Preyed On By Cousins

My life was supposed to be a happy one, filled with all the blessings of a “normal” family minus any melodrama. Both my parents although young were doing well in their respective careers but through jealousy within my family, the life that was ordained for us would not be.

My biological mother was too kind and trusting. She welcomed her nieces with open arms into her marriage and private life and that is when all the bacchanal started.

One niece in particular who was adopted by my maternal uncle, since his wife had her out of wedlock, had set her sights on my biological father. Therefore when she visited our home she would challenge my mother trying to take over my father as if he were her “husband”.

Despite my biological mother complaining to her brother about his adoptive daughter’s force ripe nature, he then told her, “You have to learn to handle your business. I am not going to get involved.”

Although my mother had issued my father a stern warning, asking him not to encourage them it seemed as if the flirting had taken on a life of its own. Before my mother knew it, my father began visiting the prime niece and her sister at their home.

Their mother was well aware of what was going on but did nothing to stop it. One day my biological mother took matters into her hands by playing sleuth to see what my biological father was doing at their house when visited after work. As she peeked through the blinds she would be horrified at what she saw.

According to her, she had caught my father red-handed fornicating with the two sisters. These events started my biological mother’s dissent into her mental quagmire.

For her, it just seemed that she was constantly uncovering infidelities by my father, and then to find out her nieces had joined the bandwagon it was just too much for her fragile emotions to take.

Youth and immaturity may have played a significant part in my mother being able to handle the matter but she often felt that my father could have been more respectful of her feelings.

I have often known that family should protect and defend you not getting on the same bandwagon to hurt you. Due to their guilt towards my mother, they have chosen to perpetuate a gripe against my father which my biological mother did not authorize.

The gripe extends to me too. So, it was shocking but not a surprise when I found out the same adopted niece’s daughter began publicizing around town that she was my biological father’s daughter instead of me.

Thus causing people to disbelieve my true identity. Due to her lies, all opportunities were withdrawn from me as persons viewed me as a character out of “Six Degrees of Separation.”

To further add to my anguish, when I had moved to Florida one of my aunts had given me the daughter’s number as a contact. I stupidly phoned her. Although I thought nothing came of the phone call whatever information she gathered was used to harass and terrorize me with the hopes that I would take my life leaving her way clear to completely assume my persona.

I have never been too close to this branch of family. The closest I ever came to my mother’s adoptive niece was during the time I visited America in the summertime. My adoptive parents would take myself and another girl cousin to their house.

At the time the niece was married to a pastor, and her daughter was about two years old. Never did I dream that they would take a set on my life trying to ruin, wreck, and ravage it with their brand of deception.

The real gut-wrenching part was that they were not even subtle about their intentions of taking over my life. I remember going to a family affair at a catered resort when we all arrived in the middle evening and had descended upon a restaurant to order snacks before the event started I noticed my maternal mother’s grandniece and a few of all my other girl cousins were in a cockle looking at me mockingly and laughing.

I proceeded to be cordial to them, but it would be years later when I would figure out what their smug actions were stemmed from knowing they were pulling a fast one on me. Not only were they trying to overthrow my life but they all had been trying to take over my beau in the same fashion they had engaged in ruining my mother’s mental equilibrium.

It was then it dawned on me how important it is for a woman to have a mother that is a force to contend with. If my biological mother had not been so passive and forgiving there is no way these “so-called cousins” of mine could have made me their prey for fodder.

I too went through a period where I was clueless, innocent, and trusting. I thought since people are related to me they can be trusted and that they have my best interests at heart.

Instead, I found out they envied me, mocked me, and made me the but of their jokes while they were busy plotting how they could help themselves to my identity.

I used to think they were shy when they would respond to me coyly whenever I visited their homes, I soon found out they were not shy, they just hated my arse and felt resentment towards the fact that I had earned my rightful place within Mickey & Minnie’s lives (adoptive parents).

All the while they were “dealing” with me their minds’ were working overtime wondering how they could dethrone me. Naturally, one of them would take on being my understudy and commit all sorts of dastard deeds in my name.

The Euro-Jamaican community is a small world, my adoptive parents began hearing ridiculous gossip about me when all the while my “cousins” were working like gnats behind my back.

The part that hurts is the fact I have always been nice to every single one of them. If any one of them was in a lurch, I would be the first to offer assistance and here it was they were trying to bury me.

After completely de-throning me from my life they all began to show their true colors grandly. I suddenly became aware that while I thought I was building wonderful family memories they were plotting my ultimate demise and ex-communication from the family.