My Adventure With a Cougar 3

My thinking pattern spun in different directions as it finally dawned on me that my day of reckoning had come. This was the moment I knew was coming but hadn’t adequately prepared for. I braced myself up for the worst and trying in vain to feign confidence said, “So what about? I guess at this point I should be ready for anything”.

She smiled knowingly and replied, “You are not ready for this one my dear”, then she got up and left the room. I sat in the expansive sitting room lost in thought. “Should I make a run for it? What would I happen if I said No?”

She came back in after what seemed like for ever, there were smiles all over her face and a box was in her hand. I refused to be curious as to what the box contained. I silently prayed, “Lord, let this cup pass over me”. She sat in front of me and took up her previous position.

“I have been thinking about this for a while, and until recently when I made up my mind I was going to tell you, I have always maintained that it was a bad idea. I have found a friend in you and I have found someone who could be special in my life again. However, these are not the times to just focus on friendship, I want more than that from you”.

If only she would just go straight to the point and stop the mental torture. There was a unique smile on her lips and it was driving me insane not knowing what she had in mind. Then she said the dreaded words that hit me like a bullet from a shotgun,

“David Banks, Marry me!”, she paused briefly to let her words sink in then she continued,

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you, being happy and taking care of you, loving you and having you do the same to me”.

‘Marry me?!!!’ Those were the words that had been hanging in mid-air for so long and had driven me almost insane. I heaved a sigh of relief and for the first time, I managed a big smile. She brought a beautiful gold ring out from the box and waited for my answer.

I had occasionally played with the idea of marrying her in my head, but for obvious reasons I never dwelled on it.  However, at that moment, there were  many things to consider before giving any answer; she was soon going to be forty-one and I was soon going to be twenty-six, she had everything I could possibly want in any woman except for the age difference. She was still admirable and attractive and most men would even call her beautiful. She could still bear children if we rushed the process of making them and a part of me actually cared and loved her. She’d made me who I was and there was still a long way to go if we both got married.

“My Darling Vivian Adenuga, Yes I would marry you. On my honour I promise to be the best I could ever be; to love you, to cherish you and to remain loyal to you as long as I shall breathe”. The words sounded like they were being read from a script, but deep down, I meant every word. I took the ring and wore it on my fourth finger and that same day for the first time we had amazing sex.

The following day, I went jewellery shopping and got a beautiful diamond ring with her initials engraved on it. That night, just before we slept, I proposed to her in the best way I knew how. “Vivian Adenuga”, I began, “the world is going to frown at us, we are going to face a big battle ahead of us, but I have made a decision to have you in my life, to love in the best way possible, to be your husband, to be the man in your life, to be a Father to our children, to treat you with utmost respect, to cherish you and to adore you. And tonight, all I ask is Will You Marry Me?” Tears of joy streamed down her face as she gladly said “YES!”.

My Parents tried everything humanly possible to dissuade me from going ahead with the marriage. I did all I could to make them see reason in our union, but they didn’t seem to give it a second thought. I was yet to tell them that she had helped me immensely financially and had been the source of my sudden rise to wealth. One Sunday afternoon after church service, I headed over to Ikotun to see my parents. They had been cold to me for quite a while and were threatening to disown me if I married Vivian. I sat them down that day and gave them a proper lecture.

“Mom, Dad, I know how much you hate this woman all because she’s a few years older than I am. Let me however say this, that car I drive, she gave it to me. The house you all love to visit, it was a birthday gift from her. The job I have now, she got it for me, that surgery Uche my cousin had in the United States two months ago, she paid for it. If you want to show your appreciation for all she has done for this family, you would consent and bless this marriage. She is going to bear my name and I love her and I will marry her whether you like it or not!!!” I bellowed.

My Mother was furious, she voiced her displeasure at my choice and that she wouldn’t be bought. Well, I had come prepared for them. “Mom, in the next few years, she would be unable to bear children again. If I don’t marry her now, I would wait till when you can’t have any grand-children through her before I marry her.  I won’t re-marry or cheat on her to have children! Its either I marry her or nothing”. I affirmed. That same day, my parents called her and gave their consent to our union.

Exactly on her birthday that year, we exchanged vows in the presence of over a thousand guests. Three serving state governors, various dignitaires from all works of life were in attendance,  foreign friends of hers were also in attendance. The wedding was bigger than I could ever have thought possible if I’d married someone else. The value of gifts we received on that day ran into tens of millions; cars, cheques, house-hold items and lots of other gifts. The following day, we flew out of the country to The Bahamas for our honeymoon where we spent a week before leaving for Paris to spend another blissful week.

Ten months after, she delivered a set of identical boy twins. Celebrations went wild as I told anybody who cared to listen that I was now a proud Father of two Boys. Things couldn’t have been better between us. We gradually became best of friends, fell in love with each other daily and always looked forward to seeing each other at the end of every day.

When either of us had to travel on business purposes, it was as if a part of the other was missing. A year later, she had a beautiful girl for me; her eyes were beautiful as were her features. I fell in love with the new creature we’d brought into the world together. At this point, we both agreed to stop the child bearing and focus on just making carefree mad love to each other. Somehow, I never even thought about cheating on her, it occurred to me but I never gave it a second thought. We had our quarrels, we had our little fights, but we learnt to never sleep without solving our differences. We became the cynosure of all eyes in our marital lives and not once did I regret making the decision to marry her.

Today she’s celebrating her seventieth Birthday and I will be fifty-five in December. I couldn’t help but reminisce at how far we’d come. Our three children were married and were doing greatly in their chosen fields and we were growing old together. We’d been married for twenty-nine years and going stronger. “What do you think I could ever give you just to show how much I appreciate you, love you and adore you?” I asked my lovely wife as she dressed for the birthday Party.

She kissed me all over my face, paused and replied, “Write a story about us and title it ‘My Adventure with a Cougar’ “.

                                                                    

                                              THE END

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