Page 26 of To Hades & Back
The last time that we saw Dedra was when we met to reveal the maternity test results. The next time we spoke was about therapy. When Dorian and I were on our video calls, she usually wasn’t there or on her way out the door.
She was on government assistance, so she received food stamps. According to Dorian, every month, she used the card to put food in her boyfriend’s house before she came home andgave Dorian the card for him to use. The bitch never left more than one hundred dollars on the shit. That was the next time that I had a little talk with her ass. When I confronted her, she was upset that Dorian was taking their business outside of the house. After that, she told me if I had a problem with how she ran her house that I should send him money to make sure he ate adequately. In her mind, she provided a roof over his head and some food in the house, but he had a job, so he could feed himself.
“That shit is trifling as fuck. When I look at Dedra and your parents, I thank God for the parents and family that I have. It makes me feel good that you and eventually Dorian gets to experience it firsthand.” His eyes held so much love. “Now, this dick wants to experience that pussy.”
I loved it when he talked that shit to me. Hades was the type of man that would fuck you wherever he saw you. I loved that for me and my pussy. “Well, let’s get to it. We still need to pack.”
GRADUATION…
The Basils and I were at Dorian’s graduation in full force. Hades and I picked him up that morning to take him to his graduation. Dedra’s ass was not home, and she wasn’t here. We still hadn’t told Dorian about the rest of Hades’s family being here. The announcer had finally gotten to the ‘V’ last names, so Dorian would be called soon. I held Hades’s hand tight as we waited for his name to be called.“Dorian Vinson.”
It was automatic! We all jumped up with screams of excitement and celebration. Dorian’s head snapped toward ourscreams. When he locked eyes with me, I blew him a kiss. Hades yelled, “That’s my boy! That’s my boy right there!”
I saw the tear fall from Dorian’s eye. He smacked it away, but I saw it. It proved how important it was to have someone show up for you. Nothing would have stopped me from being here today. After he walked off the stage, we all calmed down. There were only a few more names called after Dorian.
The graduation was held in a football stadium. We all went to the field to meet Dorian after the conclusion of the program. He was a handsome boy who had more features of his father than me. As soon as he came into eyesight, I ran to him with open arms. “I’m so proud of you!”
I loved this boy so much. He chuckled as I kissed all over his face. “Ma, come on!”
I stopped kissing him and pulled back.He called me Ma.That was the first time that he called me Ma. In my head, I figured that he never would because he called his adoptive mother Ma. That was when it dawned on me that he hadn’t called her that for some time now. He called her Dedra.
“Alright, that’s enough. Let me see my boy,” Hades complained. When I stepped to the side, he gave him a big hug.
He took the time to let his family fawn over him with congratulations. He soaked in all the love. We were in the midst of taking a hundred and one pictures when the feeling of nutting up consumed me. David, Evelyn, Dedra, and a fucking news camera crew were walking toward us. “I know muthafuckin well these bitches…”
Hades engulfed me in his arms from behind with his lips near my ear. “I need you to calm down. Handle this shit like a queen because they’re expecting you to be this hoodrat, ghetto, teen mom. This whole media shit is for their gratification.”
“Congratulations, Dorian,” Evelyn said with the fakest smile that I’d ever seen. David’s and Dedra’s smiles matched. I waspositive that my fuck ass parents paid Dedra for this stunt. Based on the clothing she wore, they dressed her too.
Evelyn walked over with open arms to hug him. She was stopped by Dorian’s hand. “Please don’t touch me.”
Embarrassment dressed her face. The reporter behind her snickered lowly. Evelyn recovered quickly. “Dorian, my husband and I wanted to come here to congratulate you on your big day. This is a major accomplishment. We are so proud.”
I know Hades said to handle this like a queen, but was this bitch serious? My laughter had a mind of its own. “You can’t be serious right now. Please tell me this is a joke.”
Before Evelyn or David could respond, the reporter was in my face with a microphone. I wasn’t sure what my parents thought bringing a news crew would do. The news crew must have made some kind of agreement to sway the storyline in their favor. To have a chance at an exclusive with all parties involved, who wouldn’t? When the reporter came to me first, something in my mother’s expression told me that was not the plan.
“Miss Copeland, how do you feel about your parents showing up to show support to your son, Dorian? We know that there has been a lot of coverage around speculations of them telling you that your child died at childbirth.”
There was so much attention on us from others in the stadium because of the stupid camera and reporter. Dorian stepped forward. “I think that I should be the one to answer that question since it is my graduation.”
“Oh, yes, yes, of course.” The reporter stumbled over her words. “Dorian, how does it feel to have the support of not only your grandparents, but your birth and adoptive mother?” She looked behind us at the Basils standing there with scowls on their faces. I swear, even the kids wore them. “My, it looks like you have a lot of support today.”
Dorian glanced at me with a smile. “I am blessed to have my birth mother here to support me with the Basil family. Since I met my birth mother, she has been there for me one hundred percent. In the short time that I’ve known her, she’s been more supportive and motherly than my adoptive mother.” His eyes slid over to Dedra whose smile fell.
“Are you saying that your adoptive mother neglected you? Did she abuse you in some way?” The reporter was on her job today.
Dorian shook his head. “No, she didn’t abuse me, and neglect is a very subjective term. As the media and blogs have reported, I was adopted at four to be a cash cow. She was paid a stipend from my grandparents of five thousand dollars to stay away from them for years. Dedra always made sure I had a roof over my head and clothes on my back. When it comes to the food, after she used the food stamps that she received for us to stock her boyfriend’s house, she was gracious enough to leave me what was left.”
The reporter turned her attention to Dedra. “Ms. Vinson, would you like to respond to his allegations. Have you been neglectful?”Well, I guess the reporter has deemed her actions as neglectful based on what Dorian told her.
Dedra looked like a deer caught in headlights. “Um, um, I’ve taken care of Dorian since he was four. His grandparents giving me five thousand dollars a month was their way of taking care of their grandson when his birth mother wouldn’t.”There is no way she rehearsed that dumb ass answer.
This reporter wasn’t a dumb bitch because the bridge of her nose scrunched. Her head ping ponged between me and Dedra. “You said that Dorian’s birth mother wouldn’t take care of him. How was she supposed to take care of a child that she was told had died during childbirth?”
“Exactly!” Dorian blurted. “Why would the very people that said that they should have abandoned me at a fire station to save money want to make sure that I was taken care of? That sounds crazy. I wonder how much you were paid to be here today, Dedra.”
Evelyn and David looked on as this interview went left fast. As smart as they were, they were dumb. From the glances that the person standing next to the camera man threw David and Evelyn’s way, there was never any intention to allow a false narrative to be given.
