On April 13, 2025, my husband and I stood before the church and exchanged vows to remain husband and wife, for better or for worse. My husband held my finger as he took his vow, and by the time the vow ended, he’d placed a ring on my finger. It’s the same ring that has brought our marriage to its knees.

My husband was living with his mother when we met. He had rented a two-bedroom house and had given his mom one of the rooms to stay in. When we started talking about marriage, he took me to meet his mom.

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She was indifferent when she met me. She didn’t show smiling teeth on meeting me, nor did she wear a frown. My husband introduced me as the woman he was with. He didn’t mention marriage. A few months later, my husband mentioned our plans to marry to her. Again, she was indifferent.

When we were drawing close to marriage, I advised my husband to rent a new place for his mom. That was when this woman started letting me know she didn’t like me. I would greet her, and she would only nod. When I was in the house, she would step out and wouldn’t come back until I was gone.

Finally, we got her a new place and moved her there. I was very instrumental in everything—setting up her new place, decorating the room, and fixing it up to make it beautiful.

Before marriage, we bought everything together except the ring. My husband always said he’d bought the ring and was hiding it from me until we got married. I saw it for the first time while we were exchanging our vows. I liked it. It didn’t look anything different from what I expected it to be.

On our honeymoon, my wedding ring started itching me. It wasn’t a subtle itch. I could scratch until it felt like my skin was peeling off. When I took it off my finger, the itch stopped. I thought it was because it was new and that I was going to get used to it, but no. After two months of marriage, my ring was still itching me. I had complained to my husband several times, but he didn’t take it seriously. I had two rings on the same finger, but the wedding one was causing the itch. Each time I removed it, I felt better.

I removed the wedding ring and kept only the engagement ring on. My husband didn’t like it. He said I was exaggerating the itch just to take the ring off. No matter what I said, he didn’t believe me. So I wore it while at home and took it off while I was out. One day, I unconsciously came back home wearing only one ring. My husband snapped, and I also snapped. It was frustrating how insistent he was about the ring.

I bought a replica of the ring, put it on, and hid the original one in my drawer. For several weeks, I was OK. I walked around without the itch. Until one morning, my husband came to the kitchen holding my ring and asking where I had gotten the one I was wearing. He accused me of cheating. He nearly drove me out of the house. The next day, when his mom came to visit, he reported me to her, and come and see his mom, as if I’d eaten her pet. She questioned my integrity as a wife and said my spirit wasn’t right; that was why I couldn’t wear the ring.

That day, I put the ring on, and it stopped itching. All day it was calm around my finger until dawn, when I felt this sharp pain, like my finger had been touched with hot metal. I woke up and didn’t sleep again. This ring would overheat and burn like my finger had been placed in fire. It wasn’t a consistent burn. It was sharp and fast, and then it was gone.

I asked him, “Where did you get this ring from? Let’s go to where you bought it and ask questions about it because this is very scary.”

Again, he looked at me like a mad woman. Not only him, even my friends whom I told this story thought I was mad. I removed my ring and gave it to Freda to wear. All day she said she didn’t feel any itch or burning sensation around her finger.

I spoke to my pastor about it, and he requested the ring. He kept it for seven days. Within those days, my husband called for divorce twice. His mother visited for three days and fought with me throughout her stay. My husband never defended me, not even once.

One night, I had a dream that my mother-in-law was chasing me out of the house, telling me I was the reason her son had sacked her from the house. She was holding a very big stick and chasing me with it. The next day, I came home from work to see this woman holding a stick and using it as a walking staff. It was that same day my pastor called and said while they were praying, one of them received a revelation that the ring was a dead woman’s ring.

My pastor joined my parents to come to my house to meet my husband. They talked about the ring and begged my husband to change it or even allow me to buy a new one if the cost was an issue. My husband agreed. I went to the shop with him, and he chose the ring for me, and I paid for it. We took it to his pastor to pray over it and even made him repeat the vow before putting it on my finger.

I was free for only a week before his mom came to visit. She usually stays for a few days, but it’s been over a month, and she’s still here. The unnecessary fights every day got to their peak in the kitchen one day. I was cooking on the bigger burner when she took my food off and placed hers on it and said, “What better food are you cooking that you want to waste my time? Always wasting gas.”

I fought back. I removed her food and placed mine back and warned her to stay off me. “Oh, so now you’ve grown wings to fight me? Beat me. I dare you to beat me.” Immediately my husband asked what was going on, she was the first to say I’d attacked her in the kitchen and had called her a witch. The only thing my husband didn’t do was hit me. “You attacked my mom? Who the hell do you think you are?”

I’m currently living with my parents. When I was leaving, my mother-in-law kept shouting, “Go and come back no more. If my son had listened to me, he wouldn’t have married a witch like you into his house.”

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When the ring fell off, she came physically to drive me away. My husband has come here twice since I left home. I’ve told him I have nothing against him, but until his mom stays away from us, I’m not coming back. His mom has left. He says I should come home. I say until we address that problem and draw boundaries, I’m not coming back.

The ball is in his court now. He alone can restore this marriage or kill it. Without access, his mom is powerless. It’s only when she’s close that she’s able to hurt us. Until she’s locked out, I will stay here. The next attack might be deadly. I’m too young to die.

—Maadjoa 

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