Chapter 17 - The Final Decree
Two weeks later, the civil dissolution of my marriage to Mark Peterson was finalized in the chambers of Judge Sarah Jenkins.
Mark was brought into the judge's private conference room from the Metropolitan Correctional Center wearing an orange federal inmate jumpsuit, his wrists chained to a heavy leather belt around his waist. He had lost twenty pounds; his face was hollow, his hair shorn down to the scalp according to federal prison regulations.
He didn't look at me once. He couldn't.
Arthur Vance sat beside me, laying out the final marital settlement agreement.
"Your Honor," Arthur said, presenting the signed documents. "Under the terms of the settlement, respondent Mark Peterson waives all claims to any marital property, including the Lincoln Park condo, all personal retirement accounts, and all assets held by the Hayes Family Trust."
"Furthermore," Arthur continued, "in satisfaction of the eight hundred and forty thousand dollars in dissipated marital funds, respondent assigns one hundred percent of his remaining equity interests, inheritance rights, and future earnings to a court-monitored educational trust established exclusively for the benefit of Lily Peterson."
Judge Jenkins reviewed the documents, nodding slowly. "And regarding custody?"
"Sole legal, sole physical, and sole developmental custody is awarded permanently to Chloe Hayes," Arthur said. "Respondent Mark Peterson's parental rights are formally suspended pending completion of his federal criminal sentence, after which any contact with the minor child will require a full evidentiary hearing, psychological clearance, and will be strictly at the discretion of the child's guardian."
Judge Jenkins turned her gaze to Mark.
"Mr. Peterson," the judge said sternly. "Do you understand and agree to the terms of this decree?"
Mark swallowed hard, his voice a broken, hollow rasp. "Yes, Your Honor."
"Do you have anything you wish to say to Ms. Hayes before I sign this order?"
Mark slowly turned his head toward me. His eyes were dead, filled with the bottomless sorrow of a man who knows he had paradise in his hands and threw it into the gutter for people who wouldn't even visit him in jail.
"Chloe," he whispered, tears tracing down his hollow cheeks. "I'm sorry. I was weak. I was a coward. I'm so sorry."
I looked at him. I didn't feel hatred. I didn't feel triumph.
I felt nothing at all. He was a stranger who had shared my roof for seven years—a footnote in the story of my life that had finally come to its concluding sentence.
"Goodbye, Mark," I said softly.
Judge Jenkins signed the document with a heavy black fountain pen and brought down her official seal.
May you like
"The marriage between Chloe Hayes and Mark Peterson is hereby dissolved," Judge Jenkins declared. "May God grant this child the peace her father failed to provide."
***
