by Lauren Wood
“I didn't really look at it. So, there is no telling what is in it, why?”
Something told me that I wasn't going to like what he was about to tell me next. I really wasn't going to like it by the way he was acting. How bad could it be?
“Because she is asking for half Colt. Not just half of what you have now, but she wants half of what you're going to make in years to come as well. She wants alimony from you too.”
His words were almost foreign to me and I couldn't believe what he was saying. There was just no way that Candy had made a document like that and had me sign it. I know that I haven't looked at it, but it wasn't that thick, more like a standard divorce decree. It wasn't thick enough to have added all of that in there.
“It had to have been changed after I signed it. Is there a signature at the bottom?”
He said that there was, but that it could easily have been transferred.
“There was no case number on the last page, something that maybe you didn't see before, but it could have easily been added in later. They could have transferred your name, forged it, there really is no telling. It could just be a good old forgery. Are you sure that you didn't sign this?”
“Come on, you know me better than that. There is no way that my family would that fly anyways. A lot of my net worth is in stocks and there is no way that they would let her get a share in the company.”.
“So, what do you want me to do Colt?”
It was becoming clear what had to be done. I wasn't going to be able to go through the lawyers and get through this unscathed. Apparently, I was going to have to call Candy and find out what was going on. I told him that I would get back to him shortly and he told me to hurry it up, because he only had a couple of days to answer.
I got off the phone with him and I wasn't sure what to think. There was a lot going on in my mind and I just couldn't believe it. She had even said something about it when I’d joked about it, but now I guess I was seeing her true colors. I can't say that I liked it all that much.
...
When I tried to call Candy, the number was disconnected. I had called it a couple of times before, hanging up when she answered or before the answering machine could pick up, and it always worked. I didn't understand why it wasn’t now and it started to make me believe my lawyer even more. I had wanted to think that this was all some sort of mistake, that she would never do this to me, but apparently, I was wrong all along.
I checked the number that the investigator had given me and then I called him to make sure that it was a current number.
“It was current two days ago.”
It didn't make sense that I couldn't get ahold of her and I thought about going to California to see her. It certainly was worth the trip, considering how much money she was trying to get out of me. I knew that it may be the only way that I was going to see her. I had to talk to her before I decided one way or another how to handle it. I still was trying to hold on to the idea that this was a big misunderstanding. There was no way that she could do this to me, right?
I wanted to leave right away, but since work was so crazy, I wasn't going to be able to. I knew that I was going to have to talk to Candy about everything, but I can't say that I was really looking forward to it. I was more in shock than anything else and I was hopeful that everything was just a misunderstanding. If it wasn't, I really wasn't sure where to go from there. I loved her, and I certainly didn't want to fight with her, but at the same time, I certainly didn't want to give her all my money either.
My lawyer called me back a couple of days later and asked me what I wanted to do. I had told him that I would call him when I found out, but I still didn't know.
“Can we delay it?”
“Yeah, but we need to have grounds.”
I told him that I didn't really care how he did it and what the legality of it was, I just wanted a little more time to figure out what was going on.
“It is pretty clear what is going on Colt. The woman is trying to take your money. I don't know how else to say it.”
His words hurt, and it must have been because I knew that it might be true. There was a part of me that didn't want to believe it, to believe any of it, but it was becoming apparent that I was going to have to. He had sent me the paperwork and it was all in black and white. He also said that Candy’s lawyer wouldn't return his calls, so I had a feeling that he knew that there was going to be a war.
“Hell Chis, I don't really know what to say. You know that I'm not going to give her half of my money. I don't give a damn how much I care about her, there is no way that she's getting half. Can't you defend with desertion or neglect or something like that?”
I was half joking but when he agreed that he could have, I told him to write up some papers and just send it my way. I wasn't going to represent myself and I didn't really have time at the moment to get into it. I trusted Chris and I knew that he would figure it out. If nothing else, I just needed a little bit more time to figure out what was going on. I still wasn't convinced that she was trying to rob me, even though all of the proof pointed towards that conclusion. Not everything was how it seemed.
The next few days were full for me and I didn't get talk to Chris until the third night. He had sent over the paperwork, but I still hadn't taken a look at it. I think it was easier to be in denial, if I didn't have to see it written out.
When I finally did call him back, it was after hours and I knew he was going to charge me an arm and a leg. I really didn't care though. I needed to talk now, and this was the only time that I could.
“So, what do you want me to do Colt?”
“I don't know, I guess this looks good enough. I hate to have to fight her in court, but I'm certainly not going to let her get away with this. She really didn't seem the type.”
“You know that they're all that type. They can't help themselves or something. All they can think about is money. That is why I don't marry, I date, but I will never get married again. My first ex-wife was the one that made me want to be a divorce attorney, did you know that?”
I told him that I didn’t, and he told me why. She had gotten him for half, and she got the kids, and the house, and pretty much everything else she’d asked for, including his own aunt’s ashes. It was all done legally, and he hadn’t gotten over it. I didn’t want to turn out bitter like him, though I could already feel it creeping in.
“I really didn't think that it was going to be like this. For all intent and purpose, what we had wasn't even a marriage. I was under the assumption that it had to at least be a marriage before the half rule applied. You know that I don't really mess with divorces, so I'm depending on you to help me out.”
“You know that I will Colt, and this is the best way to go about it. You have to be careful how you approach this, and you have to show them that you are not going to just roll over and take it.”
After going over the documents, I agreed to them, and I told him to give me a call when he heard something. Chris promised that he would, but it was all still up in the air. Now I had more questions than answers and I just wanted this to be over as quickly as possible.
Chapter 26
Candy
Another night I got home, and I saw my mother's car in the driveway. Like the last time she’d ambushed me in the parking lot, I wasn't ready to talk to her this time either. After finding out that she had tried to delay the divorce so that she could make some money off of it, I knew that the lawyer was going to charge a lot because of my mom’s antics and I wasn’t in the mood.
“You really should call first mom.”
“Do I really have to call my own daughter to see her?”
“Well considering that it is almost nine o'clock at night, I would if I were you.”
She was offended, but she always was so that was nothing new. I groaned inwardly and then asked her what it was that she wanted.
“Do I need to want something to see my only daughter?”
“Why do you keep answerin
g questions with questions? I have to think that it is something that I'm not going to like, that you want.”
I opened the front door and left it open for her to follow me. I made my way to the wine, because I knew that I was going to need it. This conversation, like every other conversation with my mother, was better with a little alcohol in my system.”
“Do you want some wine?”
She told me that she did, and I found it funny that it was the only question that she actually answered without a question attached.
“And I did try to call you earlier Candy, but you didn't answer. Actually, it said that it had been disconnected and I came over here tonight to find out why. Is everything okay? Did you forget to pay your bill or something? Are you broke?”
I ignored her bombardment of questions and got to the one that I wanted to answer for myself.
“My number was disconnected?”
She said that it was, and I took her phone and called it. I had the same number for years and I didn't believe her. When I heard the sound of the operator telling me that it was a disconnected line, it started to make sense why I didn't have any calls today. I didn't really have any many calls yesterday either, so I wasn't sure how long it been like this.
“I didn't know. I wasn't avoiding you, although sometimes it may seem like it. It has just been really busy at work lately, it has nothing to do with you. I don’t know what happened to the phone. I paid my bill and no, I’m not broke.”
My words seemed to appease her a little bit and she settled down more. Cynthia sat down on the other side of the couch next to me and took a couple of sips of the wine. Whatever she said, I still did not know the real reason she was here. The reason that she gave was obviously not the case.
“So, what's up mom?”
“I don't know, I just wanted to come over and see how you were doing. You didn't come for dinner, you haven't in weeks and I don't know what's going on with you anymore. I feel like we are drifting away.”
To me, that was about the only thing that was good that had come out of all of this. I went from having a fiancé that was rich and a successful lawyer, to being alone and living in a small house. It was certainly a step down from where I was a couple of months before, but the space that I had gotten from my mom, had been a blessing in disguise.
“We aren't drifting away mom. I am just busy with my life right now.”
She mentioned something about me working too much and I wouldn't have to if I had a decent husband, but I just ignored it because I knew that she was just trying to start an argument. I don't know why my mom thought she could bully me into it, and maybe it was true at some point, but not anymore. Things had changed. I don't know why a couple of days with a random guy had changed so much, but it had.
“So, I was at the lawyers this afternoon…”
I smiled at her and took another drink my wine. This is what I was waiting for.
“Oh? Did they finally get the papers drawn up and sent through? I was hoping to have it finalized by now.”
“Yeah, I think everything is in order, though he said that there were a few things that you hadn't signed yet. I was going to come over here anyways, so I told him that I would take them to you. All you have to do is sign them and the filing will be complete. The lawyers don't think that it will have to go to court, as long as he agrees, but since he's already signed it, it shouldn't be a problem.”
I wasn't going to pretend that I understood all the legalities of it. All I knew was that I wanted this chapter of my life to end. I had toyed with the idea of calling Colt, but I didn't get past the thinking stage. We had left things in the best way and I wasn't sure enough about my feelings to mess with him. I didn't want to take him on the same rollercoaster ride that I was on.
She pulled out a stack of paperwork and I just made a disgusted sound. For a marriage that I was never really in and a husband that I hadn't remembered, Colt came with a lot of paper work. It also brought me around a lot of lawyers, and I can't say that I really liked them. I know that Jax was one, but he had never brought his work home with him.
“So, all you have to do is sign them dear and I will take him back to the lawyers in the morning. Easy enough.”
I started to read over them and she started talking about something else and I just went to sign the bottom. I didn't want to go through almost twenty pages of tiny print and the reading was rather dull. The highlight was I was getting divorced and that was really all that matter to me. It was a part of my life that I had to end, so I can start the next chapter.
When I signed all the places that had little tabs for me, I handed it back to her and thanked her for taking care of it. I didn’t want to deal with the family lawyers and I knew that mom thrived on it. She would go around telling everyone how she would help me so much, but it didn't matter, it was done now. She could say whatever she wanted to. Cynthia could live in her own little world as long as she wanted to as far as I was concerned.
She was ready to leave not too long after that. She asked about Jax, if that was ever going to happen, but I told her that it wasn't. Apparently, she was still talking to Jax, and they were plotting ways to get us back together. I told her that it wouldn't do any good, but of course, she did not want to hear that.
Mom was half way in the door and halfway out and I was trying to get her to leave. She was going on and on, making it impossible not to get rid of her without being rude.
Suddenly I had a wave of nausea and I had to run to the bathroom. It had been happening a lot the last couple of weeks and I was silently hoping that she would be gone when I came out. She wasn’t.
“Are you okay, dear?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I have just been working a lot and my stomach has been screwed up for a week or two. I don’t think I have every gotten this sick, for this long, in my life.”
“You’re on the pill still, right?”
I didn’t understand what that had to do with anything. I told her that I hadn’t been for a while, me and Jax were talking about starting a family.
“Well, don’t you think that you could be pregnant?”
I told her that I didn’t because I wasn’t getting sick in the mornings. I was actually getting sick all day long and it was rather hard to deal with. It was mainly night time, so ‘morning sicknesses didn’t seem to be an option.
“Just because they call it that, doesn’t mean that it is only in the morning. When I was pregnant with you, I swear I was getting sick several times a day for almost the first trimester. You were a nightmare.”
I had heard her say that phrase before, about the nightmare part and her being sick, but I hadn’t even thought that it would be an issue. My sex life was nil now, so my mind hadn’t made the connection.
“I can’t be.”
She smiled in a mischievous way and I got a cold feeling that ran up my spine. This wasn’t going to be good at all. Now I had to think about the main question that bothered me. Whose was it? This was just getting worse by the moment.
“We should tell your lawyer.”
“Why?”
“Because it is pertinent information.”
“Leave the lawyers out of my uterus mom. I just want this done and over with. I haven’t even wrapped my head around it and you could be wrong.”
“I’m not dear. You are pregnant, and I couldn’t be happier.”
“Dying to be a grandmother, huh?”
She gave me a disgusted look and I knew that she was never going to let my child call her that. I could barely call her mom in public. I had to wonder how the title of grandmother was going to feel. That idea made me smile to myself.
“Don't you dare start calling me that.”
I laughed a little, but at the same time I felt like crying. I didn't know if it was extra emotions or the fact that I was carrying a child that could be one of two men. The worst part was that I was talking to neither one of them and I wasn't sure what to do.
Mom didn't stay much longer afte
r that, saying that she had some errands to run. I would have asked her for emotional support, if she was a different mom and I was a different daughter. But at the end of the day, I was glad to see the backside of her, and I was happy that I had a little bit of time to think about what was going on. Suddenly I had a weight on my shoulders that I never imagined before. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with it.
Chapter 27
Colt
I was about to catch my flight to go to California, when I got a call from my lawyer. I can't say that I was so happy to hear from him, and I was less happy to hear from him when he told me that Candy’s lawyer had filed more motions. Now they wanted more it seemed and it was getting to me now. They would never get it of course, but the audacity of even asking was bothersome.
“So, what is it that they want now?”
This marriage that I had gotten into seven years ago was becoming a nightmare and everything that I thought about Candy and what I knew about her was obviously wrong. She was not the woman that I thought she was.
“Well Sir, I don't know how to tell you this.”
It was late, and airport was packed. That meant that I didn't have time to play these guessing games and I told him to just come out with it already. Sometimes he treated me like I was a child because of the way he was so delicate with me. Did I really seem that vulnerable because of Candy? Considering what it was that I was going through now, I had to think that maybe I did.
“Now she is asking for not only child support, but for medical coverage for the pregnancy. You didn't tell me that she was pregnant.”
Of all the things that I had heard from my lawyer in the last few weeks, the fact that she was pregnant was one that completely floored me. I hadn't seen that coming. The people in the airport started to twirl around me and I started getting dizzy. This is not what I expected at all.