I WAS PREGNANT WHEN MY SISTER STOLE MY HUSBAND

MY FATHER APOLOGIZES

CHAPTER: 15. MY FATHER APOLOGIZES - HILLCREST TEARS*

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3 days after Nokuthula visit. My father called. Not w******p. Real call.

His voice small, not big man voice who slapped me.

"Lerato... it's Baba... your father..."

I almost hung up. Zamo held my hand, said, "Put on speaker. Let him talk."

"Lerato, I saw your wedding on your cousin's video. You looked... you looked like your mother Nomusa. Same beads. Same isigekle. I... I watched from phone while my friends at shisanyama laughed at me - 'Your daughter married billionaire and you not invited because you slapped her.' I am shame of Hillcrest."

He cried. Old Zulu father crying on phone - big thing. Zulu fathers don't cry.

"I slapped you because you brought twins without father, I thought you shamed me. But now I see Thabo is shame, not you. You raised twins alone on bench with R180, you built business with R300k, you married Mthembu not for money but for protection. I was wrong. I want to apologize. Proper Zulu apology, with goat, with family, at your workshop, so your workers see I respect you as businesswoman."

Zamo whispered, "We go tomorrow. But with security. And he must apologize to twins too, not just you."

Next day, Hillcrest workshop. My 12 women working, trays shining, orders from Cape Town.

My father came with goat - white goat, for apology, worth R3k, which is lot for pensioner - with my uncle, with cousin who videoed wedding.

He saw workshop first time. He never came before. He saw sign: "Lerato Mthembu Woodcraft - From Bench to Business. Founded with R180."

He touched trays, "Nomusa's pattern... you kept her pattern..."

Then he knelt. 68-year-old Zulu man kneeling before 24-year-old daughter in front of 12 women workers. In Zulu culture, father never kneels to child. This is biggest apology.

"Lerato, my daughter, mother of twins, Mrs. Mthembu, CEO... I, Jabulani Dlamini, kneel and ask forgiveness for slapping your cheek where I should have kissed, for closing door where I should have opened, for calling twins bastards when they are now Mthembu heirs. I was wrong. Your mother Nomusa told me before she died: 'Our daughter has hands that will build.' I didn't listen. Now I see hands built empire. Forgive me."

He gave goat.

I knelt too, because daughter also must show respect, even when father wrong.

"Baba, I forgive you. Not because you brought goat, but because you came to workshop, not to mansion. You came to my business, not his mansion, so you see me as businesswoman, not as billionaire's wife. I forgive."

We both cried. Workers ululated "Liii!" - they remembered when I told them story of father slapping.

Twins were there in cots. My father touched them for first time since birth - last time he saw them they were 2 days old and he said "Whose bastards?"

Now he touched Amahle's soft hair, "This one has Nomusa's eyes..."

Amahle grabbed his finger, tight.

Lwandile gave him toothless smile.

"Baba, will you be Gogo? I mean Mkhulu? Grandfather? Official?"

He cried more, "I thought you will never let me be Mkhulu after I slapped..."

Zamo stepped forward, with envelope, "Baba Jabulani, this is not lobola, lobola already paid to Baba Mthembu. This is... how you call... apology acceptance gift. House in Hillcrest - not big, 2 bedroom, but title deed in your name, plus R20k monthly for pension, plus job for your nephew at Mthembu Hotel if he stops gossiping."

My father stood, shocked, "House? For me? But I slapped..."

"Because you knelt," Zamo said. "Mthembu respects man who kneels to his daughter. Most fathers would never. You did. So you deserve house."

We slaughtered goat that day at workshop, not for ancestors, but for forgiveness, and ate with workers, with twins tasting first meat - Amahle hated it, Lwandile loved it.

That night, father called, from new house? No, old house, but happy, "Lerato, your mother would be proud. Bench to CEO. And you forgave old fool."

I said, "Baba, storywine drinker forgives everyone tonight!" and we laughed.

But phone buzzed after. Not Thabo. Unknown.

"Nice forgiveness party. But forgiveness won't save twins when court takes them back next week. I have new lawyer. Better than Busisiwe. See you High Court Monday. - T.N. and N.D."

T.N. and N.D. - Thabo Nkosi and Naledi Dlamini! They teamed up!

Ex-husband and ex-best friend team to take my twins!

Monday - 3 days from now.

Chapter 20 is close, but enemy is closer.

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