When Love's Sorrow Plays Again novel · Chapter 5 of 24
Chapter 5: Thirty Days
The process server found me at 3:10 on Friday, in the middle of the school yard.
He was a pale man in a windbreaker, and he said my full name in a voice meant to carry.
"Leona Hartwell?"
Eleven parents turned around.
"That's me."
"You've been served."
He put a stapled packet into my hand and walked away at a normal pace.
Across the top, in bold letters, it said NOTICE OF BREACH AND DEMAND FOR REPAYMENT.
The Blomqvist Family Trust was the plaintiff.
My name was the defendant.
A woman I knew from the PTA stepped slowly backward.
"Is everything okay, Leona?"
"It's a bill," I said. "A big one."
"Mom!" Ellery came out of the door at a run, with a paper bag turkey in her hand and a missing tooth for the whole world to see. "Look, I made a turkey, his feathers are my hand."
"It's perfect."
"Is that a letter? Is it from my dad?"
"No, baby. It's from nobody."
"It's from somebody who is not nice," said a voice behind us.
Julius had come through the gate.
He was in the long grey coat, hair damp from the drizzle, and he looked as if he had walked the whole way.
Ellery lit up.
"You came to my school!"
"I did. I'm told it's the best one."
"It is. We have a hamster." She squinted at him. "Are you going to be my dad now?"
Eleven parents went very still.
Julius opened his mouth and found nothing in it.
"We'll talk later, Ellery," I said. "Go find your teacher and say goodbye."
She went, skipping.
He waited until she was out of earshot.
"Leona. Whatever it costs, I'll pay it. Today."
"No."
"A hundred and forty thousand dollars is a number on a page."
"It's my number. I signed the paper."
"My brother made you sign it."
"Nobody held a pen to my hand." I turned the packet over so he could not see the cover. "I took that cheque, Julius. I was twenty-two and alone, and I took it. That's why it's mine to pay."
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