*Kelebogile's story*
*Chapter 27*
*NARRATED*
Brian: brother why don't you just tell her the truth? That would make everything easy. This might be the only way.
Themba: i don't want to ruin things. I'm going to leave it like it is. I'm making progress here. This weekend just showed me there's still hope for us.
Brian:okay then. But I'm glad that she's considering this marriage. Just don't hurt the poor girl.
Themba:hurting her would be like hurting myself. She's my life.
Brian:and your wife?
Themba:let's not talk about that.
Brian:okay then. But just so you know...your parents are not happy about this.
Themba:their opinions do not matter. They have no choice but to accept this.
Brian: have you thought about your wife in all of this ? Don't forget about her and how she must be feeling.
Themba:we talked. She accepted the situation okay? The only problem is mom and dad.
Brian:and now she is leaving. And it will be easy for mom and dad to change your mind.
Themba:I'm not changing anything.
Brian:leave before she comes here to shout at me for keeping you. And she's still angry at me for making her stay more days.
Themba:she can't wait to leave this place. But who can blame her? With the way she was treated here...i don't think she will ever come back here again.
*Amahle*
The treatment i got from Themba's family I'd never wish to experience it again. I didn't even tell my parents because I know ky mother would have taken out of proportion and make things worse. And i didn't want that.
It has been a while now.my baby is now four months. Everything has been going well and yeah I even told them at work that I would like to come back. My mom agreed to take care of Nathi while I go to work. After knocking off I will take over and on holidays and weekends. There’s a knock on my door and the person comes in.
Mama:your husband is outside.
Me:mama I don’t have a husband.
Mama:girl you said yes to them bringing their money here so you are going to be his wife.
Me:I can still change my mind.
Mama:You better make up your mind before lobola happens.he’s waiting in the lounge.
Me:do you think im doing the right thing,its not a mistake?
Mama:baby as long as you are happy then everything is fine. If you love him then im sure everything will be fine. When you don’t like something you will talk to him.
Me:what if his wife hates me?
Mama:he said his wife agreed. Even though I don’t like this,if that’s what you want then I will support you. Take care of yourself.
Me:mama its not like im getting married now. Im coming back.
Mama:I love you okay?
Me:I love you too.
She picks nathi and gets out.i push my luggage and lock the door. I push it downstairs and Themba comes to take the luggage and takes it to the car.then he comes to take nathi.
Themba :mama nisale kahle.
Mama:Take care of my child.
Themba :I promise ma.
I hugged my mom then we bid our goodbyes.we went to the car and he drove us to the airport. When we arrived in Cape Toown he said we must wait for Brian to fetch us.
Themba : brian says he’s almost here.
We wait a bit then he arrived . The first thing I see in the car is a head popping out. It’s his daughter! What the hell is going on? If his kids are here then his wife is here! I do not want to see her!
Me:what is going on?why didn’t you tell me your wife is around?
Themba :she is not. She’s only coming tomorrow.
I keep quiet as his brother approach and the kids go flying to their daddy. They all kiss him then they come and hug me. The girl looks at Nathi. We go to the car and its quiet. All the way to his place no one is saying anything. We get there and Brian takes Nathi and goes in. Themba takes my luggage and goes in.i follow him to the room he’s going to.
Me:can we talk about this?
Themba :baby we will talk later. After you have settled in.
Brian comes in with sleeping Nathi. I take him and put him on the bed. Its big enough so he will not roll and fall. We all get out and I follow him to where he is going.
Brian:im leaving. See you tomorrow sister in law.
Me:I can still change my mind and say no,so please…
Brian:lol bye.
He leaves and I get into the room that Themba is in. I find him busy setting up the baby cot.
Me: where did you buy that?
Themba :its Nsuku’s. He doesn’t use it anymore.
Me:I can sleep with Nathi. You can let Nsuku sleep in there.
Themba :babe he will sleep with his sister.im taking this cot to our room.
Me:our room?
Themba :yes,the room where Nathi is sleeping.
Me:don’t you have another room you can sleep in?
Themba :I do but I want to sleep with you.
Me:can we talk,like for real?
Themba :okay what is it?
Me:why didn’t you tell me your wife will be here?i could have booked into a hotel.
Themba :baby,I want you to get to know each other. You are going to be sisters,you will be living together so you have to meet her halfway.she has given us her blessings.
I want to ask what he means by living together but he shuts me off by kissing me. After a few seconds he stops and puts his forehead on mine. We hear a crying voice. Nathi must be up. I go to the room and I find his big eyes open and Nsuku and Pfumi are sleeping each on his side playing with him. And he’s not even crying,just making baby sounds.
Hlulani: they are soo beautiful hey?
Me:yeah.
He takes out his phone and starts taking pictures.
He puts the cot then goes and sits with his children leaving me standing by the door.
Pfumi:mommy please take us more pictures with daddy.
My God! What did I get myself into? First I was aunty now I'm mommy? The girl is smiling with her small white teeth. She’s beautiful but I think they should get rid of those dreads and leave her with an afro. She would be more beautiful. I take the phone and the wallpaper is his three children. I take a few snaps then return the phone. Nsuku seem to not want to let go of Nathi. He’s busy trying to pick him up but he’s failing dismally. I laugh when he looks frustrated. The boy is just three for God’s sake. He can't pick the baby.
Themba:my love you see he’s going to be a good brother?
Me: nathi seems to like them. He cries with strangers.
Themba:he can feel that these are his siblings.
Me:can we talk outside?
Themba:okay lets go.
We go and sit in the lounge .
Me:when is your wife getting here?
Themba:in the morning. By 9 she’ll be here.
Me:wow!i wont even have a chance to run away. You really planned this.
Themba:things will be okay.
Me:if you want me changing my mind about us keep on doing what you are doing.
Themba:please just trust me. I know what im doing.
Me:okay,let me go and cook.
Themba:come here,we will order pizza.
Me:stop touching me!
Themba:sorry.whats wrong with me touching my woman?
Me:I don’t feel comfortable. I feel like im disrespecting your wife,in her house.
Themba: there’s nothing like that.
Me:still, we will wait until we are married. I don’t feel comfortable.
Themba:okay im sorry if I made you uncormfortable.i promise you from now on we wont do anything.
Me:can we sleep in separate rooms?please.
Thembi:okay.
After eating I went to my room and gave nathi a bath. After he fell asleep I went to shower then called my mom before sleeping.
Me:mama I don’t think I want to do this anymore.
Mama:whats wrong my baby?
Me:I feel guilty. I feel like im breaking up a family.
Mama:baby there’s still time to pull out of this. Whatever you decide, it will be for your own good.
Me:im coming back tomorrow.
Mama:weren’t you there for a week?
Me:I cant stay in this house anymore. Its her house.
Mama:if you really want to come back Just book a flight.
Me:okay mom,good night.
Mama:good night.i love you
Me:love you too.
I slept with a heavy heart. I kept thinking about what im doing. If it was me and my husband wanted to bring another woman into our marriage I would freak out.i realized that what im doing is not a good thing. Another woman is crying because of me, im hurting someone. I don’t think I can go on with this. I will move on and find someone who will be mine alone and I wont have to feel guilty.
“don’t leave. I know that’s the first thing that will be in your mind when you wake up.i will see you later.i love you.”
That’s the note I find on the pillow. Now I just wish i didn’t come here. I take a shower and make the bed. After that I go downstairs and get started on breakfast. I hear noise so the kids must be up.i close the pots and go out.i freeze on the spot when I see her. The woman of the house. I feel like a mistress who has been caught. We are staring at each other not saying anything. It feels awkward. The time of Nathi’s ceremony I didn't see her. Now that I am it feels different. Real.
Nhlamulo:hello Amahle.
Me:uh… hi.
Nhlamulo:how are you?
Me:um..fine. let me check on breakfast. Yeah……
I left her standing there. My heart is beating so fast!i breath in and out .i sit on the high
Chair and put my head on the counter.
Themba: babe we are waiting for the food.
Me:I want to go home.i don’t think I can do this.
Themba:babe everything will be fine.come lets go and eat.
I take the food and switch everything off. Thank God i have been learning how to cook from my mother. I can make breakfast now. Or else even this woman would make fun of me like her sister in law Maria did. But I'll get there.
Themba:you have been crying?leets go and eat,will talk after.
Nhlamulo was sitting around the table with the kids. She had Nathi with her. My heart was beating fast. I sit and we all start eating. All the time until we finish breakfast I keep quiet. Nhlamulo tries small talks but my mind is just not here.
Me:um sorry,I have a headache.i will go and lie down.
Themba:please sit down and let us talk.
Nhlamulo: pfumi take Nsuku and go eat in the tv room
The kids left and it was just us.
Themba:firstly I would like to apologise to you Amahle. I know that the way you found out about me being married hurt. I really didn’t mean for it to happen like that. I know I should have told you before we started dating. I also know how hard it must be for you to deal with everything that is going on around you. I also know that you also ask yourself if you will be able to share me with someone else.I cannot choose between the two of you. I want you all to be my wives. I would like for all of us to be family. So Amahle what I would like you to know is im not forcing you to be with me. I want you to be here because you want to. I want you to be here because you love me. That’s all.
me:yes how you handled this hurt me. I feel like you should have told me before we dated about her just like you told her about me. I should have decided for myself if I wanted to go on with this relationship or not. I could have made the decision before I fell more in love with you.i could have decided what it is that I want. I do want to be with you but at the same time I feel guilty. I feel like im coming between your family. I feel like im destroying what you guys built all these years. Just for me to come and break it all. I know no woman can be happy watching her husband love another woman. I know you are hurting Nhlamulo and im the cause of that. I am sorry. Believe me I really am sorry. I didn’t mean for all of this to happen or for things to turn out like this. I didn’t even know what was happening. If I knew he was married I would have left him the minute I found out. Please forgive me.
Nhlamulo:it was never your fault. You were kept in the dark. You did not know anything. Yes it hurt to know that my husband is in love with someone else. Dealing with it was a lot, it was too much and frustrating. It took me a year to come into terms with it. I saw that there was nothing I could do if he loved you so I gave him my blessings. I have my own way of dealing with it. It doesn’t hurt like it used to. I am slowly getting there. I just want you to know that I am giving you my blessing,you can get married to him. As long as you know what you are here for. And what your duty here will be. You must only be here to build this family, not break it. Have good intentions with why you are marrying him. There is nothing to feel guilty about, I am fine with it. You two can go ahead and get married.
Themba: thank you sweetheart, I appreciate how you have handled all of this.
Nhlamulo: now its up to her if she really wants to get married to you or not. So what do you say Amahle?
Me:yes…I would love to get married to him.
Nlhamulo:now that its sorted, feel free around here,its your home too. Welcome to our family.
Me:um..thanks..
Nhlamulo: and please Khosa,this is the last wife. I am not allowing anymore.
She’s right.i know its selfish because she accepted me but I would never accept it if he wants another wife.
Themba:not anymore, I promise you.
The way he was smiling it was like he just won lotto.
Themba: one more thing, can we all stay under one roof? I would love it if I had all my family together. But you can say no if you are not comfortable.
Me: can I think about it? I have work,and moving to a different place will mean that I have to look for another job.
That was my way of saying I don't want to stay under the same roof with hiswife. But what can I do if that's what he wants?
Themba:you can take all the time you need.
Nhlamulo: let me go and wash these dishes.
She collected all and went to the kitchen. Themba opened his arms. I went to hug him,I felt at home. But that guilty was still there.
Themba: thank you. I know how hard this must be for you. I love you so much.
Me:I love you more.
Themba:you will never love me more than I love you. Now can I get my kiss?
Me:…no
Like he would listen? He kissed me even wwhen I refused.
Themba:go and get ready. We are going out.
Me:cant we go tomorrow?
Themba:no, Nhlamulo is going home tomorrow.
Me:oh. Doesn’t she stay here?
Themba:no. but next year she will be staying here.
Me:okay
.......
