Maid For Marriage

101

I ran to MaCele's house and asked her to keep an eye on my son while I went to the family's homestead. I never ran so fast in my life. By the time we got back, they were helping MaKhumalo into the car. She was screaming so loud neighbors were coming out and the rest of the wives came out of their houses.

Her girls were crying and fighting MaCele. I went to help her, and we got them inside the house as Baba drove away. They eventually calmed down, but they didn't sleep. Baba kept me updated, and I shared every single update with them.

"MaBhengu." Zandile, MaKhumalo's eldest daughter, came into the kitchen. "Yes, baby."
"Did Baba send any more messages?" I put the last dish away. "Check my phone. It's on that counter." She nodded and got the phone. She shook her head. "Not yet." Just as she said that, a notification came through. "Is it him." She nodded and clicked on. "She's okay! She's coming home tomorrow! She's okay!" She jumped for joy and hugged me. I held her tightly, and her sister came running in. "Pretty, Ma is okay! She's okay!" That afternoon, I helped them make a big welcome home banner, and MaMlambo and I prepared a feast for dinner. I wasn't sure if MaKhumalo would even eat, but we thought it would be something nice to do.

The girls were really happy to see their mom. They hugged her tightly. I could see she was still in pain, but she held onto them for dear life. We sat down and had a big family dinner. The elders joined, too. Once again, MaGumede was nowhere in sight. Nobody noticed, but I did. I knew that somehow she was the cause of this, and whatever happened to MaKhumalo was supposed to happen to me.

I helped MaKhumalo to bed after dinner. "I can go up the stairs. I'm fine." She said, but I wasn't having it. "You're in pain. I can see that. Also, we should stay away from that room." I said the last part softly. She stopped walking and looked at me. She narrowed her eyes, and then they widened. She gasped. I just put my hand over her mouth. "Shh, we'll figure it out, but you need to rest." She nodded, and I took my hand away from her mouth.

Simangaliso woke up at three in the morning and would not go back to sleep. He wanted me to walk around with him. I was dead on my feet, and he was having the time of his life being bounced around all over the house. He eventually let me sit down, and we watched as the sun started to rise. "Morning." MaKhumalo joined us and took a seat. "Morning. You should be resting." She just sighed. "I really want to, but I just can't. This thing with you know who is bothering me." She sighed, looking really worried. "Mbali?"
"Mm?"
"What happened to you?" She sighed.

"The doctors don't know. I was hemorrhaging, and when they finally stopped the bleeding, they ran tests. They did an ultrasound and found that I had a severe amount of scarring in my womb." I didn't understand. "What happened?"
"I don't know, and the doctors don't know. It just appeared out of nowhere. They had to go over my medical history to believe that I hadn't had any surgeries that could've resulted in that. Thandi, I hope you didn't go into that room." I shook my head. "I didn't, but... MaCele did. She cleaned after... After it happened. By the time I noticed her cleaning, she was almost done. I was too late." She sighed. "Hopefully, it's a onceoff thing. We need to speak to Baba about our suspicions. We're not safe here. We're not safe at all. I really hope nothing happens to MaCele's."

"I'm sorry this happened to you." She just sighed. "Don't worry about it. I'm done having children. I was going to get my tubes tied next month because keeping up with taking birth control is just too much effort. I'm okay. I'm just scared for the safety of everyone in our family." I sighed softly. I didn't know what to say.

Even though MaKhumalo wasn't fully recovered, we still went out for lunch. "Baba, the reason we're out for lunch isn't because I promised the kids." MaKhumalo's girls were in the play room with the little kids. We brought chumisa and the other two that were close to her in age with us. "The two of you have been acting really weird. Is it something that I did? You can tell me." She shook her head. "Baba, we think we know what happened to me."
"Okay, please share."
"We think that someone could have used muti on me."
"Witchcraft Mbali? But who and why?" This was not one of those times he needed to act stupid.

"Baba, we caught MaGumede in my room acting very suspicious a few days after the ceremony." He tensed up. "Listen, I know nobody gets along with her, but this is a really big accusation." We nodded. "We know, Baba. When we caught her, she wasn't just acting suspicious. She was also very shocked when she found out I wasn't using that room anymore. We think that whatever happened to MaKhumalo was supposed to happen to me." He sat back in his seat. "I need confirmation of this. I can't just accuse her. It can go really bad." He was right, but how.

The kids played in the play area while we devized a plan. When we got home, Baba asked the wives to go grocery shopping. When the girls heard, they obviously wanted to go too. Baba even gave Pretty and Zandile a credit card to buy everyone toys. Even though I lived in luxury every day, I always forget how rich he actually is.

"Gogo is on her way to look after Simangaliso. When she gets here, we can go see the sangoma." Just then, there was a knock on the door. "That's probably her." He went to open the door and in walked the sangoma.

I was terrified.

He was wearing his traditional outfit with a beaded head peace that covered his face. He grunted and roared as he spoke his incantations. He came in and made his way up the stairs straight to the main bedroom. Gogo joined us and we just watched from outside the room. He went to the bed in the middle of the room and flipped the mattress off like he had super human strength.

"There it is!" Huh? What? I wanted to see so bad, but I was too scared to set foot in that room. He got his stick and fiddled with something on the base of the bed. "You can come see. This thing has done its job." We all walked into the room cautiously. On the base of the bed was a pair of underwear. It was covered in what looked like old blood and some sort of plant mixture. MaKhumalo gasped when she saw it. "That's mine. That's my underwear."

I was shocked into silence. What was this even?

We sat down with the sangoma. After throwing his bone and calling on his spiritual guides, he told us everything.

"One of your wives has been using witchcraft since before you were married. Her powers aren't very strong, and neither is her muti up until now. She's targeted every one of your wives. She hasn't had a lot of success except for with one. One wife was not protected in the spiritual realm up until recently, and it's you." He pointed at me. "Me?" He just nodded. "You thought it was your father causing all your misfortune, right?"
"Yebo."
"It wasn't. Your father holds no power over you. It was your sisterwife. All of the bad luck you faced in marriage was because of this woman. Even the children that you lost was because of this woman. Every time you fall pregnant, you lose the baby and almost lose your life because of this woman. You're in and out of the hospital, but you have no medical conditions."

The more he spoke, the angrier I got. "Once you were properly aligned with the Dlamini ancestors and you managed to reunite your mother with her ancestors, you were protected. She tried very hard, but you and your son made it. Since she couldn't get to your son, she's trying to end your bloodline by attacking your womb?"

I didn't know what to say or think. "This muti..." He pointed to the underwear. "Was meant for you, MaBhengu." We knew it was, but hearing it out loud was like a punch to the gut.

"Which wife is causing all this?" MaKhumalo asked. "The one who came from the Gumede family."