Signed by Andy Wain

SIGNED BY ANDY. W

PROLUGUE

One may think that it’s easy to change your whole life with one signature. Just a few strokes of a pen will just declare my whole life a lie. The equivalent of telling me that you messed up royally. Screwed the pouch. Hmm maybe watching Bridgeton last time before coming here was a bad idea.

‘Mrs. Masters please pay attention to this,’ random lawyer says. She snaps back into focus with all eyes on her. Let me set the scene for you. A long black mahogany table, sleek conference room, two men in suits across from her, well all alone on her end.

‘Smith stop calling her that she is soon not going to have that name.’ says Adam Masters my husband. Or should we say soon to be ex-husband but that is for context later.

‘Sorry I lost focus. Having a divorce sprung up on you from nowhere does that to you.’ she tells dear smithy he does look like the peter pan smith belly and all. He looked like in his late 40’s balding and mighty uncomfortable in that suit. Maybe a hat could help him.

‘Pen I am not in love with you, never have never will be and this was forced upon us. I will give you a generous amount of alimony just make this as less painful as possible heck I’ll give you the house if you want just divorce me.’ Adam says staring at her more of an order than a plea. Maybe both.

She just stood up and walked away only for him to say, ‘great run away like you do everything in your life one way or another this will happen.’ Now you may think she had a catchy retort to this the options are endless scream, shout, slap him. That jug of water on the table is looking at her wanting her to do an honor but no she just walked and walked. First into the building elevator, down to the lobby and out of the building into the city. Found a pretty park and decided to sit on the bench. Only then does reality sink in like a rock.

‘My husband wants to divorce me for my sister’.

CHAPTER 1

Okay let’s start from the beginning. Name is Penelope A. Chester. Currently at twenty –four years, African American and currently in the middle of a divorce. The schmuck trying to divorce her is first crush, first love and everything Adam Masters. Reason he has been in-love with her half-sister Maddison B. Chester.

The story starts with an affair not theirs but her bio-parents. Both were married to other people and still are despite me and I was basically abandoned to my grandmother. On the mother’s side. She never judged her said I was dealt a bad hand at life and I needed to just be her.

Granny was a wise woman. Never gave two cents on what other people thought about her and taught Pen basically how to be an independent woman as soon as she could walk and talk. Despite everything thanking her cause she taught her a lot. How to win at poker, how to fix things around the house, how to get weird stains out of anything and most importantly how to use her weirdness as a weapon.

She passed when Pen was 13. All she left her was a necklace and toolbox. Her death made my parents deal with me so I stayed at my mother’s half of the time and the rest at my dad’s. I was never comfortable at either place since I was literally a walking mistake.

As soon as I turned 18 I went on my own and started working as a janitor at Master Company. That’s where I met Adam. He was working for his dad’s company from the bottom going up. When we met I never knew that the dingoes was rich I assumed that he had similar upbringing to me. We had an FWB relationship where as you guessed I caught feelings.

Two years down the line one day his parents walked in on us and made us get married or we separate. I knew that he didn’t want to get married so I was packed ready to leave until he dragged me to the court and made us have a legal ceremony nothing fancy just a judge, his parents and us. Thinking about it the ceremony was only for half an hour.

Things moved fast after that, his parents bought us a house to move into and Adam started climbing the ranks more in the company. Most of the time I sent with his mother Abigail who became like a mother to me and we got along well. The same with his dad he never cared about my background saying that I made his son a man.

Unfortunately, at our 2nd anniversary my background came in the form of bio-dad, his wife and three kids. Turned out bio-dad was a stakeholder in the company cause why else would he be invited to the party/company event. He was shocked to find me there as well as married to Adam.

He took his chance to get closer to the family using me not caring about the past. So to stop it I rarely went to anything with the Master’s to prevent any sort of embarrassing from bio-dad. Little did she know that it was the start in a small crack that would only end in her disaster.

Now that she was on the park bench taking in everything is only when things slowly started to sink in. Somehow what she thought was solid was now just brittle and no longer able to hold her. Tears rolled down slowly, Madam Abigail told her that crying in public wasn’t very lady but she didn’t care. No money to her name a marriage she hoped for in the toilet and no one to call family or home in sight despair was all she could feel.

‘Miss Penelope we have been looking for you the car is waiting for you let me take you home,’. She looked up to see the family driver it was sunset nearing dark. She didn’t miss the way he called her miss instead of Mrs. Did everyone but her knew about the divorce.

The forty something year old driver looked at her. No emotion showed in his eyes guess he too thought that he would better distance himself from the so called Cinderella gold digger. With no words she just got up and headed to the direction of the family car. With the long dreaded drive to the house she started thinking of her grandma’s words, ‘men are like the weather penny. Always fickle never sure and a disaster when they make up their minds.’

But what is the play her. Adam never said he loved her even during the wedding. Almost six years and she barely got a like from him. It is an unrequited love that she felt and she knew he knows how she feels about her. He just wants to divorce so that he can be with her not that she was so shocked but to do it so blatantly not caring about her hurts.

Questions is all she had. When did it start? Why now? Did he ever even care about her? She needed to talk to him in private. It can be a way to receive some sort of closure. She jolted from a knock from the driver. They had arrived. She got out and entered the small maisonette house. She loved it at first sight not that anyone cared.

As soon as she entered she hear laughter, she made her way and what she saw was the final nail to her resolve. Adam, his parents and Maddie were all having supper and Adam and Maddie were holding hands. They looked like the perfect family. Maddie was the first one to see her shocked then Adam then his parents the room went silent.

‘Sorry,’ she said as she fled up the stairs. She heard someone chase after her but she didn’t care. She got to her room and locked the door. The decision was made she needs to leave the farther away the better. She started packing her old stuff nothing new. She never wore fancy outfits or jewelry or dresses.

She was good before the money she will be good after the money. She won’t take a simple dime from the Master’s. She was soon done her original luggage just fit a bag. Now for the next part the dreaded call…

CHAPTER 2

‘Smith hi, I won’t waste your time do you have the documents?’

‘I do miss Penelope are you sure you want to this Mr. Adam is being generous so you should take the money’

Recap, I called Smith last night much to his wife’s arguments and told him my terms for the divorce and not to tell Adam. All I wanted was a clean divorce. Sure there was a prenup but I didn’t want anything that reminded me of them.

‘Smith he couldn’t even be bothered to get a divorce lawyer to do this, he forced you and me into this impossible situation so please this is what I want and isn’t this best for your client saving him as much money as you can.’

Smith looked shocked and eyed me up and down. We met in a café since I had to arrange this to leave this town. I dressed up in a dress so as not to alert anyone till am legally allowed to. I looked over the documents seeing nothing wrong I signed away my last six years.

Smith packed up the documents and looked like he was about to say something but just shook his head and left. I waited ten minutes and then took a cab back to the mansion for the last time ever.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

I quickly entered the house and went straight to the room where I locked it in case the nosy maids decided to tell Adam my plans. I quickly changed out of the dress and wore for the first time in two years a jeans and T-shirt. I threw on a black hoodie and picked up my bag and grandma’s toolbox. Looking one last time at the room that was my previous shelter.

Luck wasn’t on my side since I ran dead into Maddie and Abigail.

‘Penelope what a surprise we wanted to talk to you about last night….’ Abigail stopped mid-way looking at my attire. ‘where are you going dressed like that you have better clothes don’t you?’

Maddie looked pale not wanting to speak, so I decided to send a long lasting message to both. I gave Abigail the phone she bought for me and then I took off my wedding ring and gave it to Maddie.

‘Abigail yesterday your son asked me for a divorce cause of Maddie, signed them today and now am going and don’t worry you will never see me again. Try to make him happy Maddie cause I sure never did goodbye forever.’

With that I dashed out of the house, the only life that I had only known for some time. I entered the nearest bus I could with only one thing in my mind I am going to live for me.

ADAM

CHAPTER 3

‘She did what?!?!’ I yelled at Smith. He just brought me documents that he had filed for my divorce and turns out he didn’t tell me the ‘details’ that he added to them.

‘Miss Penelope called me last night and told me to make the changes that she wanted and made me meet up with her to sign them. You told me you wanted a smooth divorce and so I filed them after I left her so now legally you are free from her.’

‘This isn’t a divorce this is more of an annulment more than anything. Smit she’s poor barely has any money how will this affect her or my reputation. If word gets out everyone will think I bullied her into it.’

‘But sir you did, you didn’t even hire a proper lawyer you asked me to do it and I barely passed the bar. You also ambushed her yesterday with the divorce. I thought I was doing you a favor doing this.’......