LEFT AT MY LOWEST, LOVED AT MY BEST

ICA'

hat I didn't expect was that the first and most brutal opposition would co

ver li

way, but simply because, in her eyes,

year when he decided it was time for me to meet his family. I was nervous but exci

s wr

made scarf I had spent weeks knitting. It wasn't expensive, but I had poured

e gift, then at me, and her l

she said, but her

ly acknowledged me, speaking only when necessary

mond confessed what I

oking down at his hands. "She wanted me to marry someone from a

p in my throat. "An

conviction. "I think I love you, J

ieved

difference, hoping that one day, sh

ed our engagement, her disappr

her voice sharp. "You don't have to marry her just be

ng Jessica out of gratitude. I'm marryi

ood on the table. Love won't buy you a house

ot asking for your approval. I'm informing you. Jessica a

to me then, her s

away," she said. "You'll let him find s

g, but I refus

said firmly. "And I'

I knew that in her eyes, I wou

s were showered with love and excitement from their fu

go against his wife. Elizabeth, on the other hand,

thing the venue, my

d," she sneered one evening. "You should

h, refusing to let

he middle. He defended me when he could, b

proval would wear him down. If he would one day re

I doubted, Desm

ispered one night, pulling me into hi

te all odds,

ground. Elizabeth sat stiffly in the front row, her face devoid of em

exchanged vows, I block

as just the two of u

onths of marria

se, not a luxurious life but we had

siness from the ground up, and I stood be

ent meetings I was there, by his si

signed, the first client referral. Each milestone

were strug

me months, we bare

came home exhausted, too drai

I urged him one evening

don't have the luxury o

ders

on more responsibilities, handlin

, to prove that he hadn't m

h I did, it was never

lly, never unannounce

found a new way

ng as I sorted through invoices. "A real wife would be giving

sts, willing mys

our future together," I sa

on't change the fact that y

but I refused to l

nd for now, that wa

n, a small f

e always be s

inning of the cracks for