Chapter 2

Max and Helen left the posh restaurant half an hour and headed for his magnificent residence with all modern conveniences, each still deep in thoughts. Though Max felt that his future with Helen would be bright,he was sad that he could not pin -point the actual date he would take her to the altar.

He took a good look at Helen, observed that her face wore the look of bitterness and frustration and wondered where her sense of humour had gone. As he thought of how to cheer her up, an idea dropped into his mind.

"Helen, honey," he said, his face wearing smile, "Let's live together while we wait for the opportunity to solemise the relationship. I find the house lonely without you".

Helen was really cheered. She had longed to live with him without performing the customary rites and Church wedding for the benefit of spelling in clear terms to other spinsters clamouring for Max's love that he was hers for keep. She had wanted to suggest that in the time past, but felt it would make her look cheap. Now that he had asked, she would grab the opportunity and use it to convince him that he had made the right choice.

She moved in her things and began living with him the following weekend. But contrary to their expectations, the action compounded their problems.

The gossip centring on them had gathered momentum and travelled to the hearing of Max's mother who got enraged that his son had added insult to injury by sinking deeper into immorality.

Before long ,the woman headed for Max's residence to rebuke him for damaging her reputation as a devoted Catholic .

She arrived the residence with the look of a troubled woman . One look at her made Max's heart skip beats. He knew what had happened and was amazed at how gossip has taken over people's preoccupation.

Helen had expected this confrontation, but was taken aback that it came soon .Lost for words,she greeted the woman and retreated to the bedroom. As expected,the greeting fell on deaf ears .She felt ridiculed and humiliated, but resolved that she would not allow her pride to deprive her of her sweet lover. She would remain think - skinned and hoped that she would have the last laugh. She sat on the edge of the bed which was within a hearing range and listened as mother and son traded words.

"You made promises when you left to be on your own among which was not to lust for flesh ," the mother started. " Now that one is an empty promise. I've told you time without number that your girlfriend is masking her true colours with smiles and fashion . She's sent by the Devil to tempt you and bring you to ruin"

"She must like all human beings,have her own faults. ma." Max said,"but she's not as bad as you're painting her . You'll like her if you can drop your guard and get to know her better. She can hardly harm a fly."

"I don't need a soothsayer to tell me everything about her," the woman replied . " The fact that she came to live with you without ceremonies concerning marriage spoke volumes. She must have come from morally bankrupt family. She's desperate to grab wealth. What she had tempted you to do is an abomination before God . It's called fornication in the Bible".

Max was floored , but believed that he would not give up without another argument. He would come up with convincing reasons to assure his mother that he was acting with his senses.

"I'm trying, my son, to rescue you from jaw of a hungry lioness," the mother continued. " The lady is desperate for marriage at the expense of her soul . You're the only one generous with money"

Max remained silent, but his inside was boiling with anger . He could not bring himself to give up by giving Helen the boot. He had come to the conclusion that Helen was head and shoulders above Many ladies . He wished his mother would begin to see the positive sides of Helen and stop living in fear what the future would bring.

Helen was moved to tears .The humiliation was becoming unbearable,but for the umpteenth time, she made up her mind that she would stoop to conquer and then she would take her pound of flesh from the woman.

She listened more attractively as mother and son who had never disagreed over anything before, faced each other with rage , neither ready to shift ground.

Max waited until the mother had calmed down and said,"The world has come a long way since your days. People, nowadays, experiment or do a trial marriage. The essence of living together for a while before deciding whether to settle down with each other,is to find out if we are compatible. It offers us the opportunity to discover so many things about each other..."

The woman who was listening with scorn, cut him short ," I attribute your experimenting to utter disregard to our customs and God's commandments. I never knew you would join them in these senseless adventures. God's commandments can not be compromised." She paused. "And has your experimenting helped to stabilize marriages? I know that divorce rate is on the increase."

" The divorce rate is on the increase," Max replied, "because many women are economically empowered. "These days, are unlike your days when women lived in bondage and were not allowed to complain. The new age is the world of enlightenment . Women are no longer subjected to forced marriages and have all the rights to opt out of marriage if men become overbearing".

" The bottom line is," the woman cut in , "that I should agree that liberty of choices conveyed to you people the right to go against God's laws? I won't compromise my belief just to make you happy. The lady has cast a spell on you going by the way you've been defending immorality. I wish your eyes would open so you can see beyond the life of pleasure. You're no longer a reasonable man that I bought up."

Max's knees went weak as he found that his mother had seen his argument as inferior . He knew his mother was resolute in her position and his point to save face was getting to nowhere.

It was ten minutes later when no amiable solution could be found that the woman left in anger .

Max became confused and bitter. He knew that this was one thing he had allowed to come between him and his mother and that so far it had proved to be a difficult road to travel. He regretted the emotional pains he had caused caused his mother, himself and Helen, but made up his mind to continue the fight , hoping that one day , he would accomplish his mission of making his mother love his wife -to -be.

He walked into the bedroom and meeting a sobbing Helen did not help matters . He thought Helen looked even more beautiful in her sorrows.

"I'm sorry for this," he said . "It'll boil over feel better. She was glad that the pressure on him to dump her was not succeeding. She was not ready to lose this kind man who apart from taking good care of her was generous to a fault to her poor parents and siblings. She had come to understand why much emphasis was paid to material things when it came to romance. Poverty was the culprit. Poverty had made people not to have principles and so continue to dance to the tune of money bags .Social welfare, if accommodated, would make a great deal of difference in the way people go after deal of difference in the way people go after money . It would give hope to the jobless and the aged . She would do anything to overcome her financial insecurity and lawyer talk of principals and moral values.

" Never think of my quitting on you ," Max said, cutting into her thoughts.

She smiled, her face looking as beautiful as ever . "I love you more than I can tell ," she told him ," or I'd have told your mother to go to hell with you". She knew it was a lie , but she had to say it to achieve her heart's desire.

"That make the two of us ," he said . "I would've called this hide_and _seek game off if I've no genuine love for you."

She kissed him and decided that the best way to win the battle was to cheer Max's life at all times. She knew that the feeling of guilt and gloom, if allowed to take a permanent position in their lives, would dampen their zeal for life and affect their sweet love_making which was the fire that kept the desire burning. She would pretend that something that they could not handle was happening. She would keep up appearances and make his life heaven on Earth. The mother would sooner or later find out that Max was no longer tied to her apron strings. He had grown to be a man old enough to make his own decisions.

But while dismissing fear with a wave of the hand was one thing, erasing it from memory was another for it returned all of a sudden as she remembered the frightening dreams she had had in which Max's mother vowed that it would be over her dead body that Max would marry her. The thought that the woman left the mansion that day in anger added to her fear and made her shiver with uncertainty.