Thabo’s mother decided to break the ice.
“So, makoti, seeing that the years have gone by, do you think you will be able to give Thabo a child?”
Pam’s mom quickly jumped to answer. “Of course she would, why wouldn’t she?
“Everyone knows that your daughter is not young anymore. And it’s been seven months since she’s been back with Thabo but we’ve seen nothing,” continued Thabo’s mom.
“Ma please!” Thabo tried to stop his mother.
“No Thabo, we must talk about these things now before you make a mistake of marrying a barren woman,”
“She’s not barren,” answered Thabo.
“I will not have you disrespect my daughter like that,” said Stacy angrily.
Pam burst into tears and ran out of the room. Stacy ran after her.
“Mma, oua bona gorri odirileng?” said Thabo to his mom and stormed out of the room.
He went to his bedroom where he found Pam crying and Stacy consoling her. He got in and asked Stacy to excuse herself.
“Thanks Stacy, I’ll take it from here,” Stacy nodded and got out of the room. “Baby, I’m so sorry. Mma didn’t mean any of the things she said,” said Thabo trying to console his hurt lover.
“No, she meant it, and the worst thing is I agree with her. What if I’ll never have a child? We aren’t young anymore Thabo,” said Pam crying.
“Hey, hey we will have children; we’ll make beautiful babies, let’s not rush anything and just focus on the wedding.” At that moment Pam had another feeling of nauseous and she ran out of the room.
When she came back, Thabo was worried.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
“Oh no it’s nothing, I think it’s just nerves that’s all,” said Pam.
“Maybe we should call a doctor,”
“No, I’ll be fine. I’ll just have a glass of water, then we’ll go downstairs,” said Pam.
“But you’re alright?” asked Thabo.
“Yeah I’m fine,” answered Pam. They kissed and headed downstairs.
The dinner was over as everyone seemed to have lost their appetite. Thabo’s friends, Neo and Musa, went up to Thabo and Pam. and Neo talked to Pam
“Hey Pam, you know it’s tradition that we throw Thabs a bachelor party right?” Neo said.
“Mhh right, as long as there are no strippers or anything funny,” said Pam.
“Ahh now you’re sucking the fun out of it,” said Musa jokingly, they all laughed and they left just as Stacy came in.
“Hey, are you OK?” she asked.
“I’m fine, I guess,” answered Pam.
“Thabo’s mom is way too rude if you ask me,” said Stacy.
“Well, she is concerned about her son’s well-being,” defended Pam.
“Right, as if you’re going to kill the man,” said Stacy and they laughed. “Hey, it’s time girl, let’s get ready,” continued Stacy excitedly.
Stacy was of course talking about the bridal shower. She had organised it with help from Pam’s mom and it was meant to start after the dinner. Thabo’s sisters attended the shower. They had lots of fun and partied till midnight. They were all drained out when went to sleep. Tomorrow was the big day.
The long awaited day finally arrived and everyone woke up extremely early. There were people moving up and down before sunrise. The sound of the sea was refreshing and got everyone fresh and ready. The bride woke up with a knock from Stacy.
“Hey glowing bride, wake up,”
“Argh, I feel horrible. I shouldn’t have slept so late,” said Pam.
“Oh please man, we had fun, that’s all that matters,” replied Stacy.
“Tell me, have you seen Thabo?” asked Pam.
“No, I haven’t. He probably hasn’t woken up because I’m sure they partied up a storm,” said Stacy. “And you do know he can’t see you right?”
“Oh please man, what year is this, 1980?”
“Hey, tradition is tradition and you will follow it, even if I force you to,” joked Stacy.
Her mother came in very excited. “Stacy, no time to be all chatty, chatty. Is everything ready? The dress, the makeup artist, Frederique, oh I must get moving,”
“Mom, we have a wedding planner remember?” said Pam.
“Honey, please you can never rely on those people. When I was marrying your dad, we hired a woman named Sylvia Brown who left us high and dry at the last minute.”
Stacy answered Pam’s mom. “The dresses will be here anytime, Gert will deliver them personally.”
At that moment the wedding planner came in.
“Hey, bride-to-be, uhm Mrs Lekgoba, there’s a little problem. The dress hasn’t arrived and it’s already 9 o’clock. The band said they are stuck in traffic,”
“What, did you try to contact Gert?” asked Pam’s mom.
“Yes, it’s going to voicemail,” replied the wedding planner.
“Oh my goodness this is not good, maybe I’m not meant to get married,” said Pam panicking.
“Nonsense, you will get married, today, even if you get married in a morning robe,” said Pam’s mom. Pam just burst into tears.
As the wedding planner got out of the room the phone rang while they were trying to console Pam. Stacy answered.
“Hello, oh Thabo, what, how…OK.” she ended the call. “Uhm, Thabo, Neo and Musa are not here as we thought. They are somewhere outside Pietermaritzburg and they are out of petrol,” Pam just bawled, she had a convulsion of nausea and again ran out of the room.
***