Not Your Typical Fairytale (Complete)

Chapter 19

The tears on Lwando’s face as we made our way to him, the smile on his face as my father handed me over to him, it was all priceless. Everything we went through was all worth it. I did not need to know him for ten years for me to know that he was the man I wanted to marry. I didn’t need to know him for long for me to know that his face was the one I wanted to wake up to every morning for the rest of our lives. He taught me that love has no time frame.
“hey” I mouthed and he blushed
“stop it” he mouthed back
I giggled. God I loved this man before me. The pastor read a scripture and then said a few words and now it was time for us to each say our vows. He took my hands into his and then smiled.
“Majola” he breathed out. I couldn’t help but blush, everything was as how I had imagined it to be. “I remember when I found out a marriage was arranged for you, I was so mad, I was pissed. That day I was in the office with your father and he was talking to your mother on the phone” he eyed dad and chuckled “your father can attest to how moody I was after hearing that and at the time he didn’t know what was going on between the two of us” he breathed out “It was as though the day wouldn’t end so that I could see you and confront you for not telling me such a thing but looking back now and finding out that I was the man you were set to marry brings me nothing but joy and happiness.” He let out a heavy sigh “Ayola these people here are my witnesses to how much I love you. Not a day goes by where I don’t pray to God and thank him for giving me you, not a day goes by where I don’t ask God to keep you for me and to give me the strength to love you the way you deserve to be loved. With this ring Ayola I promise to never hurt you intentionally, I promise to always stick around no matter how hard it is because trust me you are not the easiest person to be with” he said laughing and so did everyone else “don’t give me that look, you know how difficult you are to be with. Majola I promise to always take care of you and our daughter and our future kids. I promise to love you when you feel unlovable, theres so much I want to promise you right now but there’s too many eyes and ears here for me to promise you these things” I giggled and so did everyone else “and because I respect our elders, I wont say anything of such nature, we’ll just have to continue these vows when we together” I rolled my eyes at him, I knew exactly what he wanted to promise “lastly I promise to love you until our deathbeds, I say deathbeds because when you die, I die too.” he said placing the ring on my finger, he wiped my teary eyes “I love you so much Majola”
I breathed out trying to catch my breath. Lwando really did a number on me. he set the bar high. “Mr Mbana” he flashed me that charming smile of his. I breathed out “you really set the bar high. How am I supposed to go after that?” he chuckled and so did everyone else “Lwando from the very first time I met you, I knew it deep down in me that I needed to know you. me bumping into you at that airport was no coincidence and then there was your arrogance that made me fall for you. God you such an arrogant man” he laughed “I remember thinking to myself that I couldn’t possibly love someone so arrogant but here we are today, getting married.
Lwando I love you. I knew I was in love with you the minute I told myself I’d stay away from you but couldn’t stay away, I knew I was in love with you the minute I ran away and left for Durban just so I could get away from you” he eyed me and I giggled looking down “yeah I am a difficult person to love at times but that’s all on you because you love me so effortlessly and you always so patient with me and you always making me fall in love with you everyday” I sniffed taking in a few breaths “you came into my life at a time I was going through some stuff and you stayed, I pushed you away so many times but you never gave up on me. Please don’t ever give up on me. I know that things wont be easy as we go along but I promise you now and in front of everyone here that I will never give up on you no matter what and I hope that you never give up on me too. I promise to never get tired of you, and when we go through stuff I promise to talk to you about it rather than sulking and expecting you to read my mind. I promise to always have your back, I promise to be the wife you need me to be. God I love you so much Lwando Mbana, for everything you’ve been to me and everything you will be to me as of today” I breathed out and placed the ring on his finger
He flashed me that teary eyed smile of his, the pastor pronounced us husband and wife and soon after we shared a kiss, he grabbed my but, I broke the kiss “Hayi!” I said hitting his hand and he chuckled
“you said you had a surprise for me” he whispered in my ear
I chuckled “patience is a virtue”
We made our way into the crowd with people congratulating us here and there. We got to where the reception would be held and sat down just talking about random stuff. Everyone was settled in their seats waiting for the commencement of the reception. The MC was a family friend and he handled everything accordingly. People were each making speeches and our friends and family had a lot to say, good things and very embarrassing things too. our little one was sleeping in her nanny’s arms, I cant say I didn’t miss having her in my arms though. We watched as everyone said their piece and soon after we had to reply.
“Thank you everyone for sharing this day with us. The only time I am a man of many words is when it comes to my wife but either than that I don’t talk much so hence I’m going to hand the mic over to her now.” he said giving me the mic
I chuckled “you’ll forgive my husband, he’s like this by nature.” Everyone laughed “anyway thank you to everyone for making this day possible. I would like to thank our parents, when they said our parents know best, they didn’t lie because really they do know best else we wouldn’t be here today”
“how dare you!” a voice said from somewhere around the crowd cutting me off, I looked around and was met by Siphe carrying a gun pointing it at me “You said you loved me and that you would marry me” I looked at Lwando and he shrugged.
I did not need this on my wedding day of all days
“Siphe you don’t want to do this” Lwando stood up and held my hand
“Why her Lwando? Whats so special about her?” she asked with teary eyes “I did everything, I made one mistake only and you made me pay for it in a very despicable way. you tortured me Lwando. She screwed you over, she left you so many times but you always ran back to her” she said with tears streaming down her cheeks “if anyone moves I wont hesitate to shoot your dear bride” she said cocking the gun
I literally stood there frozen with Lwando squeezing my hand. “Siphe lets discuss this in private ok” he pleaded
She shook her head “why? So you can lie to me?” she shook her head “no! I don’t need to hear your lies.”
“Siphe what do you want?” I asked irritated
She chuckled “you really want to know Miss Ayola?” she said sarcastically “I want My man. I want my life. I want the life that was promised to me”
Lwando let go of me and made his way towards her “Siphe put the gun down” he said calmly
She shook her head “Lwando stay right where you are or else I will shoot her”
He shook his head “look at me Siphe. Shoot me instead”
Shots went off and I fell to the floor, I looked down and touched my tummy and came back with blood on my hand, the shock I was in subsided and turned into pain.
“Angel stay with me” Lwando pleaded “somebody call an ambulance” he shouted
“Lwando I cant lose our baby” I said crying out in pain
“you pregnant?” he asked with a smile and tears rolling down his cheeks
I smiled faintly with a nod “yes”
I woke up in a hospital bed with a sharp pain on my stomach, I looked around and Lwando was holding my hand tightly. I tried to move without waking him up but I failed because he got up
“Ayola. Are you ok?” he asked with panic
“Lwando is my baby ok?” I asked touching my tummy. He didn’t respond “Lwando” my voice came out as a whisper
“I’m so sorry Ayo” I shook my head with tears streaming down my cheeks
“No Lwando!” my voice came out as a whisper
“Maj..”
I shook my head cutting him off “NO!” my voice managed to come out
“Majola I am so sorry” he apologised with tears rolling down his cheeks.
You didn’t need to study human behaviour in order to know that my baby was gone, you didn’t need to be a doctor to know that I had lost the baby, my husband’s face was evident enough that we had lost our child. I felt something in me break into a million pieces. Losing a child was no child’s play, losing a child was nothing I would wish upon anyone. It was painful and it didn’t matter what age you were in. Lwando and I were young, too young to lose a child. I was only 21 and he was only 26, we didn’t deserve this.
How were we supposed to celebrate being married when the day we got married was also the day we lost our child?
“Majola I am so sorry” he said squeezing my hand and kissing it a million times
I didn’t know how to respond, I didn’t know what to say to him. I just went numb, I could hear him speak but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. My mind was on how happy I was this morning when Simmy and I shared the news. How happy I was to marry the man sitting beside me. Just how excited I was for going to spend the rest of my life with Lwando. I could sit there on that bed and sulk, shut him out and deal with this alone but I needed him as much as he needed me. We had both lost a part of us so it was only fair that we find comfort in each other.