Envy’s birth mother died from a drug overdose when she was six months old. Because Envy was clearly biracial, her white mother’s family didn’t want anything to do with her. Her grandmother literally put Envy in her car seat and placed her on the curb with the trash.

After the sheriff arrested Envy’s grandmother for child endangerment, he called Everett to pick his daughter up from the Sherriff’s Department. Everett brought Envy here and had the audacity to say,

“This is my daughter Envy. Take care of her as if she’s one of yours and I don’t want to hear anything about it. If you try to get uppity and think you’re going to leave, just remember that you don’t work. How are you going to take care of yourself and the girls without me?”

Eve and Eden gasped for the second time. They were learning things about their father that they couldn’t believe. The man they knew would have never spoken to their mother as if she were just a common tramp. In public, he spoke to her with the utmost respect. Hearing the things he said in private made them sick.

“That was the day I lost it. The calm demure Marie Antoinette Merci had left the building. I endured so much in my marriage. The lies, affairs, physical abuse, spousal rape when he was drinking, were some of the things I dealt with. Him bringing a child that he made in the streets into my home was the straw that broke the camel’s back. That was a level of disrespect that I refused to accept.

Without realizing it, I slapped Everett so hard that my Lee Press-On nails popped off and flew across the room. He was stunned and so was I, but I was too hurt and upset to care. I said,

“When I divorce your no-good ass, it’s still going to be you that takes care of me and my girls. Here’s how adultery and divorce work.

Since I’m a wife with small children, no job because you forced me to quit, and since I have proof of your affair, half of everything you own belongs to me. This house is mine because, like you said, I have small children. No judge is going to put a wife and mother on the streets.

I’m going to take every dime you make because I have kids to feed. By the time I’m done with you, you and your bastard will be on the corner begging for loose change to get a cup of soup. Whatever bitch you had this child with, can keep your trifling ass. All I want are my girls and your money.”