Our relationship was only three months old when her mother asked me to be truthful to her and tell her if I was going to marry her daughter. I found the question weird, but I smiled and said, “I love your daughter, no doubt about that, so God willing, I’m going to marry her.”

She nodded gleefully and told me she was praying for me so things would be successful in my life and I would be able to marry her daughter. On our way home, Suzzy told me I shouldn’t feel pressured by her mother’s questions. She only meant well. Suzzy had a daughter from her previous relationship. Her daughter was living with her mom, so she went to visit often. That day, I decided to go with her and meet her daughter. That was when I met her mom.

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My life wasn’t in a good place. I had a job, but the salary wasn’t enough for me to marry as soon as possible. I told Suzzy about it, so she knew I was looking for a new job. When I needed help financially, Suzzy was there for me.

Our relationship was a year old when I got a better job. I was overjoyed. Suzzy said her prayers had come through for me. I thanked her.  A few weeks later, I met her mom again. She asked me how life was, and I told her everything was fine. She said, “It means very soon you’re going to marry my daughter, right?”

I responded, “Oh yeah, very soon we’ll come home with the bride price.” Suzzy was standing by. She was smiling and telling her mom to be patient because marriage wasn’t something you rush into. Her mom responded, “You call it a rush when you’ve dated him for over a year? You children these days don’t know life.”

I must confess life was going very well, but I hadn’t planned when to marry because there were sharp edges to smoothen in my life. I needed to move to a bigger apartment that would befit our marital status. I was sending money for my parents’ health and my siblings’ school fees.

When our relationship was two years old, I took Suzzy home to meet my parents. My dad loved her until Suzzy introduced herself and said she had a daughter. My dad’s demeanor changed. Later, he asked me, “You’re going to take care of someone else’s child when you can start life without a child in the mix?”

I defended her with all my might, telling my dad she even gave me money to send to him. My dad still wasn’t convinced, but my mom was calm about it. She said marriage was about who could be there for you and support your dreams, not about how many kids that partner had.

On Christmas Day, I went with Suzzy to visit her mom and her daughter. I bought some things, added money, and gave them to her mother. She said thank you and asked when I was coming home to marry her daughter. I stuttered when I said, “Soon.” She said, “I’m not pressuring you. My daughter isn’t getting any younger, and you see this girl living with me? She needs a home where her mom and dad are. Is your job still bad?”

I explained to her that we’d planned to marry the next year. She nodded and said she was praying for me. That next year was 2023. Her mom said, “It’s this year, right?” I responded, “God willing, this will be our year.” She replied, “God has willed it long ago.”

That year I got a promotion. I got the chance to travel out of the country for the first time in my life because of my new position. I rented a new apartment, a two-bedroom house for the two of us. But my sister came to live with me so she could go to school. I wanted her to finish her first year before I got her a place or even paid for a hostel.

In January 2024, Suzzy told me her mom had called her to come home. I said jovially, “This woman will by all means ask about marriage, but when she does, tell her very soon.” She went, came back, and told me indeed that was the reason her mom had called her home. I told her we could go and do the knocking rites so we could marry by the end of the year.

She agreed. So one day, we called her mom on the phone and told her I would come home soon to perform the knocking rites. She said, “On who, Suzzy? She didn’t tell you she was getting married? No, it’s too late. She’s getting married.”

I asked Suzzy, “I told you to tell your mom I was getting ready. You didn’t tell her?”

She said her mom was convinced I wasn’t going to take her anywhere, so she should give the other man a chance because he’d been knocking on her door for almost two years. I said, “Fine, go and marry him. Follow your mom. Go.”

I was just angry, but I was hoping she would say sorry or tell me she wasn’t listening to her mom and that I was the one she loved. Suzzy went into my room, gathered everything she had there, and left. A day later, I called to apologize. I told her I had just been angry but loved her too much to lose her. She told me it was too late. Just a day later, and she was telling me it was too late.

Six months later, Suzzy got married. Their wedding didn’t look like she had married a nobody. It looked classy and rich. I was dying of envy, but I told myself, “My dad was right. I didn’t need to marry a born-one.”

Guess what? Right after Suzzy got married, my life started falling apart. It started with my job. I lost it. You know these international organizations. Assessment after assessment, I was let go because of KPI issues. Yes, I have a new job now, but trust me, it’s worse than the job I had before I met Suzzy. I had to leave the apartment I rented for us because I couldn’t afford the rent. Currently, it’s even hard for me to save.

I look back and feel that all the times Suzzy’s mom said she was praying for me, she wasn’t joking. Her prayers worked because it was during those short moments of meeting her that my life began to change for the better. She wanted me so much to marry her daughter that she prayed I would do well in life. Once she took her prayers away, my life began to fall apart.

I Called My Girlfriend And Another Man Answered The Phone

Suzzy is not even in town. She relocated with her husband. I feel stuck. I feel I lost the train that should have taken me to riches. I feel naked because the hand that covered me from pole to pole is no longer there, so I’m being beaten by the weather.

But all is not lost. I’ll fight my way back to grace again.

 

—Jordan

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