Maid For Marriage

20

"Senzo!" He finally went to open the door. "What, ma?" He asked softly. "Don't 'what' me. There's three women out here who say you promised to marry them." What? What did she just say? As if that blow wasn't enough, she carries on. "Two of them are pregnant."

My legs turned to jelly, and if not for the bed behind me, I would've fallen to the floor. I sat there with tears running down my face. He didn't even look back to see if I was okay. I sat there waiting for him to just remember that I might be a factor in this, but he never came.

I looked down at my finger and removed the ring. I walked out into the hallway. "Fine, because I promised to marry you when your sister passed away, I'll do it. The two of you, however, have to bring me DNA test results first. If your babies turn out to be mine, we can get married."

I held my hand to my mouth and went back to the room. I couldn't do this. I didn't want him to see me, so I climbed out the window. It was cold and dark outside and I was scared. I was banging on the door, but my aunt wasn't opening. "Ma! Ma it's me Thandi! Please open!" The street lights went off for some reason and I screamed. Luckily she pulled me into the house.

"Are you crazy?! Do you know how late it is?! You could've been killed! You know it's not safe around here!" I broke down and fell into her arms. "Okay, I'm sorry baby. I didn't mean to yell. I thought you were sleeping over at MaRadebe's place." She helped me to my room and made sure I got into bed. "Okay, we don't have to talk about it now. Sleep baby."

I cried for most of that night and woke up with a crazy headache. I took a hot shower and took something for my headache then got back into bed.  "Thandi, what happened?"I just sighed. "He asked me to marry him and I said yes." She looked confused. "But why..." I interrupted her. "Three women showed up who he also promised he would marry. Two of them were pregnant and he is going to marry all of them." Her eyes went wide.

"Would you please tell MaRadebe I need the rest of the week off. Her medication is sorted she just needs to take them everyday." She was so shocked all she could do was nod. I don't think the three other women he promised to marry hurt as much as him not even acknowledging me. I was sure he still didn't notice I was gone because there wasn't even a phonecall or a text.

I heard my aunt shouting but I couldn't make out what she was saying. She eventually came back in the house. "Thandi! If you don't come tell this man  off our lawn, I'm going to throw hot water at him!" I jumped and went to her. She stood with the kettle in her hand. "He's outside. He says he's not leaving unless you tell him to."

I stood behind her and she opened the door.  "Thandi, please! Let me at least explain!" He begged. "Please leave." I said, and his face fell. "Thandi, please. Please, I'm begging you." I avoided looking at him. "Please just go." We stood there in silence. "Fine, but I'll be back."

I spent the rest of the week in my room. He kept calling and coming to see if I would talk to him. I was worried about MaRadebe, but I really didn't want to see her son. "Thandi wake up. You have to go back to work." I didn't want to, but I knew I had to.

I used my key and started cleaning and making breakfast. "Good morning." I jumped when I heard his voice. I was busy doing dishes. I didn't realize he was here because I didn't see his car. "We need to talk. Please, I'm begging you." I sighed. "Senzo, please. I just want to work in peace. Just give me time. All I want to do is come here and work. That's all. Please." Ma walked in and stood there with her arms crossed. We stood in awkward silence.

"Senzo, don't you have work?" She asked side, eyeing him. "I do, but I can work from here." She rolled her eyes. "Please just go to the office. For the sake of everyone. Last week, you turned my house into a circus with all of your women. I'm tired and I don't want to see your face any longer than I have to. Go to work." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yebo, Ma."

I served breakfast, and he was out of the door. "Thandi, come sit with me." I didn't want to, but I did anyway. "I saw the ring. I came looking for you that night and I saw the ring."  I bowed my head. "You knew he had a wife, didn't you?" I nodded. "So you knew he was a polygamist. Let's be real here, Thandi. Even if you did get married, there would always be other women. Be it wives or girlfriends."

I didn't understand what was going on and why she was talking like this. "So, are you saying I have no right to be upset?" She shook her head. "No, I'm just preparing you because I would really like you to be my daughter-in-law. He loves you, and it's obvious you love him. You wouldn't be this hurt if you didn't love him. I really hope you can sort this out."

I didn't know what I wanted to do. I needed to marry someone anyway. Maybe I should just ignore the whole situation and become wife number five. If not that I'll have to marry one of my dad's friends. I made and served dinner and left before he could come back.

I eventually agreed to let him speak to me. It was Sunday, so my aunt and MaRadebe went to church with the kids. We sat in the kitchen, and I made tea.

"I'm sorry about how this whole thing went down. It happened so suddenly that I didn't really know what to do or how to do it. I didn't realize that it would affect you this much, knowing that I was in a polygamous marriage before with my late wife and that when we get married, it will be a polygamous marriage. I thought you understood that."

Was he really going to put this all on me. "I understood that. What I didn't understand was the fact that you promised three other women a ring as well. You even went as far as to sleep with them, which means the whole time we've been together, you've been sleeping around and not telling me about. I keep on having to hear how terrible your wife is. Meanwhile, you're busy having sex with everything in a skirt."

He sat back in his chair. "Okay, let me explain. When my wife died, her family asked me to marry her sister so that Chumisa would have a mother. I said I would marry her six months after the funeral. It's been almost a year. The other two women are girlfriends from the same village."

I scoffed to myself. "Okay, I get it. I really do. My father has many wives and girlfriends, but all of them know of each other. What you're doing is trying to deceive me. I don't have an issue with polygamy as long as it is done right. You've been lying from the start. How do you expect this to work when our relationship is built on lies?"

"I think you're taking this out of context. All of these relationships were disclosed to my wife. That's who needs to know. At the time, you were my girlfriend. I didn't need to disclose it to you. My wife might not have known your names, but she knew of you."

"Okay, Senzo." My voice came out in a whisper. He looked panicked by just those two words. I wanted to get up, but he took my hand. "Thandi, please. Please don't leave me. You make me happy. I haven't been this happy in years. Please, Thandi. I swear there's nobody else. Please." He put the ring on the table.

Just then, the boys stormed in, followed by my aunt and MaRadebe. We just sat there staring at each other with a ring in the middle of the table. I heard a gasp and let go of his hand. "Oh no." I heard ma say, but I couldn't stop staring at him. I wanted him to say something. I didn't know what it was that I wanted him to say, but I wanted him to fix it. I needed him to fix it.

"Oh, just a maid? She's just a maid? Weren't those your words?" It was Mbali, his wife. "So this is the reason you've been here so much? Wow, Senzo. And you, what do you have to say for yourself?" I really didn't care. I knew she was the wife and had the right to be upset, but I didn't care.

I felt a tear run down my cheek. "Thandi." He tried reaching out to me. "What is going on here? Oh! She just figured out she's not the only one?!" She asked and laughed loudly. "There were women before you, and there'll be women after you, my darling! I should've known he would eventually get to you! Why else would you even be working here! Oh, shame! Look, she's crying!"

She laughed like a witch. I got up and left. Her laughing didn't stop. I could hear her all the way outside.