Minutes after Nadean’s wedding to Bill, Juan kidnapped their son Andrew, shouting she could leave the island only if she was willing to leave Andrew behind. Nadean starts her 2^nd marriage homeless, jobless, without Bill and more importantly without Andrew.

SYNOPSIS:

With Andrew held firmly in his left arm and his right hand tightly grasping my neck, Juan glared at me with absolute hatred. “I am going to break you financially,” he said as he pinned me to the wall. I held on to the top of the railing and fought him to grab Andrew. We struggled, I refused to back down, he finally released my neck and placed Andrew on the landing. “You are a white woman in a black country. No Judge will ever give custody of a Son of the Soil to you. Never happen! You will never win. Name your price. I will give you anything for Andrew. If you don’t, I will ruin you. I will kill you!” With great effort, I managed to choke out “I can’t be bought at any price, Juan.”

As Juan stormed down the stairs, I reflected on how we had arrived at this level of animosity.

Abandoned at a hospital in Blind River Ontario Canada, then taken three weeks later by Rita and Sid Russell a young, accomplished couple, my life initially showed great promise.

However, Rita was already fighting breast cancer, had a double mastectomy, followed by radium therapy, and died two years later on Valentine’s Day. I lost two mothers in two years. In her will Rita left me to be raised by her mother on a remote farm without electricity or indoor plumbing.

Encouraged by my teachers who sensed promise in this orphaned child, I attended university on a full scholarship completing a bachelor’s degree and an MBA. While at university I met and married Juan from a prominent wealthy political family and moved to a beautiful Caribbean Island in the West Indies. The Riveros were considered the royal family of St. Gustave, a fictitious name to protect friends who helped me. I was overjoyed to be part of a large family. Cocktail parties and dinners with the President of the Country and the Prime Minister. We attended beautiful fashion shows in which I modeled.

Andrew was born on December 10, 1980. Eight months later at the age of 28, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, with a probability of 50% survival. This was before Gilda Radner when everyone became familiar with this frightening diagnosis. Afraid of leaving Andrew without a mother, I traveled to Toronto Canada where I had a 2nd surgery, a complete hysterectomy and radium treatment. So, no more children for us.

Two years later Juan started an affair and we separated. He made our lives a living nightmare, thereafter, including becoming physically abusive to me when he visited me and Andrew.

In 1987 I met and dated Bill, an American from Vermont. When has asked me to marry him at a very romantic dinner in Orlando, I replied that I loved him, but could never leave the island. I was a prisoner there unless I was willing to leave my son behind and I would never do that.

On a hike in the mountains one beautiful Sunday morning with Andrew and 20 other locals a torrential storm struck as we climbed up a gorge. Hikers tumbled with the water that surged down the gorge. The storm created a flood at the bottom and a mudslide that cut off the only access road back into town. It stranded us for the entire day and into the evening. Bill saved all of us. I told him that evening after we returned, that if he asked me to marry him again, I would say yes. I did not care about the consequences. We would face whatever happened.

On our wedding day in August 1989, Juan arrived at the courthouse with Andrew, permitted Andrew to attend the ceremony and then with two bodyguards in attendance, Juan grabbed and kidnapped Andrew. Juan turned up at our house the morning after our wedding and said we had to vacate immediately as I no longer had any rights in the country. I did not see Andrew again for weeks.

As a result, we were thrown into the longest custody battle in the history of that island. Bill had to leave and return to the US, so two days after getting married, I started my new life alone and homeless.

The months passed with Juan wreaking havoc. Juan’s attorney was his brother, a Senator in the government. At an emergency court hearing four weeks after our wedding, the Judge declared that Juan’s action was a kidnapping and ordered that Andrew be returned to me that afternoon. Three days later Juan tried to kidnap Andrew again, without success. Juan did much to make our lives miserable.

I borrowed an apartment from a girlfriend for me and Andrew. Juan filed a police report stating that we had a gun in the apartment. So late one very dark evening a SWAT team of nine policeman banged on our door insisting that we open, or they were about to knock the door down. Guns are not allowed on the island. The gun referred to was a toy gun my friend kept to dissuade robbers.

It was an enormously frightening experience especially for Andrew. When Juan took the witness stand, he lied repeatedly, which was his ultimate undoing. When I took the stand, I shared a story about Juan that revealed his true character and which I believe greatly impacted the Judge’s ruling.

When the Judge finally started to read his verdict in May 1990, nine months after our wedding, he spoke for 2 hours. At the end when he stated that he was awarding custody care and control of Andrew to me and permission for us to leave the country, the courthouse was suddenly plunged into absolute darkness. An enormous thunderstorm had cut off all electricity. It was like the hand of God had descended upon us and struck us dumb. Andrew and I departed a few days later. I escaped on a long journey traveling in the trunk of a car and met Andrew at a private airport with Juan in hot pursuit and his brother Roberto appearing in the Appeals court trying to overturn our verdict. Our flight out of the country was nail-bitingly suspenseful!

There were many experiences in my life that were difficult to recount. Too dramatic, traumatic, too challenging for one person.

I cried a river of tears over Andrew over the years, worrying about and fearful for him. When he was eight months old, I had cancer and we were separated for five months. Then his father and I separated, and during the long custody battle I thought I might very likely lose him.

However, when Andrew’s stepbrother called me from the island on Saturday May 22, 1999, to tell me that Andrew had been in a car accident the night before and he had died, I wanted to die as well. Andrew was only 18. Juan had bought a car for him that very day, a car that was not road worthy.

After recovering enough to organize flights back to the island that afternoon, I returned to face Juan, his family and to organize Andrew’s funeral. It was the last thing I would ever do for Andrew, and I wanted it to be perfect!

After Andrew’s passing, I found my birth mother and three sisters utilizing DNA and dogged detective skills.

This story is based on my memoir No Stone Unturned: A Remarkable Journey to Identity on Amazon which has earned 108 heart warming reviews mostly 5 stars.

https://www.amazon.com/No-Ston...

I am exploring the transformation of my memoir into a film or TV series. My book was selected by Taleflick, an LA production company as a Taleflick Pick. During a phone conference, Uri Singer, CEO at Taleflick suggested that I contact actress agents personally to pitch the story. He said it has enormous appeal and to share his name during my pitch.