I grew up with an endless array of people, mostly women visiting my mum for that special consultation, wanting answers to a particular question. There was one that above all that still stands out today.
A woman with handkerchief in hand wanting to know if her almost 25 year marriage was at an end. Was her husband having an affair?. Now that both children had left home, and wishing to spend more time together, he started to work endless hours well into most nights, including weekends. For months now she had found herself alone and her mind was ticking overtime.
I remember my mother holding her hand, overriding the woman's fears, she told the woman that she needed to get her passport very quick, don't delay as she will soon receive a phone from her daughter who was now living in England. An emergency will happen and she will soon need to go to her daughters aid, she would have to be ready at a moments notice. Now was not the time to worry about her husbands absence from home. The woman left soon after. Her mind now preoccupied on the upcoming emergency, what ever it was.
Months later, I found myself thinking about the woman, asking mum if she had heard from her, my mum said with a wink "We will soon know". That afternoon, the door bell rang. I opened the door to the well tanned woman of question, bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates in hand.
She heeded my mothers warnings and applied for her passport the next day, that night her husband had asked her to do the same thing "Maybe you should go and stay with Elli in England for a while, apply for your passport and go". She felt that her husband was trying to get rid of her, and even her son had suggested the same a couple of weeks prior. While waiting for the passport to arrive, and worried about her daughter she had gone to a few travel agents to make travel plans. Her husband kept holding out when she wanted to book a flight, saying that money was tight at the moment. Suspicion set in, with the amount of work he was doing, were was all the money?. One minute he was telling her to go and next minute there wasn't enough money for her to go?. Maybe my mother was right, she thought, she'd have to wait till the dreaded phone call came.
It came 11pm at night. Her daughter frantic, crying through the phone "I need both you and Dad to come!" she wouldn't say anymore. Her husband told her to just pack a few things while he would get on the phone and organise the earliest possible flight. With a 8am flight the earliest, the woman couldn't sleep. Phone calls to her daughter where left unanswered. Their son drove them to the airport, armed with his own suitcase, he was going too; if there was something wrong with his sister, he needed to be there.
Her husband told her that they would fly to Fiji and catch an interconnecting flight to England, it was the only offer at such short notice. In-between her husband and son, she cried all the way to Fiji. She had been terrified of flying, but that was held intact with the fear for her daughter more demanding. At the airport, luggage retrieved to catch another flight, her husband asked her walk outside for some fresh air. By this time she was ready to kill him, he seemed so passe about it all.
It was midday, it was hot, her eye's puffy, head pounding, she followed both the men in her life with the aim to murder the older one, and why were they taking the luggage with them?.
Outside the porter took their luggage and stowed them into a small bus, around from the front of the bus stepped their daughter. A smile erupted and she said "Surprise!!, happy 25th anniversary mum and dad!".
Her husband smiled, "I was never proud that I could only afford to give you a 2 day honeymoon in a cheap hotel, my love. We are spending a week in a resort all of us together, then a 10 day island cruise for just you and me, then we are off to England for 3 weeks to be with Elli. That's why I spent months working another job to give this to you".
She confessed to him that she thought he was having an affair, now why would he go out for hamburger when he had the best steak at home was his reply.
We all laughed through the story she told that afternoon. Nina asked mum if she knew all along "Yes but I wasn't going to spoil your husband's surprise, you and your husband will be together to a ripe old age".
Nina and Bob have just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and welcomed their first great grandchild.
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