After that, it was just a matter of waiting for the court to process everything and issue the final decree. She congratulated me on getting through one of the hardest things a person could go through. I thanked her for all her help and told her I couldn’t have done it without her guidance. After we hung up, I sat in my car for a few minutes just breathing. It was almost over.
Soon, my husband would be officially out of our lives, and Lily and I could really start fresh. Lily and I developed new routines over those last two months of waiting for the divorce to finalize. Sunday mornings became pancake time where she’d request different mix-ins, and I’d try to accommodate whatever combination she came up with.
We had chocolate chip and blueberry, and once she asked for peanut butter chips, which turned out better than expected. Friday nights were movie nights where she picked the film, and I supplied the popcorn and candy. She chose everything from old comedies I’d never heard of to horror movies that made me cover my eyes.
We talked more openly now about everything from the school drama to college plans to boys she thought were cute. She told me about her friends and their problems and asked for advice on things she never would have brought up when my husband lived here. Our relationship wasn’t magically perfect because we still had disagreements about curfew and homework and cleaning her room.
But there was trust again in a way there hadn’t been for 2 years. She knew I would always choose her over anyone else. She knew this was her home and nobody was going to push her out of it. We were learning to be a family of two again, and it felt right in a way that the family of three never had. The house was peaceful. Lily was happy.
I was healing. We were going to be okay. The divorce finalized on a Tuesday morning in late January. Victoria called me at work to say the judge had signed the papers and it was officially done. No dramatic courtroom scene or last minute arguments, just signatures on legal documents that ended a 2-year marriage. I thanked her for everything she’d done to help me through the process.