~~~~~
1995
~~~~~
On November 11, 1993 Ivy began the process of fostering and adopting Enrieta-Maria. The adoption was made final a year later in 1994.
Before Enrieta was adopted, her father raised her on his own, Enrieta's real mother passed away from giving birth to her which left her with only her father. It was always just her and her Papa, but all of that changed once she was taken in by her adoptive mother, Ivy Lee.
Ivy, a single young widow, wanted a second chance to love again after she lost her late husband. Ivy aspired to become a mother, and she figured adopting a child would give her a second chance to love again. She longed to love a child the way she knew a mother should, and her second chance came when she first fostered Enrieta.
By the age of two years old, Enrieta's father lost her to the foster care system after being found guilty of drug possession while Enrieta was still under his care. The state declared him an unfit parent and he lost Enrieta immediately.
Ever since that day, Enrieta had been in the care of Ivy Lee, but there were some days where Ivy couldn't help but wonder...was adopting Enrieta-Maria the right thing to do?
~~~~~
"Come on Now Enrieta, come along you're going to make us late." Ivy says rushing Enrieta out the door. It was a typical Sunday morning in Romania for Ivy and her daughter Enrieta-Maria.
Every Sunday Ivy made it a point to get out of their home early to make it to church in enough time for the sunrise service which typically start at 7:30 am...
"Enrieta, you are not moving quick enough, I said let's go!" Ivy shouts across the room to the 5 year old girl.
"But Mama, I'm tired..." Enrieta whined, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Enrieta-Maria...you know we do this every week, so when it's time to go, you know that it's time to get up and go...you can be tired later." Ivy said to the girl.
"I want to go back to my papa's house right now." Enrieta snaps back at the woman.
"Enrieta-Maria, I am going to count to five...if you are not at the front door by the time I get to five, you will be in big trouble and that is a promise..."
"I said I want to go to my papa's..." Enrieta.
"One..."
"TAKE ME TO PAPA'S!" Enrieta yelled back.
"Two...Three..."
"I want to go home!" Enrieta cried.
"Four..." by now Enrieta had tears in her eyes, and she had thrown herself on the ground and bawled her sad little eyes out.
"I-I want Papa back!" Enrieta yelled crying into her hands.
"Enrieta..." Ivy sighs softening her approach towards the girl. She wasn't sure how much reasoning with the girl would work, but she figured it was worth a try.
Ivy looked at the time and saw it was already 7 o'clock. She sighed and got down on the floor, watching Enrieta cry into her hands momentarily.
"Enrieta-Maria...you know you can't see your papa..."
"I don't like it here I-I want to go home!" Enrieta cried even louder.
"Enrieta, you look at me..." Ivy said to the girl. Enrieta slowly turned her head to look at Ivy not sure what would come next.
Ivy grabbed Enrieta by her chin, making the child look her in the eyes.
"I know...I'm not your papa...an awful man he was..."
"Nuh-uh my papa loved me..." Enrieta argued.
"Do you really think I don't love you my sweet Enrieta?" Ivy asks.
"N-No y-you always mean to m-me." Enrieta says not even wanting to look Ivy in the eye.
"P-Papa was n-nice to me."
"Sweetheart, I cook for you...and I teach you...I do all of those things because I love you."
"B-But Papa gave the best hugs, and read the best bedtime stories..."
"Enrieta I already told you, am not your papa this is your home now...I am your Mama now...when you are with mama you will always be so loved...just as much. Do you understand me?" Ivy says earning a nod from the five year old girl.
"Good...now you are going to stand up...and go stand at the front door so we can leave for church..." Ivy said sternly through clenched teeth. Without another word, Enrieta stood up, and sadly walked to the front door to wait for Ivy.
"Very good, I'm glad to see you finally want to listen to Mama." Ivy said taking the girl's hand, leaving out the front door of the house.
Enrieta held in her tears the whole way to church, and someday hoped that someone was able to notice her sadness.
Little Enrieta looked around helplessly for someone to notice but everyone in that neighborhood new Enrieta and her story. She was always perceived and labeled as the "troubled adopted girl". So from a young age people always assumed Enrieta was trouble.
If only the people of the neighborhood knew Enrieta was never the problem...
The pair later walked into the church hand in hand only to be seated by an usher moments later.
"Okay Enrieta-Maria," Ivy says getting down on the little girl's level, her voice no louder than a whisper. "...you listen to me, and you listen good, Mama is going to go talk to Miss. Sorina from across the street before service starts...you sit here...and behave...no more crying or I will give you a reason to cry when we go home...understand?"
Without saying a word Enrieta nodded now trying extra hard not to shed a tear, as she sat in the church pew alone, playing with the hem of her dress. An older woman saw Enrieta's distress and took a seat down beside the young girl.
"Here, wipe your tears child..." the woman says handing Enrieta a tissue.
"Thank you." Enrieta replied wiping her sad eyes.
"What's your name?"
"Mama says I can't talk to strangers..."
"Smart little one you are." The woman says smiling down at Enrieta. "You don't have to tell me your name, but I'll tell you mine...I'm Agnes."
"Hi Miss. Agnes..." Enrieta says staring back cautiously at the woman.
"You know something?"
"What?"
"God sees all. He sees all your worries, your pain, and all your tears sweet child..."
"He does?" Enrieta asks.
"He sure does. If you talk to him and tell him what you're feeling, he'll take all your pain and your sadness away...you just have to believe he's gonna do it." Agnes explains to Enrieta.
"Really?"
"He sure will. And you know something else?"
"What else Miss. Agnes?" Enrieta asks instantly intrigued by what the older and wiser woman had to say.
"God sees ugly...he sees, and he knows ugly..."
"You mean my Mama?" Enrieta said looking back at the woman who had been too busy socializing to notice Enrieta talking with Agnes.
Agnes nods her head, and holds Enrieta's hand.
"God sees how she treats you and if there's one thing I know it's that God doesn't like ugly..." she says earning a gasp from the young girl.
"C-Can God change her?" Enrieta asks.
"He can, and he will...and I pray that God changes the way your Mama treats you...you need to be praying too young lady. You got it?" Agnes says with a smile.
"Uh-huh...a-and I'm gonna pray for my Papa to come back..." Enrieta whispers not wanting Ivy to hear.
"Yes sweetheart, you pray for what you need from God, but remember..."
"Yes Miss. Agnes?"
"You cannot ask God to do big things in Shallow waters..."
"What does that mean?" Enrieta asked.
"It means you need to pray like you believe..." Agnes says. Without saying another word, Agnes stands up and leaves Enrieta's pew, disappearing into the crowd of church goers.
Enrieta looked down at her feet and did as the grown ups did...she bowed her head and prayed. While Enrieta had been praying, Ivy returned.
"Enrieta-Maria, what are you doing?" Ivy said interrupting the girl.
"Mama, I'm praying..."
"What are you praying about?" Ivy asks.
"I-I'm asking God to make the ugly go away..." Enrieta replies earning a smile from Ivy.
"Good Enrieta, if you pray hard enough God will take the ugly side from you."
Little did Ivy know, Enrieta had been praying for God to remove Ivy's ugly and not her own...
Ivy liked to believe that taking Enrieta to church would help her, but little did she know she was more in need of church than Enrieta.
She never liked to admit it, but she still battled with demons that she's sworn to have gotten rid of but still continued to battle with them each and everyday. Everything she had gone through between her grief and loss, to her depression, instead of giving them to God she took it all out on the one person that was supposed be the most important to her...Enrieta.
She claimed to have loved this child, but her actions and her words said something different most days.
Ivy was supposed to have been making Enrieta's life better when in reality she had been doing the complete opposite behind closed doors...then again, it was Enrieta who was the problem...right?
~~~~~
Thursday
September 29, 2016
2:45 PM
~~~~~
*The Present*
Ivy sighed as she compared the two photos of young Enrieta and Ivory once again.
"I just don't understand...where are you?" Ivy says looking at the photo of Enrieta's twin.
"Your Mama...she was quite a pistol...and something tells me if I were to meet you, you would be no different then her." Ivy chuckled. Just then, Ivy heard a knock on the door, and looked up confused knowing she wasn't expecting company.
She slowly got up to go look through the peephole on the door and saw a strange man standing outside the door. She sighed and decided to ignore him but he was persistent with the knocking.
"Hello!?" the man says from the other side of the door.
"I-I'm not sure if you're home, but my name is Eduardo Mohamed...Enrieta-Maria's biological father." He says causing Ivy's heart to briefly stop.
"...I know you used to foster Enrieta, and that you adopted her...can I please come in? I just want to talk..."
It took Ivy a minute but she slowly opened the door and saw him...the man who lost all rights to Enrieta all those years ago.
"Hi there, are you Miss. Ivy Lee?"
"Yes, please...come in..." Ivy said shocked to see the man there. He had to have known Enrieta was dead...right?
"Please, have a seat at the table here..." Ivy says showing the man to the table, quickly moving the pictures out of the way. Ivy was pleasantly surprised to see the man was actually in pretty good shape. He seemed to be in his right mind, which was a mindset Ivy hadn't been in for months.
"Can I offer you something to drink Eduardo? Tea? Water?"
"I'll just have a water please." Eduardo sighs. Ivy grabs the man a bottled water from the refrigerator and handed it to him.
"Thank you ma'am."
"You're welcome...so...am I safe to assume I know what brings you here?" Ivy asks.
"Yes...so she's really gone isn't she?" Eduardo said trying his best to keep back tears.
"She is...Monday June 23, 2014...they found her body in Lake Floreasca...in her autopsy they said her organs quit on her due to alcohol poisoning long before she fell in the lake and drowned to death...that girl had a serious problem..." Ivy explained to the man.
"So...she drank herself to death?" Eduardo asks making sure he heard her heard correctly.
"I blame that man she was with...he really did send her over the edge, that man..."
"What man?"
"Her ex husband..."
"She was married?" Eduardo asked confused.
You see...Enrieta-Maria as I said had a mind of her own...she fell head over heels for this young boy she met in school, and married him...she married very young..."
"How old?"
"She got married at 21...she eloped because she was so in love with the man..." Ivy explained causing the man to shake his head.
"She died so young...she was only 23 years old...you know from prison, I used to send letters to her by mail...but something told me you would never let her see them, so I stopped..."
"Eduardo...I-It's not that I didn't want her to see them...I just wanted her to be old enough to understand why she was taken from home...growing up she struggled so much with not being able to see you, and I didn't want to make things worse for her or myself..."
"I understand...I wasn't the best at taking care of her when I still had custody, but I did my damn best. I tried...I really did...and I guess I'm just hurting because now she's gone, and I never really got to hug her or see her...you got any pictures?"
"A couple..." Ivy said pulling out her album she made for Enrieta growing up.
Eduardo took his sweet time flipping through that photo album of his daughter. He resented himself for missing out on her life because of a dumb decision he made as a young father. He was 25 at the time he lost Enrieta but again...that was 25 years ago, which made him 25 years too late.
"She was a fiery one...a pistol with a mind of her own." Ivy said with a chuckle.
"She always had been even from a young age." Eduardo replied remembering back to Enrieta at the age of two. "If I could just go back in time and do the right thing to be able to keep her...I would have...I wish I would have done it all differently."
"Don't we all?" Ivy says trying to reassure the man.
"You know...there is another reason I'm here today..."
"And that is?" Ivy asked already having a feeling what direction the man had been going.
"So, I've been watching the news...and there's a little girl who's been missing..."
"Yeah..."
"And she looks exactly like Enrieta-Maria when she was that age...You wouldn't happen to know anything about that little girl would you?" Eduardo asked.
"You see...Enrieta-Maria as I said had a mind of her own...remember how I told you about that boy she fell in love with?"
"Yeah..."
"After She got married at 21...about a year and some change later she found out she was pregnant, and that's when things between her and her husband began to fall apart so she soon moved back in with me, and divorced him...months later Enrieta gave birth to a healthy baby girl in the back of a taxi cab..."
"What was her name?"
"Ivory Lee..."
"Okay...so if I'm following you correctly...Ivory Lee was..."
"...IS Enrieta's missing daughter...so to answer your question, yes that's Enrieta's daughter and she's still missing."
"I just don't understand...when did she go missing?"
"At 3 weeks old...it's been two years now..."
"How come no one has found her yet?"
"I don't know what Enrieta did with that innocent baby before she died...but for years even after they stopped looking for Ivory I just knew she was still out there...these people all thought I was out of my mind for believing she was still alive when really, I've been right this whole time!" Ivy says ranting to Eduardo.
"So where is she now?"
"I'm still trying to figure that one out myself...I don't know where she is..."
"She's the only thing I have left of Enrieta-Maria...we have to find her..." Eduardo says to the woman.
"There is no 'we' Eduardo, only me." Ivy replied turning her back to the man.
While Ivy had her back turned, Eduardo managed to snag the photo of Enrieta that closest resembled Ivory and slipped it into his pocket.
"Okay fine...if you want to stay where you are, without that child, then you go ahead, but me...I've lost too much not to go the extra mile for my granddaughter...I'm going to find Ivory, and I'm not going to waste anymore time on this if you don't want her found. I'll search for her myself."
"I want that baby found more than anything, and if I can't find her, what makes you think you'll have better luck finding her?"
"With all due respect, Don't worry about what I do...I just know I'm not going to waste time like you did..." Eduardo said getting up to head towards the door.
"Excuse me?"
"I'm not the one who wasted time, and let Enrieta-Maria die..." Eduardo shouted leaving Ivy at a loss for words.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to actually go do something to find MY granddaughter." Eduardo says leaving with a slam of the front door.
"We'll see about that..." Ivy whispers getting back to work on her computer.
~~~~~
Author's note: I hope you all Enjoyed this lengthy chapter! Stay tuned for more!