Revealed

22. Mama Dee

*Picture of Mama Dee in her youth*

My head is continuously spinning. I can't even sleep right. This whole incident reminds me of how I felt before finding Solane.

It was a rough few weeks. My shop wasn't doing so well and I was incredibly lonely. All my family lived back in London. I had only moved to the United States because I was running from my past. My mother was a drug addict and my father, well, nobody knew what was happening with him. One day he was fine, the next day he was mentally ill. He always claimed he'd take care of me and my mother, but he was the one who provided her with the drugs she needed to live, when in reality, it was killing her. My little sister was being influenced by them as well. She began drinking and going to clubs using a fake ID.

One day, the day my mother went to rehab, I told myself that it was enough. So I packed my bags in the middle of the night and woke up my sister. I stole my father's car and drove all the way to Richmond where my cousins were.
My sister and I lived with them for 8 years until I became 26 years old.

"When will you marry, Deetra? The whole family's been waiting to celebrate."

Everyone always said this to me. Over time, it became terribly annoying. So using initiative, I saved up my money and booked a one way plane ticket to America.

When I got there, I fell deeply in love with a man I met in a bakery. For years we worked together. And finally, I was engaged at 29 years old and married in the spring of that same year. The bakery was automatically in my name. We tried for 5 years to have children, but each time was unsuccessful.

When I was 36 years old, my husband got cancer, stage 3. When he died, he took a piece of me with him. My happiness. I continued to miserably run the bakery alone for 2 years.
Then, one day, as I was walking home on a dark and gloomy night, I heard crying in an alley. Of course it was a child. She had been severely hurt. Her back had been scarred, most likely from traveling alone, to the point where marks were left. She had on ripped clothes and a beautiful gold bracelet on her wrist. I carried this little girl to the hospital. She was all cleaned up and cared for. She remained there for two weeks. During those weeks, I visited her everyday and spent most nights with her.
When it was time for her to leave, no one claimed her. And so I did. I adopted her.
That girl was Solane.

She brought the happiness back into my life. And now that she's gone, just like my husband, I don't know if I can live.

Solane made my life worth living, literally.
What was I going to do now?