She narrowed her eyes as she quieted her movements and breathing trying to make out the whispers from across the ridiculously large table. She snickered at the thought they just might need megaphones to hear each other. But her grin quickly faded when her husband and his attorney looked over at her. What the hell is taking him so long, she thought; wondering where her darling husband found this so-called lawyer. Jeffrey Collins was his name, from a no-name firm that she thought probably specialized in personal injury. The idea of it was making her angry and frustrated with waiting. She wanted to get this over with…she wanted to stop looking at the smug expression on her husband’s face.
The sudden banging on the door to the conference room made her almost jump out of her seat. Her head snapped in the direction of the door as the prepubescent, disheveled and scruffy looking kid rushed through the door with a thump and his arms filled with files nearly spilling to the floor. She rolled her eyes and shook her head as she glared at her husband.
“I’m so sorry I’m late.” Jeffrey stumbled into the table letting the files come crashing to its surface. “I didn’t miss anything did I, Mrs. Abbott?”
Picking a folder from her lap and calmly placing back onto the table she quipped, “Hardly.”
Robert Hardy, Mr. Abbott’s lawyer, grinned while he laid out his files and began to pull papers from within them. “Now that we are all present let’s get down to business,” he said as his head rose to meet the glare from Jill and the uneasy expression on Jeffrey’s face.
“We are here today to discuss a settlement of marital property of William James Abbott III and Jillian Abbott.”
Jillian rolled her eyes when Bob used Bill’s formal name.
“Excuse me,” Jeffrey’s voice cracked.
“Yes, Mr. Collins?”
Clearing his throat, he said, “I thought we were here to discuss the contesting of the reason for divorce. But now there seems to be…” he continued to stare down into the notes taken from a prior meeting with his client.
Jill yelled out cutting her attorney off, “What Bill, you thought I would just roll over, say nothing and let you have it all your way? I don’t think so.” Jill never took her eyes off Bill, and she smirked when he narrowed his eyes at her.
Bill slammed both palms on the table top, “You bitch, we agreed.”
“No, I never agreed to your terms. But you froze all the accounts and left me without a dollar of my own so you could control this situation. I am entitled to fifty percent of our assets, not an equitable distribution that you control. This is an uncontested divorce for only one reason, so until the documents are modified, there will be no divorce.” Jill paused as she regarded Bill and his attorney with a cocky grin. “Guess you and little Miss Ho-Bag will have to wait.”
“Don’t you call the mother of my child a whore.” Bill stood up and leered at his wife.
“The mother of your child…I was the mother of your child, or did you forget about James?” Jill’s eyes began to tear up.
Bill’s demeanor changed instantly as he dropped back into his seat and his eyes fell to the table, “No, of course not.” His voice was bearing a brittle tone.
“I am not signing or agreeing to anything until the grounds for divorce is changed to No-Fault. You cannot claim ‘fault’ based on the reason that I denied you children. We both know you are only using that as an excuse so I won’t come after you for infidelity.”
“Mrs. Abbott, can we please get back to the issues at hand.”
“Really Bob, Mrs. Abbott? I’ve known you for thirty years; we were at your wedding…for Pete's sake Bob, we are the godparents to your daughter. How is Emily by the way?”
Bob looked at Bill for assistance, but Bill just shrugged his shoulders.
“Um…she’s good, in her second year at NYU.” He said as he pulled on his collar like it was strangling him.
“Okay, so can we cut the crap now? Billy, we’ve known each other our entire lives, and we’ve been together since we were fifteen. So can we at least be civil? I’m not going to try and take everything from you, but I worked at creating this empire just as much as you have and I deserve a fifty percent split.”
“Mrs. Abbott,” her boy lawyer whispered.
“Jeffrey, I’ve asked you to call me Jill. And don’t worry, I have this under control.” Jill turned her head slowly as her gaze refocused on the other side of the table.
“You can’t claim that I never gave you children like it was something I was purposely withholding. And you can’t pretend that James never existed.” Her eyes began to glisten. “Yes, it was a difficult pregnancy…but I weathered the storm, following every doctor order to the letter. Everyone knew that Preeclampsia was a possibility because of my age, but it wasn’t diagnosed until it was too late.”
Bill lost the battle trying to keep his emotions at bay and tears began to stream down his cheeks. Jill’s heart broke for him as her mind filled with the tragedy which basically destroyed them.
“It was a botched cesarean that damaged everything and later cost me my reproductive organs. But we were given three amazing days with our son. William James Abbott IV…James, my baby boy James. I was a mother, I held him, and I breastfed him. His eyes bore so deep into mine that I knew he could see right into my soul and then he up and dies. Complications they said…complications of that fucking disease which no one diagnosed in the first fucking place. Oh but they had their lawyers badgering us the day we buried him, made sure we were at our weakest and most broken so we would sign their little paper releasing them from any liability.”
“I’m sorry.” Bill’s voice broke as he wiped at his nose with the back of his hand.
Jill dropped her head into her hands as she broke down into sobs. “I was a mother Bill, and you can’t take that away from me. So change the fucking wording on that fucking document and give me what is rightfully mine. Then go have your family.”
“Mrs. Abbott…I mean Jill,” Jeffrey said trying to pull her attention away from the men whispering at the other end of the table.
“Yes, what is it Jeffrey?” she asked as she wiped her eyes dry with the sleeve of her shirt.
“The divorce has already been finalized. I was faxed the settlement proposal last night.”
“What?” Jill was completely stunned. “I didn’t agree to the divorce let alone sign it.”
“No you didn’t Jill, but that is what the Dominican Republic is famous for…uncontested divorces. Bill flew down there last week for the divorce and was married to Diane three days ago,” Bob said as he pulled out the decree of divorce and slid it across the table to her.
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Jill said as she examined the document. “Can he do this?” She turned to ask her attorney.
“I’m afraid so, it is pretty legal.”
“Pretty legal. This is complete and utter bullshit. How could you do this to me, Bill?”
“If you refuse to sign the settlement proposal, you will have to vacate the residence at 111 Veracruz Court because the judge has granted Bill and his wife Diane temporary ownership. You will have twenty-four hours to gather your personal belongs, nothing that would be considered communal property.”
“You bastard!” Jill shouted.
“Sorry Jill, but that’s the way it is. It would be better if you sign the settlement now. Would save everyone a lot of unnecessary trouble.” Bob glared across the table at her, his eyes were cold and dead.
Jill she shook her head in disbelief then turned to her attorney. “You couldn’t have stopped this?”
Jeffrey couldn’t look at her hurt and angry expression any longer, the pain in her eyes was too much to take. “No, I’m sorry.”
“Me too,” She said as she patted his arm to let him know she didn’t blame him for this atrocity. She knew this was Bill’s doing, Bill and Bob for that matter. They have been thick as thieves for the past thirty years, pompous douche bags with their important country club status. They wanted a ‘wet behind th
e ears’ type attorney that they could roll right over.
“I’m not signing the settlement, Bill. I am going to contest the divorce and hit you for infidelity and bigamy. You won’t have a cent to your name when I’m through with you.” When she stood up, her chair rolled back with such force that it toppled over with a crash. “I’ll be out of your precious house in two hours; there’s nothing there I want. I don’t want anything that reminds me of you, fucking asshole.”
She spun on her heel, tears streaming down her face; “Let’s go Jeffrey.”
Jillian hurried back to her million dollar mansion set on four acres of prime real estate in the prestigious suburb of Mamaroneck, Westchester County in New York. The Abbotts were the up and coming jet setters, with Bill’s degree in business and hers in economics they were taking New York by storm. Their mom and pop business went public making them millionaires overnight. And with their success and fortune they became celebrities of sort as their names soon hit The Fortune 500. Their hobnobbing took them to prestigious parties, afternoons on yachts, weekends in Hong Kong and Paris. They were living the life that others could only dream of and they were the envy of their friends. Young, successful and attractive…Bill and Jill Abbott were the ‘it’ couple.
Their first huge purchase from their new fortune would be their dream home. Her home was picturesque, landscaped in beautiful floral topiaries and rolling greens which stretched out as far as the eye could see. This modern day beauty with cathedral ceilings, giant picture windows, state of the art kitchen…it was a perfect place to entertain their well-to-do friends and raise a large family.
When they moved in just shy of her thirtieth birthday, Jill couldn’t wait to start a family. Since being an item at the young and tender age of fifteen, she and Bill would talk about their life beyond college and marriage…and it always included children. Bill wanted a son to follow in his footsteps, a boy he could mold as the heir to the Abbott dynasty. Jill just wanted children…a beautiful life she could create…maybe with her smile and Bill’s eyes…a soul which would be a part of hers.
The soirees they hosted were the talk of their social circles, and to their friends they were deemed the power-couple of the twenty-first century. And after their empire was built, Jill stepped away from the business to concentrate on having a family. Although their repeated attempts, disappointing negative pregnancy tests and two miscarriages put a strain on their marriage, all that changed the summer of 2003 when she called Bill with the news that she was twelve weeks pregnant.
Jill couldn’t shake the memories as she walked into the house and she closed the door behind her the pain of the past continued to haunt her; leaning against the front door she instinctually comforted her churning gut with a hand as she looked around the room. Memories of laughter and booming voices, pleasant sounds of her guest’s children playing hide and seek, and building forts in her family room while the adults entertained themselves with brandy, wine, and highfalutin boasting. But more than anything, the spring gala they hosted when she was seven months pregnant was the one she remembered most fondly. With the anticipation of being parents, she and Bill had already picked out names for their long-awaited bundle of joy.
Visions of her baby’s eyes, smile and voice filled her head and the mirage took shape if only for a while. But when James died, and the Abbott’s went home without their son, the permanent rift was born. Unable to deal with the empty nursery, Jill decided to have a service come in and remove it all for donation to a charitable organization. Bill on the other hand lived in denial, he blamed her and became completely absent from their marriage.
Jill dropped to her knees, catching her head in her hands she sobbed loudly until the upset and pain brought the wrenching of her stomach and she scurried to her feet and ran to the first-floor powder room where she hurled her guts into the toilet.
“Oh God, please help me,” she said wearily as she pressed her back against the wall and wrapped her arms around her knees. “Why did I stay? Why didn’t I leave after the first time he cheated?” But she could never find the answers no matter how many times she would ask herself those questions. So she spent the last ten years in her own denial, hiding from life, from reality and mainly from herself.
“This shit ends now,” she said as she eased herself from the floor and stared at her reflection in the mirror over the sink, “You are forty-five years old, what are you going to do now?” She examined her face, the fine lines under her eyes and those forming around her mouth, the crow’s feet that gathered at the corners of her eyes and the grays now shining through her once silken chestnut brown hair.
“You may have taken my youth, but you are not going to take one more thing from me.”
Jill left the bathroom and headed upstairs to the master bedroom where she had spent the last six months alone since Bill moved out of the house to be with his newest mistress. “Pregnant…well, I guess she’ll give you the family you always wanted.” She pulled her designer luggage from the closet and began to pack her clothes, jewelry and anything that she purchased for herself. Within ninety minutes she had packed her personal belongings, and tagged some items in the house to take. She wanted nothing that was a reminder of her marriage and the man that had deserted and betrayed her. These were the things she had acquired at charity auctions, art shows or just plain retail therapy shopping sprees. She wasn’t leaving anything of hers behind for Bill and his new wife.
After tagging everything for the emergency moving service, she pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans and pulled up her phone log. Pressing the previous call from her attorney Jeffrey Collins, she picked up the personal bag she packed and headed downstairs to wait for the movers.
“Mrs. Abbott.” He addressed her without saying ‘hello.’
“Jill, please. Look Jeffrey, I need you to do something for me right away.”
“Mr. Abbott fired me from representing you.”
She bit her bottom lip ready to spit fire, “Oh he did…did he? Bastard.”
“I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to help you.” He hated the way she was getting railroaded, but his hands were tied.
“I’ll hire you, right now. I need your help,” Jill said as she pulled the house keys off her key ring and placed them on the marble table in the foyer. She would have rather chucked them into the bushes outside the house, but refused to stoop to her ‘douche-bag’ husband’s level.
A smile formed on his face, a chance to stick it to Robert Hardy and her husband. “What can I do to help?”
“The condo at Fifteen Central Park West, I believe it is vacant again. I need you to check into it. It was put in my name to avoid the tax implications of the rent Bill was getting from it and I need you to secure it with the judge before Bill puts another tenant in there. Can you do that for me Jeffrey?”
“On one condition,” Jeffrey said.
“And that is?” Jill asked with her hand firmly planted on her hip.
“Please call me Jeff.”
Jill smiled in response, “That I can do. Thanks Jeff.”
Jill ended the call and stuffed the phone into her back pocket as she opened the front door ready to leave her home and her broken life behind. Just as she stepped through the threshold the moving van pulled into the front circular driveway. “Here is the address and everything in the house with a green sticky on it goes, everything else stays.”
As she headed for the garage, her cell rang. “I’ll meet you at the building,” she yelled out to the movers as she eyed the display screen on her phone, seeing her attorney’s number she answered it anxiously. “Jeff, please tell me you have good news.”
“Um, I spoke with the judge and explained the situation and she…”
“She?”
“Yes, she…She was sympathetic to your situation and made an amendment to the settlement proposal.”
“But I didn’t sign the settlement and am preparing to fight it.”
“She just added a living provision for
you and the property at Fifteen Central Park West will be temporarily yours.”
“Even though it was purchased as an investment and is a part of the estate?” Jill asked ensuring that her young attorney had covered all the bases with the judge.
“Yes, she put in the provision that the property will no longer be considered an investment until a marital settlement has been agreed upon,” he stated with a little boasting in his voice.
“Thanks, Jeff. I’ll contact you once I’m settled.” Jill ended the call and walked into the garage with a huge smile on her face knowing her getting Bill’s cash cow would not sit well.
She wanted to key up the paint on Bill’s Hummer. It was an obnoxious display of wealth and masculinity, besides being an uncomfortable ride and a ridiculous gas hog. But she thought better of it, she didn’t want to have any untoward light on her during this process. Maybe after the settlement, she would key the shit out of the paint job.
“First stop, the bank,” she said as she backed her Mercedes SLS AMG Roadster out of the garage.
Chapter 3
Coming out of her trip down memory lane, Jackie pulled up to the curb in front of her sister’s house. She cracked the pipes again causing the pigeons milling around the tree on the brick walkway to scatter and fly a few feet away from her. She set the bike onto the kickstand and slid off the seat instantly feeling like she was two feet shorter since she had been riding for over twelve hours with only stopping a few times along the way. It was just after 9:00 p.m. and thankfully there was still light in the sky after the sun had set. She wasn’t too keen on riding her motorcycle in the dark, especially on the dark streets of New York City.
After she had unstrapped her duffle bag, she pulled the cover from a saddlebag and draped it over her bike locking it to the wheels. It wasn’t like her sister lived in a ghetto, it was a great neighborhood, but she didn’t want to take any chances with her pride and joy since it was truly the only thing she owned.
Without A Pail Page 2