Things I’ve learned about love from working for a divorce attorney
Divorce happens to everyone, there's not a "type." Even smart, well-adjusted people choose bad partners, encounter deal-breakers after you're already married, or simply change over time to where you're no longer compatible.
You can come into your own at any time, and learn to finally stick up for yourself at any age.
There’s no time window for divorce where if you stick together long enough you’ve "made it." Some people get divorced after a year and a half, others after 25 or more. Love will always take work.
People often come in ready to sacrifice everything just to get the process over with, then realize they're entitled to way more than they thought. Don't undervalue your worth just to make things easier. You're entitled to fairness.
I don't care how much you say money doesn't matter in your relationship, yes it does. Keeping your finances separate solves a LOT of conflict. Money is the #1 thing people fight over in the divorce process besides maybe the kids.
Speaking of kids, out of mountains of cases, not once has any parent even suggested the divorce was the kid’s fault.
Life really does go on after a breakup, even a major one. Everyone that comes into our office is a full and complete person just going through a rough time. I think that's important to remember.
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I wrote a little more on this the other day, so we'll see what happens.
I am determined to finish a story this year and work toward publishing!!
Anyway, here's the prologue:
Athena Osborne-Jones sat in the middle of the room as everyone milled about. Her black clothes and maternity corset hid her growing belly. No one was told officially yet other than her twin Alec and her dear friend Charles Seymore-Windham. Charlie.
She looked across the room where Charlie and Alec stood together chatting with one of Martin's brothers. He was the defacto heir until the baby was born. If it was a boy, that is. If she had a girl, the land and all titles went to Michael. She would still get a house in London, as would the child, boy or girl.
Charlie squinted around the room. He was mostly blind, but he could see enough to spot where he and Alec had left her. He touched Alec's arm and said something to him before slowly making his way toward where she sat.
"Do you need anything?" Charlie asked softly.
She shook her head.
"It's a little dark in this corner, Thee, I can't see getsures well."
"I don't need anything, Charlie." She took hold of his sleeve. "Just sit here a moment, please."
He took the chair she guided him toward and leaned closer. "Your brother-in-law is already talking about what he wants to change."
Athena sighed. "Of course he is. He never liked how I decorated the house. Nor that Martin allowed me to do so in the first place."
"I don't like him."
She snorted a soft laugh and then started sobbing again. "This is the worst thing that could have ever happened."
He reached out a hand to pat her arm, but missed and his hand touched her stomach.
She let out a soft sound and he pulled his hand away quickly. "Apologies, my lady," Charlie said softly.
"Don't do that," Athena scolded. She wiped at her eyes. "I need to be alone." She got up and walked quickly out of the room.
--
Charlie listened as her feet hurried out of the room and up the stairs. No doubt to her room. Would everyone still be here much longer? The immediate family had been here for the last several days and planned to stay for another week as Athena settled in. Alec promised to stay as long as Athena needed. He had brought with him all the legal documents they needed to go over.
He stood and found his way out the back door and into the garden. He slowly walked around the path that led to the little rose garden in the middle. The bench was warm from the summer day. Charlie closed his eyes and lifted his face toward the sun.
Alec found him a short time later. "What did you say to her?"
"I accidentally touched her stomach. But I don't think that's what sent her off."
Alec sighed and sat down beside Charlie. "What bullshit, eh?"
Charlie looked toward him. "How long do you think you'll stay?"
"Through the end of her confinement at least." Alec swiped up Charlie's cane. "Will you stay, too?"
"I don't think Matthews and Andrews will allow both of us to be gone for the next several months."
Alec took the cane and ballanced it on his finger. "I'm not going to be here the whole time. I'll return for all the trials and for meetings. It's just an hour into London from here. But I won't leave her completely alone."
Charlie stood and tried to swipe the cane out of his hand. He missed and stumbled into the rosebush, slicing up his face on the thorns.
"Fuck!" Alec exclaimed, pulling him up out of the plant. "I'm sorry, Chip. Let's go get you cleaned up."
--
"What in the world were you doing?" Athena asked sharply as she cleaned out the cuts on Charlie's face.
"Alec stole my cane," Charlie said.
"I was bored," Alec protested.
"Right into my rosebushes." Athena finished. "At least it was enough to send the extras home when you came in bleeding all over my carpet."
"I didn't bleed that much," Charlie pointed out.
"There's a fair number of scratches, though." This came from his father Horace as he walked back into the drawing room followed by Audrey, Sarah, and Wulfric.
"I figured." Charlie looked to Athena. "Are you done yet?"
"Yes, I am, you baby." She picked up her things and headed out of the room.
"Talking of babies..." Sarah trailed off.
Athena nodded. "Yes. In about four months."
She walked out of the room to deposit the bloody cloths and her bag of medical supplies in the hall. She turned to find her mother and aunt standing there waiting for her. She motioned for them to follow and she turned to Martin's study.
Sarah wrapped her arms around her daughter and held her close.
Folded into her mother's arms, Athena started sobbing again. How could she still be crying? How could there still be tears? She's been doing so for over a week.
When she finally pulled away, Audrey handed her a cup of tea. "You are entering a very important club."
"But I don't want to be. Not without him. Life isn't fair. And I can't help but think..." She trailed off.
"About Charlie," Audrey finished for her.
Athena sipped her tea. "Is this punishment, do you think?"
Sarah squeezed her hand. "Audrey and I advised you toward this. If it is wrong, it's our fault. But we all worked out that Martin was the better choice at the time."
"And I broke Charlie's heart. I would never have broken Martin's." She put her tea cup down and walked toward the desk. She trailed her fingers over the papers left exactly how Martin had left them. "What would have happened if I had rejected Martin's offer?"
"He would have died alone. He would have had to give everything to his brother sooner. Just pray the baby is a boy and that Michael doesn't take everything from under you before then."
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ok, i've gotta branch off the current ai disc horse a little bit because i saw this trash-fire of a comment in the reblogs of that one post that's going around
[reblog by user makiruz (i don't feel bad for putting this asshole on blast) that reads "So here's the thing: every Diane Duane book that I have is stolen, I downloaded it illegally from the Internet; and I am not sorry, I am a thief of books and I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, ideas are not property, they should be free to be used by anyone as they were before the invention of capitalism; for that reason I don't believe it's wrong to use books to train AI models"]
this is asshole behavior. if you do this and if you believe this, you are a Bad Person full stop.
"Capitalism" as an idea is more recent than commerce, and i am So Goddamn Tired of chuds using the language of leftism to justify their shitty behavior. and that's what this is.
like, we live in a society tm
if you like books but you don't have the means to pay for them, the library exists! libraries support authors! you know what doesn't support authors? stealing their books! because if those books don't sell, then you won't get more books from that author and/or the existing books will go out of print! because we live under capitalism.
and like, even leaving aside the capitalism thing, how much of a fucking piece of literal shit do you have to be to believe that you deserve art, that you deserve someone else's labor, but that they don't deserve to be able to live? to feed and clothe themselves? sure, ok, ideas aren't property, and you can't copyright an idea, but you absolutely can copyright the Specific Execution of an idea.
so makiruz, if you're reading this, or if you think like this user does, i hope you shit yourself during a job interview. like explosively. i hope you step on a lego when you get up to pee in the middle of the night. i hope you never get to read another book in your whole miserable goddamn life until you disabuse yourself of the idea that artists are "idea landlords" or whatever the fuck other cancerous ideas you've convinced yourself are true to justify your abhorrent behavior.
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