Bittersweet Secrets

By Xlibris US

This book entails the life and struggles of Delia, a woman who has been through what some people would phrase, hell and back. Shes encountered trauma, tragedy, a host of other life experiences.
Bitter Sweet Secrets expresses the importance of a unified family by recalling real life events of physical and mental abuse, unhealthy choices, and unsuitable men. With little fiction, this biography details the aspects of her life and how God brought her through each and every tragedy shes endured; including death.
If it had not been for the Lord who was on her side, she would not have been able to hone her many talents in poetry and writing to share with you today. Bitter Sweet Secrets is meant to inspire and provide a safe haven for those who may feel like they have no way out. Furthermore to remind those people that with God and prayer all things will fall in divine order.
The author dedicates this story to her late mother, Olivia; her children, Kim, Melody, Aaron, and Monique; and grandchildren, Kevin and Christian with love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499043693

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Delia.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4990-4370-9

                eBook            978-1-4990-4369-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 06/26/2014

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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This is a story about a young girl named Delia, who grew up in a family full of secrets. Though she never understood why she felt the way she felt she had feeling of iniquities, she always felt as if she didn’t exist for some reason. However, she was about to experience something out of the ordinary. To her surprise, what she was feeling was about to come true. She felt emptiness and betrayal by those she loved those she cared about.

When she was about eleven years old, she came home from school one day and a family member was over. Delia was always glad to see family because the one thing about her family was that they were very close, but never did she expect to go through what she was about to experience. The first experience was rape by a sweet family member, someone she never expected in the whole world. This family member stayed over this particular night. While the house slept, he crept. His name was Raymond, a.k.a. Big Ray. He went into Delia’s bedroom, and with one hand he covered her mouth and bound her to her bed. Unable to move, unable talk, she cried and cried, hoping someone would hear her, but they didn’t.

He was quiet as a mouse. How could someone so huge be so quiet? He had sex with her like she was his woman. She tried her best to fight him off, but he was too big for an eleven-year-old girl. However, she fought with all her might. He stood 6'9 and weighed 380 pounds. She tried to keep her legs closed tight as his hands went up and down her naked body. He used the words You feel so good, and then he had an orgasm. He had just stolen her innocence, and she felt very dirty. When he got up, he put a quarter in her hand, then he told her, Tomorrow go buy yourself some candy."

Delia ran to her mother and told her everything. Her mother was Olivia, and Olivia put him the hell out. Delia said, Mama, you’re not gon’ do anything?

Olivia said, Baby, that’s my sister’s son, and I can’t do that to my sister.

Delia said, What about me, Mama?

Olivia replied, Baby, I’m sorry. Olivia did nothing about what Big Ray had taken from Delia.

She went on with her life, never wanting to be alone with Ray. Whenever Ray would come over, Delia would always leave. She guessed that her family felt it was okay to keep it all in the family and that not telling anyone about it was okay. Delia was to bear it no matter what she had been through. That was the beginning of a long line of things that were about to happen.

I know you may be saying to yourself, "What the hell was Ray thinking? The problem was, he didn’t care and he was sick as hell. Delia was wondering why Olivia did nothing. That hurt her more than anything. It took a long time before Ray would see justice because he kept it in the family. A few family members went through the same thing, and that was enough for Delia. There were a few people she could talk to, but she was afraid of what they might think of her. Delia blamed herself for what had happened. Crazy, right? But wait, it gets worse.

Delia believed Ray was bisexual; not only was Ray attracted to girls but he was also attracted to boys. There was a time when Delia’s sister went out of town, and Delia’s sister’s name is Dawn. Dawn’s son, Devin, went over to the house where this man lived, and late one night this man crept downstairs where Devin was sleeping and forced Devin to give him oral sex.

The next day, when Dawn got home, all hell broke loose. Dawn called the police, and Delia felt at ease because she thought it was over, but it had just begun. Raymond’s mother was Evangelist Wells, and Aunt Wells came over crying, saying, Please don’t send my son to jail. Dawn and Delia felt bad not because of Ray but because of Aunt Wells. She was a beautiful woman and was very apologetic about what Ray had done and what he was doing. Ray was hurting the family, and if it wasn’t for Aunt Wells, he would have seen justice a long time ago. Aunt Wells decided to keep Ray away from the family. Ray was a sick man and needed all the help he could get, but Dawn said the only way she wouldn’t press charges was if he would get counseling. The problem was, every time he touched someone, they would forgive him. Delia’s all for forgiveness, but you can only go so far. Raymond had gone beyond his limit. It was time to pay.

Raymond got the counseling he said he would get. However, the counselor called Dawn and asked her to come into the office; she needed to talk to her. Dawn was very curious about what the counselor had to say, and what the counselor said brought tears too Dawn’s eyes. The counselor told Dawn that you couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks, and he would probably do it again. She advised Dawn to put Ray in jail, but Dawn couldn’t do it and again they kept it in the family.

Nevertheless, for a while, he stopped messing with the family, but Delia was not going for it. Delia believed that, no matter what or who the perpetrator was, they should pay for their crimes. However, the years went on, and they decided to keep the bittersweet secrets in the family. As time went on, the family kept to themselves.

Delia became a 100 percent full-blooded woman, full of grace, humble, and caring. As a woman who was married and had four children of her own, she was very protective and trusted no one. She kept her children very close—at least that’s what she thought—not allowing them to go over any family houses she didn’t trust. Delia went on doing the best she could, knowing in the back of her mind that there was still a difficult time in her life dealing with what she had been through.

Let’s talk about Delia, the woman doing her best to stay away. She needs to tell you about the love of this family. This family carried a multitude of talents. It’s not hard to love one another regardless of each other’s bad habits. However, there was a family reunion where she would see Ray, and she was okay with it, but when Ray would come over, that’s when she would put her guard up. The family realized Ray was trying his best not to engage in any bad habits, and the family began to trust him.

Delia said he kept it in the family. What a bittersweet love they had, trusting him to stay away, then damn, Ray struck again. This time, Raymond decided to go outside the family. What a mess. Delia got a call from a family member who said, Girl, he did it again.

Delia said, What are you talking about?

The family member’s name was Vanessa, and she said, I’m talking about Big Ray.

Delia said, Enough is enough, we have to do something.

The person he had messed with was not taking it. They called the police and the police picked his ass up. The family called a meeting and went over to Aunt Wells’s house, and as sad as it was, no one was listening to a damn thing she had to say. Aunt Wells said, You mean to tell me no one is going to help me?

The family looked at Aunt Wells and said that they trusted that he was not messing with anyone else, and again he failed them. The family went out of their way to trust him, and each time they asked him if he was messing with anyone, he said no, and again he lied. Don’t get upset with us because he can’t control his problem.

Aunt Wells should have gotten help for Ray, and then maybe the family wouldn’t

Reviews for Bittersweet Secrets

[murderbydeath · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think at this point there must be a whole genre/category built up around people who chuck it all and move to either Italy or France, live in run-down, dilapidated houses, discover la dolce vita and then write books about it. I am their target market. This is a follow up to her previous book A Thousand Days in Venice which I have not read, and it works fine on its own. The writing is philosophical, sometimes overly so, and occasionally florid, but overall it's engrossing. There's a definite air of self-satisfaction that almost crosses over into smugness, but doesn't; the narrative isn't about the author finding her bliss - she's already done that - but more about her awareness of her bliss. It works better than it sounds like it should, although probably not as well as it could have. The subtitle of this book is A Bittersweet Adventure and it is rightly titled (although it's not a thousand days, but merely a year, so maybe not). I won't say more because I'd hate anyone considering this read to stumble on to this review and be spoiled. Not sorry to have read it at all, even if others have appealed to me more.

[harrod_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A most excellent read. Heart warming stories. Wonderful recipes. I love her work.

[bluepenguin1980 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I initially enjoyed this book for it's sheer indulgence, but the utopian descriptions of Tuscan life struck me as tedious and naive. I soon found myself wishing that something realistic and horrible would happen... I won't be finding it out, since I've shelved this one for the time being.

[gingersnap000 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

If you loved A Thousand Nights in Venice, do not read this book. The book is unbelievable and can not make up its mind if it is a cookbook, travel guide or novel.