Ziphozethu

66

"Zethu. Baby it's me." I was frozen. The audacity of this woman. "I saw you at the fashion show and instantly knew you were my baby. Look at you." She stepped closer to me but I took a step back. "Touch me and I'll kill you with my bare hands." She blinked rapidly. "Ziphozethu please." What the fuck was she saying "please" for?

"What do you want?" She cleared her throat. "I just want to talk baby. We have a lot of catching up to do. How is my baby, Sicelo?" I couldn't believe her. "Sicelo is alive and happy without you. If you come near him I will destroy you."
"Zethu he's my son."
"He stopped being your son the day you left us in that shack. I don't want you near me or him. So leave before I have security throw you out." I was so upset I was shaking.

She pulled papers out of her bag. "Okay, I'll leave but I'm not giving up. So, you can take these stupid papers your lawyer gave me and you can forget about me ever signing it. Sicelo is my son. My heir and I won't just sign him over to you." She tore up the papers and threw them in the floor before leaving.

"Mamakhe."
"Call the lawyer."
"Mamakhe calm down."
"Call the fucking lawyer!"
"Look at me." Moses pulled me towards him. "You need to calm down. For your health and for the sake of the baby." I heard a small gasp from MaDlamini.

Moses was right. I couldn't loose my temper. My baby needs me to stay healthy. I took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll try. Alerting our security to never let her or my father in here again will help." He nodded. "Okay, I'll do that. I'll also call the lawyer so we can see what our options are." I nodded. "Thank you."

"Did I hear something about a baby?" I forgot MaDlamini was there. "Oh, umm..." Moses looked at me for permission and I nodded. "MaZulu and I are expecting." She squealed. "Finally! Congratulations!" She hugged me. "Nomzamo and I knew it couldn't have been a stomach bug." We laughed. "How am I the pregnant one but I was the last to know?" We all laughed together.

While Moses sorted out the issue with my parents, I showed MaDlamini and Gogo the scan of the baby and told them all about my doctor's appointment. Their excitement was a welcomed distraction from my mother showing up out of the blue.

"Okay, we'll go see our lawyer tomorrow. He says not to worry. He expected and prepared for this. He'll explain everything tomorrow. For now, you should just relax." I felt relieved.

"Where are the kids?" I asked before doing anything else. "They are at the movies even though there's a state of the art Cinema right here at home. Before you start worrying they have nannies and security with them. They've been wanting to go and this was the easiest way to get them out of the house without all of Sicelo's questions." We both chuckled. That boy was going to be some kind of lawyer or detective some day.

I went straight to bed and had the best sleep of my life. My hunger woke me up and I was disappointed to find that I only slept for an hour.  I heard the kids out by the pool. I grabbed something to eat before they saw me and I had absolutely no more time to myself. I made the biggest meatiest sandwich I could and pulled up a chair by the kitchen island.

I was stuffing my face when Moses joined me. "That looks good." His hand stretched out to my plate and I hit it away. "Ouch!" I just glared at him while he looked at me surprised. "This, is my sandwich. I made it with my own two hands. Don't touch my sandwich." I could tell he was keeping back his laugh. "Okay, just stop glaring at me like that." He chuckled a little bit. "You really are pregnant. I know we saw the scan and heard the heartbeat but this right here is final confirmation." I just rolled my eyes as he laughed at his own stupid joke.

"Good news and maybe some bad news." Oh no. "Remember the land I've been trying to aquire?" I shook my head. "Not really, but carry on." He chuckled again. "Well, the old man who owns it asked to meet with me. I think he might be ready to sell."
"Well that's good. What's the bad news?" He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I have to go see him. Which means I'll be gone for a few days. I just want to see the children off to school and then I want to go see him." I just nodded. "Okay, seems reasonable. Have you told MaDlamini?" He shook his head. "Not yet. I can't find her. I thought she was in here with you." I shook my head. "I heard the kids out by the pool. She might be there." He nodded and excused himself.

That night we helped the kids pack. I was glad that Zenandi, my "mother" was already a distant memory for Sicelo. He was so excited to be back in school that he wouldn't stop talking about it. We said our goodbyes in the morning and they were off.

Moses and I had an early meeting with our lawyer and I wasn't looking forward to it. Yes, I wanted to get all of this out the way, but this whole situation made me feel uneasy. I was trying to ignore it for the sake of my health and the health of my baby but it kept lingering at the back of my mind.

"So, I'm fairly confident that both of your parents will give up their parental rights willingly. In the case that it's not willingly we have an airtight case. You were only eleven when you mother kidnapped you and took you far from home. Your brother was still an infant at the time. After your mother kidnapped she proceeded to abandon you with an infant and she fled the country to persuae a singing career that after all these years is only taking off now. In that time your father did nothing. They have no tie, bond, or relationship with your brother it would be virtually impossible for them to gain custody of him."

"Okay, but how will you get them to sign over their parental rights willingly?" He just got a smirk on his face. "Both of your parents future's hang in the balance. One wrong move and they loose everything. Your mother is in the process of negotiate a record deal. The company she hopes to work with have zero tolerance for scandals. If this had to go public her career would be over. After the passing of you uncle, the king, your father is hoping to take over the throne. My condolences."

"I never knew him but thanks I guess. Are you saying we threaten them with going public if they don't sign over willingly?" He nodded. "Yes, add that to the fact that they would never win this case and I'm sure they'll sign."

My heart was at ease when we got home but then Baba had to leave. Gogo kept me company in the time he was gone which ended up only being two days. He requested a special lunch upon his return and I was so excited I cooked it myself. I was a bit surprised to see him come back with his uncle but I didn't even care. My husband was home and that made me happy.

He seemed a bit uneasy during lunch and didn't say anything about the land deal he had been going on and on about. Did he get the land? Did the old man sell at a reasonable price? Why was everything so quiet.

The maids came and took our plates away. Baba cleared his throat and I just knew it was bad news. No good news ever came after him clearing his throat like that. If he didn't get this land I knew it wouldn't be good for him.

"So, the land I was looking at is finally for sale." Maybe I was wrong but I still had a bad feeling about this. "The owner offered it to me but on one condition. He made it clear that this condition was non- negotiable." What was going on? "What's the condition?" MaDlamini asked.

"Umm, he said he would sell me the land but," he cleared his throat again.

"I have to marry his daughter."

What the fuck!