The Settlement Gave Every Dollar A Place To Go

"No," I told Nell.

She had not finished reading Lucien's proposed condition.

"I won't promise to hide it."

"That condition won't be part of our agreement," she said.

Mara helped me assemble copies for a police report. I gave a statement and got a case number. The originals stayed protected, available when investigators asked for them.

Then we returned to the settlement figures.

I had thought winning in court would make the numbers kinder. They remained numbers.

An independent marine survey valued June Bell at one hundred eighty-two thousand dollars in her present state. The surveyor listed the hull work, the leaking deck seams, and the cost of catching up on repairs.

Lucien objected to the value.

"Your company paperwork said two hundred fifty thousand," Nell reminded his lawyer. "It showed no cash sale and no outside valuation."

He hired his own surveyor. The second value came within three thousand dollars of the first. Eventually, we agreed to use one hundred eighty-two thousand.

Mara gave me the final debt calculation for the planned closing date: eighty-six thousand four hundred dollars in principal, plus three thousand three hundred sixty dollars in accrued interest.

The total was eighty-nine thousand seven hundred sixty dollars.

The judge approved six thousand two hundred forty dollars in fees on Mara's application. Added to the mortgage balance, that made ninety-six thousand dollars to be credited to me before the remaining boat equity was divided.

"The credit isn't cash in your hand," Beatrice said when I showed her the worksheet.

"I know. It's debt I give up to get title."

"Good. Keep knowing it."

That left eighty-six thousand dollars in equity. Lucien and I had competing claims about the years before and during the marriage. Rather than spend another year fighting over them, we agreed to divide that remaining equity equally as part of the full property settlement.

My share was forty-three thousand dollars. So was his.

To keep June Bell, I had to pay his share.

I checked my separate savings. Years of note payments and the cash Celia had left me made it possible. It would leave much less behind than I wanted.

Beatrice watched me draw a line between the closing money and the repair money on my worksheet.

"Two different jobs," she said.

"One keeps her mine. One keeps her afloat."

"And neither one gets done by pretending the same dollar can be in two places."

I copied both figures onto the bank instructions. Then I checked the account numbers twice, once aloud and once with my finger beneath each digit.

"You could move ashore," Nell said.

"I could."

"I need you choosing this with the costs in front of you."

I looked at the survey photographs: my stove, our narrow bunk, the wheel I still knew how to use. Beyond the windows were the pilings where swallows nested each spring.

"I'm choosing it," I said.

The transfer would happen through escrow under the approved settlement. The company would convey June Bell to me. My inherited debt and the fee award would be credited. I would sign a satisfaction only when the transfer and payment were ready to be released together.

Cinder Reach would keep no share, option, or right to manage her.

Nell also put the repair fund in a separate agreement with Lucien, Evan, and Lantern Wake. The money would return to the repair account and be awarded to me for the work on June Bell.

The seven thousand dollars in trust would come first. The dealer would buy both engines for twenty-six thousand, paid directly into trust. Evan would cover the remaining three thousand in three monthly payments, personally guaranteed under the settlement.

Lucien remained responsible if the recovery fell short. Every payment would reduce the same thirty-six-thousand-dollar obligation.

There would be no vague promise to send money when the charter season improved.

By December, the dealer had inspected the engines and accepted the purchase. Evan signed away the charter lease. He could not run the venture without the engines, and the boat owner would not extend more credit.

Lucien signed after one last effort to reduce my claims.

"You've made your point," he told me through the open conference room door.

"I'm making a payment," I said. "Please let the closing agent work."

I transferred forty-three thousand dollars from my separate account. The agent checked the settled figures and held everything pending the vessel documents.

The next afternoon, I got written confirmation that the conveyance had been delivered and submitted for recording. The mortgage satisfaction followed through the same closing.

I stood in the cabin holding the confirmation. I had not taken Lucien's place in his company. I had ended its claim to my home.

Before I could call Beatrice, my phone rang.

The county prosecutor's office wanted to speak with me about the signature Lucien had borrowed.