Chapter 20 - The divorce
I filed six weeks after the plea.
Why not earlier?
Because the marriage had already been physically separated.
Legal counsel advised not to combine every proceeding unnecessarily.
Because part of me still could not understand how a woman who had held me through Lauren’s death anniversaries had become someone Eli feared.
Because grief and betrayal do not organize themselves according to court calendars.
The divorce was not financially dramatic.
We had been married less than three years.
House was largely my premarital property with some marital contributions.
Simone received agreed reimbursement for renovation contributions and her share of joint savings.
Retirement contributions divided under state law.
No children together.
No fight over Eli.
She had no parental rights independent of the marriage.
The lamp stayed in Eli’s room.
He thought that was hilarious when he eventually learned there had been a property question.
“She wanted my lamp?”
“Apparently.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“People are weird.”
Accurate.
The decree became final fourteen months after filing.
No reconciliation.
No revenge clause.
No lifetime financial punishment.
Marriage ended because trust had become incompatible with safety.
May you like
That was enough.
────────────────────
