Marrying a Cripple. A Tale
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It was nearly midnight when my daughter finally slipped through the front door. She worked the late shift as a nurse in the accident and emergency ward. She took a long shower, then stepped into the kitchen, wrapped in her dressing gown.
Theres some sausage and mash on the stove, her mother offered gently, peering into her daughters face and searching for clues, You look tired. Amelia, is everything alright? Whats troubling you?
Ill skip dinner. I look dreadful as it is, Amelia muttered gloomily while pouring herself some tea, If I keep eating, no one will ever glance my way.
Whatever makes you say that? her mother fretted. Youre perfectly lovely. Bright, clever eyes, a fine nose, lips just right. Don’t be so harsh on yourself, Amelia!
All my friends are married, except me! The only men who show any interest are the sort no one else wants. Anyone I care for they never even look at me. Whats wrong with me, Mum? Amelias tone was sombre, her stare searching for an answer.
You just havent met your match yet, love. Your time will come, her mother tried to reassure her, but Amelias frustration simmered over.
Oh, whats the use? My eyes are too small, lips too thin, and will you look at this nose? Id get a nose job if we had any money. But were skint! I suppose I should just marry one of the lads who ended up in hospital the ones their girlfriends left soon as they had their accident. What choice do I have? Im thirty-three now! I cant go on waiting forever!
Oh, Amelia, dont talk like that. Your dads struggling with his legs as it is! Id hoped at least my son-in-law would be able to help out on the allotment; we could really use another pair of hands around the place, her mother blurted before catching herself, rushing to explain, I just mean, not everyones well-off, but what would you want with a disabled chap? Our neighbour, Alex hes a decent bloke, always had his eye on you. Built like an ox, and would make strong, healthy children…
Mum, not this again! Your Alex cant hold down a job and hes too fond of a drink. I wouldnt know what to talk to him about! Amelia protested.
Oh, you wouldnt need to chat much. Id just send him out to turn over the veg patch, then call him in for supper. Or send him to the shops hes eager, and who knows? You two might work it out… her mother pleaded, but Amelia simply pushed away her half-finished tea and stood up.
Im off to bed, Mum. I really thought you saw me as a person. Turns out, you just see me as some ugly spinster, same as everyone else.
Amelia, darling, dont say that her mother cried, following her, but Amelia waved her off.
Thats enough, Mum! she snapped, and shut her bedroom door firmly.
She lay awake for hours, thinking of the young man recently brought to her ward hed lost his foot below the ankle. A slab crumbled onto it while he was in a condemned building, and by the time they pulled him out, saving the leg was impossible.
No one came to visit him. He wasnt even thirty yet, and in those first days, whenever he saw Amelia, hed reach for her hand, his eyes pleading and desperate, right after surgery.
But once the truth of it sank in, he fell into silence, staring blankly at the ceiling. She pitied him, perhaps because no one else seemed to.
Do you think Ill walk again? hed asked her flatly, never looking her way.
Of course you will, she had replied steadily, Youre young. Youll heal.
Everyone says that. Id like to see them try a day without a foot. Whats left, really? His sudden anger lashed out at her as if it was her fault.
Whyd you go into that building in the first place? Amelia snapped, stung. Youve only yourself to blame!
Dunno. Thought I saw something, he mumbled. From then on, he turned his face to the wall whenever she entered.
Amelia noticed his eyes pale as frost, but his face was handsome, and it made her sadness for him sharper.
Feeling sorry for me? One day he caught her gaze. I can tell. Everyone just pities blokes like me. No one could ever love a cripple.
No one loves girls like me, either, even though I have all my limbs. Not quite right, they say. No one pities me. Sometimes I wish Id lost a leg too just for a bit of sympathy, Amelia burst out, tears brimming.
But then the young man Michael, his name was Michael smiled for the first time, a real smile.
Youre daft, you know that? You? Ugly? Not for a second. I look at you and honestly, I envy the bloke who ends up with you. I mean it.
She stared at him, her heart thudding as she realised she truly believed him. The words she had never dared say spilled out before she could stop herself.
If I chose you, Michael, would you marry me? Youre quiet now means youre lying. I get it!
She stood, hurt, making for the door.
Michael propped himself up on his elbows, as though ready to leap out of bed and chase after her. Only then did he remember he couldnt, so he called after her, voice shaky but determined:
Marry me, Amelia! I swear, no one will ever guess theres anything wrong with my leg. Ill be back on my feet in no time, I promise you. Dont go, Amelia…
She paused in the corridor, blinking away tears yet suddenly she felt it, deep inside: he was The One.
It didnt matter about her nose or eyes, or what had happened to his foot. Theyd found each other, just as her mother said they would, when the time was right.
Michael threw himself into his recovery with burning resolve, driven by his love for Amelia. He longed to stand beside her on his own two feet, to give them a future. He wanted her to know she was wanted, needed that his life was never truly his until she became a part of it.
Have you fallen in love at last, my girl? her mother asked slyly one morning, Look at you positively radiant, and you always called yourself plain!
Amelia didnt deny it. She floated as if on air. Her greatest wish was for Michael to walk again, to master his prosthetic and move on with life.
Slowly, they spent more and more time together, first in the hospital garden, then out on the snowy, sparkling December streets of the city with Christmas lights shining all around.
Theyve knocked the building down now. Thats where it happened, over there, Michael showed her one day.
What took you in there, anyway? You never told me, she remembered.
Youll laugh, but it was a puppy skinny thing, black with white spots. Looked frozen to the bone, and I thought Id bring him home. Couldnt bear to think of him alone, he admitted.
Look, isnt that a dog over there, scrawny thing eyeing us but too scared to come close?
Thats him! Thats got to be him! Michael cried, delighted, and the dog followed them all the way home, at a safe distance.
Amelias so lucky, marrying such a handsome chap younger than her, too, and with his own flat and no mother-in-law in sight! her friends teased at the wedding.
Her mother sniffled when Michael called her Mum for the first time.
A child of the care system, Michael had no family at all. But he was a good man, generous and kind, and most important they loved each other truly. May they be happy, whatever life brings. Who cares about the allotment life will go on! And Michael, as it turns out, is good at everything he sets his mind to.
Nowadays, Amelia and Michael share their home with that same rescue dog, Toby. Very soon, though, therell be four of them. Amelia and Michael are expecting a little girl.
Never lose hope, or you just might pass by your own happiness unnoticed.
For life, in all its unpredictability, is full of wonders.
