Maid For Marriage

32

I was cleaning when there was a knock on the door. It was Ma's friends from church. They just let themselves in. "Where is MaRadebe?" One of them asked making herself comfortable.

I went to call Ma from her room where she was reading her bible.
"Ma."
"Yebo, Makoti."
"The church ladies are here." She looked confused. "I didn't have a meeting with them today. I wonder what they want." I followed her out of the room.

I left her to it while I tried getting my new room organized. "Makoti!" I heard ma call from the living room. "Yebo Ma?" I asked with my head bowed. "Wait. Did you just say Makoti?" One of the ladies asked and the others sat there with their jaws on the floor.

"Makoti please make us some tea?" Ma said and I could tell she was loving every minute of this. "Yebo, Ma." I made them tea and laid out biscuits. "So, you're marrying Senzo Dlamini. Wow. Sit with us." One of the ladies said and I didn't like her tone. I knew something was coming.

"You do know that you'll be wife number five?" I didn't even answer. "I can't believe it. You're so young yet you're willing to be a fifth wife. Is it because of his money?" My eyes shot to Ma. "Okay that's enough. If you want me to put you out I will." Ma said and they went silent. I was excused and they went on with whatever it is that they do when they have tea.

I was busy chopping vegetables for a salad to go with dinner when I heard Mbali and Senzo coming in. Mbali stayed behind and Senzo came into the kitchen.

"Good evening my love." We hugged and kissed. "How was your day?" I asked him and he just kept kissing me. "Baba, calm down. There are other people here." He groaned. "Fine." He rolled his eyes.

"I am starving. What did you cook?" Mbali came in and opened my pots. I was annoyed because this was supposed to be my house. Yes she was the first wife and technically it's actually Senzo's house but I ran this specific household. You don't just go into another women's house and open her pots. "Looks delicious. Let's eat." Senzo could tell it upset me. He squeazed my hand and I just knew this was going to be a long night.

I kept quiet throughout dinner until she asked about sleeping in the main room. "Since Ma gave the room over to Baba that's where I'll spend the night." I cleared my throat. "Excuse me?" She rolled her eyes. "You heard me. This table is quite small and I don't think you're old enough to have hearing problems. I'm the senior wife. I should have the main room."

I was livid.

What the hell was she doing? I really thought she would be my friend. Clearly she's testing my patience. "Do you live here?" I asked looking her dead in the eye. "No, but this house belongs to my husband." I was trying to stay calm.

"The question was do you live here? The answer is no. The main room is mine. This house was given to me. Anything that happens here is up to me. You will sleep in of the the spare rooms or you can go sleep in the main room at your house." I said calmly and she just stared at me. "Fine, but my husband will be sleeping in my room tonight." I almost rolled my eyes but I didn't want to be seen as disrespectful.

I was in my room struggling to put ointment on my back when Senzo walked in. "Need any help?" I just nodded. "You're quiet and not your normal quiet. You're angry quiet." I flinched when he touched my back.
"Be gentle."
"Sorry baby. Sorry."

We sat in silence while he put my ointment on. When he was done I finally spoke. "Why didn't you say something at dinner?" He sighed. "I didn't say something because I know MaKhumalo is testing you. I think you passed this one but there will be many more tests. That doesn't mean you should let her walk all over you though." I just rolled my eyes. This was stupid.

"I do however want to appologize. She should not have blurted out the sleeping arrangements. I was going to tell you myself that I would be spending the night in her room because she's leaving for a trip tomorrow so I won't see her for the next two weeks." I didn't react and I could tell he was confused. What did he want me to say? There was nothing I could do.

I slept alone in my big bed and I would have to get used to it. There is five of us. I would be sleeping alone a lot.

The next morning I woke up and MaKhumalo was already in the kitchen having tea when I got up. "Morning." We both mumbled and I got started on breakfast.

"So, we need to do an umembeso ceremony as soon as possible. We need to get this long process started. Its ceremony after ceremony. We didn't do the lobola properly but this we can do just so you start your marriage off right. As you probably know the ceremony is usually done after lobola is negotiated. It's held at the brides home. Our family will bring traditional gifts. It's more about thanking the brides mother, in this case your aunt and your family."

"Okay, I have to discuss it with my aunt." I was already panicking because who was even going to come to the ceremony. I had no family. I did but I wasn't connected to any of them. My brothers helped when my dad tried to kill me but that was the first time in years that I was in the same room as them. Usually when I visited home briefly I would be drowning in chores and I wouldn't have time for anyone. I didn't visit home a lot and when I did I didn't stay long. My aunt was always against me going back. We only went there when we had to and we kept our visit as brief as possible.

Senzo and Mbali left and I went next door to my aunt. "What's up?" My aunt asked serving me tea. "MaKhumalo told me this morning that they want to have an umembeso ceremony as soon as possible." My aunt just nodded. "Okay, when is as soon as possible?" I just shrugged. "How are we going to do a ceremony without anyone here?" My aunt looked confused. "What do you mean?" I just sighed.

"Who is going to come? Just you and Thabo?" I didn't want to offend her but I didn't really have any other family. "Thandi, you have other family. You have your brothers and uncles from your dad's side. And even though your dad completely alienated you from your mom's family, we can get into contact with them." A smile made its way onto my face. "Really?" She nodded.

"So. It's your birthday next week. Will you be doing anything this year?" I just rolled my eyes. "I never do anything, ma. Why would I start now?"