Custody Battle

"You are right mother, it's in the past and that is where it belongs.'

"You damn right!"

"Which is why I did what I did?" He stood up. "Sindi has put the past behind her and moved on with her life. We have no right to come here and force her and her family to relive it. They have been through enough as it is."

Rose Motsepe was lost for words for the first time in her life. She was used to Tebogo standing up to her but she always had a counter act and never before had he gone behind her back and pulled such stunt. It was so not like him.

"What about what we have been through?" She tried knowing that she had lost. The lesson she had tried to teach Tumi and Sindi about love, Tebogo had learned it and mastered it within a month. He would do anything for Mandisa, including upsetting his own mother. The woman he had sworn to protect and make happy always. Tebogo loved Mandisa the same way Jacob had loved Rose. Completely and unconditional.

"It's nothing compared to what they have been through." Tebogo went on. "And so you know, I've contacted the other two girls Tumi impregnated."

"What you do that for?"

"To pay maintenance. Starting next month, each child will receive a substantial amount from Tumi every month until they are all eighteen. I have spoken to Tumi about this. He will no longer be receiving an allowance every month, instead that money will go to his children and his trust fund will be divided into three and invested for his children."

It was all too much. Rose couldn't think. She couldn't lose her son, not like this. It was bad enough that he lived in New York and didn't visit often but to have him lost to another woman, Rose couldn't handle that. She fell into a chair. "You can't do that." She said weakly. "How will he survive?"

"The same way everyone survives. Work or he can continue to sponge off you. I'm sure you won't mind."

"Your brother has never worked in his life." Rose protested.

'It is never too late to start; after all he does have a degree in financial management. I think it is about time he made use of it. I can set him up with a good job at MIF but he will have to prove himself just like everybody else. I won't give him special treatment."