It talked about the importance of working through difficulties rather than giving up on a marriage. It suggested that with professional help, we could find better ways to address our different parenting styles. The letter completely ignored everything my husband had done to Lily. It reframed his emotional abuse as a parenting disagreement.
It made the whole situation sound like a misunderstanding that could be fixed with better communication. Victoria said this was a common tactic to delay proceedings and maintain control. She’d seen it dozens of times in cases like mine. The goal was to make me feel guilty for not trying hard enough and to buy my husband more time to figure out his next move.
She asked if I wanted to consider the proposal. I told her absolutely not. I instructed her to proceed with the divorce filing immediately. She said she’d have the papers ready by the end of the week. True to her word, she served him the following week. I got a text from Victoria on a Wednesday afternoon saying the process server had delivered the papers to my husband at his work.
I felt a strange mix of emotions when I read that message. Part of me was relieved that we were moving forward. Part of me was terrified of what came next. Filing for divorce made everything feel both real and final in a way that changing the locks and getting the restraining order hadn’t.
This was the official end of my marriage. documented in legal paperwork and court filings. My husband had 30 days to respond and Victoria expected him to fight over property division despite the prenup clearly protecting my assets. She said people like him didn’t give up easily even when they knew they had no legal ground to stand on.
I spent that weekend going through wedding photos and cards. I’d stored them all in a box in my closet and hadn’t looked at them since the first anniversary. I sat on my bedroom floor and went through each photo, each card, each momento from a day that was supposed to be the start of our future together. In the wedding photos, my husband looked happy and I looked hopeful.