Chapter 8 - THE TRUTH WASN’T AN AFFAIR.
The old marriage was finally addressed in court.
Ryan and Natalie appeared with separate counsel. Their original signed settlement agreement, the mishandled attorney file, and years of conduct consistent with believing themselves divorced were reviewed.
The judge did not create a magical retroactive solution from the bench.
Instead, the old case was reopened and brought to a lawful conclusion under the procedure available to them.
Natalie cried outside the courtroom.
Not because she wanted Ryan.
Because nine years of administrative uncertainty finally ended.
“My fiancé has been incredibly patient,” she told Emily.
Emily nodded.
“I owe you an apology beyond the mall.”
“You already apologized.”
“I thought you were trying to take my husband.”
Natalie looked toward Ryan.
“No.”
Then her voice softened.
“I was trying to make him stop lying to you.”
That changed Emily’s understanding of Natalie completely.
The woman she had labeled the antagonist had actually been pushing Ryan toward honesty.
Ryan joined them several minutes later.
Natalie looked at him.
“You’re free to fix the rest now.”
He nodded.
“Thank you.”
“No. Don’t thank me. Learn something.”
Then she left.
Emily and Ryan remained outside the courthouse.
Their own attorney explained the next step: because the status of Ryan’s earlier marriage had been defective when Emily and Ryan obtained their marriage license, they needed individualized legal advice about how to regularize their relationship going forward.
Ryan looked immediately at Emily.
“We’ll do whatever it takes.”
Emily’s face hardened.
“You still don’t understand.”
He stopped.
“This isn’t paperwork you get to fix and hand back to me.”
“I know.”
“No. The legal problem happened because an attorney failed years ago.”
She touched her chest.
“This happened because you looked at me every day for two weeks and decided I couldn’t handle the truth.”
Ryan began crying.
“I was scared.”
“So was I in that mall.”
She remembered shouting at Natalie.
The bags hitting the floor.
Ryan’s ruined face.
“You let me think the worst because you were afraid of being the person who told me something difficult.”
Ryan whispered, “Yes.”
Emily put one hand over her pregnant belly.
May you like
Then she made the decision he had feared most.
“I’m moving out until after the baby is born.”
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