The Cinderella Bride (NaNoWriMo14)

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE


The day you die is supposed to be a day of peace for some, and for others a day of regret. Before dying, some people have conquered their inner demons and lived their lives to the fullest; and others, well, you can say they never did much with their lives and death came as swift as the wind robbing them of their lives.

When I die, I hope my life will be one to be remembered by many, and oh how I wish I was the one facing death now. My father’s life on the other hand was taken swiftly by the Grim Reaper and I can say that he was the kind of person who nobody would forget.

Not in a good way, mind you. Most remember him as the man who lost everything he had worked his entire life for, all because of the fact that he gambled away all his possessions.

I remember him as a loving and caring father.

My sister, Jennifer, would call me deluded for saying that kind of thing; she does not remember him in any such way. She left home when she turned eighteen and only now, two years later, has she returned for his funeral, and even then she asks why he didn’t die sooner.

I guess my father’s relationship with my younger sister has always been strained, it became like that after my father's gambling addiction drove my mother away.

And now, after his funeral is over and done with, my sister and I sit across the table from his lawyer; the one who would tell us if we were to inherit anything from him. If he had anything to give to us, that is.

Unfortunately, our ears were not greeted with good news because the lawyer had told us exactly what I’d suspected all along, our father had nothing to give us. Well, that’s not entirely true, he did give us a debt of two point five million dollars he had owed to Sean Richmond, who had been a good friend to my father.

“What? What do you mean his debt to Sean Richmond?” my sister, Jennifer, asks; anger evident in her voice.

“Just as it says here, your father owes money, a whole lot of money, to Sean Richmond; and since he is dead; the two of you must pay it off. Don't blame it on me, I’m just the messenger here.” the lawyer replied matter- of-factly.

Jennifer crosses her arms, “No way in hell am I paying off the debt our stupid father owes.”

The lawyer raises an eyebrow, “One of you has to pay it or the two of you will risk ending up in jail.”

“What?! Can that even happen?” Jennifer asks incredulously.

“This is Sean Richmond we’re talking about, Miss Montgomery. He is not known for his ability to let his debtors off easily, no matter how close of a friend your father was to him.”

For the first time since our father’s funeral, I speak, “I’ll pay it off. You don’t have to worry about it, Jennifer.”

I said this not because I didn’t want to burden Jennifer, I said it so I wouldn’t have to sit through all of her complaints about our dead father and his stupidity. Jennifer had stopped talking to dad after she graduated from High School; she moved in with my mother, who now resides in downtown Los Angeles.

Mother had gotten a quarter of the remaining money father had in the divorce settlement. It wasn’t a lot of money but it was definitely enough for her to start investing in businesses, she worked her way up the ladder and now co-owns a beauty company with a friend of hers. My sister was more than happy to get back into the wealthy lifestyle we once had, so it was no surprise when she told me she was leaving to stay with our mother.

I didn’t want to follow her because I felt bad for my father. Yes, he was irresponsible, and yes, he’d spent all the money he had on gambling, but in the end, he was my father, and I felt a strong urge to help him get up on his feet and stop this addiction of his.