Blinded Faith

By Peta A. Acrond

A young girl named Vea was born out of wedlock to teenage parents.  Her parents were from the Midwest, and it was difficult for her father to find stable work there so that he could adequately provide for his family.  They decided to send their first born Vea to Chicago to live with her grandfather and step-grandmother hoping that Vea would be able to have a better life.  As Vea became older, she found herself getting caught up in the street life trying to survive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peta A. Acrond
• Release date: Jun 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223649656

Peta A. Acrond

Peta A. Acrond, was born to Margie Benford and Jake Hawkins, in Long Beach California.  She is the mother of a beautiful daughter, Lisa Acrond and grandmother to a beautiful granddaughter, Jasmyne Press.  She attended an Historically Black College where she majored in Art with aspirations of becoming an Interior Designer, but later decided to pursue her passion in singing Gospel music.  She has performed as a backup singer for various gospel artists and recorded various gospel albums as a lead singer performing with various artists on television and different stages.  She is also very passionate about helping people, and often serves food to the homeless community. Also evolving from her many talents is the presentation of her first book as an Author, “The Aristocrats of Everland!”

Book preview

About the Author ....

Peta A. Acrond, was born to Margie Benford and Jake Hawkins, in Long Beach California.  She is the mother of a beautiful daughter, Lisa Acrond and grandmother to a beautiful granddaughter, Jasmyne Press.  She attended a Historically Black College where she majored in Art with aspirations of becoming an Interior Decorator, but later decided to pursue her passion in singing Gospel music.

She has performed as a backup singer for various gospel artists and recorded various gospel albums as a lead singer performing with various artists on television and different stages.  She is also very passionate about helping people, and often gives food and clothing to the homeless community.  Also evolving from her many talents is the presentation of her second book as an Author, Blinded Faith.

Blinded Faith

COPYRIGHT © 2023 PETA A. Acrond

Self-Published by:  Peta A. Acrond

Editor:   Margie Armstead

Contact information for Author:

Email:  [e-mail]

This book is purely fiction.  All characters appearing in this book are fictitious.  Any resemblance to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental.  The people portrayed in it are not based on real people.

All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from the author.

First edition, 2023

Special Thanks

Iwould like to give special thanks to God and to my beautiful and talented daughter Lisa Acrond, and my beautiful and gifted granddaughter Jasmyne Press for their words of encouragement.  I would also like to give special thanks to my ninety-five year old mother Margie Armstead, who took the time to patiently edit segments of my book; Blinded Faith.

Preface

Ayoung girl named Vea was born out of wedlock to teenage parents.  Her parents were from the Midwest, and it was difficult for her father to find stable work there so that he could adequately provide for his family.  They decided to send their first born Vea to Chicago to live with her grandfather and step-grandmother hoping that Vea would be able to have a better life.  As Vea became older, she found herself getting caught up in the street life trying to survive.

Blinded Faith

Chapter 1

One cold winter night in the Midwest, a baby girl was born to unwed teenagers, Johnny-B and Veaetta.  The baby was very beautiful.  She looked so much like her mother Veaetta, that they lovingly called the baby Vea, short for Veaetta after her mother.

During those times it was shameful for a young girl to have a baby out of wedlock, so when Vea was just three weeks old, Veaetta secretly sent her to Chicago to temporarily live with her parents until she and Johnny-B were old enough to get married.

A few years passed, despite the ups and downs in their relationship, they were determined to get married and continue having more children.  Veaetta never forgot about her little Vea.  She missed her baby girl so much, and worried about her every day. 

Johnny-B was able to find a part-time job working for the railroad so that he could save up enough money so that he and Veaetta could travel to Chicago to get their baby girl.

That following week, they bought their train tickets, and headed to Chicago.  It had been four years since she and Johnny-B had seen her parents and they were anxious to see what their baby girl looked like.

After about a two-day ride on the train, they finally arrived in Chicago and caught a cab to Veaetta’s parents’ house.  When they arrived, Veaetta rang the doorbell.  When her father answered the door, she barely recognized him because he had aged so much.

When Veaetta walked into the house, she noticed that everything had changed.  She hadn’t kept in touch with her parents since the birth of Vea, so she didn’t know that her mother had died from cancer, and that her father had married another woman. 

Veaetta was shocked and felt so sad.  Then, her sadness turned to anger!  She was overwhelmed by all of these emotions.  She felt that her father should have reached out to her and told her about her mother’s brief illness.

The grief she felt was unbearable.  As she and her father discussed the details of her mother’s passing, a sloppy looking woman with a cigarette hanging from her mouth, a house robe and house slippers on, with curlers in her hair, walked into the living room and introduced herself as....Sadie.  She then turned around and looked at Veaetta and told her to call her mother.

Veaetta didn’t like Sadie at all!  She seemed so arrogant, and the fact that she insisted that Veaetta call her mother infuriated her even more!

After being there just a few minutes, Veaetta noticed how bossy and demanding Sadie was towards her father.  Veaetta immediately started yelling at Sadie telling her that she must be out of her mind thinking that she can treat her father like this!

Johnny-B could see that things were starting to get out of control, so he suggested that they get their daughter Vea and leave.  As Veaetta walked through the house, she could see that there were no pictures of her mother; nor, did she see any of the furniture with which she was familiar.

Veaetta asked Sadie what happened to her mother’s furniture, and all the family pictures.  Sadie told Veaetta that once she married her father, she got rid of all that junk because she didn’t want it in the house.  Sadie told her that the house was hers now, she was the queen of the house, and that it belonged to her and her kids!

Just as Veaetta was about to walk over to Sadie and slap her for those horrid remarks, Johnny-B ran over and grabbed her before a fight between the both of them got started.  Veaetta started screaming, I want my baby girl, where is my child?  Sadie told Veaetta, I am not going to get your child, you go and get your own child that you neglected! 

Veaetta stormed through the house looking for her child who by now, was four years old.  The house was a mess, something she knew her mother would never tolerate!  

Veaetta saw some kids running around outside with no shoes on, wearing clothes that looked like they were two sizes too small.  She was shocked! 

Veaetta was able to finally recognize her daughter amongst those children only because the little girl looked just like her.  She was appalled at the way her daughter Vea was dressed.

Veaetta grabbed Vea and tried to hug her, but because Vea didn’t know who she was, Vea struggled to get away from her and ran into the living room to Sadie screaming and calling Sadie mommy.  This broke Veaetta’s heart.  She thought the reunion was going to be a joyful reunion.  

As Veaetta went into the living room to get Vea, Sadie told her not to put her hands on Vea because the child belonged to her, since she was the one who raised her.  Sadie then opened the front door and told Veaetta to get out of her house!  Johnny-B could no longer tolerate how this trifling woman was treating his wife, so he went over to Sadie, grabbed Vea from her, and told Veaetta to get her things so that they could leave now!  Vea was kicking and screaming mommy, mommy help me, as they tried to leave the house. Sadie was screaming and cursing, pulling at Johnny-B’s arm trying to get Vea back.  Sadie’s kids heard the commotion and ran into the house to see what was going on.

They all got angry and tried to protect Vea.  The oldest boy ran and grabbed Johnny-B’s leg and the other kids tried to jump on Johnny-B’s back to try to prevent him from taking Vea.

Veaetta’s father was becoming so distraught over this whole situation that he yelled at the kids and told them to go back outside.  He grabbed Sadie, pushed her down on the sofa and told her to shut up, leave them alone, and to just let them go in peace.  Johnny-B then shook his father-in-law’s hand and Veaetta kissed him on the cheek and thanked him for his love and support; they left and headed back to the Midwest.

Chapter 2

While taking the train back to the Midwest Johnny-B and Veaetta rode in silence as little Vea sat in Johnny-B’s lap weeping for who she thought was her mommy.  Veaetta realized that this was going to be an adjustment for all of them because after all, it wasn’t Vea’s fault, it was their fault for not being in their child’s life.  After what seemed like forever, they finally arrived back to their modest two-bedroom home.

That following year Veaetta had another baby. This time it was a boy, whom she named Johnny-B junior, after his father.  It had been a year now, and to their dismay, Vea wasn’t adjusting to them as quickly as they had hoped.  They hoped, that by having a little brother, it would make little Vea happy, but it didn’t.

Instead, Vea started being very rebellious.  No matter how hard Veaetta tried to give her love and attention, Vea pushed her away and constantly told Veaetta that she wasn’t her mommy; Sadie was her mommy!

Seeing Vea behave like this broke Veaetta’s heart.  She wondered if for the child’s sake, it would be better if she just sent her back to her father, and Sadie in Chicago.

So, reluctantly Veaetta called her father and asked him, for the child’s own well-being if they could