Chapter 10 - The Woman He Underestimated
Claire’s cast came off six weeks after the birthday.
The doctor warned her not to expect miracles.
“Your leg is healed enough to begin rebuilding strength.”
Claire looked at the thin, pale limb.
Rebuilding.
She liked the word.
Physical therapy hurt.
So did divorce.
Evan contested everything.
He claimed Claire had abandoned the marriage.
He demanded access to the house.
He accused Marian of interference.
But every accusation forced him to produce documents.
And documents created trails.
Claire returned to legal work part-time.
Not because she needed to prove anything.
Because she missed herself.
Her first morning back, she stood outside the office for nearly a minute.
Rachel opened the door.
“You coming in?”
Claire smiled.
“Yes.”
She stepped inside.
At home that evening, Marian had prepared dinner.
It was terrible.
Claire ate two servings.
“You don’t have to pretend,” Marian said.
“I absolutely do.”
They laughed.
It was the first uncomplicated laughter the house had heard in months.
Then the doorbell rang.
A courier delivered a legal notice.
Evan was seeking emergency control over Marian’s affairs.
He claimed she was cognitively impaired and being exploited.
Marian read it.
Then laughed.
Claire stared at her.
“What?”
“He still thinks I’m afraid of court.”
Marian folded the paper.
“He has forgotten something.”
“What?”
“I spent forty years married to his father.”
Claire raised an eyebrow.
Marian smiled.
“And his father taught me to keep receipts.”
The next morning, she opened a second safe-deposit box.
Inside were twenty years of family financial records.
Evan had started a war with two women he believed were helpless.
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One had been a lawyer.
The other had been keeping evidence longer than he had been lying.
