Saving Della Ray

“Della-Ray, she is my child,” my sister said. “And I have the right to decide what is best for her. Let her—”

“You have absolutely no fucking right!” I yelled back. “I’ve cared for her since the moment you gave birth to her and abandoned her. And now you want to make her life a living hell? What fucking family will accept a child like her and love her more than I will? She’s no fucking orphan, she’s mine and I’m not letting you take her. I’m going to take care of her.”

“Della-Ray, you can’t give her all that she needs,” she yelled back.

“And a stranger could?” I roared back.

“Yes! Listen to me, I’ve already spoken to the orphanage director, and she says she will find the best home possible for Jess. She will have all she needs and you’ll be able to move on with your life.”

“She is my life!” I screamed back at her, “and you are going to take her away from me. You lost that right when you abandoned her.”

With all the noise, Jess came awake with a low cry, and I instantly rushed over to take her into my arms. “You’re not going anywhere,” I promised as I rocked her in my arms. “You’ll be perfectly fine with me.”

The moments went by and the pounding continued, and it terrified me, especially when Denise got fed up and yelled, “I’m going right now to call the cops. This is fucking kidnapping.”

“Della-Ray,” Nichole began. “We should let her in. Calm her down. If she calls the police, we’re done for. She has a legal right over Jess.”

I raised a wide-eyed haunted gaze to her. “She’s never taken care of her. Not even once since she gave birth to her. And now you want me to hand my baby over to her?” Does Jess even mean anything to you?”

“You’re not thinking right. We need to diffuse this situation before it escalates out of control.” With a frown, she circled the bed and headed towards the door.

But I couldn’t think rationally. “Don’t you dare open that do— No, Nichole!”

She twisted the lock and the door swung open to reveal the man waiting at the door.

Impatience was written all over his face. He came into the room and I shot to my feet, a scream erupting from my throat. “Don’t you fucking touch me, or her!” Jess began crying once again, and I rocked her against me. “If you dare touch her, I swear to God I’ll kill you.”

With a heavy sigh, he turned around and exited the room, leaving Nichole and me clutching Jess. There was sadness in Nichole’s eyes. I hurried straight for the door, banged it shut with my free hand, and twisted the lock, leaving only both of us in the room.

“They’re going to call the cops Della-Ray!” Nichole said.

“For fuck’s sake, Della,” Denise called from outside. “Don’t be such an ass. She’s my child and I’m taking her. You can do it the easy way or the hard way.”

“Don’t hand her over,” Nichole said suddenly.

I looked at Nichole in surprise. “I thought you wanted me to?”

“I did, once, before I realized no one can love Jess more than you. Denise doesn’t care about Jess at all. I didn’t tell you she was coming because she said she wanted to surprise you. She had a new man she wanted to show to you and she also wanted to look in on Jess and see how she was doing. Everything was going so well for about fifteen minutes after she arrived. She never said anything about an adoption agency until she heard Jess call you Mommy. It’s just pure jealously that’s making her take Jess away from you, even though she doesn’t want Jess and she can see how much Jess loves you.”

Even at that tense moment, I felt a surge of joy that Nichole hadn’t betrayed me.

“What do we do?” she whispered. “Do you want me to call my boss and ask him to come help us? He has a lawyer and everything.”

“No.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket, as I rocked Jess to buy her silence and began to scroll desperately through my call log for the day. I found his phone number and prayed to God that it would ring when I called him. It did, but he didn’t pick up and it rang until it disconnected. I wouldn’t give up. “Pick up you bastard,” I whispered, and tried again. And again. Until finally, there was a response on my fifth attempt.

“Della-Ray?” he said, surprise and urgency in his voice.

My knees almost gave out in relief. “I need you!” I cried out to him. “They want to take Jess away from me. Please. I need you right now!”

“Who wants to take—”

“I’ll tell you when you get here. “Please … please just come over right now as fast as possible. I’m in Jess’s bedroom, opposite from mine. I’ll owe you for the rest of my life, I swear it.”