Chapter 8 - The Aftermath
The weeks that followed were a whirlwind of activity.
I had to move back into our house,
the house that was now mine.
I had to change the locks and the security codes.
I had to go through all the boxes Julian had hidden.
It was like excavating a lost city.
Every item I found was a memory,
some good,
most bad.
But I was reclaimed them all.
Maya was doing better,
too.
She was back in school,
and her teachers said she was a different child.
She was happy,
talkative,
and no longer afraid of her own shadow.
I started my own business,
a forensic accounting firm for women in similar situations.
I wanted to help others find their voice,
just as I had found mine.
I called it 'The Truth Bureau.'
It was a small office,
but it was mine.
Evelyn tried to sue for visitation,
but the judge laughed her out of court.
She was banned from coming within five hundred feet of Maya.
Julian was in prison,
waiting for his trial.
I heard he was not doing well.
He was a man who thrived on power,
and now he had none.
I didn't feel sorry for him.
I felt nothing.
He was a ghost in my life,
a shadow that had finally been chased away by the light.
I sat on my porch one evening,
watching Maya play in the yard.
The sun was setting,
painting the sky in shades of orange and pink.
It was beautiful.
I felt a sense of peace that I had never known before.
I was no longer the woman in the navy dress,
shaking in a courtroom.
I was a survivor.
May you like
I was a mother.
And I was free.
