In the last column, we met Hayden, Charlee and their five children. The sad, sad saga continues ...

One day, when Hayden was looking for something in the bathroom vanity, he found love notes to Charlee. He confronted her and she said the relationship was over.

"I didn't believe her. She was still seeing this guy, meeting him at the golf course."

Charlee moved out several months later, into an apartment paid for by the man she said she was no longer seeing. Two months later, Hayden was served with divorce papers.

Hayden and Charlee split custody. He'd have the kids for a week, then she'd have the kids for a week. When she had the kids, they'd get to school late, without their homework. She'd forget to pick them up.

"Once when it was her week, she couldn't take them because she had a yeast infection! She'd cancel a lot because she was busy. She didn't even see them on Mother's Day."

In the summer of 2005, Charlee and her boyfriend took the three youngest kids on a boat. They anchored four miles from shore. The two boys, 10 and 7, jumped in the water wearing life vests and started to drift. Charlee jumped in and tried to pull them back, but the current was too strong. Her boyfriend threw them a life preserver but they couldn't reach it. Then he jumped in.

"Now they're all drifting from the boat while my youngest is still on board. They decided to swim for shore and reached land at 4:30 a.m. the next day. My son died from hypothermia, and Charlee's boyfriend drowned."

A year later, the divorce was finalized. Two days later the judge ruled on custody. Charlee showed up 90 minutes late and tested positive for alcohol and marijuana.

"Needless to say I was granted custody. Two weeks later Charlee attempted suicide, but made sure to call her sister first. They put her in the psych ward and when she got out she called the kids and told them she was taking them to Tennessee to see her dad.

"I called my lawyer and we got an emergency hearing. She was ordered into supervised visitation. That went on for three years."

Charlee was arrested a year later for driving under the influence and attacking a police officer. She was given two years probation.

"She tested positive for cocaine and marijuana while on probation, but nothing happened."

Two years later, Charlee took Hayden back to court and was awarded visitation every other weekend on the conditions that it was supervised by her boyfriend, that she not consume alcohol while the kids were there, and that she attend AA meetings twice a week.

"That lasted a few months, until the kids told me she was drinking and her boyfriend was at work! I took her back to court, and the judge revoked her visitation privileges. Just last month, she was arrested and spent 12 days in jail for assaulting her sister."

Even though Hayden and Charlee are divorced, he's hardly through with her.

"I feel I'll always have to be on guard for the sake of my children."

Do romantic vacations ever work out the way you'd hoped? Send your tale, along with your questions and problems to [email protected]. And check out my ebooks, "Dear Cheryl: Advice from Tales from the Front" and "I'll Call You. Not."