One Voice

Once the divorce decree hit the mailbox, Helena kicked all of her advance planning into high gear. We had a big wedding in France at a large cathedral with a pipe organ. I thought it was overkill, but it was Helena's first wedding and she wanted the whole bridal experience. Her mother had invited many notables and important people to the wedding who she had worked with at the consulate. She was shocked to see her formerly aloof daughter give herself so completely to one man, especially one who looked just like Pierre. She was happy for Helena and they had a good cry over their hard road to reconciliation.

A class-action lawsuit had been filed in France against Pierre Dumont by twenty litigants, of which I was one. He also faced criminal charges for my assault and attempted murder. Helena knew a legal eagle in Paris that she trusted to go after Pierre on my behalf separately for the criminal charges. We were not required to be present during any of the motions or trial proceedings. The attorney said that our twin phenomena would only contribute to a circus atmosphere.

It took over a year for the wheels of justice to grind their way to a resolution in France. For his part in the destruction of twenty marriages, Pierre was found guilty and ordered to pay forty-million Euros in aggregate, two-million Euros apiece for each of the twenty class-action litigants.

As to his criminal charges, Pierre was found guilty of conspiracy to commit assault and conspiracy to commit murder thanks to the testimony of Mr. Brass Knuckles. Pierre was subsequently sentenced to twenty years in prison and ordered to punitively pay me an additional ten million Euros as well as transfer full ownership of the New Directions Occupational Therapist business that he had purchased just to fire me. Helena's legal eagle turned out to be a shark. I was very pleased with the outcome.

The medical review board notified me that their investigation revealed that I was as clean as a whistle and that no action would be taken against me or my professional credentials. Although I no longer needed to work, I still loved helping people so I couldn't stay away. I became a beloved CEO of New Directions and continued treating everyone as I would like to be treated.

After Helena and I built our dream house, I built a second one next door and moved my parents into it, happily giving them a clear title with no mortgage. It was the best money I'd ever spent. Helena and I also paid for the college educations of Anita and Darren's two children.

Amber, Neil, and Rhonda have been given two stepbrothers a year apart as we completed our family. True to her word, Helena stuck close by my side and never, not one single time, gave me pause to wonder about her fidelity.

Five years after rehab, Chelsea married one of the salesmen in her office. She never missed a single visitation with the children. Helena and I didn't begrudge her for being in their lives. As far as we know, Chelsea never badmouthed me to the kids and instead, we were both kind to one another. When the time came, I walked Amber and Rhonda down the aisle at their weddings and was a very proud dad.

As I grew older year by year, I never forgot and was still thankful for that little eight-year-old girl in the wheelchair whose act of selflessness had instantly changed my life for the better. I shudder to think how different my life would have been, had she not had the courage to bravely place herself between those men and me and lift her one voice.

Inspiration from the song One Voice by Barry Manilow.