THE COVEN’S BRIDE
CHAPTER 7
SIPHO AND ROSA GUMBI’S HOUSE
“Hey, honey!” Sipho greets his wife, who just walked into his home office. Sipho now works from home. He only goes out to attend meetings that require his presence. He prefers to do everything from the comfort of his home. He has been working from home for about 3 years, and he prefers it because when at home, he works at his own pace. He also gets to see his lovely wife all the time – that’s a win for him.
Rosa folds her arms across her chest, visibly angry. “Your father is here.”
“He is here? He didn’t tell me he was coming.”
Rosa says, “I am pretty sure he is here to deliver bad news. Whenever your father shows his face, he never has good news to deliver. Sipho, I don’t want any nonsense with my children. You and your family should stay away from my children.”
Sipho walks to his wife. He hates it when his wife is not happy. The memory of what happened to her is still fresh in his mind, and he doesn’t want to see his wife broken again. Sometimes he has flashbacks of the dark place she was in and hates his father all over again. He hates that the family waited until their wedding night to tell him about the family curse. Had he known there was a family curse, he wouldn’t have married Rosa. No man wants to watch something that brutal happen to the love of his life.
Sipho holds his wife’s hands and says, “I am sure it’s not bad news. He knows very well what happened last time. I doubt he wants us to get back there.”
“I hope so because I will k*ll all the Gumbi family members if anyone dares to touch my children.”
Sipho kisses her on the cheek. “There is no need to k*ll anyone, Mama Bear. Let me go talk to him.”
“I will be in our room.”
Sipho kisses her on the lips. “Calm down, Rosa. I am sure he is just here to check on us. Let’s stay positive.”
“Fine…let’s stay positive.”
Sipho cups his wife’s face and kisses her once more. “I will tell you what he says, let me go talk to my father. And who knows, maybe Mzilikazi has passed away, and he is here to deliver the bad news.”
“We all know that Mzilikazi is not going anywhere. We will all die and leave that man here. I am starting to think maybe he is a vampire and immortal.”
Sipho laughs, louder than he intended. “An old vampire? And what do you know about vampires, Rosa?”
“Everyone knows about vampires, we grew up watching those movies. Maybe he got turned at an old age, that is why he will remain at that age.”
“Okay, let me go talk to my father. I will tell you what he says, and I will make sure to ask him if Mzilikazi is a vampire,” Sipho laughs, leaving the room. A vampire, he thinks to himself, leaving the room. Vampires don’t even exist.
When Sipho bumps into one of the house staff, he asks where his father is, and they direct him to the dining area. He finds his father having a good laugh with his grandchildren, Sibusiso and Jasmine. The scene warms his heart, but anger takes over when he thinks of what happened to his wife. He doesn’t want the same fate to befall his children.
“Hello, good people. What are we all laughing about?” Sipho asks. He sits on one of the couches. The server immediately asks if he needs something to drink. He settles for brandy; he needs some alcohol in his system in case his father is there to deliver bad news.
Jasmine answers, “Sibusiso was telling us about his first time on a train. Granddad also just told us a hilarious story about how he once missed his stop five times when he was on a train.”
Sipho shakes his head, chuckling. His father has told that story a thousand times – it seems now it has reached the grandchildren. His father missed his stop so many times that he didn’t even know where his home was. They had to get him help, and someone took him home. Zolani and Ntombizodwa teased him for a year about how he missed his stop five times.
“Children, can I talk to my father for a moment?” Sipho requests. He doesn’t want to waste any time. He wants to know if this is an innocent visit from his father or if he comes bearing bad news.
“We are not children, Dad,” Jasmine says, getting off the couch. “Granddad, don’t leave without telling me.”
“I won’t, and I will prepare my card. We both know you are about to make me buy stuff for you,” says Mkhonto.
“I love that you understand me, unlike some people,” Jasmine says, her focus fixed on her father. Her father always tells her to stick to her allowance and that if she wants more money, she must join the family business.
“I am heading out. If I don’t see you, I will visit you at your house, grandfather,” Sibusiso says.
“And where are you going?” Jasmine asks Sibusiso. He tells her to mind her business. The two siblings go their separate ways, with Sibusiso heading out of the house and Jasmine heading to her room. She still needs to post all the lovely photos she took at Tshidi’s party.
As soon as the children are out of sight, Sipho asks his father. “Why are you here?”
Mkhonto sighs heavily. “Mzilikazi called a family meeting.”
“What is it this time? Wasn’t I clear when I said it ends with me and Rosa?”
With sadness in his tone, Mkhonto answers, “You know we cannot control this thing. It wants what it wants, and we have to deliver or lose the whole family.”
“What does it want this time?”
Mkhonto pauses for a second, not sure how to deliver the news. He doesn’t want to go back to not speaking with his son. “Mzilikazi says he saw it last night.”
“What does it want, Dad?”
“Mzilikazi says a woman is coming into our family. She is the miracle we have been waiting for. As long as she is in the family, we won’t have to perform any more rituals. She will be the coven’s bride forever,” Mzilikazi explains.
“What woman, and how will she save us?”
Mzilikazi sighs once more. He locks eyes with his son and says, “One of my grandchildren, your children, will marry the girl.”
“No! Not my children!”
“Sipho, you know we don’t have a choice,” Mzilikazi says, calmly. He also wishes things were different. If he could, he would have made sure the curse ended with him.
“We do, we could all die.”
Mkhonto says, “Die with the same children we are trying to protect? Then what would be the point of all this if the cycle is one day going to continue? I am sure it will one day find its way back to the family.”
“Which one of my children?”
Mkhonto shakes his head. “I don’t know. Mzilikazi only said the girl will come to us and that when she does, we must treat her like royalty because she is the miracle we have been waiting for.”
“Rosa will hate me. It took her a while to forgive me.”
“I am sorry, son. I wish there was a way to avoid all this, but there isn’t. I am very sorry,” Mkhonto says.
“I hate this family.”
***
When Mkhonto left the house, Sipho also made an excuse to leave the house. He didn’t know how to face Rosa. He didn’t know how to look at her and tell her that the same thing that happened to her might happen to their future daughter-in-law. Although they say different things are required of the brides, they don’t know what it wants this time.
With Rosa, they requested her womb, meaning the 5 miscarriages she had were the children given to it. Another thing, she is not allowed to carry and give birth to a Gumbi seed because she was once the coven’s bride. She was required to get pregnant only to lose the children, and that went on until another daughter-in-law took over. She had her 4 children through surrogacy – they are all 2 years apart. Rosa might not have carried her children, but they are still hers by DNA.
Sipho’s phone rings and his heart sinks when he notices that it is his wife. How does he begin to tell her what his father said? He knows Rosa will be angry and will not allow this to happen. But then, if they don’t follow the rules, they might all die. Then all the sacrifices they made will be in vain.
As Mkhonto said, how do they know that this curse will not one day find its way back to the family even after they die? Maybe there is another Gumbi family member they don’t know about who will continue doing this thing’s bidding. But they all have a chance to be saved with the new bride that will join the family. Sipho sighs heavily before answering his phone.
Sipho: Hey my love.
Rosa: Where did you disappear to?
Sipho: My father needed help with something, so I had to step out. I’m sorry I didn’t update you.
Rosa: What did he want?
Sipho: He was just checking in on us. Nothing serious.
Rosa: Oh, I thought maybe he had bad news.
Sipho: Not this time, love.
Rosa: I am glad, I wouldn’t want anything happening to my precious babies.
Sipho: Me too.