[LARONA]
I have invited Kuli out for lunch today. She’s been trying to lay a foundation for our relationship. It’s time I reciprocate. I was just a bit angst-ridden about this whole thing. My personal life has also been in absolute shambles, but I feel like I can be outside now without feeling some type of way. I have already ordered some decaf but it took a lot out of me not to order a mimosa.
‘You look good!’ I hear her voice coming from behind me. I stand up so I can hug her. She’s such a pretty girl, man. I don’t know if it’s the face, the infectious smile, the aura, or everything working together for the good of her image.
‘How are you?’ she asks before taking a seat.
‘I’m okay. How are you? How’s the baby?’
‘Vutlhari is growing at an alarming rate’
‘Did you find a nanny?’
She was conducting interviews the last time we spoke on the phone. She couldn’t gel with all the people her agency kept sending her way. She sounds less stressed now.
‘Yeah, I actually did. She was hiding in plain sight’ she laughs and calls a waiter. I know this is lunch but I feel like an eggs benedict. She orders a Mexican salad. The waitress takes our orders and leaves.
‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s one of the ladies who were working in the house. She arrived… I think two months back because Mhan’ Sylvia took her retirement package and left us’ she fakes a cry and I laugh.
‘Sounds like you loved her’
‘All the three women who work, or worked in that house are amazing people’
I’ve had a conversation with Mhan’ Maria and she’s a good reference for that statement’
‘So she’s fully changed from being a helper to a nanny?’
She nods.
‘Yup. Can’t have her do both. I need her full attention. I don’t play about my baby like that’
‘Motherhood suits you’ I say and she smiles.
‘Thank you so much, but you are lying. You’re not okay. What’s up?’
‘I’m really fine’ I insist. She gives me an eye full of suspicion. I reach for my hand cream in my bag and she brings her palm. I squeeze a little onto her hand then mine.
‘Okay, okay. I just keep having this same dream. Nothing changes in it. That’s all I’m thinking about right now, I swear’
‘Do you mind telling me what the dream is about?’
‘It’s just my mom asking me to go back to church’
‘What church did she go to?’
‘She started as an Apostle, then went to Dutch. That’s the one she attended until she died’
Our food arrives.
‘I am glad she finally told you this herself’ she reaches for the fork about saying this. I lift a brow.
‘Your spirit guides are inherently Apostolic, Lala. That is where you need to spend your time if your wish is peace of mind’
‘What?’
She nods.
‘Why did you drop out?’
I laugh at how she phrases this.
‘I don’t know really. I just felt like I was there but God wasn’t seeing me. You know?’
‘I do not know. Please expand’
‘Well now that I’m older, I know better than to measure His love for me based on materialistic things, but at the time I couldn’t understand why none of my prayers were being answered’
She nods as she chews.
‘I can relate to that’
‘So yeah. Recently, I’ve been trying to restore that connection. It’s a slow and confusing process but there’s always a thought at the back of my head, telling me that I’m not alone and that He’s always with me’ I shrug. ‘Are you into church as well?’
She shakes her head.
‘My people are not deeply rooted in Christianity. I would be crying the whole day if I went there. So much that I would be labelled as a demon or something’
She’s hilarious.
‘But isn’t it like a choice we have to make?’
‘I don’t think so. I believe we come from different backgrounds man. Hence we can never be the same’
‘That makes a lot of sense’
‘So… are you willing to go back?’
‘I am. I just miss the feeling of taking all my baggage and leaving it in His hands, hoping for the best. I don’t think I can do this alone, Kuli. I am just so burdened and it’s exhausting’
I did not mean to cry but it’s already happening. She holds my hand and squeezes. I am ruining this date and I hate that. I wipe the tears and recollect my thoughts.
‘So yeah, I’m passively looking for one that will suit me here’
‘It doesn’t sound to me like you take your spirituality seriously’
‘I think… baby steps?’
‘That could also work, I guess’
We continue eating and speaking about unimportant things. The mood needs to get lighter. Every time we are together, we are always surrounded by this heavy energy. I don’t know if I’m the only one that feels this between the two of us. I ask to see pictures of Vutlhari and she excitedly pulls out her phone. I meant it when I said motherhood suits her. Vutlhari is the luckiest boy alive right now to be receiving this kind of motherly love. Kuli adores her son and I don’t think there’s anything anybody can say to change her mind.
‘Awwwwnn... he is so cute and chubby’ I can’t help myself as I watch his picture from her phone. ‘When did you take this?’
‘This morning. His facial features are getting defined now and it’s the most amazing feeling to experience’
‘He’s adorable’
I hand her the phone back and she looks at the picture before locking it.
‘Thank you for welcoming me with warm hands, Kuli. I… This is difficult for me. How much more for you as his first wife?’
She sighs and sips on her lemonade through the straw. She puts her loose fist against the palm of the other hand and balances with her chin.
‘It’s not easy, to be honest. I also didn’t want to get married to Kurhula at first. Simply because I didn’t know him but my dad did’
I could never have thought. They behave like high school sweethearts.
‘I would be lying to you if I said I wanted this, but I would also be lying as well if I said I never expected it. King or not, it’s highly unlikely to find a man from royalty having a single wife. Some just do because they feel they can. Look at vamalume Wiseman and the rest. But just like you and me, Kurhula has no choice in this, It’s his ancestral calling. He is called to be a polygamist, just like Uncle Albert. If it’s truly a calling and not a hoax, it’s highly unlikely that there will be chaos in that setting because the people in it are always chosen’
‘I think problems might arise if outside influence is allowed to penetrate the relationship’
‘I agree. So, I would be deliberately making my life difficult if I went against this. Let’s just hope it ends with you’
‘Yoh ha.ah. I would leave nna if he wanted to take a third wife’
She giggles.
‘My darling, I would like to see you try. And speaking of Uncle Albert, I’d like us to go visit his wives one day. We both have a lot to learn from both of them’
‘You’ll let me know’
‘Cool. Can I make a confession?’ she asks and I get anxious. I nod, nonetheless. She puts her utensils down.
‘Growing up, the fact that I couldn’t have friends bothered me a lot’
‘Couldn’t? How when you’re so lovable?’
‘I’m only understanding now as an adult why I can’t have them. People with a calling like mine thrive in solitude but that’s not the point. The point is, I’ve always wanted somebody I could do girly stuff with. My husband is my best friend yeah sure, but there’s always that gap for a girl best friend, you know?’
I nod. I like where she’s going with this.
‘You possess the qualities I always look for in women, from what I’ve seen. So please don’t disappoint me’ the last part comes out as a squeal – making me laugh. I put my elbow on the table and give her my pinkie. She crosses it with hers.
‘Just as long as we don’t discuss our relationship problems unless they involve the both of us, I don’t see how this won’t work’
‘Definitely’ she agrees and we toast to our pact. ‘The jealousy will obviously and naturally be there so I feel we should try our best not to aggravate it’
‘Fully agree, Mrs K’ I acknowledge. I feel a whole lot lighter after this conversation.
