Changes~13

Printer-friendly version
It was fabulous, sitting on the harbour wall with cod–they were out of haddock–and chips in paper with just the right amount of salt and vinegar, trying to avoid being mugged by the ever present dive-bombing seagulls...


Changes
Chapter 13
By Susan Brown

 
 


Don't tell me what it's all about,
'Cause I've been there and I'm glad I'm out,
Out of those chains, those chains that bind you
That is why I'm here to remind you

What do you get when you fall in love?
You get enough tears to fill an ocean
That's what you get for your devotion.
I'll never fall in love again.
I'll never fall in love again.

Burt Bacharach / Hal David

Previously…

I nodded, wanting to get things moving. I wanted the pain of my marriage breakdown to end as soon as possible.

Jocasta, pulled out her ’phone and speed dialled the number.

‘Hi, Katie? Jo. Hi. hon, how are you? Tell me about it. Look my friend Samantha…yes, that’s the one, she needs some urgent advice. Will you be around tomorrow morning? Great. Okay, I’ll tell her. Byee.’

‘Eleven o’clock tomorrow all right?’

‘Sure. Thanks for sorting that.’

‘No problem; ’tis what friends are for. Now put that on the back burner and tell me. Are you taking this place?’

‘Yes, it’s wonderful. If it wasn’t for my marital problems, I’d think life was getting close to perfect. I’m sure someone’s looking down on me to help me find the cove, you and this blissful cottage.’

‘Well someone is looking down on you, or he had better be otherwise my beloved hubby would be out of a job. So what next?’

‘I need a mattress and bed linen.’

And now the story continues…

Surprisingly enough, not much else happened that day, except that on the way back from my cottage–my cottage, sounds soooo nice–Jo and I couldn’t resist the inviting smell of the fish and chip shop. It was fabulous, sitting on the harbour wall with cod–they were out of haddock–and chips in paper with just the right amount of salt and vinegar, trying to avoid being mugged by the ever present dive-bombing seagulls.

Whilst waiting for the fish and chips to be freshly cooked, Jocasta borrowed the Yellow Pages and gave me the number of a bed shop located in a nearby town. I managed to ring them and ordered a mattress, some pillows and plain white bed linen, taking the chance that my instructions regarding a deep, comfortable mattress would be carried out. Jocasta assured me that they were a good shop with a high reputation for quality and I should have no worries about what they would supply. It was arranged that the stuff would be delivered to the cottage the next morning at half past nine, so I had to make sure that I would be there to take delivery. I hoped they wouldn’t be late as I was seeing Katie the solicitor at eleven.

The evening passed quietly and I slept well. Next morning I was back at the cottage, waiting for the mattress to arrive. I had spoken to Millie and she said that it was okay to sort out the mattress and take delivery. She was going to see Mr Mogg later and get him to sign a few forms. She gave me the estate agents account number and sort code for transferring funds to pay the deposit. Then while I waited for the van to arrive, I phoned my bank. Of course, it’s all centralised now so you don’t ever speak to a branch just someone faceless.

I gave the faceless bank person my personal details including what I had for breakfast that day and then got down to the reason for my call.

‘Firstly, I have changed my address.’ I gave her my details.

‘Right, now I need to transfer some funds to my estate agent, I need that done straight away–how much? Talk about pound of flesh. Okay please do it.’

As I put the phone down, I wondered why the banks were in so much trouble; they give daylight robbery a bad name.

There was a knock on the door and I went downstairs to answer it. Two men in flat caps stood there.

‘Ms Smart?’ asked left hand flat cap.

‘That’s me.’ I answered brightly.

‘We have a delivery,’ said right hand flat cap, handing me a large carrier bag–it was the pillows, sheets and things.

‘Thanks.’

Soon, they were struggling up the narrow stairs with the unwieldy mattress and both flat caps fell off before they finally managed to get it into the bedroom. I learned a few Devonian swearwords that might come in useful at some time or other.

‘Thank you so much.’

‘No problem,’ said one flat cap-less person.

‘Thanks,’ said the other one as I gave them a tip.

They went downstairs and after picking up their caps and placing them carefully on their heads, they were off.

Across the lane, I saw several ladies nattering and I gave them a little wave and went back inside.

I was going to change the mattress myself, but didn’t want to tempt fate, just in case everything went pear shaped and I wasn’t for some reason able to have the cottage.

I shifted a few boxes around in what I now called my Studio and wondered if there was anywhere else that I could stash them as they would be in the way once my artistic juices began flowing.

I glanced at my watch. It was a quarter to eleven, and I had places to go and things to do, so I locked up and made my way down to the High Street to meet Katie.

There were a few people in the lane so I said, ‘hi,’ as I passed them. I wondered how many centuries it would take for me to be considered a local? Mind you, I was being unfair as everyone had been nice since I had arrived.

Jocasta had offered to come with me to the solicitors, but I decided that this was one thing I had to do alone.

As I stood outside the solicitors’ door, I took a deep breath and entered. It was cooler inside and darker. My eyes took a moment to adjust as I walked up the carpeted staircase to the top where a sign said Please come in. I knocked on the solid wooden door and went in.

There was a girl behind a desk typing on a keyboard.

‘Fercrisaek,’ she said at her screen, then looking up she smiled, saying, ’awright ’en aree?’

‘Pardon?’

‘Oh, sorry, I’m practicing my Devon accent for the Midsummer Fair–long story; may I help you?

‘I have an appointment with Katie?’

‘Right, erm, Ms Smart?’

‘That’s me.’

‘Please take a seat, I’ll see if she’s free.’

I sat down on one of the padded chairs that lined the walls á  la doctor’s surgery. There were several doors and she went to one in the corner, knocked and entered.

As I looked round the office, I felt slightly uncomfortable as it appeared I was being stared at by several old, and no doubt deceased, men in the portraits on the walls.

The door opened again and the girl came out.

‘She’s free now; would you like to go in?’

As I entered, a tall, rather elegant, lady stood up and shook my hand.

‘Samantha? Great to see you. Come and sit down and we can have a chat.’ She pointed to a couple of easy chairs so we sat down and made ourselves comfortable.

She was quite attractive, with long black hair, wearing a silk blouse and grey tailored skirt. Every bit the busy solicitor.

‘May I offer you some coffee?’

I shook my head. Now I came to it, I was decidedly nervous.

‘Okay then, how may I help you?’

By now I was extremely nervous. Could I trust her? I had to trust her; I had no choice if I wanted to get this over quickly.

‘I–I want to know how I can get a divorce.’

‘I’m so sorry to hear that. Is there no chance?’

‘N—no.’ I took a deep breath and looked at her. ‘Is this confidential?’

‘Naturally. I won’t say or do anything you don’t wish me to. Look, I can see that you’re upset, that’s obvious. I think you should tell me everything so that I can advise the best way forward.’

I looked at her; she seems nice and I don’t think that she would laugh or treat me like I was something she got on her shoe; oh hell… I shut my eyes, not wanting to see her reaction to what I was about to say.

‘First of all, my legal name is Tom Smart. I—I’m transgendered.’

I cracked an eye open. She hadn’t fainted and there weren’t screams of disgust. In fact she didn’t look any different.

‘You don’t seem shocked.’ I said, being brave and opening the other eye.

‘No. Surprised yes, as you don’t look much like a Tom to me. I can see that you’re surprised by that.’

‘I suppose I am. I’ve come to expect prejudice everywhere I go and I’m very surprised that, as yet, I haven’t found any here.’

‘In every community there are people who don’t accept others for what, or should I say, who they are, but this community is better than many I could think of. Now, tell me your story and let’s see if I can help sort things out for you.’

I told her about finding my wife having sex with a man in our house and my subsequent flight to this lovely place and also the conversations that I had with my wife and her odious–or should that be odourous?–father.

‘So, let me get this straight, she owns your house?’

‘Yes, it was given to her by her father when we got married.’

‘Not to both of you as a wedding present?’

‘No.’

‘Strange. And you worked for her father too?’

‘Yes.’

‘What do you want out of this, Samantha?’

‘I…I want to start afresh–with no baggage.’

‘Do you intend to stay as Samantha?’

‘Yes, I want to go the whole way and have surgery.’

‘Have you discussed this with anyone?’

‘Only Jocasta, so far.’

‘You must speak to a doctor and probably a trick-cyclist too.’

‘I know; I’ll add it to my list of things to do.’

‘Would you like me to sort out a change of name for you? It would simplify matters when it goes to court.’

‘Yes please, if you don’t mind.’

‘No prob. We’ll sort out a deed poll for you–it’s not difficult. Now, getting down to basics, do you wish to make a claim on the matrimonial home?’

‘I can’t it’s Olivia’s–“Daddy” gave it to her.’

‘You are married and in the eyes of the law, you are entitled to a fair percentage of the property.’

‘Am I?’

‘Well, the law states that when a married couple divorce, the matrimonial property should be shared fairly between them. When a divorce action is raised, either party can ask the court for orders to achieve this fair sharing. This could be payment of a sum of money, known as a capital sum, a transfer of property, such as the matrimonial home, or a pension share, is that clear so far?’

‘Yes, I think so.’

‘The matrimonial property comprises of all assets owned by a couple, whether individually or jointly, at the date of separation, which have been acquired during the marriage other than by way of gift or succession from a third party. So anything which you owned before the marriage or which you acquired after the date of separation is not included. Look we can go into this in a bit more detail at another time; it’s an awful lot to take in.’

‘I don’t know if I want a fight. I have some money of my own that came to me when my parents died. Olivia would probably want to claim some of that knowing her.’

‘How much is involved?

‘About 250K.’

‘And the house, how much is that worth?’

‘I don’t know, but it’s a large house in affluent area, probably close to half a million.’

‘Daddy must be rich?’

‘Very.’

‘And did your father-in-Law give Olivia any money?’

‘Yes, but I don’t know how much, I think it may have been some sort of tax dodge or other.’

Katie stared at me for a moment.

‘It could get messy you know. If your father-in-law has financial muscle, he would almost certainly bring in some big guns to fight the case. Also, when it’s known that you are now a woman–or transitioning if you like–it could all come out in court and there would almost certainly be publicity.’

‘I just want to begin again; if that means losing out financially, then I will. I don’t want her, or her father’s money.’

She looked at me for a moment a slight smile playing on her painted lips.

‘Hang on a minute, I’m dying for a cuppa–tea or coffee?’

‘Tea, please.’

‘Okay, I won’t be a moment.’

She left me to my thoughts and my, weren’t they heavy thoughts?

I didn’t need an Einstein moment to realise that Olivia, trying to contact me and the bullying of her father was because they didn’t want me to get a divorce on my terms. Olivia stood to lose quite a bit. I didn’t know how much as she kept her money apart from mine. In fact come to think of it, it was her idea that we did it that way. I remembered her saying at the time that it would give us independence. A funny term for people who had just got married?

Why did she marry me? Did she love me? I thought she did. Now, I’m not so sure. Perhaps I was just part of some elaborate game she played. How many lovers did she have while we were married?

It was rather like a jigsaw puzzle, where you just get all of the pieces to fit. The times that she went away on librarian courses or visiting friends–was that a sham? Was I just a token husband to her that fulfilled some sort of kinky need–a bloke that dressed up as a girl, did that turn her on? Was that what she thought I was, something to play with?

I took a deep breath, I felt hot as if I was going to faint. I didn’t have proof, but I knew in my heart of hearts that it was the truth–I had been used, probably all of our married life. A fire started to burn inside me and I felt an anger that I thought I never possessed. I had wasted ten whole years of my life on someone who had used–and yes, abused me.

I heard the door open as Katie returned. ‘Here we are a nice cup of… Why, Samantha, what’s the matter?’ she asked.

‘I–I’ve changed my mind, I want to fight for what’s mine. Could we get an investigator to find out what’s been going on behind my back? If she wants a fight, then she’ll get one. I want to start my life afresh, but until this is out of the way, I can’t live in peace. Anyway, if I win, it might help pay for my cottage.’

Whoever said I can’t be assertive and make decisions?



To Be Continued...

Angel

The Cove By Liz Wright

Please leave comments...thanks! ~Sue

My thanks go to the brilliant and lovely Gabi for editing and pulling the story into shape.

up
413 users have voted.
If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudos! Click the "Thumbs Up!" button above to leave a Kudos

Comments

The Worm Turns

joannebarbarella's picture

See! Never too much, Sue Brown! Yay! Go Samantha! A new cottage, a new bed, a namechange, and a fighting divorce, all in two days.
It seems I was being too soft and romantic about Olivia and mostly everybody else was right. Never mind. It doesn't worry me overmuch and anyway you'll most likely do a U-turn somewhere along the way,
Joanne

Hell hath no fury...

Like Samantha scorned. What can I say? It's a classic Beware The Nice Ones! So, now we will descend in a whirlwind of investigations, threatening, blackmail, kidnapping, social outcasting, hireling attacks and Ancient Conspiracy ploys!*

Faraway
___
*Not necessarily, author's plot may vary.

Faraway


On rights of free advertisement:
Big Closet Top Shelf

Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!

Really enjoying this story

Not much else to say, except thanks for making this story available for us to read...

Also, I just noticed a typo in the third last paragraph - you use the name 'Millie' where the name of the solicitor is actually 'Katie'.

Ooops!

Thanks for the typo update, hon.

Love the name by the way, being dyslexic, I had to laugh.

Hugs Sue

Private Investigations

Of course it would be rather neat if there was a retired Scotland Yard detective living in the village who just happened to run his own firm of Private Investigators...

It's great to see the changes in Tom/Samantha as she becomes much more decisive. Her anger at what she sees as a wasted life is very understandable. I can't wait to find out what Olivia was really up to and why she married Tom in the first place - I bet her father doesn't come out squeaky clean either!

Pleione

Thats the sprit

Samantha. You go for it girl and get your fair share...Because you can be sure if it was you with all the money... Then Olivia and "Daddy" would take you for as much as they could!!!

Another lovely slice of Devonian life Sue...Can't wait to read more...Thank you for posting as often as you do!

Hugs Kirri

Heyla, Sue I have really

Heyla, Sue

I have really been enjoying your tale thus far, sorry about the lack of commenting but I am bad in that regards. -sheep- I particularly enjoyed that final change of perspective on Samantha's part that lead to her determination to fight it out with the Ex and Daddykins. -g-

-r

-a

I sometimes worry that my nic will offend someone

but I use it anyway since I'm sort of roundish in shape, hairy and come from south-eastern Australia :-)

I'm not dyslexic but am prone to accidentally switching letters when talking, sort of like spoonerisms. My favourite was when my kids were significantly younger and I was explaining about me acting as a role model for them. I actually came out with the phrase 'mole rodel' which made the three of us burst out laughing - so much for a serious discussion... It sounded quite disgusting and went on to be used as a joke phrase for some years afterwards

Unfortunately I have posted this in the wrong spot - it should really be just after Sue's 'Ooops!' post...

trick-cyclist too.

Sue, exactly what do you mean by that term? Sounds like something Drew Bond might do.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Psychiatrist

Stan - "trick cyclist" is a humorous term for a psychiatrist over here.

Pleione

I was going to ask that too!

trick-cyclist... I'm surprisee Gabs didn't go nutts on that one.

Great story so far, Sue. Love to see Samantha set up out of this.
I'm not one for vengence or vendictiveness. Sure you can make a lot
of money, but to me, that's secondary to being rid of the pair of them.
Not to say, that I think she should get a fare share that would help
her along.

Very good, Sue and Gabs. Very good.

Sarah Lynn

I just thought, Sarah…

…that you ’Mericans needed a little more knowledge of how we quaint li’l ole folks from the ole country abuse our beautiful language. I can remember them being called trick cyclists for over 60 years, ever since a friend of the family ended up in a Loony Bin.

Thanks for the implied compliment, Sarah, I really enjoy editing Sue's stuff—she has a fantastic imagination.

Gabi.
(who maybe is due for “the bin” herself.) :-)

“It is hard for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.” Thomas Hardy—Far from the Madding Crowd.

Gabi.


“It is hard for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.” Thomas Hardy—Far from the Madding Crowd.

Thanks

I was wondering myself.

Huggles,

Winnie

Huggles,

Winnie
Winnie_small.jpg

A Woman Scorned

terrynaut's picture

Yeah. I saw someone else keyed in on that well-known phrase. Yikes!

I'm glad to see Samantha fighting for what she's entitled to. It's very satisfying to see her assert herself.

I know I've said this time and time again but I have to be true to my feelings. I refuse to give up on love. We really haven't seen a lot of Olivia. We don't really know a lot about her. Until she actually shows up and gives away her true self, I will continue to root for the two of them to reconnect. Maybe it won't be as a married couple, but I want to see them remain very close. Just like Samantha, I suspect that Olivia will do a lot better away from her father's influence.

The writing? The writing continues to impress me. So there. A good story with good writing that's wildly popular here on Big Closet. It can happen.

Thanks for the chapter. Please keep up the great work.

- Terry

Divorce Proceedings

I didn’t need an Einstein moment to realise that Olivia, trying to contact me and the bullying of her father was because they didn’t want me to get a divorce on my terms. Olivia stood to lose quite a bit.

I don't get that at all. Their phone calls, on the surface, had nothing to do with divorce -- Olivia was trying, in her selfish way, to apologize and keep the marriage going on the same basis as before. Nigel's bullying started out as defense of his daughter -- what else would you expect? -- but seemed mostly related to Tom's insubordination as an employee: he did, after all, bug out on the way to an out-of-town meeting, hardly responsible business behavior. (Whether Nigel had learned about Olivia's infidelity from her when he made the phone call is uncertain; my feel, from his seeming assumption that he was arguing from a position of strength, was that he didn't -- or at least didn't know that Olivia had gotten caught.)

If there was any calculation there (and I think there wasn't), getting Tom angry enough to fight back certainly wasn't in Nigel's or Olivia's best interests. They had no reason to think that the previously submissive Tom, who'd had no problem with their keeping their property separate and whose initial reaction to the whole thing had been to run and hide, would do anything about that unless they rocked the boat. The only divorce-related threat was Tom's, claiming that he had a photo as documentation of the adultery if Olivia tried to deny it.

(I said last chapter that I thoguht Nigel was probably annoyed enough to want Olivia to fight the divorce, but only because Tom talked back to him on the phone; what little we knew about him -- mostly the tone of that phone call -- gave the impression that Nigel was one of those guys who assumed his word was law.)

Anyway, even if Samantha's paranoia is all that's now fueling this, the fat figures to be in the fire soon. Both sides seem to have the money to pay for full investigations if they want to; Tom's crossdressing won't be hard to document, and Olivia's infidelity may prove to be relatively easy to demonstrate, now that Olivia has all but admitted to previous affairs. (Samantha, after all, has some idea both what days Tom was out of town on business and when Olivia was gone for "library training sessions" and the like.) Unless Nigel or Olivia was laundering money -- which of course would make this a criminal matter and ought to make them even more eager to avoid an inspection that might discover the fact, unless they were awfully sure they could frame Tom for it -- it'll should come down to negotiations between the solicitors that may allow cooler heads to prevail. Trouble is that "winning" may prove to be more important to each side than how the money comes out.

Eric

The divorce might

Eric,

The divorce probably will wind up being messy, as you say; but it won't be because of Tom's crossdressing. The fact that Olivia knew of it before the marriage and still married him should take that issue totally out of the equation.

As for any potential money laudnering, I don't see how Nigel and Olivia could possibly frame Tom/Samantha for it since the couple had maintained separate bank accounts. Tom/Samantha and the bank should be able to prove that the only funds deposited into the account were from either Tom/Samantha's salary or his/her share of his/her parents' estate. Any such money laundering on the part of either Nigel or Olivia would be somehow tracable to them.

Jenny

Jenny

What I Would Love To See

jengrl's picture

What I would love to see is the investigations bring the whole house of cards down around the ex father-in-law resulting in some serious prison time and loss of his vast financial resources. It would be poetic justice if Olivia wound up begging at Samantha's door after losing absolutely everything she owned. Great story Sue!

PICT0013_1_0.jpg

Jengrl, I love your senario

Tom/Samantha's inheritence is safe. I think his parents died before they married thus it is not marital property.

The house was a gift to her? If so didn't the lawyer say gifts were personal propety or is such a big gift marrital property period?

I agree that having been previously oblivious to Oliva's infidelty(s) Samantha may be going overboard in assuming every trip he had to take for her daddy -- remember how Samantha complained about how meeting happy her dad was and who useless the meetings were -- and every seminar she took were her cucolding him.

I supect it is more recent, her infidelity, proably when she broke away from his crossdressing groups and then cut off any sex with him. I could be wrong and she cheated from early on, but why the recent change? Guilt or did she find a new love?

Jengrl's senariois delicious. Wouldn't it be ironic that though she cheated she only ever loved Samantha? That all the others were just for the thrill. I hope for Olivia's redemption but won't hold my breath. I do hope Samatha banks sperm or goes slow on transitioning, she deserves her own children, the children Olivia deneighed him.

John in Wauwatosa

I also agree her dad sounds like a tax dodger ... a money launderer? That's debatable. Go for scorched Earth, Samantha. Your wife and her lothesome dad only respect strength.

John in Wauwatosa

The house

John,

I think the courts would view the house as communal property because it was used as the primary residence of Tom/Samantha as well as Olivia. It might be a different matter if the two of them were, during the 10 years or so of the marriage, living in separate homes. Whatever Nigel's motives in giving the home to Olivia (a desire to have her continue to live in a style to which she was accustomed? or merely a tax dodge or a way of laundering less than legally acquired money?), the fact remains that, until Tom/Samantha walked in and found Olivia in bed with another man and walked out on the marriage, he/she used the home as his/her primary residence should support a claim to a fair share of its value in the divorce.

Jenny

Jenny

Assume the worst

In a essentially civil matter like this, Samantha's lawyer does not have to work from an assumption that Olivia is innocent. Better to start with the idea that she was cheating from day one and see how much can be proved. It's hard to prove a negative. Just because they may not find the proof that Oliva was cheating from the start doesn't mean she wasn't, it just means they didn't find the proof she was. Maybe she covered her tracks better in the early days, then got complacent.

Funny, it seems Tom had to become Samantha in order to have the, um-m-m, cojones to stand up for herself. ;-)

Damaged people are dangerous
They know they can survive

Iceberg

Sue, your plots are somewhat like an iceberg; most of the story is well hidden and very deep. I love the scene-setting and the character-drawing; in fact, I love it all.

Susie

PS. Now where is 'Romance' going to fit in to all of this? And is it fair to assume that Olivia and Daddy don't yet know that Samantha is living as Samantha and planning to stay?

Being a Local

I wondered how many centuries it would take for me to be considered a local?

I remember a collection of Yankee jokes and one that had the twenty year or so resident asking just that question concerning their children. "I’ve lived here twenty years and my children were born here" were presented as their credentials.

The response was "If your cat had kittens in the oven you wouldn’t call them biscuits!"

Note: Yankee is this case means an old-timer from the more rural areas of northern New England.

Michelle B

Backbone

I have been enjoying this story, but haven’t commented before. Samantha has shown her independence and backbone before. But revenge is a two edged sword that usually injures both sides. I wonder how she will handle this.

I’ll have to wait to find out. Your postings are small but frequent, so hopefully the wait will be short.

DJ

Not Revenge

She's gone from "I just want to begin again; if that means losing out financially, then I will" to "I want to fight for what’s mine". Seems pretty reasonable to me. I think we'll find as time goes on that her most recent thoughts on her marriage to Olivia are more accurate than not.

I also believe that the phone calls from Olivia and her dad have just been attempts to manipulate Samantha/Tom using methods that have been successful up to now and that we shouldn't pay too much attention to what either one of them said in relation to their true motives and thoughts.

Trick cyclists and private detectives

I figured the trick cyclist reference right off, even as an American. Sounded a bit like the Cockney rhyming slang.

Now, as to the private detective...any chance an old, retired mate of John Rebus making it that far south? Anyone THAT detective recommends would have no trouble with Olivia and her Da! I'm thinking an interesting, yet mostly routine divorce turns into a major scandal after said detective encounters untoward resistance, even considering the rich, obnoxious father-in-law. Samantha and detective find themselves in water far hotter than the usual the English Channel currents, and must fight back tooth and claw. Just an idle thought, mind you. Not suggesting that you turn this into a major whodunit, but it could be great fun and give Sam even more incentive to come out of her shell.

SuZie

Good girl!

Good girl, go for what is yours by right and law. It is not nice to treat someone as an object as it seems Olivia has done, not to mention her daddy! - well I have had my say. Enjoy reading this serial, awaiting more.

Grace & slane ayd be unto ye!

Anjali

Grace & Luck be unto ye!

Resolve

I'm glad that Sam's taken charge and is going to fight for what is rightfully hers. Great story. Jo

all clear!.....

What's entitled and what's due.... Go for it girl! What a good lawyer, too - good choice.

Go for it, Samantha!!!

Ole Ulfson's picture

Get what you are owed and sweep the clean sheet from the dirty bed of Nigel's nefarious dealings: Expose what's been hidden.

"I took a deep breath, I felt hot as if I was going to faint. I didn’t have proof, but I knew in my heart of hearts that it was the truth—I had been used, probably all of our married life."

A painful realization,

Ole

We are each exactly as God made us. God does not make mistakes!

Gender rights are the new civil rights!