“You weren’t listening to me, Mom, when I kept telling you that you were dead wrong for what you and Dad did. You didn’t have to admit it for me to know that you were in on this.”
“It didn’t happen that way.”
“You knew. Even with all of that, with everything that went down, I refuse to help them put you behind bars. It was best that I left.” Her emotions formed a big ball in her gut. “I don’t even understand why the hell you are here.”
“Because I love my daughter.”
“Your daughter? I’m stolen goods! What you—” She took a deep breath, trying to keep her composure, but it was far too late. “What you and Dad did was inexcusable and unethical. It was low down! You know the truth may be hidden in the dark, but always comes to light. You took a poor Black woman’s baby from her, and you—”
“She was on drugs! You were born strung out. We didn’t make that up! You know it’s true, Kim. I proved it to you. At the time of your birth, three different drugs coursed through your veins. It was a miracle you even lived. I showed you the video and the—”
“It wasn’t your right!” she hissed under her breath. “The woman who gave birth to me definitely wasn’t the mother of the year, but you took advantage of a messed-up situation. You didn’t have to do that. I’m certain you could’ve found another way.”
“Another way? There was no other way. She was determined to play the system, do her little ninety-day rehab stint, get you out of temporary foster care once she completed her program for the seventh time, and be on her way. Would you rather have stayed with her, Kim and taken your chances? How do you think your life would be right now without the physical therapies we ensured you received, the tutors, the psychologist? How do you believe your life would have been if she’d raised you?”
Her voice was eerily calm. The tears kept falling, but that voice… She sounded as if she were disconnected from her own emotions. Mom always said being a good lawyer required quite a bit of acting, too…
“You know what, Angelique? All that liberal mess you and Dad touted was a lie. A coat to cover the innards of an ugly truth. You used your White privilege to stomp her Black disadvantage into the ground. And now, you sit there, smug, wanting me to be grateful for being stolen, and for keeping the truth from me. No, I would not have wanted to be raised by someone who was active in their addiction. Had you gone through the proper channels to adopt me, then I would have been endeared to you. But this? Nuh uh.” She shook her head as her angry tears welled in her own eyes. “This isn’t right, and the fact that you don’t understand that, is exactly part of the reason why my ass is living in Alaska right now.”
“Your father tried to go through the proper channels, Kimberly. It was made impossible! Red tape, heaps of paperwork, waiting on tests for this and that, and let me let you in on something, since you want to believe she was some victim, and your father and I were the bad guys: This woman was fighting to keep you not because she loved you, girl, but because she wanted the additional checks. The money. That’s why he offered to pay her, Kimberly. She brought up money first, not your father! He didn’t want you stuck with her. I didn’t want to have children, or so I thought. By the time I changed my mind, I was having an extremely hard time conceiving. Then you came along.
“Do you know she sold one of her other children to a pedophile for drugs, not even five months after you were born?” Kim’s heart began to beat faster and faster. “She popped out four more children after you, too. Two of them were born strung out, just like you, only they had no therapists and expensive doctors and surgeons to help them, and one of them passed away due to their medical issues. So yes, pardon me, Ms. Kimberly the Great, for being sooooo depraved and dishonorable as to want better for a little baby girl who didn’t ask to be here, but deserved the world, and then some. You don’t look like what you’ve been through, and damn it, that’s because of me and your father. I’m sorry for the pain this all caused you in the aftermath, but I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat, if it was the only way to keep you safe.”
“Is this the part where I clap? Give you a standing ovation? You’re not the Queen of England. You’re a false prophet, and your religion of love is tainted and bogus at best. That’s not love, Mom. That’s control. Manipulation. You’re sitting here gaslighting me.”