Everyone Laughed at Him For Marrying an 85-year-old Woman. Years Later, They Regretted It a Lot
Mua was 25 years old when he married the love of his life, Teresa, an 85-year-old woman. People laughed at him and mocked them, but in time, they showed sincere regret.
The morning of Mua and Teresa’s wedding dawned with cheerfulness. The couple eagerly dressed up and hurried to the church, looking forward to seeing each other. For two agonizing days, they had been apart due to the wedding preparations and for custom’s sake, but all of that would soon be in the past.
When Teresa arrived at the church, she looked towards the altar where her groom, Mua, stood proudly in a smart suit. Her heart swelled with love. She still found it unbelievable that a young and energetic man like him would love her so wholeheartedly and be willing to become her husband. Mua held back tears that threatened to spill down his cheeks.
How was it that this kind-hearted, caring woman, who’d seen and experienced so much in life, chose to marry him, an inexperienced boy who was about the age of her fifth grandson? It was still beyond him. He felt gratitude and a surge of love watching her walk down the aisle to him in a beautiful white dress.
Teresa was accompanied down the aisle by her son, whose mouth was turned down in a disapproving expression. He wore a big frown as he walked beside his mother, almost as if he was being compelled to. In a way, he was. Teresa’s eight children had been strongly against her marriage to Mua, but she had insisted that it was her decision to make and not theirs. Throughout the entire time that the wedding preparations were ongoing, they had watched their mother like hawks, praying and expecting that she would wake up one day and cancel the whole thing. To them, it was madness. What did a woman her age hope to gain from marrying a child, as they referred to Mua?
Teresa’s 20 grandchildren were all in attendance as well, and like her son, they didn’t approve of the wedding. Their matching frowns were a testament to that. Mua’s parents came from Congo to Teresa’s own country, where the wedding was held. They too were deeply disturbed and concerned by their son’s decision. Did he truly want to marry Teresa, or was he being forced into this arrangement? They suspected that he was being blackmailed, but by whom, they didn’t know. All that Mua told them was that he had found the love of his life and was going ahead to marry her.
Other guests in attendance were Mua’s friends and some people who knew the families of the couple. They found the entire scenario too hilarious and couldn’t hold their laughter, no matter how much they tried. Echoes of laughter could be heard in the church, and many people were seen covering their mouths with their palms to stifle their laughter a bit. To them, the wedding was a spectacle. They had never seen nor heard of a young man like Mua marrying a woman like Teresa, who was 60 years older than he was.
Mua and Teresa ignored the background disturbances and disapproval. They focused solely on each other and the happiness they felt. When Teresa finally arrived at the altar, Mua kissed the back of her hand, tucked it into the crook of his elbow, and then faced the priest with a solemn smile on his face. The priest prayed that they would live long lives and enjoy prosperity. They agreed with him and chorused “Amen” repeatedly as he blessed their union. The rest of the day was a blur, and the couple spent it celebrating.
A few days later, Mua moved into Teresa’s house. He had wanted to rent a different house for them to live in as their matrimonial home, but Teresa had told him that there was no need for that. She had a perfectly good house that both of them could live in, and it would be a shame if it was left to sit empty. Seeing the wisdom of her words, Mua agreed and moved in. Within a few weeks, he was glad that he did so because he observed that Teresa was used to her home. It was already set up in a way that let her move about easily and do whatever she wanted with ease. A new home would have been hard for her to adapt to, especially considering her age.
A few months after their wedding, Teresa noticed Mua withdrawing from her. He didn’t touch her as much as he used to, and he mostly sat in a corner by himself, appearing lost in thought. She approached him and asked what the matter was. Mua was hesitant to tell her, assuming he was tired of their marriage. Teresa asked if he had changed his mind about her. She looked so hurt that Mua rushed to assure her that it was nothing like that.
“What is it then?” she inquired. “Are you seeing someone? I’ve noticed that whenever your friends come around, they bring young, beautiful girls that I know must have piqued your interest. And I also know that at your workplace, you have many beautiful female colleagues.”
Initially, Mua didn’t want to tell her the true nature of what was bothering him, but because of her assumptions, he opened up to her. The reason why he had been withdrawn was because of how people looked at them in public and the ugly things they said. Teresa laughed when she heard this, and the anxiety in her heart instantly dissipated. She had expected the worst, but to her, this was nothing. She had lived a long life and was used to people talking.
She told him to forget about them, as they would eventually get tired and go torment someone else. If he lost sleep over what people were saying, he was the one at a huge loss. Teresa’s words cheered Mua up, and in no time, they were talking and laughing as they normally did. She prepared a delicious meal for them, and they fed each other. Later, they played cards. Teresa was very good at cards, and no matter how crafty Mua tried to be, she figured it out and beat him. When he playfully sulked, upset that he was losing, she let him win a round of cards, and he became happy again.
A few weeks later, Mua went to meet up with some of his friends from university. They were having a jolly good time until his friends brought up his wife.
“If only we hadn’t rented one of the rooms in Teresa’s house as students, you wouldn’t have met her, and both of you probably wouldn’t be married today,” one of his friends said, looking at him with pity.
Mua replied that meeting and marrying Teresa was a blessing to him, but they refused to believe him. Mua was handsome, and during their university days, many girls liked him and wanted to date him. But he told his friends that many of those girls broke his heart and hadn’t been there for him the way Teresa had been. She had fed him on days that he had nothing to eat, and she had always been concerned about his welfare and that of his friends.
Teresa was a good person, and that was it. It didn’t matter what Mua said to defend her; his friends were convinced that she had cast a love spell on him. They were sorry they hadn’t seen the signs back in their university days when Teresa started calling Mua “my husband.” They had taken it as an old woman’s way of showing affection and thought nothing of it. Just like his friends, Mua hadn’t put much thought into it because, to him, she was just a nice, sweet old lady.
However, they had become friends and had grown closer over a few months. Teresa had had feelings for Mua long before he developed any for her. One day, when she brought him some food, he thanked her, but she told him that she wanted a specific kind of thanks. Mua asked what that was, and she replied that she wanted him to kiss her on the lips.
It had been an unusual request, but Mua hadn’t seen any harm in it, so he complied. Sometime after that, he had begun spending more time with Teresa, and one cold evening, she admitted she had feelings for him. Mua had been stunned and speechless. He had thought about what she said for many days and realized that he had feelings for her too. On the day that he eventually worked up the courage to tell her, they started dating.
His friends were disgusted when Mua told them this story and insisted that the love spell was in the food she constantly gave him to eat. It just wasn’t normal to them that, of all the women in the world, a young, good-looking guy like him would choose Teresa, a grandma with graying hair and few loose teeth. Hearing this, Mua got offended and left them.
Meanwhile, on Teresa’s part, her children came visiting to find out how she was doing. They also wanted to know if she was enjoying her new marital life with Mua. However, she suspected they didn’t merely come to check on her well-being. They admitted they came to ensure that Mua wasn’t hurting her in any way. They strongly believed he married her so that he could inherit her properties when she passed away. Teresa was furious when she heard this. She rebuked them and told them that they were acting in their own selfish interest and not because they cared about her.
Her children were taken aback, but she didn’t back down from her stance. She reminded them that when Mua proposed to her and came to them to ask for her hand in marriage, they had demanded an outrageous dowry from him. One of her children replied that they had inquired for a particular reason, to ascertain his commitment and ability to care for her. Their intention was clear: if he was incapable, he would have parted ways. In response, Teresa told them that they were lying. The real reason they had asked Mua to provide 12 cows as dowry was because they wanted him to give up on marrying her. They believed he was poor and wouldn’t be able to afford buying 12 cows.
Faced with the truth, her children admitted all of it. One of them even said her actions had caused him a lot of setbacks. His girlfriend had dumped him after learning about Teresa’s marriage, and most of his friends would often tease him about his mother marrying a 25-year-old in an annoying way at that. Teresa got fed up and angrily asked her children to leave her house and not bother her again.
As months passed, the couple’s relatives continued to do everything within their power to tear the couple apart. At some point, they even set Mua up to make it look like he was having affairs. Yet, at every turn, the couple proved that they were inseparable. Eventually, they all began to give up, and their disgust slowly turned into admiration. In time, those who had laughed at the couple regretted their actions.
They eventually came to understand and accept the fact that the couple was a perfect match. Rather than robbing Teresa of her wealth, as they had all assumed, Mua stood by her side and even improved his finances. He took care of all the family’s needs and gave his wife the best life ever. Teresa was finally able to demonstrate that nobody was blackmailing her husband into being with her. He loved her of his own free will and would do so until her very last day on Earth.
What a beautiful love story! ow!
