Our Hearts Are Whole Again

After years of pain following the abduction of their daughter Zephany, Morné and Celeste Nurse have finally found peace

- Marelize Grbich

The tears start even before the bride has made it to the altar and the groom meets her halfway up the aisle, wiping her face gently with a tissue.

Like most weddings, it’s an emotional affair – but for this couple, there’s way more water under the bridge than for most soon to-be newlyweds.

For one thing, their four children are among the guests. For another, they’ve been here before – and in the 23-plus years since they last met at the altar, they’ve endured a roller coaster that would stretch most families to breaking point.

Which is exactly what happened.

Morné and Celeste Nurse had a child, lost that child, broke up in the bitter years of blame and guilt, found her again, and then tried to adapt to a new reality fraught with complexity.

But they managed to find each other again – and now here they are in the Rocklands Baptist Church in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, saying “I do” all over again. And this time it’s for keeps, they say.

Celeste (42) is elegant in a simple white satin dress, Morné (43) smart in an all-white outfit. Their long-lost daughter, Zephany (23), who was raised as Miché Solomon, beams alongside her siblings, Cassidy (19), Joshua (14), and Micah (13).

“Each of us has a past we can’t return to,” Peggy Diaries, a member of the congregation, says at the start of the service. “We can’t change the past and we can’t let the past rob us of the joy of the present.

“God gives everyone a second chance. Today is Morné and Celeste’s second chance.”