Six months later

 

The Greenwood courthouse was exactly as I remembered it.

The atrium was spacious and sparse, our footsteps too loud as we passed door after door. Mary strode confidently beside me in tall black heels, her bright red hair standing out amongst all the gray and black suits.

My stomach was in knots. As if he could read my mind, Iain gave my hand a reassuring squeeze, and I smiled warmly at him with more confidence than I felt.

We stopped in front of a room with a closed door. Mary turned to us.

“Why don’t you take a seat? I’ll let you know when it’s time.”

Iain guided me to a hard bench with no back, and we sat. Mary rapped on the door twice, then stepped inside quickly and quietly, taking care not to open the door all the way.

It didn’t matter, though. I saw him.

Iain’s hand threaded through mine, and I took a few deep breaths. I told myself that it was okay to be afraid. That it was natural to feel this way. The man in that room had been an absolute monster to me for nearly five years.

What I had to remember, though, was that Brandon no longer had any control over me. He was signing our divorce papers, and I’d never see him again.

Triumph washed over me. At first, he’d tried to put up a fight. But when my lawyer brought all of my charges to the table - a mile-long list of transgressions and abuse - he’d completely balked. He threw his hands up and told them to give me whatever I wanted.

I had wanted nothing more than a divorce, but the lawyers also settled on monetary compensation, the sum so exorbitant that I knew it was Brandon’s way of ensuring my silence. The man I’d known, the hunter, the monster - he disappeared. In his place was someone meek and afraid.

Someone like I’d been, before I met Iain.

The hall was quiet, and I fixated on a drab painting of the original mayor of Indianapolis, the finality of our being here really hitting me. Even though the last six months had been like something out of a dream, I’d still had the divorce on my mind.

Now it was nearly over.

“What are you thinking?” Iain asked. I looked at him, at those sky-blue eyes, at his full lips. Love rushed through me, and another twinge of nervousness of what I still had to tell him afterward. I leaned toward him, resting my head on his shoulder.

“Nothing really. It just… feels good. To know that soon, this will all be in the past.”

Iain tipped my head up to face him. He leaned in and kissed me, chastely, before drawing back.

“I love you,” he said.

I never got tired of hearing that. My body buzzed at his words, and I smiled, momentarily forgetting where we were and what we were doing.

“I love you more.”

The door opened, drawing my attention toward it. Mary came out, leaving it open behind her. Brandon was gone.

“We’re ready for you, Michele.”

Iain and I stood, following Mary into the stuffy room. Brandon’s lawyer, a haughty man by the name of Jared Mast, remained, hovering awkwardly at the end of the table, his briefcase open and papers spread out in front of an empty chair. The chair where Brandon had been sitting.

There was a door on the other side of the room. I wondered if it was some sort of holding area. Maybe this room was designed specifically for situations like this.

Either way, Brandon was right on the other side of that door. I could feel it.

“You okay?” Iain whispered. I’d stopped moving - I was staring at the door, my body stiff as a board.

The sound of his voice woke me up, though. “I’m fine,” I replied.

I forced myself to relax and walked over to Jared, Mary in tow. Iain took a seat at an empty chair nearby, watching us.

“Nice to see you,” Jared said, but his eyes were bored. He moved to my right side, pushing his briefcase back and further spreading the documents in front of me. “Here’s everything, all to terms. We just need three signatures….”

Jared’s voice droned on and on. I glanced at Iain, who was watching Brandon’s lawyer with a look of mild distaste. I glanced at the black pen next to the papers, its glossy body smudged with fingerprints.

Probably Brandon’s.

I looked back at Iain again, a small smile forming on my face. I was eager to sign these papers, to get out of here and really start my future. Absently, my hand rested against my middle, and Jared’s voice caught my attention again.

“The agreed upon sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars will be wired on October 12th as you dictated. Sign here.” He pointed at the words with a perfectly manicured fingernail.

Did Brandon know that October 12th was the day I walked out on him?

I signed my name under his, smiling even wider.

If anybody in the room thought it was odd that I was smiling like a loon, they didn’t mention it. I signed two more times, the last signature affirming that I agreed to all terms of the divorce.

And then, I was no longer married.

It was a blur after that. Jared gathered up all the papers and gave me a copy in a manila folder. Mary and Jared shook hands, and then it was time to go.

On the way out, I couldn’t help but turn around and look at the closed door.

“Goodbye,” I whispered.

In the hallway, Iain grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him.

“It’s over,” he said. He looked happy. Happier than he’d looked when he got accepted into NYU to pursue a major in criminology three months ago.

“I know.” I reached to run a hand through his hair, loving the softness of it, then stood on my tiptoes to give him a kiss. “It’s… a relief.”

We left the courthouse. On the steps, Mary shook my hand.

“It was an honor representing you,” she told me. “I wish you both luck. Have a safe trip home.”

We parted ways, and I wrapped my sweater around me as we headed toward the rental car. It was going on three o’clock, and the air was crisp. Autumn had come early in Indiana this year.

Now that it was over, I was bursting to tell him. I looked at Iain, watching the breeze sweep his hair back. He dug in his pocket for the key, unlocking the car as we approached it.

He followed me to the passenger side, an old-fashioned gesture that, for some reason, always made me blush. Just as his hand made contact with the handle, I placed mine over his, stilling him.

“Iain, I’m pregnant.”

For an excruciating moment, he didn’t budge. Then he relaxed and turned toward me, something like hope in his eyes.

“What?”

“I just found out. I… wanted to wait to tell you until this was all over.” I bit my lip, my hand going to my stomach of its own accord. Even though the baby would be too small for me to feel, I’d taken to touching my stomach the last few days, trying to imagine that I could somehow feel it within.

“You’re pregnant?” His eyes flicked from my own to my hand, resting over my stomach. “Really?”

“Yes.”

I was prepared for this to be a touchy subject for him. But instead of apprehension on his face, which I’d been expecting, I saw only joy. I smiled, and then he reached for me, pulling me into a tight embrace that took my breath away.

“I’m gonna be a dad,” he said against my neck. “I can’t believe it.”

Our future, the possibilities, it all flashed before my eyes. The parking lot disappeared and instead, a life with Iain spread out before me. A life full of laughter, of love. Friendship and family.

It was only just the beginning.

 

The End