Chapter 25 - The divorce decree
The divorce became final ten months after the stair incident.
No courtroom speech.
No dramatic refusal.
We signed.
Judge reviewed.
Decree entered.
Graham kept:
Bennett Custom majority interest.
His apartment lease.
Vehicle.
Adjusted retirement.
His relationship with Judith, whatever it would become.
I kept:
My retirement after equalization.
My share of cash/property.
My vehicle.
My name.
I chose to return to Nora Ellis, my birth surname.
Not because Bennett was contaminated.
Because I wanted something that belonged to me before I learned to bend.
Then Graham said through Dana:
“He would like to apologize in writing.”
I allowed one letter.
It said:
I kept telling myself I was protecting everyone from the worst outcome. I see now that the worst outcome was the system I was preserving. I changed facts because I thought you would forgive me more easily than my mother would forgive me. That was cowardice.
I read it once.
Then another sentence:
I am not asking you to come back.
Good.
I placed it in a file.
Not framed.
May you like
Not burned.
Just filed.
