“You mean that you had been holding out for marriage?”
“He didn‘t say it in those words but I was still insulted by the way he raised it.”
“Edward should have known you would take it hard.”
Gladys sighed and rubbed her eyes. “I don‘t know what got into him that night...”
“When did this happen? Let me guess, Friday night?” At her niece‘s nod she continued with a small smile, “No wonder you‘ve been so moody since then. But you should know that by now that sexual frustration can make men do strange things.”
“He actually asked me to marry him.”
Aunt Isioma sat up straight. “Did he now? This is more serious than I thought.”
“I‘m really confused. I love Edward but I want him to acknowledge he loves me too. In the past, he‘s talked about how he‘s wealthier than I am, asking if I was in the relationship for money. We got over that but I still worry what the future might hold if he cannot trust me enough to give his heart fully to me, to accept me as I am. I‘m not ashamed that my family‘s not rich; in fact I am proud of the values I learnt from my background.”
Aunt Isioma tapped her teeth for a moment then spoke. “Gladys, I‘ve been holding off the reasons for our families‘ previous estrangement but this may be the best time as any to tell you. Your relationship with Edward gives me echoes of how I met my husband.”
Gladys raised her eyes. She thought she was the only one who saw the similarity in their stories.
Aunt Isioma continued. “But that was only in the beginning and our early years. Before long my marriage was a mockery of the word. From what I see, you and Edward already have something better going on even now. You‘re not a child anymore so I‘ll be blunt. The only one reason I could invite you to come and stay with me last January was because my husband was dead. It was only as a widow that I could do most of the things I wanted to.”
“You were married for so long - what happened?” Gladys was completely blown away. One always assumed that most marriages that lasted were held together by love.
“I was restricted from doing several things by my late husband. Most of all, he didn‘t want me to have anything to do with my earlier family. The times I visited Enugu when you were a child, my husband was out of the country. When I got your mother‘s first letter about your father‘s illness, I tried to come with the children but he found out about it. From then on, he forbade me to visit; I didn‘t even know when your father died.”