Emily was deeply in love with William, believing he was her perfect match. While she dreamed eagerly of marrying him, her father could never warm to her choice. Her mother, on the other hand, gradually softened after William arrived on their doorstep with an enormous bouquet of garden-fresh English roses for their very first meeting. Still, Emilys father remained sceptical. He had noticed a troubling sign: on their dinner date at an elegant London bistro, William let Emily foot the bill, muttering that he hadnt enough funds in his bank account. On top of that, William was unemployed, always promising he was on the hunt for work but nothing ever seemed to turn up.
Despite the warnings, William proposed and Emily, swept up by her feelings, said yes. With her mothers help, she managed to persuade her father to give his reluctant blessing. However, her father made his stance unmistakable: Emily alone would have to provide for the householdWilliam could never be counted on for reliable support. He told her, in no uncertain terms, that he would never hand over money to her husband.
Defiantly, Emily pressed on with the wedding. Her father conceded just a little: he contributed half the cost of a modest car and agreed to cover their rent around South London. Emilys friends watched on with envy at the level of support she received from her father. For the first couple of months after the wedding, everything seemed peaceful, but trouble soon loomed. William, as predicted, failed to secure any employment. Before long, Emily was solely supporting them both.
One afternoon, Williams mother suggested to Emilys father that he offer William a decent job. Taking the idea to heart, Emily pleaded with her father, and in the end, he found William a position helping out at his steelworks. Yet William couldnt take the pressure or the work; he quit within ten days, confronting Emily with wounded pride and accusationsher father, he claimed, was humiliating him with such lowly jobs when he deserved a managerial post.
Confused and upset, Emily went back to her father for advice. He doubted Williams credentials and decided to investigate, only to discover that William had never even finished university, blaming issues with his tutors. Still, William was convinced he could secure a leadership role with neither the education nor the expertise.
Anger flashed in her fathers eyes as he reminded Emily that in England, people work for years before earning leadership responsibilities, and he couldnt possibly offer such a post to an unqualified man. He flatly refused to support William any further, warning his daughter once againhis words falling, it seemed, on deaf ears.
It was later that William finally confessed his true feelings to Emily: he admitted that he had never really loved her, and that for him, their marriage was merely a temporary arrangement. He hinted that a divorce was on the cards soon, telling her to be prepared to split their shared assets. But he had misjudged her father; anticipating the worst, the flat was always registered in her fathers name, ensuring that William would get nothing should he try to claim it.
