Chapter 24 - GWENDOLYN’S APPEAL
Gwendolyn appealed two convictions and aspects of sentencing.
One financial count was vacated because the appellate court found the jury instructions blurred the distinction between an internal draft and an externally relied-upon false instrument for that specific charge.
The broader conspiracy and false-statement convictions remained.
Elder-abuse conviction remained.
Assault remained.
Evidence tampering remained.
Sentence reduced modestly.
Headline:
GWENDOLYN WEAVER WINS APPEAL.
I laughed when I saw it.
Allison texted:
One count. Stop reading headlines.
Everyone becomes the same lawyer eventually.
Accuracy matters.
Even for people we love badly.
Gwendolyn eventually transferred to a lower-security facility.
She completed programs.
Worked in library services.
Adrian visited.
I did not.
Florence never did.
Years later, Gwendolyn was released under supervision.
No contact restrictions with me? Divorce, so irrelevant. She wrote asking whether I would meet once.
I said no.
Then five years later, yes.
Public café.
She was forty-one.
I was forty-two.
Time had changed her face.
Not erased it.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
She did not apologize again.
Good.
We talked about:
Adrian.
Hartbridge’s successor company.
My work.
Florence.
Then:
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“Does she hate me?”
“Sometimes.”
Gwendolyn smiled sadly.
“Fair.”
Then:
“Do you?”
“Sometimes.”
Also fair.
She asked:
“Did the schedule ruin your life?”
“No.”
“Did it make you rich?”
I laughed.
“I was already rich enough.”
She smiled.
“I hated that answer back then.”
“I know.”
Then:
“Why did you come?”
I thought.
“Because I wanted you to become a person from my past instead of a room I still walked into.”
Her eyes filled.
We left separately.
No hug.
May you like
No second chance.
Closure without romance.
