The Marriage Transaction

Epilogue

Kwabena sprung out of bed and turned off the alarm on his phone. He stood quietly listening for sounds from the bed. The only sounds he heard were the soft snores from the other side of the bed. Mission 'Do not wake the missus under any circumstances before 7am' was a success for that day.

The last two years had been quite the whirlwind for Kwabena. Arriving in Chicago after the proposal, he had immediately began to put plans into effect solemnize and formalize the marriage. His parents had been easy to convince. In fact, his mom's glee bordered in mania; one would think she had won the lottery. With his dad's help, the Asares had also bought in, without the resistance Kwabena had expected from Mrs. Asare.

It was at this time that he learnt about weddings in absentia. Apparently, it was possible to have a wedding ceremony without being physically present at the wedding. A stand-in, sometimes a framed picture, represented the groom during the ceremony. He found the whole idea totally absurd.

So he got married in absentia, with Arnold standing in for him. Then came the grueling task of gathering and processing paperwork Joyce needed to join him in the US. From his perspective, it appeared that the whole process was designed to be as complex and as painful as possible. However, they persevered and two years after the wedding in absentia, Joyce arrived at the O'Hare International Airport.

Kwabena peeked one last time on Joyce before he left for the office. As if sensing his presence, she stirred and turned to look at him.

"Heading out already?"

Oh that husky morning voice. He couldn't stop the smile from creeping up on his face. "Yeah, you really should be getting up." Joyce stretched out languorously under the covers.

"You are just jealous you are not in bed too."

If only she knew how true that was. "Well, got to run. I will see you this evening."

Joyce stretched her hands out towards him, but Kwabena had already left the room. Joyce sighed, and mentally prepared to get out of bed.

Kwabena reviewed the past year on his drive to the station. Despite the very long conversations they had had in their two years apart, they hadn't seemed to click in the same way as they had in Ghana. Living together had been quite the challenge, with several bumps along the way.

Joyce had never mentioned the temporary nature of their arrangement, and he had not brought it up either. He hoped to make her so happy that she wouldn't even contemplate leaving him. That was proving challenging despite his best efforts. He couldn't seem to find the key to her heart, that thing that made her mindlessly happy. However, he wouldn't give up. He would keep trying until she couldn't help but be hopelessly in love with him. After a year, they were finally sleeping in the same bed, so he must be doing something right. And he had two more years to convince her.