My Husband Was Getting Married Again, So I Called the Police Chapter 06
David was taken into custody.
The evidence for bigamy was airtight.
The police told me he was looking at one to two years.
I felt nothing.
It didn’t matter to me if he went to jail or not.
The only thing that mattered was the money.
Diane laid it all out for me.
Everything David and I owned together came to this.
The house, worth 1.2 million dollars, has 270 thousand left on the mortgage.
The car was worth 50 thousand dollars.
And the accounts, which held 10 thousand dollars after I checked all of them.
He had brought 240 thousand dollars in stock into the marriage, and it had grown to 330 thousand.
And he had cashed every dollar of it out to buy her that house.
So apart from the house and the car, we had almost nothing.
And the house was in his name.
Diane said, “Don’t worry. You put in 100 thousand on the down payment and you’ve been paying the mortgage. The law gives you more than half of it.”
I asked, “And her house? Six hundred thousand dollars, all of it our money.”
“That’s harder. In theory you can move to recover marital property he transferred to a third party. But she won’t cooperate, so it means a lawsuit.”
I took a deep breath.
“Then we sue.”
“All right,” Diane said. “I’ll start putting it together.”
I went home.
Sarah threw herself at me and held on.
“Mommy, where did you go? I missed you!”
I crouched down and held her back.
Six years old, and she had no idea about any of it.
“Mommy had a work trip, sweetheart.”
“Where’s Daddy? When is Daddy coming home?”
was quiet for a second.
“Daddy is going to be away for a long time.”
Sarah pouted.
“Daddy’s always away. I don’t like it.”
I felt my eyes sting.
But I kept it together.
“Sarah, can I ask you something?”
Sarah said, “What?”
“If Daddy didn’t live with us anymore, would you want to stay with Mommy?”
Sarah thought for a moment.
“Why wouldn’t Daddy live with us?”
“Because Daddy did some things that weren’t right.”
Sarah tilted her head.
“What bad things?”
I didn’t know how to answer.
I paused for a moment.
“You’ll understand when you’re older.”
Sarah nodded.
“Then I’ll stay with Mommy. Mommy’s cooking is the best.”
I smiled.
I hugged her tight.
No matter what, I still had my daughter.
That night, my mom called.
“Rachel, is that you in the video everybody’s sharing?”
I froze for a second.
“You saw it?”
“The whole neighborhood’s seen it. That bastard David. I knew there was something wrong with him!”
My mom sounded furious and panicked.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I thought he was a good man.”
“Mom, I only just found out myself.”
“How are you holding up? Do you want to come stay with me?”
“I’m all right. Sarah’s here and I need to be with her.” “Does she know?”
“I haven’t told her. I’ll wait until she’s older,”
My mother sighed, “Rachel, don’t be frightened. I’m behind you. If it’s a divorce, then it’s a divorce. The sky isn’t falling.”
“I know, Mom.”
hung up.
I sat alone in the living room.
I gazed at the wedding photo on the wall.
David and I looked so happy in that picture.
That was right after we got married.
He said, “Rachel, I’ll take care of you for the rest of my life.”
The rest of his life.
I gave a short laugh.
I stood up and took the photo down.
I put it at the bottom of a cabinet.
I was done looking at it.