The definition of marriage

Marriage, n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two.

Now, I don't want to make it seem like he wasn't a pleasant person and I certainly don't want to make myself look like an ill-mannered young girl, because I'm well aware that my parents took pains in raising me well and educating me. 

At the first inspection, Gregory was everything a girl ever wanted. And more, because his family, even if not among the noble ones, was very wealthy and well known as an industrious one.

Bright, blue eyes, tan skin and a boysh grin that would melt any girl's heart. Not to mention the fine manners. It wasn't exactly love at first sight - I was so young back then that I doubt I was even capable of something like that - but I think both of us felt attracted to each other. I was only 15 and he was 25 when we first met, but to everybody else, it was the perfect match.

As I stated above, it wasn't the first time we were seeing each other. Or, at least, you could say it wasn't the first time I was meeting him. If I remember correctly, I had the first glimpse of him many years ago, when I accompanied my father and brother on a journey to the lowlands to send Albrecht to a school at the Cathedral, in the township. Gregory was the one in charge of the newcomers, but I was barely 6 at that time and it was very cold in the monumental hall at the Cathedral, so I was hiding behind layers of warm frabric that my mother carefully wrapped me in. I too didn't pay much attention to him back then.

The second time I saw him was during my apprenticeship. It happened in a breezy spring morning. It wasn't even 5 o'clock when someone knocked on our front door and woke everybody up from their beds. Because I was sleeping in the kitchen, I was the fastest one and I got to open the door. That's when he stormed inside asking for Teacher and practicly begging her to come with him at their farm and help his father's wife deliver. I was 13 years old when this happened, so Teacher took me with her. 

His father was an old and morose farmer, otherwise very respected in the comunity. For many years, he used to be a widower, his first wife having died while giving birth to Gregory. So, of course everybody was taken aback when he married overnight. His new wife was a naiad that barely understood human language, but she soon gave him two sons and a daughter. The night when me and Teacher assisted her, she gave birth to three more boys. Gregory's father never really thanked Teacher for her assistence, but he offered to pay her money. He knew Teacher and her family never accepted payment for what they did.

All those things happened years before me and Gregory were first formally introduced to each other and we never discussed this subject.

So, a month after my return, I left my family again, only this time for a different reason. Because Gregory had so many younger siblings (one sister and five brothers) at the time the two of us got married, both our families decided that it would probably be better for us not to live at his father's farm. So his family purchased a stylish property in a nearby town, while my parents offered to furnish it.

It was a new construction, still smelling of newly applied polish and fresh cut wood. A large kitchen, a chique hall for receiving guests, my own consulting room where I could privately see each patient and all of these only on the first floor. On the second floor there were two apartments, one for my husband and one for me, each of those two apartment with it's own bedroom, cloakroom and parlour, another apartment for children that had yet to come and a nursery. It wasn't easy on the first days of our marriage, with our house still full of labourers, but now, when I look at this little piece of art that I call my apartment I have to admit that it was worth it.

Because we had already spent so much arranging everything, we had to accept the fact that for the first few months, we couldn't afford to bring a kitchen maid, a valet for my husband or a housemaid for me. And that only raised more questions and lead to our first marital quarrel. I was already 15 years old when I got married and I was an aknowledged healer and midwife ready to start practicing on my own, but I literally had no knowledge on the domestic field. I couldn't boil an egg. I couldn't even do a decent work preparing my husband's tea, so cooking turned out to be a real ordeal for both of us. Ironing his clothes and sewing were also another mistery to me.