London - He would sometimes jet off on mysterious "secret missions"… but given that William Jordan had told her he was a spy, his adoring wife accepted that such things came with the territory.
During their blissfully happy marriage, Mary Turner Thompson had two children with the American who claimed to be a CIA agent on secondment to MI5.
But six years after they met, the mother of three was horrified to be contacted by "the other Mrs Jordan" and told that her apparently doting husband, 53, was a serial bigamist.
Turner Thompson discovered Jordan had at least 13 other children by six women and was actually an IT worker whose top-secret "missions" involved visiting his other families.
The astonishing tale of lies and deception mirrors the plot of hit BBC drama Mrs Wilson, in which the title character discovers her "spy" husband had three other wives.
Turner Thompson said watching the true story of Alison Wilson, portrayed by her actress granddaughter Ruth, was like seeing her own life being played out on screen.
Now the 53-year-old from Edinburgh has spoken out to warn other women Jordan is back "at large" after being released from prison in America. The conman who once persuaded her to hand over £200 000 to "blackmailers" is duping around "six women at a time", she added.
"I met William online when I was a single mum with a nine-month old baby," said Turner Thompson.
"He was very charming. We started dating and he actually asked me to marry him within two weeks of meeting.
"I said 'No' but we did eventually get engaged, then were married for four years."
But in 2006, she received a call from his first wife, Julie Bringhurst, who had been married to Jordan for 16 years and had five children with him. "She said, 'Are you Mary Turner Thompson?'. I said 'Yes'.
"Then she asked: 'Are you also Mrs Jordan?' I said 'Yes' and she replied, 'Well, I’m the other Mrs Jordan.'
"We met in a cafe and talked for about 12 hours. When she left at six in the morning, I sent him a text and dumped him.
"I carried on talking to him to get information but he never wavered from his story and said time would vindicate him. It was all nonsense." Jordan served half a five-year sentence after being jailed at Oxford Crown Court for fraud and bigamy.
He was deported to America but almost immediately preyed upon his next victim, Mischele Lewis, 39. After being caught out yet again, Jordan was in jail for three years.