I was still in High School. I was not academically minded and if truth be known wasted my time in school. I couldn't wait to get out and into the man's world of birds, booze and nights out with the lads. . I first met my wife to be, Debbie at high school and we dated off and on even after I left school. She was a knockout even at fourteen when we first started going out together. At five foot two, she was a small girl, but with her short red hair, green eyes, 34" breasts and a face that many actresses would kill for, she was the complete package. I was made up that she had chosen me to be her boyfriend. If I'm perfectly honest, I didn't know what she saw in me. I was pretty average, but I was tall for my age and was good at sports, so my physique was pretty good. Whatever the reason, she and I became an item.
When I left school at the earliest opportunity, aged sixteen and full of it, I thought everything's possible and soon got a job as an apprentice sheet metal worker. Jobs were easier to come by in those days. The economy was booming and I had money in my pocket. I still lived with my parents in a typical semi- detached house on a small housing estate in industrial belt of the North Midlands She had stayed on in school and had ambitions of going to University. She was sixteen and now stood about five foot four tall when she surrendered he virginity to me and after that we screwed at every opportunity, not that we had that many. We both lived at home with our parents and we had to wait for them to be out for an evening, then bribe my young brother or her sister to go to the movies or something, so we could be alone. We were always careful and used condoms, neither of us wanted to get married. I loved being with her and of course the sex was great, but she wanted to go to Uni and I wanted to experience life for a bit before settling down. Neither of us was ready to commit at such a young age. I loved to be with her but was unsure whether I loved her. I know that she was in a similar position as she told me more than once, that when she went to Uni, she would begin seeing other men. For now, she was happy to be with me and I accepted that without any problem.
It was at a New Year's eve party, when we were both seventeen that things went awry. We were both drunk and I forgot to bring any condoms to the party. I never thought for a minute that we would get an opportunity to need one. The party was at Debbie's parent's house and at one point, they went next door to help the old couple who lived there to bring in the New Year. We wasted no time in getting down to business, she dragged me upstairs and into her bedroom where we both stripped and started to kiss and caress each other. I remembered at that point that I had no protection, but Debbie said, "It doesn't matter, my period has just finished, so we should be OK. Anyway, I want to experience what it feels like without the rubber, so let's chance it!"
The inevitable happened and a few weeks later we were facing the music. My parents were disappointed in me but accepted that we had both contributed to the creation of a new life, so it was taken for granted that we would get married. Her parents were not so philosophical about it and called me for everything, telling me, in no uncertain terms, that I had ruined their daughter's life, that I could never support her in the style that she had been accustomed to and that I had denied her the chance of attaining a degree. I took it for so long, then I snapped back, "Just whose life are we talking about here? Yours or hers? It sounds to me that you are forgetting that it takes two to make a baby and I admit the onus was on me to take precautions, but we both contributed to the result. Now, I'm prepared to take responsibility for what happened, I want to marry her if she'll have me." I said looking Debbie straight in the eye and she blushed, but looked away from me and towards her parents. "If she doesn't want that, then I will pay her child support or at least as much as I can afford. It is my child she is bearing and I will never neglect my responsibilities in that respect. I can't offer her much at this present moment, but I am working and I am in a position to contribute to supporting both Debbie and the child when it is born. My parents have offered to let us stay with them and I can keep my old room, until we're in a position to get our own place."
"Nonsense! That's not going to happen." her father thundered, "Your parents live in Sherton, don't they?" He said it as if Sherton was the pits of the world, sure it was a working class housing estate, built just after the war, but it was by no means the worst estate in the area. When I confirmed that they did, he continued, "My grandchild will not be brought up in Sherton! You will live right here with us."
With that, the decision was made for Debbie, she never did actually accept my rather strange proposal, but we were married quietly and settled into domestic life with her parents and sister. Life with the Telling's, that was Debbie's maiden name was no bed of roses. Our room was just across the corridor from her parents and Debbie was not exactly quiet when we made love. She was scared of them hearing her screams of pleasure, so our sex life was similar to before we were married and we dependant of them being out or otherwise occupied before Debbie would permit me any action.
I was working all hours, taking all the overtime on offer and we were paying or way. Debbie was still attending school and as her pregnancy developed took quite a bit of stick from her so called friends. She told me that some of the lads tried it on with her and expected her to put out, just because she was pregnant already and therefore easy. I was all for going and sorting them out, but she refused to tell me who the guys were. We got past that and little Hazel was born just as Debbie was starting her final year in the Upper Sixth Form. Her mother was taking care of baby Hazel during the day until either Debbie or I arrived home.
At school, I had learned to box and my Dad kept pressuring me to continue with it. He said, "Son, this is the one way you're going to get out from under the thumb of Debbie's family. Boxing can provide you with some extra money and if you're any good, can make you rich. It has its dangers to, but your young and strong and pretty handy with it, you could go far!" So I agreed to continue and boxed as an amateur for the next year or so. I gained quite a bit of respect for my boxing and there was some talk of me getting selected to represent my club at the regional championships. Debbie didn't mind me continuing to box, she loved to come and watch, as long as I was the one dishing out the punishment. That changed somewhat when I was on the receiving end of a bashing from a guy called Black Barry Boston. The name was a bit misleading, he was not black as in coloured, he came from a gypsy family and his hair was jet black. He was the same age as me, but more experienced and he gave me a right hammering. Our paths were to cross time and again throughout our careers, but more about that later. Debbie was incensed when she saw me taking a lot of punishment and was screaming at me to 'kill him'. The other fans sitting beside her had to retrain her from getting into the ring and taking him on herself. After the fight Barry and I were sitting in the changing room and chatting about the fight when he said, "It was lucky for me that little redhead didn't get into the fucking ring. She was spitting feathers and ready to take on the world and me! I wouldn't mind getting into her knickers though, she is fucking gorgeous!" I agreed with him on that and then said quietly, "By the way she's my wife and I ask that you show her some respect or you and I will be having another fight right here and now!" He laughed at me sitting there with my lip swollen and a cut above my right eye oozing blood from a scrape. The headgear we wore was supposed to stop you getting cuts, but if it didn't fit tightly, you could get a nasty scrape and that's what happened to me. He said, "Champ, I think you should look in the mirror before starting another scrap with me right now. Anyway, sorry if I insulted her, but I wasn't to know that she's your missus!" He was standing combing his long black hair and as I stood beside him combing mine, I saw what he meant and burst out laughing.
We were both still laughing when Debbie stormed in and asked me what was going on? She saw us standing there convulsed with laughter and she stamped her foot in anger, "What's so funny? That big bastard has just beat the hell out of you and your standing there sharing a joke with him!"
That caused us both to dissolve into more laughter and she stormed out in the huff. "You'd better go and make your peace with her or it'll be no nookie for you tonight!" I took his advice and went and found her talking to my father. He was trying to explain about the fight and told her, "I'm not too concerned about tonight's result. Gary was getting too cocky and needed to be taken down a peg or two. Barry Boston has much more experience than Gary and he use d it tonight to good effect. If Gary learns from tonight's fight, he will be a far better boxer for it! You didn't help him either you know, your screaming distracted him and he took a couple of hits that he should have avoided easily, so learn to control yourself if you want to help him."
Debbie's attitude changed a little after that and she learned to control her temper win or lose. By this time, Debbie had finished her 'A ' Levels and decided that she would forget University for the moment and get a job to help with the family finances. She, like me was determined to get out of her parent's house. They had been good to us and great with Hazel, but we badly needed to find our own place. She got a job as a receptionist for a local firm of Accountants. Her best A Level was in Maths and they soon had her looking after their petty cash accounts and office expenses. She was also great with computers and knew how to use all the major software packages. I was just the opposite and the only us I had for them was playing games.
With her income added to mine, we soon had enough money to enable us to rent our own small two up two down mid-terraced house. It needed a lot done to it, but as we were only renting we were reluctant to make the necessary investment. She got onto the landlord and got him to make the repairs she demanded and she soon had it looking great and we settled into our first home. In our new home, our sex life took a major step for the better. Released from the ever watchful eyes of her parents, she turned into a right little raver and she would be waiting for me to get in from work, stripped and ready for action. I barely had time to get in the door before she was dragging me into the bedroom. Many a night, I didn't get my supper until well after ten, having arrived home at eight. Not that I was complaining of course. Then when Hazel was just coming up for two, she got pregnant once more. Condoms were a thing of the past, she was on the pill by then, but she did have a heavy cold for a period of about two weeks and that was when it must have happened.
I was delighted but Debbie was distraught. "Just when we were starting to get everything together, this happens! I was just thinking the other day that we could start looking for a home of our own, instead of renting but that's out of the window for now!"