Page 102 of Stealing Home

“Yes, but I just want out of this marriage. If this will make it take longer, I don’t care about the money.”

“I understand your motivation,” he begins, “but your name is on the mortgage. What’s to stop him from not paying it and ruining your credit?”

My mouth falls open. It hadn’t even occurred to me that was a possible outcome.

“I can see by your shocked expression you haven’t considered all the potential consequences, but you don’t have to. That’s why you hired me. Just trust me, Harlow, and I’ll get you out of this mess as painlessly as I can manage. Divorce is always painful, especially when there’s no love lost between the spouses any longer.”

He looks around. “Speaking of spouses, do you see yours?” He checks his watch. “The court will be calling our case any minute.”

Minutes later our case is called, and my lawyer and I head to the front of the room to stand in front of the judge. A harried man in a wrinkled suit rushes up the aisle and stands opposite us.

“Are you the counsel for the husband?” The judge asks him.

Nando’s lawyer nods. “Yes, ma’am.”

She waits for him to elaborate and when he doesn’t, she asks, “Where is your client?”

He shrugs. “I’m not sure, Your Honor. I tried calling him, that’s what held me up, but there wasn’t any answer.”

“Well, since your client is the one who requested to move up the hearing date, we’re going to proceed without him.” She shuffles through a stack of papers at her bench, then she looks at me. “The only thing you want is division of the house?”

I nod. “Yes, Your Honor.”

“Any objections?” she asks Nando’s attorney.

He’s sweating now and looking nervously at the door. “Uh, well. I know that he said he wanted to keep the house.”

“He’s got sixty days to buy out her half of the house and get her name taken off the financial papers. If he falls behind on the mortgage, the property transfers to Ms. Pierce to be able to list and sell,” she declares.

“Uh, he’s really not going to like having to pay her for the house. I know he feels that since she left, and is currently dating a twenty-year-old college student, she isn’t entitled to anything,” he tries to argue.

“This is a no-fault state, so those details are immaterial to my decision. Mr. Rivera decided to waste the court’s time by not showing up to a hearing he personally pushed to move up, using university connections, no less. Be thankful I’m not ordering him to repay Ms. Pierce the amount she contributed for the downpayment. Her counsel has thoughtfully already had the home assessed and if your client chooses to keep it, he will pay her current market value. If there is any damage to the house diminishing the value from the assessment provided to the court, the amount of depreciation will be removed from Mr. Rivera’s share.”

She signs the form and stamps it before handing it off to a clerk. “I’m granting the divorce. The papers will be recorded and filed today and copies will be provided to council in the next couple days.”

I look over at my attorney. “Is that it?”

He smiles at me. “Congratulations, Harlow. You’re a single woman again.”

I feel like I’m floating on my way back from the court house. When I get back to work there’s a huge Congratulations banner, a cake, and sparkling cider. Scott is waiting holding a bouquet of daisies.

When I get close he grabs me and spins me in a circle, then hands me the flowers. “Sorry about the grocery store flowers. It’s all I could afford since I cut myself off from my trust fund.”

“They’re perfect. I don’t care about fancy flowers, you know that. All I want is you.”

“Yeah, well all I want is some cake, so grab that knife and cut it,” Wren grumbles.

Griffin tries not to laugh. “I’d listen to her. Never get between a pregnant woman and cake. I imagine you’ll figure that out first hand pretty soon.”

“When would you say that might be exactly?” Liam asks.

“As soon as I can,” Scott says.

“I think you’re skipping over some steps, hotshot.”

Scott taps his chin. “I don’t think I am. The destination wedding is out now that we’re not rich anymore, but we should still be able to go to Vegas. You might not even be pregnant by then.”

Charlie slaps him on the back. “Give yourself some credit, kid. You’ll knock her up in no time.”

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