INCLINATION

CHAPTER 63 |Messing With....

HLANGA

She is laughing, looking happy with her workers and family surrounding her. She’s glowing, looking absolutely beautiful and brushing her baby bump now and then. They are congratulating her about the baby and the coming wedding that we are going to have. I hope we won’t have to wait for months before we actually get married.
Isabella and her brother ate with Emy's grandmother. She has Isa in her lap and Isa is the one doing the talking. Her grandmother and Aya are smiling and laughing. I wonder what my daughter is saying that is making them smile like that. My cousins, Sizakele and Lungelo are not here because they haven’t apologised to Emy for what they did and I told them they shouldn’t come near my family.

Emy’s mother, my mother and aunt are drinking tea and it looks like the conversation they are having is serious. It must be about us and the drama her father might bring.

My uncle stands next to me and we watch her. “ She always belongs to our family. Our own beautiful bride. She’s a blessing, Gwabini because I don’t know many women who would have accepted two kids from different mothers, especially Isabella.”
“ I know baba. She’s a one in a million and there is no one like”

“ So tomorrow we’re going to ask for her hand in marriage. Mdakane is going to give us a very tough time”
“ That’s true and please give him whatever he asks for"
“ What if he asks for nothing and turns us away?”

“ He won’t do that because he doesn’t want his daughter to hate him even more than she already does. He is going to ask for the impossible”
“ You better be prepared my son because it’s going to be hard"
“ Don’t worry baba, everything is going to go very well.”
“ What makes you so sure that all is going to go well?”
“ Because I’m going to have a talk with Mdakane….oh here he is"

He walks in like he’s God himself , proud and very sure. Father of the bride who is watching his daughter who’s not talking to him. He walks towards her, they give them some privacy and it’s just the two of them.
I watch them intently to see what’s going to happen and it isn’t long before Emy leaves her father there. She doesn’t look mad but frustrated. I finish my glass of water then walk out of the room and head to the balcony. It’s not long before he stands next to me.

He exhales deeply. “ my daughter hates me because of you”
I look straight ahead. “ I went to you and your family to apologise and what do you do…you shoot me. What did you think she was going to do when she found out?”
“ You knew exactly what you were doing by showing up to apologise”
I face him “ you’re right I did, I did your daughter wrong and so I go to apologise to her family to show them I regret what happened and it will never happen again. You could have thrown me out after that but instead, you chose to be ... .I don’t know how to put it but you chose to be a hot head.”

“ Why did you let me shoot you?”
I chuckle “ you think I let you shoot me?”
“ You know damn well you did”
I’m surprised he figured it out. “ I let you because you wanted to protect your daughter's honour even though you failed to do that when she was married to my brother. I let you do it because it made you feel less guilty about not doing anything all those years ago. You felt like you had to do something and not just accept my apology. It would have been better for you to just accept my apology and let me and your daughter figure things out.”

“ I could have killed you"
“ You would also be dead. Emy would have lost her the man she loves very much and she would have blamed you and not me.”
“ I don’t like you”
“ I know you don’t and I don’t care. You and I have no choice but to get along for the sake of your daughter and grandchildren. If you want to get back to your daughter’s good books, you need to play nice with me.”
“ You’re such a cocky….”
I shake my head and fold my arms. “ Don’t curse my mother Bab' uMdakane. That will make me really mad and I wouldn’t like to punch my father in-law”