
A 38-year-old mother-of-two who married a Jamaican
toyboy almost half her age after he romanced her on Skype and Blackberry
Messenger insisted they are the ''real deal''.
Angharad
Lovering, 38, from South Wales, flew to the Caribbean for a three-week
holiday to meet Loric Bullock, then 19, and says she knew it was 'meant
to be' when she came back pregnant.
Her new lover
then proposed by text and despite having only met him once she accepted
and took out a £3,000 loan to pay for his temporary British visa before
marrying him
last May.
Loric proposed to
Angharad via text just weeks later and, despite having only met once,
she said yes - and took out a loan to pay for a £3,000 temporary visa
for her new fiance.
In October 2013 she gave birth
to their baby boy, Tyrese with a doctor holding her hand and Loric
5,000 miles away on the end of the phone.
It was
not until March 2014, when Tyrese was five months old, that Loric got
his visa and could fly to the UK to meet his son for the first time -
and his fiancé for the second - marrying in the May.
Despite
the age gap and their unconventional courtship, she insists that they
are the 'real deal' and 'doesn't give a damn' what critics think.
The
couple now live together in Cardiff with their son Tyrese, now one, and
Angharad's daughter from a previous relationship, Daisy, 15.
Ms Lovering admits that people often mistake Loric for for her son or her teenage daughter's boyfriend.
She said, "A
lot of people confuse him for her boyfriend. I don't look as old as I
am and I certainly don't dress my age because I don't want to look my
age. I don't have wrinkles so I'm lucky.
But
Loric has a baby face. A couple of people have said to my daughter, "Is
that your boyfriend?" and she has to say, "No, it's my stepfather".
''I keep a very small circle of friends and I don't really get on with my family so I don't give a damn what they think".
Angharad
and Loric, now 22, first started talking when she took Daisy whose
father is Jamaican over to the country to meet her grandparents in 2012.
''While
I was there I met some guy and through that I got talking to Loric on
Blackberry Messenger and weeks later he proposed by text. I didn't think
anything would come of it because he was really young. he looked about
12 in his picture. He looked like a baby, but we just kept chatting and
got on really well".
When Angharad got back to the UK, she and Loric embarked on transatlantic courtship over Skype, texts and voice messages.
Six months later Angharad went on a three-week holiday to Portmore, Jamaica, so that they could finally meet in real life.
''I
was desperate to go and meet him,' she said. 'We spent almost three
weeks and we just had a lot of fun. I thought he would just be nice to
chat to but we completely fell for each other. We got on really well and
then he said 'I love you".
''When I got home and found out I was pregnant we saw it as a sign that we were meant to be.
''All
we had had was three amazing weeks together and a million phone calls,
but actually we didn't really know each other at all," said Angharad.
''When he finally got here, he became a father and we had no time together. Our whirlwind romance was now a reality.
We
didn't realise how much we didn't know about each other and we were
tiptoeing around each other, but then we started getting to know one
another as a family".
The couple married two months later so that Loric could secure a UK visa.
They walked down the aisle in a £250 register office ceremony on May 31 2014, where Angharad wore a £20 dress from eBay.
They celebrated at a pub reception with a handful of friends and family.
But
despite now being married for more than a year, Angharad said she is
still getting to know the father of her child, who is 16 years her
junior.
Angharad said the transition has been
difficult for Loric, who has battled racism and found it difficult to
find a job, as well as facing prejudice about the age difference.
Despite everything, she said she would not change it for the world.
''A
lot of the issues we have had are also because he has come from living
at home with his family and he has never had responsibilities. He has
had a lot to learn.
''I have always gone
out with older men, but then I hit my mid-20s and started getting a lot
of attention from younger guys. I think we are calmer and more
accepting. I have never lived with a man before so it is really new for
both of us.
It has also been difficult
for Daisy, because Loric wanted to be her friend and he got a little bit
too close with her friends, and it has been a real struggle for him to
find work.
'People hate immigrants, but
Loric came here as a father and a lover and has done honest work to fit
in, in a small town in the valleys that barely has a black face in it.
I
paid his way to get here, getting a loan and working extra hours in my
telesales job, but it was worth it. It's been a tough time, but I'm
finally getting to know the husband I met on Skype", she said
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