I always not only knew but felt that I was poorer than Robert. His salary was enormous, and his parents were respectable and well-off people. But it wasn’t the money that made me like Robert. He was my comfort man, my soul mate.
After six months of a relationship, Robert proposed to me. His mother, as far as I know, was not against me, she just asked me to postpone the wedding. Robert, of course, didn’t want that, wanting to make me “his” as soon as possible.
Right after the wedding we got a place to live. It was presented to us by Robert’s father, but his mother also invested in the repairs, in particular, choosing wallpaper and good modern furniture for us. Even during the decorating phase, Robert asked if I would mind if the apartment was registered to him, a condition of his parents. It hurt a little that they doubted me, but I was all for it. I wasn’t the one who bought the apartment, so why should it be in anyone but Robert’s name?
My mother-in-law liked it and it calmed her nerves. After the wedding she started treating me even better, not so careful, no longer afraid of how I might turn out to be a money hunter.
But my father almost ruined everything! I can imagine how tired he was of living in poverty and how he wanted to get something out of my marriage… No one offered him a place to live with us. So he came to Robert’s parents and made a scandal – how is it that we are husband and wife, and there is nothing in my name. That’s not how you do it in a family.
This left its mark on my attitude to me, too. It was hard to calm my father down, just as it’s hard now to ask for forgiveness, begging for my trust back. It was good that Robert knew exactly what kind of person I was, and was sure that I wasn’t greedy and trying to steal from him. If he had doubts, I definitely would not have survived and filed for divorce. And it’s so embarrassing to date my mother-in-law, who only believed me, and then witnessed my father’s tantrum over the apartment.
I don’t know how much longer it will take for my parents to stop worrying about me. Just because I come from a poor family doesn’t mean I don’t love Robert or that I only want money. It’s not like he was looking for someone of his own status as a human being. Love and feelings between people are much more important than apartments and zeros in an account.
