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Over the next month, things at home were unchanged from Debbie toward me, but now the feeling of impending divorce grew within me. It was just a matter of time. Things came out in the open in May. Debbie all of a sudden stopped talking divorce, wanting to make things better between us, but still kept Catherine between us in bed, clutching her daughter closer than ever before. This was not the way to make things better at all. I took a second flight to Alberta in June, this time a three-night visit. Yvonne loved me, there was no doubt. Back at home, Debbie didn't... or at least showed no signs of doing so. The hardest thing about leaving the house was Catherine. We had such a good time together, and I loved (and still do love) her so very much. But I wasn't married to Catherine. Cathy would eventually grow up and leave me anyway, but Debbie was supposed to be there forever, and for the past number of years she wasn't at all. Upon return from my second trip to meet with Yvonne, I began sleeping on the couch. After a week of that, I realized that Cathy's bed was empty and spent the rest of my days in that house in her room. Debbie and I separated in August, 1999, and were divorced in May, 2000. Later, Debbie admitted that she was unloving at home, using her stressful payroll job as the cause. That didn't stop her from contesting bitterly every step of the way since. She said that I had abandoned her, claiming I hadn't done anything to support her or Catherine after the separation. Her attorney filed an interrogatory, demanding the whereabouts of my finances to prove I wasn't taking care of my family. That line was dropped when it was shown I paid Debbie $900 a month for each of the first three months we were apart, plus put one entire house payment of $728 on my credit card that Debbie didn't have to pay. After that, I made the court-appointed $500 payments each month until the divorce was finalized. |