A Mother Betrayed by Her Own Son
At the school dance, every girl longed to have her picture taken with him. Yet he chose Emily She was neither fair of face nor sharp of wit, but her father held a position of local importance. And that night, Emilys gown was the grandest of all. She even secured a place at university. So it wasfrom the moment she took his hand at the dance, she never let go, leading him by the hand for years until she led him to the altar.
As a child, he was doted upon like a painting. Handsome beyond measure, the boy had a way of winning hearts. When lifted into someones arms, hed nestle close as if they were kin. Even strangers slipped sweets into his palm. Mary feared they might curse her child with such doting. At school, girls quarrelled amongst themselveseach desperate to befriend him, and later, to court him. Nicholas was both a scholar and an athlete. Only terribly poor. Yet the towns fashionable girls paid no mind that their idol wore the same pair of trousers until they frayed at the knees. Had it been another, they might have mocked himbut never Nicholas.
Mary sold her pig before the wedding, giving her son the moneyevery last penny. Nicholas took those few hundred pounds and left without a word.
She had arrived in the village years ago with a babe in her arms. Whether rumour or truth, they said the childs father had bought her the cottage to keep her silent, for he was a married man. None in the village had ever seen her kin. Mary lived humbly, working in the village shop and tending a small garden. Suitors came calling, but she turned them all away. “I have a man,” shed say, though it raised eyebrows. When pressed by friends, she grew sharphow could they understand the weight of raising a child alone?
On Nicholass first day of school, she met Victor, the young sports instructor fresh from college. Their eyes met by chanceand then sought each other deliberately. Before she knew it, they were courting. Victor taught Nicholas to ride a bicycle and mend a punctured tyre. They walked together through snowy woods, and come spring, they planted the garden side by side. Yet Mary hesitated to tell her son the truth, for she noticed how he stiffened when she embraced Victor, how he fell silent when she so much as rested a hand on the mans shoulder.
“Why, my love? Hes good to ushe could be your father,” she whispered once, after Victor had gone.
“I dont want you to love him! Only me!” the boy muttered.
One morning, Nicholas awoke to find his mother and Victor sharing a bed.
“This is how itll be now, lad,” Victor said warmly, pulling him into an embrace.
“No! I wont live with you here!” Nicholas shrieked. He refused breakfast and fled, not returning till dusk.
“Is he inside?” Nicholas asked tearfully, pointing at the door.
“He is.”
“Make him leave. Or I wont come in.”
“Son, hes never wronged you. We could be a family, like anyone else”
“I dont want like anyone else! Just you and me! Hes not my father!”
“He will be, in time”
Victor left that day, suitcase in hand, just as he had arrived. He kissed Marys forehead. “Think on it, Nicholas. I mean you no harm,” he said quietly. “Will you?”
“No!” The boy turned away.
“If you let him live here, Ill run off!” he threatened when the gate shut behind Victor.
Mary chose her son. Victor left the village, far enough that none saw him again. By New Years, Mary bore another sonGeorge. She feared how Nicholas would take it, but the boy, curious by nature, never asked where the babe came from. He doted on his brother, watching over him. And Mary, as if atoning for some unseen sin, dared not speak a cross word to her eldest.
“My Nicholas is so grown,” shed boast to friends, “such a golden childI go to him for advice, not the other way round.”
Theyd stifle laughter, knowing well it was his “advice” that left Mary alone.
That Nicholas courted Emily pleased her. The girl came from wealthsurely her family would help him rise in the world.
One Saturday, she baked pies and set jelly, waiting for her university boy to come home. The train had long passed, yet no Nicholas.
“Mum!” George ran in from the pitch. “Nicholas went to Emilys house!”
They waited. He did not return that nightnor the next morning. He barely paused on his way back to the train, forgetting even to kiss her.
“Mum, were getting married!” he declared.
She meant to scold him for staying away, to voice the thoughts that had plagued her all nightbut the words stuck when he added:
“Youll help me, wont you? Sell a pig if you must!”
“Of course, my love. Whens the wedding?”
“Not sure yet. A student affair in Londonnot this village!”
By the next weekend, Mary had sold the pig. Nicholas came for the money, took it without counting, and hurried back to Emily.
The village knew all. Whispers spread of grand wedding plansyet Nicholas never came home. No betrothal, no agreement. Gathering courage, Mary went to his future in-laws, offering help. The mother met her at the gate.
“Help? From you?” she sneered. “Weve professionals for that. And youve no place at the weddingneither wife nor widow! The boy grew up fatherless because of you! A bastard! Did you think wed welcome your sort into our family? Himfine, for our daughters sake. But you? Keep away!” The gate slammed shut.
Mary stumbled home, drunk with grief. Never had she been so wounded. What had she raised, if not a son as wretched as herself? Yet she had given them everything.
The village wedding was lavishthree days of hired musicians, feasting fit for royalty. Yet the talk was all of one scandal: the grooms mother was absent. Some smirked; others shook their heads. How could it be?
Mary never left her bed that day. She had waited even the evening before, certain he would come. Perhaps at dawn But no. Decked carriages rolled past her cottage, horns blaring. She buried herself under blankets. George pretended to read.
At nightfall, George slipped into the revelry and seized his brothers arm.
“Nicholas! How could you? Mums wept all day!”
“Listen, boy. Tell her not to. My lifes set now. Emilys parents made it plainmarry her, and never darken your door again. I gave my word.”
“Curse you!” George swung, but Nicholas caught his wrist.
“Get out before youre seen! Ruin my life, will you?” He shoved him into the street. “Understood?”
Mary waited on the threshold. She did not ask where he had been. They embraced.
