His companion was a wife and a mother to him (7)
I believe the answer is:
oedipus
'his companion was a wife and a mother' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'him' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'him' could be 'ed' (short for Edward) and 'ed' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for oedipus that I've seen before include "legendary riddle solver" , "He married his mother (and had a Freudian complex!)" , "tragic hero" , "complex character" , "Legendary Greek king with mother complex" .)