Omission, Not a Lie

When Fabian met Muna he knew she was the one for him. He’d walked into that bar, not looking for a wife, or even a woman, but when she strolled in through the door, and their eyes met, he knew he wanted her, and would always do so.

Cupid must have been on top his game that evening, because Muna, after a few drinks and a long conversation, gave Fabian her number, and couldn’t wait to hear from him.

A match made in heaven, as romantic hearts would say, they were talking marriage after the best three months of their lives. And so, Muna took Fabian to meet her sweet mother.

“She’s going to love you. She already does because I’ve told her all about you.” Muna was excited and it showed on her.

“I hope she does,” Fabian said, nervous and struggling not to show it.

But in a matter of minutes, that nervousness became shock, and shock turned into distress. Fabian knew Muna’s mother, or Ure Douglas as she’d introduced herself two years ago when Fabian was on in Abuja on business seminar.

The seminar had ended with a party, and loose with wine and the beauty of the capital city, Fabian and Ure had spent the night together in her hotel room. Of course the next day, when inebriation was no longer an excuse, they’d both agreed to forget it, and parted on a friendly note.

Now, fate, with its ironic humour, had brought them together again. This time, as mother-in-law and son-in-law to be. Well, that would depend on the outcome of the meeting Ure had privately arranged with Fabian.

“I should have requested a picture of you when she told me she’d met someone. But I preferred to met that someone in person.” At the table where they were seated pretending to enjoy lunch, Ure looked unhappy.

“I didn’t know she was your daughter. She has a different surname.”

“Her father’s name. I reverted to my maiden name after our divorce.” Ure made a gesture of dismissal as that wasn’t the important thing. “What are we going to do, Fabian?”

“I don’t know, ma’am.” Once, that one night, it had been Ure. It will never again be, and Fabian knew it. “But I love Muna very much and I can’t imagine my life without her.”

“You’ve only known her three months.”

“Long enough to know she’s all I want.” Fabian held the eyes that studied him. “I knew the first time I saw her that she’s the one for me. It might sound corny, but I loved and wanted her from that first moment.”

“I love her too and want only what’s best for her.” Ure had thought about it all through the night and she had her mind made up. “We agreed to forget what happened between us, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”

“You don’t want us to tell her?” It would make everything easier. But it was also wrong. Somehow. “Surely not telling her would be lying to her?”

“No. It would be omission, not a lie. I am not ashamed to own that I had sex, and with a younger man. But I refuse to ruin my daughter’s happiness because I had sex with the man she loves.”

“It happened before we both met.”

“It will still shock her. It will confuse and hurt her. It will bring up questions of morality, of right and wrong. It will likely cause her to give you up; to give up her love.”

She was right. Fabian knew it. He knew too that he was going to take a chance, and hope for the best. “So, we never tell her?”

“It stays buried between us forever. It was going to be that way anyway.”

And so nothing was said. Fabian married the love of his life, and Muna was never the wiser.

Some truths are best left unsaid, don’t you agree?