I was back in Sunset Valley where Nick and I grew up.  Being back reminded me of the simpler times…before marriage, before parenthood, before the business move… …back when Nick and I first fell in love. I drove until I pulled up in front of a big house; colonial style with a green front lawn,…

Driving away was hard, because I desperately wanted Nick back. Not the Nick that I’d just left behind, but the Nick I knew before Carmina came along.  I should have been happy to be leaving…I was finally rid of Carmina, but the cost…the cost was far too high. As I drove, my mind drifted back…

I stopped by the police station to pick up my car and then to the hospital after leaving the café.  I entered the intensive care expecting to see Nick and Carmina… …instead, there was a nurse changing the sheets of the bed that Carmina was in just a few hours ago. I knew that Carmina…

I stepped out of the taxi feeling light-headed and dizzy. I reminded myself to breathe.  I couldn’t tell exactly how old the little girl was, but I knew that if she was my baby that she was seven.  I also knew that if she was my baby, then she only had one eye.  I wanted…

My police escort parked the car in front of the hospital and led me into the building. He stopped and asked a nurse that was sitting at a desk for Carmina’slocation.  After she told him, I followed him to intensive care. It didn’t take us very long to find Nick and Carmina.  Nick looked tense;…

The police didn’t even bother to cuff me…there was no way I was going to resist arrest.  The older cop led me into an interrogation room and forced me into a chair.  “Did you try to kill your daughter?”  He asked with his back turned as if he was having a hard time facing me.   …

I continued to check the newspaper daily during the seven years that Carmina was with us.  I just couldn’t figure out why she was never reported missing or who she belonged to…and why weren’t they trying to find her? Why wasn’t I arrested and in prison for my crime?  Just then, an idea came to…

    By the time Carmina turned seven… …she was controlling everything I did. It was like trying to climb a fence with a vicious Pit-bull on the other side…watching my every move. Except in my life, Carmina was the Pit-Bull.  One false move and she attacked.  She used others to attack me as well…especially Nick. …

I took Carmina to the store just as she demanded. “I want to go to the toy store,” she said as I approached the car.   “I need a dollar to ride the bouncer,” she ordered; never bothering to say please or thank you. Carmina rode the bouncing ride at least five times. I don’t believe…

At age 4, Carmina was a master of deception. She possessed a sweet innocence that would fade seamlessly into a cruel manipulation without warning. “Mommy!  I made this for you!” My life was full of uncertainties, because I never knew what to expect with her. “Come on mommy!  You have to try it…you’ll love it!”…