Free Tears Fall at Night - smashwords by Vanessa Miller Page A

helping him with every step of his career. Nelson might not know that he had her to thank for the advances he’d made, but thank God, since speaking with Deidre, she knew her worth—and he soon would, too.
    As they sat around the table, Carmella nodded to the man who used to be both their attorney, “Clark.”
    “How’ve you been, Carmella?” he asked, his discomfort evident.
    “I’ve been better. But you live on and you move on, right?” Carmella had learned how to motivate herself in the days since she got her praise back. Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and she was living proof of that.
    Clark smiled. “You’ve got the right attitude about all of this.”
    Nelson was sitting quietly, looking down at his fingers as she and Clark exchanged pleasantries. But Deidre piped up and said, “We just hope your client brought the right attitude to this meeting. And by right attitude, I mean, he needs to be in the spirit of giving.”
    “I’ve already given. I’ve paid the bills the last three months. But it’s time for Carmella to get a job. I can’t keep supporting her when I’m not even in the house anymore.”
    Deidre quickly responded, “You’re not home anymore because your girlfriend wanted you to move in with her. But that’s not my client’s problem.”
    Carmella had been terrified about life after Nelson. She’d been even more terrified about facing him in a head to head meeting to discuss the terms of their divorce. But after meeting with Deidre and going over her worth after years of cooking, cleaning, child rearing and generally making life happen for all the other members of her household, she became more confident in her abilities. God is good, because she never knew she was worth so much. Nelson leaving didn’t scare her quite so much anymore. Carmella thought, Just as the bible says, if the unbelieving, cheating, stanking, no good husband doesn’t want to stay, then let him go on, and let him live a miserable life with his gold digger… well, maybe the bible doesn’t say all of that, but it does say to let the unbeliever go. But on the day that she was finalizing a divorce she never wanted in the first place, Carmella felt entitled to a little adlibbing.
    Nelson glared at Deidre and then turned to Carmella. “Why’d you have to hire an attorney? Why didn’t you just sign the papers and get on with your life?”
    Again Deidre placed a hand on Carmella’s shoulder. “Because my client is no fool, Mr. Marshall. The agreement you sent to Mrs. Marshall basically entitled her to six months of living expenses and no more. But you seem to forget that Mrs. Marshall put you through law school and cooked, cleaned, bore your children and washed your dirty clothes for twenty-five years. So, I’d say that’s worth much more than six month’s of living expenses, wouldn’t you?”
    “Mr. Marshall isn’t a wealthy man. But he is more than willing to bump that up to a year’s worth of living expenses. That ought to be enough to assist Carmella with this transition. Wouldn’t you agree?” Clark asked.
    Deidre opened the folder in front of her. She took her time looking over the information, then once the suspense had mounted, she said, “Based on the research we’ve done on your client’s financials,” she paused, looking like a woman who enjoyed her job, “with your position as a judge and your consulting business, you’ve been consistently earning about three hundred thousand a year. We’re going to be asking for half of that for a period of no less than five years.”
    “What!” Nelson exploded. He turned to Clark and said, “Do something.”
    “Fifty percent does seem a bit over the top, don’t you think, Mrs. Green?”
    “Not at all, Mr. Johnson,” Deidre answered without giving it a second thought. “Carmella isn’t the one shacking up with a teenager, she’s just the woman left behind… the one who put her life on hold in order to make all of your