He Signed His Divorce Without Reading It, Now He Kneels novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: Decree Day

On the fourth of June, my lawyer met me on the courthouse steps with a manila envelope.

"It's stamped," she said. "Signed by the judge at nine-ten this morning. Sealed, as you asked."

I took it from her and held it a moment before I opened it.

The paper was thin and plain, and my name was on it twice.

Genevieve Wrenfield VanBuren, Petitioner. Colin James VanBuren, Respondent. Marriage dissolved.

At the bottom, in blue ink, was Colin's signature.

It was the easy loop he had made on the sixth of nine pages.

Another woman had been sitting across the table from him, and he hadn't looked up.

"That's it?" I said.

"That's it. You've been a single woman for four hours. Congratulations."

"Does Lorna know?"

"Nobody knows. The file is sealed, and the notice goes to his address of record." She smiled, thinly. "Which is his office. Where, I'm told, he doesn't open his mail."

I laughed, and my voice cracked.

She patted my shoulder and left me on the steps in the sun.

I walked to the end of the block and sat on a low wall.

The envelope Franklin had given me was in my bag. I had carried it for twelve weeks and never opened it.

Open the day you're free.

I broke the seal with my thumb.

There was one sheet inside, folded in thirds.

It was written in his slanting hand, and every line wandered uphill.

Gen,

If you're reading this, you finally left him. Good. I'm sorry I couldn't say it to your face. I tried, and you kept changing the subject to my medication.

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