Maid For Marriage

12

Thabo was furious. He stormed out. "You are the one who wanted to talk! Now you can't handle it!" My aunt got up and shouted at the door. "You wanted to meet her so bad, so I'm going to fetch her. You'll see for yourself!" My aunt just rolled her eyes.

"Go fetch her, and let's see what happens! Let her come and see how your whole family betrayed her! Look! All your aunts are here! Let her find out she's the only one who doesn't know you have a wife and sons. Son's whose pictures your mother has to hide every time she comes around! Go! Go get her so she can see how much of a coward you are!" His car sped off, and my aunt stormed back into her room.

Nobody knew what to do. The kids were crying, and the adults were panicking. My aunt wouldn't open the door for anyone. Not even me. She eventually came out and took a seat on the couch. "Makoti Thabo says they're on the way." She just sat there. Almost like she already knew and she was waiting for him.

The car stopped, and I was panicking, but she seemed to be calm. I looked out the window and saw a thin, tall lady. She seemed to be all smiles. "Baba, whose house is this?" I heard her ask. He voice sounded kind. She walked in with a big smile. She greeted everyone enthusiastically, but they didn't reciprocate her enthusiasm.

"What's wrong? Did someone die?" Nope. Worse. Your husband has a wife. "No, I want you to meet someone." They went to got sit on the couch in front of my aunt. "Siphosethu, this is Nthombi. Nthombi, this is Sethu, my wife." He said, but the two of them were completely quiet. "Sethu, Nthombi is my second wife." Her eyes went wide, and she moved away from Thabo.

It looked like she was struggling to breathe. She got her inhaler from her bag and got her breathing under control. Her hands were shaking. "I knew you were cheating but a whole wife?" She sounded crushed. I really thought she was going to be a monster. "How long?" She asked my aunt. "We were dating for two and a half years before I fell pregnant, and he paid damages and lobola."

"Pregnant?" She clutched onto he chest. "All in all, we've been together for almost five years?" My aunt was not hesitating. "You have a child together, and I didn't know?" She asked him, and as if my aunt was trying to punish this lady, she delivered his final two blows. "Children. We have three children. I just gave birth to his third son a few days ago." The woman broke down crying.

"Is that why everyone is here? Because you had a baby? How blind could I have been? All of you knew, and no one told me me?! I'm such a fool. How could I have been so blind?" She sat there with her head in her hands. The room was silent. Only her cries could be heard.

As if to rub salt in her wounds, Lethu started crying. "Excuse me." My aunt got up and went to tend to him. Just then, Sizwe woke up from his nap. Their timing couldn't have been worse. One of the aunts went to check on him. My aunt eventually came back and took her seat.

"Did you know about me?" She nodded. "Yes, I did." The lady just nodded. "How old are your kids?" She wiped her tears. "Thabo Jr will be three into two months, Sizwe will turn one next month, and Lethu is a week old." Wife number one just nodded. "Congratulations on the new baby. Thabo, I would like to go home now." She turned into a robot. Her cheerfulness vanished. She showed no emotion. She got up and went outside. "I hope you're happy." Thabo said before leaving.

Thabo told me to sleep in the room again after I finished making the air mattress bed. My aunt was lying in bed and I joined her. "Are you okay?" She sighed. "I'll be fine. Distract me, please. Tell me about you." I just sighed. "That bad, huh? What's been happening?"

"I think Senzo is trying to play me." She narrowed her eyes. "He told me that he loves me and wants to marry me. He said it was love at first sight, which I don't understand. He was so rude to me the first time." My aunt did not look impressed. "Marry you? Really? He's married Thandi. Believe it when you see it. Don't make the same mistakes I did."

"He's polygamous. His first wife passed away a few months ago." Her eyes widened. "So why did his wife carry on the way she did?" I shrugged. "I guess I'll have to ask."

We fell asleep and I woke up early for work. I put on a black g-string, which was held together by a metal circle at the back. I put on a short skin tight off the shoulder dress. I couldn't find the proper bra, so I went without. I didn't care that my nipples were showing. I put on some sneakers. I had time left and put on one of my aunt's straight wigs and styled it as best I could.

"Is that my wig?" She asked when she saw me. "Yes, I'm taking advantage of your condition. Love you." I kissed her goodbye and went to work.

"Morning, Ma." I put my bag in the cupboard. "Morning Thandi. I know it's Monday and you have a lot of cleaning but I couldn't go grocery shopping this weekend. I was too weak, and Senzo didn't understand the list properly when he went. Will you please go to the shops for me. I'll give you the list and my card." I agreed. They had breakfast, and I started prepping lunch.

"What are you doing?" She asked, coming into the kitchen. "I'm preparing lunch in case I'm not back in time. Are you fine with sandwiches?" She nodded. "I know sometimes your wrists get weak, so I'm just cutting up cucumber and tomato and grating some cheese so you don't struggle. I'll butter a few slices of bread as well so that you just have to assemble. They'll be soggy by lunchtime if I make them now."

I felt her hug me, and I hugged her back. "What's wrong, ma?" I asked when I heard her sniffing. "Thank you. Thank you for always knowing what I need before I even ask." Her voice was shaky. "It's a pleasure, ma." I swept and mopped before I got the list and her card.

"Where are you going?" Senzo asked when I reached the door. "I'm going to take taxi to the supermarket. Ma needs a few things." He showed me his key. "Don't worry about it. I'll take you. I don't want her getting her groceries at that supermarket anyway. Most of the stuff is processed and sometimes old. Let me just go get shoes." I waited for him by the door.

"Let's go. Ma, I'm taking Thandi to get the groceries!" He called out, and we left. His hand slowly moved up my thigh during the ride. I felt his finger playing my thong and moved his hand away. "No. Stop." I crossed my legs so he wouldn't have access. "Thandi, you're still my girlfriend." He said with a smirk on his face. "Yes, and that doesn't change the fact that your wife tried to kill me. I thought you were polygamous. Shouldn't she be used to other women?"

He sighed. "She should. My first wife said she'd only agree to one, so Mbali always knew she would be the last wife. I told her about a month ago that I would find another wife since it was only her. She's been insecure ever since. Please don't let her affect our relationship. Please baby, I love you. And nothing she says or does is going to change that."

I sighed because I had no idea what to do. He took me to some upscale market that only had organic foods. I got a few stares, but he held my hand the whole time. I wanted to be out of there, so I shopped as fast as I could. He paid with his card, and then we went to a pharmacy. I got the medicine ma needed and we went back to the car.

"I've never seen a woman shop this fast." I just smiled. "Baby, come on." He begged and pulled my hand when he saw I wasn't responding to him. "Can you help me so we can get back into the car. He sighed but helped me pack the groceries anyway. We got in the car, and he seemed upset.

"Thandi, I'm not playing games. Do you or do you not want to be in this relationship. I'm not going to continue fighting over stupid things. I'm trying to build a relationship with you so we can get married. If you don't want that, tell me now." He said sternly, and I knew I was losing him.

I cried to myself.

"Do you want this?"

The way he was questioning me made me angry.