A Beauteous Flower

Chapter 35 - The Lawyer, the Friend and the Fairy God Mother

However, it did get worse and in the most unanticipated and unwanted way. Three days later, Madison sat in a lawyer's office with a handful of wrinkled divorce papers, which she had crumpled up and thrown away more than once. She didn't even like to touch them, as if contact with them somehow made the possibility of a divorce more tangible and real. When the polite woman, who turned out to be a process server, knocked on the door and handed Madison the handful of divorce papers, Madison literally could not believe her eyes and insisted that the process server had the wrong address. The process server simply shook her head at Madison who burst into miserable tears, slammed the door and launched into frantic activity.

First, Madison flew out to the cabin with the divorce papers in hand and pounded on the door determined to put an immediate stop to this divorce business. Yet all the screams and cries and tears got her the same result as every other attempt to speak to Daniel since the party. Stony silence.

Madison's next reaction was to sit at the kitchen table and bawl her eyes out in frustration and disbelief. The reality that Daniel initiated a divorce against her was completely unbelievable. Everyone knew that high-value wives initiated divorces and high value ex-husbands paid alimony and child support. Lots of alimony and child support for that matter. The idea that a husband might file a divorce against his wife wasn't even a consideration, but that was all secondary to the fact that didn't want a divorce. She loved Daniel and wanted to be his wife. Unfortunately, the divorce papers indicated that Daniel might not want to be her husband anymore.

After a good cry, the next thing she did was call her girlfriends for support. They were all sympathetic and unanimously agreed that the thing to do was fight and fight hard. Ivy urged Madison to speak to a lawyer to determine what her rights were, and Adalina recommended a particular lawyer who she called "The She-Dragon." Everyone agreed that this lawyer would know exactly what to do.

Madison considered that a good thing, because she wanted to nip this divorce madness in the bud. She didn't want a divorce and a good lawyer could probably help her prevent it. However, as soon as Madison sat down in the lawyer's office to discuss the situation, it rapidly became clear that Madison's goal wouldn't line up with the advice she got from the lawyer.

"But I don't want a divorce!" Madison asserted with a thump of her fist on the lawyer's desk. "Don't we have to go to marriage counseling first?"

The lawyer shrugged apologetically.

"I'm sorry, but we live in a no-fault state," the lawyer re-informed Madison. "All one party has to do is say they don't want to be married anymore and, well ...."

Madison huffed and adjusted her seat to account for the cold hollow pit that settled in her stomach with the service of the accursed divorce papers.

"I can't believe this," Madison sniveled into a Kleenex.

The lawyer did her best to look sympathetic, but Madison could tell it was practiced professionalism and not genuine empathy. Madison decided it was true that all lawyers had their souls removed in law school.

"I know it's difficult to accept," the lawyer intoned in her best professionally sympathetic voice. "But the best thing you can do right now is prepare yourself and look to secure your financial future. Your husband is a wealthy man and you ...."

"My financial future? My financial future!" Madison interrupted indignantly while she slid forward in her chair. "I don't want a divorce! Don't you understand? If I lose Daniel, my life is over!"

"No, no it isn't," the lawyer intoned patiently. "I'm sure it feels that way in the heat of the moment, but now is the time for clear-sighted rationality, which is why you hire someone like me. Now to that point, there are enough marital assets to ensure you live comfortably until ...."