Hey guys! I'm late! Again! By a lot! No matter! Here's chapter 20! Important news afterwards!
Chapter 20-
I told Joy what had happened. And she held me as I cried. When I had stopped crying, we started talking about dad.
Joy: …you must miss him.
Nina: He was a stranger to me. And when I finally got to know him, he left. And he died.
She nodded and she opened her mouth to say something when Mara ran in the room.
Mara: Guys! You have to see this!
She closed the door and sat down on the ground. She put down two stacks of papers. One was a stack of divorce papers. The other was my father's will.
Nina: Where did you find all of this?!
Mara: I snuck in to Caroline's room when she was out today. I cracked the safe that was in her room. I made copies so she won't notice.
Joy: So these are the copies?
Mara: Joy, these are the originals. I put the copies in the safe.
Nina: What?! Mara, she's gonna notice!
Mara: She only opens that safe once a year. July 23rd.
Nina: The day dad left to go to war?
Mara: Exactly. Every year, on July 23rd, she opens the safe and weeps over the papers.
Joy: How do you know all of this?
Mara: I'm very observant. Anyways, the will says that this property, his wealth, and custody over his daughter, Nina Marie, is to be left with his wife.
Joy: Which it is. It's been left to Caroline.
Nina: Joy, these divorce papers aren't from his marriage with my mother.
Joy: Then….who did he divorce?
Mara: The divorce request went in October 23rd. Ten months before he left. The request was signed as of that day. And get this, the request went through and the divorce was signed off June 2nd.
Joy: ….Caroline?
Mara nodded. I read the papers listing the custody settlement out loud.
Nina: Custody over Joy and Mara falls with Caroline Denby. Custody over Nina Marie falls with Robert Martin. Custody over property falls with Robert Martin. Wealth has been split evenly. Caroline Denby must be off Mr. Robert Martin's property by October 23rd.
Joy: Two months after he left?
Mara: Exactly. But we received a letter stating that he passed August 16th.
Joy: So, the will took over?
Nina: But that doesn't make sense. According to his will, all of the custody would fall to his wife. He was divorced by the time he passed. And there wasn't a date on his will. Technically, the custody should fall on nobody, right?
Mara: Normally, yes. But your dad played it smart. At the bottom of the first page of his will, he said that if he died without being wed or engaged, custody of everything would go to the spouse who he had been with for the longest period of time.
Nina: My parents married when they were 22. I was born when they were 26. They divorced when I was 6. That's four years before I was born and six years after. They were together for 10 years.
Joy: Caroline married your dad when we were 8. And the divorce went through a month before we were 11. That was only about 3 years.
We all remained silent.
Mara: Nina, the house belongs to your mother.
Nina: I haven't heard from my mom since I was 12. She could be dead for all we know.
Joy: There's no letter. For all we know, she could be alive.
Mara stayed silent and pulled out a letter from the bottom of the stack of divorce papers. I stared at it, my jaw clenched. It was stamped from the US Army and it was address to Nina Marie Martin and Household. It was unopened.
Joy: Was that in the safe too?
She nodded and handed the letter to me. The date was recent. Like, two weeks ago recent.
Nina: Do you…do you think she's….dead?
Neither of them answered. It's hard to say what the letter could be about when it's not opened. I thanked them and snuck back to my room. I fell on to my bed and stared at the ceiling. The letter was clouding my memory. I then took the letter and stared at it. After what felt like hours, I opened the envelope. I slowly slid the letter out and unfolded it. It read:
Dear Miss Nina Marie Martin and family/household,
We regret to inform you that your dear family member, Harriet Denby-
I stopped reading. I couldn't take any more of it. She's dead. They're trying to break it to me that she's dead. I slowly put the letter back in to its envelope and put it on my nightstand under the only picture of my mom that I own. I then got up from my bed and took the Army jacket my mother had sent me when I was ten. I threw the jacket on the floor. I stepped on it and kicked it. All of this time, I kept that jacket because it was a sign of hope for me. It reminded me of her. It made me feel like she was still around to love me. But, no. Now, she's dead. Now, I'll never see her again. My hopes and dreams have been crushed. She's dead. She's gone. She's never coming home. All hope is dead. I picked up the jacket and made my way to the stable. There, I marched to Sarah's stall and climbed in. Sarah just stood there, watching my every move as I dropped the jacket in the far corner of the stall and covered it in hay and horse dung. I then ran back to my room and cried. And that's how I spent my night. Crying. When I looked up, I saw my reflection on my vanity mirror. Just like mom. I look just like mom. Mom. I became aggravated again. I grabbed my song book and threw it at the mirror. It shattered and the book hit the floor wide open to a journal entry and song. When I was calm, I picked up the book.
The words of hate
Hold me down
The sounds of pain
Make me drown
The sights I see
Are my life
Bittersweet and full of strife
But I see the light
Tomorrow I am on my way
Because I see the path
I won't get lost for anything
No I won't get lost
I'll find my way
The light
Will guide
Me out
The smell of ash
From my past
The sense of worth
Falls too fast
All my fears
Coming out
Crushing me; I'm left to die
But I see the light
Tomorrow I am on my way
Because I see the path
I won't get lost for anything
No I won't get lost
I'll find my way
The light
Will guide
Me out
And when the light is hiding
Behind a frown
I'll have my hand reach out and
Grab on for life
And I'll hold on to keep me
From falling down
It's time to drop the dark knife
I see the light
Tomorrow I am on my way
Because I see the path
I won't get lost for anything
No I won't get lost
I'll find my way
The light
Will guide
Me out
Change of plans. I'm finishing the story on March 5th.
Here's the list of dates for each chapter:
Chapter 20- Jan 22
Chapter 21- Feb 5
Chapter 22- Feb 19
Chapter 23 and Epilogue- Mar 5
As you can see, there's not much left but I think you'll all be happy about this. The ending gives me feels. BTW- the epilogue has some content that is related to my current relationship. You'll understand when you read the final Author's Note.
Lots of Loves,
Winx12566 ;-)