Runaway Bride

She didn't understand why anybody 

would consider her mean or wicked!

She signed up for only one thing

To be married to her own husband

She came all the way from the UK to be married

She took a "two weeks leave of absence"

from her work

She paid for her ticket, gown and all

The wedding cost her quite a fortune

Her guy loved her with all his heart

He had proven this over and over again 

while they were together

She never planned on getting married 

before she met him

His love changed her mind

She knew marriage was a juicy trap

It takes far more from you than it gives

It often left people broken beyond repair

She saw too many broken destinies as a 

result of marriage as a child

She was a product of such a marriage

Her mother did so many despicable things to 

her to spite her father as a child

SHe remembered her mother hiding her with some

 strangers while claiming she had been kidnapped

Sometimes her mother would insist that her father 

cannot see her unless he gives her some amount

of money

Her mother would say, "I know she is all you

 care about, I know she is that matters to you here 

and I will kill her if you do not do 

what I have demanded of you"

Her mother once told her "If your Father does 

not bring me that money, you will die today! 

I will poison you myself"

Her mother said it so matter of factly

She was nine years old when she concluded 

by herself that her mother was mentally unstable

She saw her mother sitting down on a stool in 

the kitchen  and cutting her own thigh

with a blade

There were many marks on her mother's body

She grew up seeing them but 

she never considered 

that they were as a result of self-mutilation

Her mother was deep into her 

thoughts at that moment

Her mother did not even notice 

that she had an audience

She believed her mother would have 

killed her if she saw her staring

She quickly averted her gaze and 

pretended she didn't see anything

Her mother's relatives were the worst

They kept threatening her father with all sorts 

of bodily injury for not taking care of her mother

Her mother would call her parents and tell 

them all sorts of lies about her father

Her mother's parents knew they were being fed lies

But they will come around and make 

life miserable for her father

One day, her Father pretended to be driving her to 

school but drove straight to the airport instead

She was ten years old at the time

Her Father's elder brother had helped them 

with the resources to travel

That was how her father was able to escape 

with her to the United Kingdom

Her Father never remarried

He had flings and two other serious relationships

The two relationships resulted in two other children

Her father told her "marriage" was the 

worst mistake he ever made in his life

Without the encumbrance of marriage, 

her father lived a peaceful and productive life

It taught her a great lesson about marriage

It works for some and it doesn't work for others

Marriage is not meant for everybody

Many of those praying to get married have 

no idea what marriage really is

She had seen the other side of midnight

It wasn't as rosy as many people assume

She really planned to remain alone and to have children somewhere along the line

Just as his father did with such a tremendous result

Then her guy came along

He came to the United Kingdom to study and they fell in love

She would give anything just to have his baby

He was a kind-hearted and considerate man

She had grown immune to love before she met him

but he made a believer of her again

He placed her above all else

She was second to nothing in his life

She didn't have to pretend, manipulate or be wily with him

Her wish was literarily his command

And he never ever asked her for anything

Not even sex!

He was really truly interested in her well being

His love was genuine

She was shocked by her own response to his love

She fell for it, she fell inside it, she drowned in it

She was truly happy for the first time in her life

When their relationship was two years old and he didn't propose

She got apprehensive and shamelessly dropped subtle hints

She knew he was rounding off his 

studies and would soon leave 

He eventually proposed to her delight

His parents were not in the United Kingdom 

and she would have to go home for the wedding

Her father supported her and the necessary

 agreements were made

The wedding was a success

They had their traditional wedding 

earlier that Saturday morning

and by 12 noon they had the church wedding

Everything went to plan until a week after the wedding

His relatives invited him for a meeting

He was stuck at the meeting for the whole day

He returned to tell her that His mother 

was not feeling too fine and 

his family members had elected that he 

should take her with them because he was his 

Mother's only child and "Somebody else's pair

eyes cannot be like one's pair of eyes"

Since he was his mother's only child, the only

way he could preserve his mother's life was

to take her back with him to the United Kingdom!

She didnt understand it

Take his mother back to the United Kingdom 

to live with them?

A seventy-five years old woman!

She would practically be nursing the woman

until the woman died!

She didn't sign up to be a nurse or to spend

her hard earned money on nursing the past!

She was the citizen

He just came to the United Kingdom to study

Suddenly it felt to her as if he was 

only using her to gain entry into the UK and 

then bring his entire family into their new home

She told him they would send money to 

his relatives to care for his mother

She cannot live in the same house with his mother

He begged her

He said his mother needed medical attention

His mother was a good woman

His mother was all he had

His mother was this and that and those and thereafter

She said no, he pleaded and then he felt 

she was being inconsiderate

That was when she realised she had 

either of two options

Bend to love and accommodate 

things that will break her

Or walk away and go with her initial plan

She chose the latter

She left him a goodbye note

She told him she wanted to be the type of wife 

who could do what he wanted

But she wasn't!

Three weeks after she got to the United Kingdom

She realised she was pregnant!

Her PLAN A was back on course

She told him about the baby and 

her plan to keep the child

She also told him to forgot all about the marriage

She didn't get any response from him

Not one word for four years

She sent him letters, pictures, emails and progress 

report about their son

He never responded, not even to her letters of apology

He was just mute, like the dead!

Four years to the day of their wedding

He arrived in the United Kingdom, 

She saw him at her door one evening

He was slightly drunk and had tears in his eyes

He didn't say a word at first, he just looked at her

Her heart was pounding, he looked angry and hurt

Her hands trembled slightly, she was scared of him

She didn't know why he came or what he wanted

She knew he was deeply hurt and angry

"My mother died last month, I waited for the burial and

once I had settled all her affairs I got on my way here

I don't know what to expect but I had to try

Can I come in?"

She let him in and he never left

They have been together for 11 years

PS: I come across some stories that made me cry

This is one of such

The length love was supposed to go

The length fear and preconditioned beliefs would go

If ever there was a time when love is genuine

This was it!

They have three children!