An Ending . . . Of Sorts (standard:non fiction, 2023 words)
Author: Sarah	Added: Apr 01 2001	Views/Reads: 3258/2081	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Emotions and thoughts surrounding the demise of a relationship/marriage.

An Ending . . . of Sorts 

It has been quite a day. 

I'd been nervous driving to the lawyer's office this morning. 
Anticipation coupled with a niggling sense of anxiety that, even at 
this late moment when everything was supposedly in order, some thing, 
unplanned or unaccounted for, would prevent my mortgage closing.  
Buying a house on my own at sixty-one was a sobering undertaking; after 
three months of paper processing, it was hard for me to believe it was 
actually happening. 

The process had been unnecessarily complicated because David's lawyer
had insisted he be free and clear of the house before she would allow 
him to sign the divorce papers.  She allow him???  It was His business 
and My business. 

I wouldn't have involved lawyers in the first place but once he hired
one, I had no choice.  As it was, my lawyer recapitulated by saying I 
could not sign the divorce papers until the house was in MY name. 

We didn't need any lawyers.  Couldn't AFFORD any lawyers.  We both
understood the marriage was over; he wanted to leave, I wanted to stay. 
No conflict.  Just a matter of me buying him out. 

And therein lay the glitch.  He bought the house before our marriage so
the mortgage was in his name only.  We had to get him free and clear of 
his loan and then I had to get my own.  The easy thing, the simple 
thing, would have been to get the divorce, have him quit claim the deed 
over to me, and then I would get a mortgage in my name only. 

Thanks to legal expertise, however, he now had to be present for my
closing; first to sign the mortgage and then to sign a waiver 
relinquishing any claim on the property in question.  All because we 
are still technically married.  After signing, he will take a copy of 
the appropriate papers back to his lawyer, who will then allow him to 
sign the divorce papers, who will then send them to my lawyer, who will 
then send them to me for my signature.  Ya-da ya-da ya-da. 

Thanks to his lawyer's "conditions", his name ended up being on MY
mortgage.  Albeit momentarily.  Which was exactly what neither of us 
wanted.   And he had to drive all the way from Missouri to do it! 

But I didn't know any of this before the closing. 

* * * * * 

I check my watch as I pull into the parking lot of the lawyer's office. 
The closing is set for 11:30 a.m. and I am a few minutes early.  The 
lawyer's assistant ushers me in to an office where David is already 
waiting.  "I didn't think you were here yet," I remarked as I sat down. 
 "I didn't see your car."  "I drove a friend's van; it will hold more 
of my stuff than my El Camino," David replied.  "That makes sense," I 
said, "where's your friend?"  "She's waiting in the van.  "Ah," I said, 
comprehending at last. 

Moments later, the lawyer arrives.  I sign a myriad of papers; David
signs a few.  It takes about 45 minutes.  As the lawyer explains what 
we are doing, I realize why David is here and what he is signing. 

I mention this as we leave but I don't think he gets it.  I resent the
fact his name is, after all, on my mortgage, but trust the waiver does, 
in fact, absolve him from any obligation as well as any claim to my 
property.  I head for the tire store to get two new front tires and a 
front-end alignment and David takes his copies of the papers to his 
lawyer's office.  He offered to stop back at the tire store to pick me 
up since it will take an hour or so for them to fix my car. 

We drive back to the house.  I knew he had planned to stop by to get
more of his stuff.  I just didn't know a woman would be with him. But 
it's her van, after all.  I didn't even know he had a woman friend.  
But that doesn't surprise me, either. 

He introduces us as I get in the back seat.  It could be awkward but
isn't.  We're grown-ups, after all.  She didn't meet him till he moved 


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