The day he told me the reason he married me, I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. I ended up asking him, “Is that a good thing? To marry someone for this reason and this reason only, were you not scared?”

We were just friends. He had a girlfriend who didn’t like me so I decided to stay off him. At first, I would call him randomly and ask what he had been up to. He did the same but when I saw his girlfriend didn’t like me, I decided to retreat from his zone so I don’t create problems for his relationship. I stopped calling. I stopped texting. If he was on the shortest route to my destination, I would choose the longer route because I didn’t want to meet him.

He didn’t see me retreating because it was very subtle. He called one evening sounding very shocked, “Annabella, your mother died and you didn’t say anything to me? What happened to her? How? When?”

I had very little to say. My mom was already gone. No amount of explanation was going to bring her back. From that day he called very often. When he called and asked how I was doing and I said “Hmmm, it’s not easy.” He sent me money. He sent money for me to take care of myself and sent money for me to take care of our last born who was in school. During my mother’s burial, he sent money for me to buy the casket.

He knew I needed help because I wasn’t working. I had completed my national service and was looking for a job. Before I retreated from his life, he was giving me support even when I hadn’t asked for it. He was my firm ground when all around me were sinking sands but because of his girlfriend, I decided to stay away.

Months after my mom’s burial, I still didn’t have a job. My junior sister’s school fees was due but I didn’t know where I was going to get the money from. I called him, “Essel, it’s very embarrassing that I call you only when I need help. I will do better but today I need you to help with my sister’s school fees.”

He asked how much and the next thing I knew, the money had been sent to me.

I prayed for a job and God came through for me. I had to travel out of town for the job so I left with the little that I had to begin a new life in this town that looked like a place I would find honey. I told Essel I was leaving. But when I left, I didn’t talk to him much until a year and a half later he called me; “Annabella, you’re now a rich woman so you’ve abandoned me, right?”

READ ALSO: The Day I Hung My Heart Around Her Neck

I laughed. “Rich woman? Amen. Maybe in the spiritual realm but yet to manifest in the physical. I claim it with both hands.”

We talked on the phone for hours. The longest we’ve stayed on the phone. He sounded hollow. The many pauses in his speech talked about a man going through something, something beyond him. “Essel, is everything alright?” I asked. “All is well, I can assure you,” he answered.”

He called the next day. And then the next. And then the next. “Essel, how’s your girlfriend? I hope she’s doing well?” I asked him. He exhaled loudly as if he had run a marathon. “It didn’t work out. She wanted more than I could give. Maybe, I wanted more from her too. We fought a lot until she said she couldn’t do it any longer.”

I got it. I got the reason for his hollowness. I told him to take his time and heal. He said He didn’t need healing because he saw it coming. He called the next day, and the next and the next. We were texting one evening when he asked, “What’s the name of the place you live? I answered, “Why, do you want to visit me?”

On Friday evening, he gave me a call; “So where do I go from here? I’m at the station.” “Tell me you’re joking. Stop it. I hate surprises like that.” I retorted.

He wasn’t joking. He had travelled through the night after work on Friday to spend the weekend with me. I was embarrassed to host him in my room. I didn’t have a bed. My mattress was on the floor and everything else was in the room. I didn’t even have a kitchen. I asked him to get a hotel room but he didn’t listen. We shared my room. It was awkward but we managed until he left on Sunday morning.

When I had space to think through things I asked myself, “What’s this guy up to? He spent a weekend with me in this crowded room when he had a comfortable place to sleep. Is there something behind this gesture that I didn’t catch?”

He proposed to me that very week. I asked him, “Are you running from heartache because she left you? I can be a friend if that’s what you need. You don’t have to date me.” He told me, “Do you know a heart that’s aching? Come and let me open mine to you. You’ll know it’s free and joyful.”

We dated for over a year and got married. He got me a new job, a job that brought me back home to live with him. Two years after marriage, we were having a discussion and his ex came up. And then we moved to our beginning, how we became who we were. I asked, “So why did you marry me? I was there before you dated your ex but you didn’t choose me. Why?”

He told me when he was young, he prayed to God to give him money, a lot of money so he could help orphans. He grew up and saw God’s hands in his life, especially his finances. He wasn’t filthy rich but he had more than he needed. That aside, he told me, “Anytime I gave you money, good things happened to me. I got my first promotion when I gave you money for your mother’s funeral. I got the chance to travel abroad with the company when I paid your sister’s fees.”

I asked, so you married me because of that?” He answered, “I married you because of the promise I made to God. You were the only orphan I knew. And this orphan brought me luck anytime I gave her money. I decided to bring you home so the luck will always be in my household.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I wanted to marry someone who loved me desperately. I saw the way my dad loved my mom when he was alive. I saw how my mother suffered in the absence of my dad’s love. I wanted that kind of love and I thought I’d seen that in Essel but he married me because I was an orphan and he needed an orphan to take care of to fulfil the promises he made to God.

“It means you didn’t love me, right? Tell the truth. I was only a way to show gratitude to God, right? I won’t be angry. Say the truth.”

He was mute for several seconds. He said, “I don’t know how to say it for you to understand but let me ask, have you ever lacked love ever since we got married? Be sincere.” Love is what we do for those we choose. I chose you and you’ve been everything I needed. You think I won’t love you?”

Call Your Ex And Ask Why It Didn’t Work Out Between You Two

I don’t know if I still bring him luck but what I know is this, we’ve never lacked anything since we got married. We don’t own the beautiful material things in the world but we have enough over our head, enough on the table, warmth in our bed and we can extend a helping hand to others when the need arises. His reason might be silly but I’m not a mistake and this marriage has never run out of love.

—Annabella

This story you just read was sent to us by someone just like you. We know you have a story too. Email it to us at [email protected]. You can also drop your number and we will call you so you tell us your story.

******