Mountain of Courage

Chapter One

I shoved the last suitcase into the tiniest available space in the trunk of my black BMW four series gran coupe. The passenger seat, back seat, and trunk were so tightly packed that I wouldn't be able to check blind spots or mirrors. This was not a vehicle meant to move someone halfway across the country, but as I didn't have money for a U-haul, and barely had any belongings left, it would have to do.

I was basically down to clothing after the divorce. Since I was the one who wanted the divorce, and since Harrison had all the money and the high powered lawyer, I was left with nothing. Absolutely nothing. Harrison and his lawyer played games to draw out the legal proceedings on purpose, running circles around my well-meaning and morally upright lawyer who was in way over her head. Eventually all of my money was gone and I was willing to give him whatever he wanted simply to make the situation go away.

I gave up the apartment I was living in, every vacation home we had, every vehicle except the one I had just loaded up because (thank God) it happened to be registered in my name only, and all of our stocks and other assets because "they were attained through the sole discretion and purchase of Mr. Harrison Abbott". I couldn't even pawn my two carat diamond wedding ring because that was considered a family heirloom I had to give back.

I didn't care. I didn't want to live in that apartment anyway, or any other property I had spent time with him in. I did care about furnishings which had sentimental value, but luckily my mother had come around and nicked all of our family's decor and furniture the week after I announced to them my intent to divorce. She was justifiably concerned that those priceless pieces may fall into the wrong hands (his mother's).

While both of my parents vehemently protested my leaving Harrison and had basically disowned me for doing so, my mother would die before she let our family heirlooms fall into the hands of 'Vulture Lady Abbott'. My parents had been so against the divorce scandal and resulting shame it would bring upon our family that they refused to give me any financial help during the divorce... or now. My parents also had multiple properties and plenty of space in each. They could easily provide their only child with a place to stay but...

"What would our friends think?", my mother had asked in horror. "I can't very well have my divorced daughter parading about like there's no shame in what's happened! You absolutely can't show your face until you have a new husband or I'll never hear the end of it!"

I had no friends left who hadn't either bailed when I announced divorce, or bailed when I stopped attending expensive social functions, or bailed because I was broke.

So, I was leaving the Lower East Side of Manhattan and life as I knew it on the East Coast for the Great Smoky Mountains. My dad's dad left his cabin to me when he passed away two years ago. I hadn't given it a second thought at the time but now I hung onto that place like a lifeline. Besides this car, that was the only other thing I owned. I would start my new life there. What that entailed, I had no idea, but it was the only next step I had, and at least I had that.

Yes, thank God for that.

The twelve hour drive was exhausting, made much longer by me stopping every three hours. I parked at a shopping center parking lot at two in the morning, terrified but desperately needing a break, and slept for what turned out to be three hours before proceeding on the last of the journey into the foothills then the mountains. It unfolded in breathtaking beauty in the dawn, so overwhelmingly beautiful I forgot about how tired I was.

Finally driving up the steep dirt road to the cabin I hadn't been to in nearly ten years, not since right before Granny died, I started feeling a lot of feelings I hadn't fully felt yet.

I was nervous about...everything. I was completely on my own for the first time ever. I sorted through the grief I was feeling and realized it wasn't only the loss of my marriage, but also the estrangement from my parents and the people I thought were friends. I had been wounded deeply, completely abandoned by all the people I was closest to in the world. Why wasn't I worth their loyalty? What was it about me that made others flee? Why was no one dedicated and committed to me, not even my parents?