My LOVE is Forever (Book 4-1st Alternate Ending)

Part 11

It takes a good twenty minutes before I'm able to pull myself together and crawl up off the floor. Everything's happening so fast, in just one month my marriage has ended, I find out I'm pregnant, and then I lose the man that has meant the world to me since I was 10 years old, who just so happens to be the father of my child. Then I have to deal with strangers asking me personal questions in my own front yard.

In a trance, I go into the kitchen, remove a spoon from the drawer and the jar of peanut butter from the cupboard and carry them into the second bedroom where I had set up the computer. I haven't logged into my checking account since before the last time taxes were due on this house, but I have a rough idea that my balance is still around the $35,000 ballpark. I know with Prince having renewed my medical insurance, with the house and car paid for, that I could easily live on that amount of money for at least a year.

As a last resort, I still have a 401K that I could liquidate if need be, even with the stiff penalties and taxes, I could still walk away with $100,000. I log into my account as I'm placing a spoonful of peanut butter in my mouth, I'm feeling a bit more hopeful about my financial situation if I choose to not go right back to working full-time.

Spoon in mouth, I stare at the screen in disbelief and whisper, "Oh, Prince, what did you do?" I'm now looking at a current total balance of $3,036,197.20. I click on deposits and see that the $3,000,000 was added on 04/16, the morning after he saw me in Atlanta, so he did already know.

I log off the computer even more in a daze than I was when I went in. Prince did say that we would be taken care of, and with that amount of money and a modest lifestyle, we will be just fine. I return the peanut butter and spoon to the kitchen, and make a small grocery list. I don't need much really, the list consists of mostly of produce once it's compiled. I return to the bathroom to fix my ruined makeup, then scope out the front window to see only one strange car remaining.

As I steer down the driveway, the drivers door opens slowly on the car at the curb. I watch him warily, although I take notice that it is the quiet gentleman from the group of paparazzi. I stop my car beside the mailbox, quickly pulling in the stack of mail, and power up the window. When I start to drive by slowly, the gentleman flags me, I stop and lower my window only an inch. "Grocery store," I remind him with a smile.

He nods, "You had said." Then his expression changes to sincere, "I'm really sorry about your loss, Prince was a great man."

"Thank you," I say as tears start to fill my eyes.

The man looks apologetic, "I'll be on my way, I just wanted to pass along my condolences."

As I'm driving past his car, I notice a large decal of Prince's symbol on his back window and realize I'm not the only one feeling this loss, this is so much bigger than me.

*******

My trip to the grocery store is uneventful, now I'm just a nicely dressed woman in the nondescript grocery store. When I return home, I'm grateful to see no more strange cars at my curb, everything seems back to normal in my quiet little subdivision.

Gathering my stuff, I make my way into the house, dumping my car keys on top of the mail, I put away the groceries and start pulling out things to make myself a decent dinner. With dinner prepared and in the oven, I turn my attention to the pile of mail. It's the usual crap, credit card offers, sales flyers, a couple catalogs, and a cable bill.

My heart stops when I reach an envelope addressed to me with the State of Minnesota Judicial System as a return address. Just how much can one person take in a day? I think as I tear it open. It turns out a person can take quite a bit, it's my copy of the Final Divorce Decree. To add insult to injury, it was recorded by the court clerk on April 20. I stare at it for a long time before I place it in the file cabinet in the second bedroom. That's that, I think, I'm officially divorced. I look down at my rings and shake my head, I can't bear to remove them. I have decided that after Prince, there will never be another man for me, my sole purpose now is to take care of this child.