Some people say love is the most important thing in a marriage. Others say wealth is important. Yet others also say both are important. I am man who understands love just like a father understands his son. But not in my wildest dreams can I fathom the essence of wealth. I love my wife passionately but sometimes, I feel deep in the bowels of my heart, I should prove my love to her through wealth. Unfortunately, the universe doesn’t smile radiantly on my sombre face, when it comes to riches.
Every so often, I cried myself to sleep hoping one day I shall have riches and praying everyday that my wife didn’t leave me. I knew she loved me, but what is the essence of love if you can keep it burning just like a candle keeps burning? I knew she didn’t complain but I saw it in her eyes, her bottomless eyes. I saw the sadness she carried; knowing with every passing day was a life in misery, pain and poverty. I just hoped the worst didn’t happen.
......
The worst happened. It was another day in my worthless life when my wife came in after a visit to her friends. She was crying, clutching firmly, something in her slender hands. I ran to her holding her steadily, looking down at what she had in her hands. To my horror, they were divorce papers!
A shiver went down my spine as it struck me that she wanted ‘‘out’’. It was over. I sank to my knees crying, pleading, but she wouldn’t listen. My heart had been shattered. I didn’t know who to blame- me, her or her friends? My heart was swirling with myriads of confusion. It was too much to take in. But it was true- she divorced me.
A year went by since my divorce with my ex-wife. Since the divorce, strangely, the tables were turned to my once worthless life. I had a job and it payed decently! Fortunately, I could afford food on the table and I bought my own clothes. One more vital thing also happened. I met a woman who loved me for who I was then and still loves me for who I am today. Oh, she was so wise. She comforted me when I was in despair. She picked me up when I fell. She was my helpmate. She is what I would call, ‘‘A wife without a price’’.
The last I heard of my ex-wife was that she was married to a very wealthy business man. I couldn’t help but feel that the universe was in the right order of things. She got what she wanted. A wealthy husband and I got what I wanted; a worthy wife with a job and a good remuneration.
I was driving one morning, when I came across a sight that stopped me on my tracks. Right next to my place of work, was my ex-wife. She had changed. Changed for the worse. She was barely recognisable. Her cheeks were swollen; her eyelids were thumping just like a man thumps on the ground in anger; her eyes were blood shot from weeping; her arms were filled with scratches pulsating from her fingers to her elbow. Her image was simply revolting. But one thing was the same, her deep bottomless eyes.
She saw me and she broke down in tears. I told her to enter my car and then it began. She told me of how blinded she was by the wealth of the man she later married. She told me how she married the man and hoped for money; instead, she entered into the abode of wickedness. Every little mistake she committed costed her rain of physical suffering from the man.
The last thing she told me was one thing I would never forget. She asked me if she could come back in my life! I gazed into her eyes and I started having flashbacks of my life with her then. Then I remembered what my father use to tell me ‘‘all that glitters is not gold’’. I uttered those words. She heard. She cried. As she wept, I heard the thundering rain crashing down. Then, silence.
Just a note to begin with that I really love the title, it creates a beautiful image yet poses questions. Good choice!
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