Maid For Marriage

81

"Hi Thandi. It's nice to see you again." Dr Reynolds said as I let her in. I closed the door and followed them to the living room. "Sorry, I was busy having lunch." I was about to pack my food away when MaCele came to help me. I just let her do it. I didn't want to cause any issues, especially not in front of Dr Reynolds.

"Let me just start by greeting everyone. Good afternoon to all of you. I've had the chance to meet all of you in our sessions, but I've never had the chance to sit down with everyone. I would also like to thank Thandi for letting us into her home. I gathered from your shocked expression when we entered that you had no idea we were coming. I'm sorry about that. I did not know you were unaware." I just gave her a small nod. There was nothing I could do about it now. They were already here.

"I'm here as a mediator. The family had some concerns they wanted to discuss with you, and they thought it best if there was an unbiased party to mediate the conversation." This felt like an intervention. I didn't know why I needed one, but oh well!

I grabbed the pillow next to me and tried putting it behind my back before I could even get it done. Senzo appeared beside me to help. I let him because why not? My throat was scratchy, and I coughed a little. The whole room tensed up. Everyone was literally on the edge of their seats, trembling in fear. They were scared. "Are you okay?" I nodded. It did not seem to help anyone. "Are you sure? Do you need the pump or maybe the oxygen?" The drama of it all. "No, I'm fine. I swear."

Nobody in that room believed me, and the worst part was of it all was that I coughed again. "Are you sure? Maybe I should just get the pump in case you might need it." Everyone was staring at me with huge eyes waiting for what I was going to say. "No, I don't need the pump. It's just a scratch in my throat. Maybe some water." MaKhumalo jumped up first and went to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. "Here you go. I got you a lozenge, too." I thanked her, and everyone sat back in their seats.

"Okay. Is everyone ready to carry on?" They all agreed, and MaKhumalo started speaking. "Okay, I was asked to bring this up to you. I just want to let you know that this is how we all feel about the situation, and then maybe after that, we can discuss a way forward." What the hell was going on? I tried keeping a blank expression, but I really didn't know what this was.

"All of us, including Baba, do not feel comfortable with you being here alone while you're still recovering. We know you've come a long way with your recovery, but we feel that it's crucial that you have help. Even if that means Dlamini stays here full time. The wives don't mind driving here from the village, but if God forbid anything were to happen to you and Dlamini was hours away, we wouldn't forgive ourselves. So we've come to ask if we can go back to how it was."

I didn't want to, but I was too tired to fight and to explain myself. On top of that, everyone was so on edge because of me, and I felt really bad about it. "Okay." Was all I said. "Okay, what?" MaGumede asked. "Okay, we can figure something out." The all let out a breath. "I really thought you would fight us on this." MaMlambo said.

"There are conditions, though." The relieved faces tensed up. "What are the conditions?" Senzo asked. "I still need space. Having all of you here was great at first, but there's too many of you." They chuckled to themselves. "Work out some schedule, timetable or something. I'm still adamant about Dlamini spending time with his children, so maybe he can do that some nights while someone babysits me. We can work it out at another stage." They seemed happy about that. "But I still want my last night of freedom, so after lunch, I want you all out." At first, they laughed. "I'm not joking."

"Okay, that's great. We can end the session here if nobody has any objections, but we do still have an hour left." Dr Reynolds said, looking at her watch. At first, nobody seemed to want to discuss anything, but then MaKhumalo cleared her throat.