Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

"No doubt the best story I've ever heard," Lacey said. "Even if you listen to it for the second time?" Mei Hagi asked with a smile. "Even if you listen to it a thousand times, it will sound better and better each time," Ellie said. "What happened next?" "Don't you know everything?" Mei Hagi replied. Lacey put her hand on Ellie's arm. "We know something. You've been pictured in magazines for years, haven't we?" "Really?" Ellie asked eagerly. "From time to time they still publish it," Meigi said. "But besides being on camera, I have other careers. But, you already know that part."

"Meige," Ellie said slowly. "You tell the story in full." Mei Hagi laughed. "I play by the rules," she replied simply. "How do you say that?" Ellie encouraged her to continue. "I show up to work on time and fight hard for any job opportunities. I don't mean to brag, but in less than eight weeks I've been on the cover of three fashion magazines and the face of a major cosmetics company." Mei Hagi paused to eat the cake. "But when I got paid for my work, I figured it would be enough money for two kids to go to college. And so an idea took shape in my head, and you all know what happened next."

"No, we don't know!" the other two women protested in unison. Mei Qiu looked at them and couldn't believe they were so forgetful. "I used that money to get a degree." "What degree?" Ellie asked, almost taking her breath away. Mei Hagi narrowed his eyes and looked at her. "You know very well that I am a doctor." "The kind that treats people?" Lacey asked, eyes widening. "Yes, I'm a physical therapist," Maycho said, shaking her head at them. "I'm glad I chose to specialize because I had a great teacher, Dr. O'Doole from Columbia University. I have a feeling I've known her my whole life."

Ellie looks at Lacey; then Lacey looks at Ellie.At first they both smiled to themselves, then automatically they threw their heads back and laughed.Then they pushed back their chairs and started dancing arm in arm, laughing even more happily. The other diners all raised their heads, first they frowned slightly, and then they saw the two women's happiness from the bottom of their hearts, and they couldn't help but smile too. There was already soft music playing in the restaurant, but Ellie and Lacie seemed to be doing their own rhythmic dance steps that looked like they were in the 1950s. "Doctor!" Ellie said. "She's a doctor."

"A doctor who treats people," Lacey replied, laughing and dancing with Ellie. Once she danced, Ellie was definitely not as good as Lacey, so she backed away, and Lacey was already standing on tiptoe and stretching her limbs.On the one hand, Lacie hadn't danced in eighteen years, but on the other hand, she had been practicing two hours a day for the past two weeks.Now, she raised her hand above her head, drew a graceful arc, and began to twist her body to spin and dance in place. Turning and turning, she danced between the other tables. All the diners recognized the dancer's talent and experience, and put down their tableware to watch Lacey's dance.When Ellie started clapping to the beat of the music, the other diners followed suit.Lacey shuttled and circled throughout the restaurant, maintaining a steady dance and elegant figure all the way.

When she turned back to their table, she stopped dancing and the restaurant erupted in applause.Lacey blushed with embarrassment, but smiled happily, bent down, and bowed deeply like a ballerina at the curtain call. A few minutes later, they sat down again, and Ellie and Lacey looked at Meigi with bright eyes. "You're still good at dancing," Maygi told Lacey. "No, no," she replied, but this time there was no "failure" in her tone. "Honestly, I was never really able to dance." "But I just saw—" Lacey took a swig of water first.She may have been twenty years old yesterday, but today she is a forty-year-old woman, and her body is not very strong after exercising. "I'm a better than average dancer, but I'm nowhere near those top dancers. And I don't want to be the second child."

"But—" Meigi said, but Airi cut her off. "How did you meet Moshi?" Ellie asked. Umehagi looked at the dessert plate that had been eaten, and smiled slightly. "You guys remember when we first met in New York, I said I got dumped by a boy back home?" "Remember," Lacey said quietly. "What happened to him later?" "Tell stories in order, remember?" Mei Hagi smiled slightly. "Ajie, the boy who dumped me, wrote me a few letters after I arrived in New York. Through him, I had good luck." Mei Hagi kept it a secret for the time being, waiting to see Ellie and Lacey's reaction.But the expressions of the two women were the same: they both pursed their lips, as if hearing Ajie's name disgusted them.

"Ajie said in the letter that one of his friends' elder brother is studying at Columbia University. I took it out from Montana, and Ben didn't know how to distinguish good universities from bad ones, and Columbia University is in New York, so I applied to that school study." Looking at the water glass on the table, she showed a mysterious smile. “I didn’t know at the time how difficult it was to get into Columbia. But I did all the homework for Ajay and me in high school, so I was essentially a double high school. My major It's English and history, based on the psychology of showing off, Ajie chose biology and chemistry." She looked up at Lacey and Ellie. "To put it simply, Ajie got straight A's in all subjects, and I passed every subject in the entrance examination for Columbia University with high scores. The school said that I was even eligible to apply for a scholarship, but I still wanted to pay for it myself."

"So, thanks to Applejack, you went to Columbia," Ellie said, and then exchanged a look with Lacey. "Yeah," Mei Hagi replied. "But after enrolling, I was shy and didn't introduce myself to Ajie's friends." Meiqi bowed his head and thought for a while. "I'm not sure if you two saw it the day we met, but I've always believed that I wasn't worthy... Well, I guess you could say, I don't believe my family background is in the same class as those who go to medical school .” "I didn't notice, Lacey, what about you?" Ellie said, pretending to be innocent.

"I always thought you were incredibly smart," Lacey said. "You two will really satisfy my vanity," Meigi said. "Anyway, I think it was Ajie's letter that made me choose to specialize in cranial heads, and because of it, I met that good teacher, Dr. Otola. Then, with a one in ten thousand chance, her nephew turned out to be Brother of Applejack's friend." Mei Tuo paused, as if she thought that such a coincidence would definitely cause Ellie and Lacey to exclaim, but unexpectedly, they just sat there, waiting for her to continue talking. "So in my second year of medical school, I finally met Moshi," Meicho continued. "We were hooked right away. He helped me through every level in school and we got married as soon as I graduated."

Ellie and Lacie leaned back in their chairs, smiling contentedly. "You've got a baby," Lacey said, with a palpable sense of joy. "Well, four," Meigi said, still smiling. "As long as we can, Moshi and I would like to have a dozen. We love children so much, they make life meaningful. Without them..." She looked up. "Overall, I can't imagine what my life would be like without Moshi and these kids. Sometimes I think we were meant to be a couple, and if we weren't together, we couldn't find anyone else to match .Are you right in thinking this way?" "It couldn't be more true," Lacey said. "You live in New York now?" Ellie asked. "No," Meigi said. "Didn't I say—yes, you don't remember anything. My whole family lived in Erskine, Montana. We had a little practice there." Ellie had done some research on small-town clinics, and she knew that small clinics didn't usually make money.She intuitively blurted out what she knew. "That's right, Mo Shi's family is very rich." "No, it's not like that," Mei Hagi replied quickly. "The clinic is using my money. Moshi's money is tied up in his trust fund for the children." "Money from modeling," Lacie said to Ellie. "The money she made on the runway." "No," Meigi said, and she stared at the coffee cup in front of her for a moment.The waitresses had cleared their plates and refilled their coffees. "You two will find it strange, but I made my money in the stock market. It's a weird thing to say, but I seem to see the names of the listed companies and know which one's stock will go up." For a while, Meiqi looked at the other two women, as if waiting for them to express their surprise.However, the two of them were silent, and Mei Hagi continued: "It was quite accidental at first. One day some medical students read the market news aloud while reading the newspaper, and I told them which stocks would go up, as if I had been Knowing which product will capture the imagination of the American public." Seeing that Lacey and Ellie still didn't respond, Meigi continued talking. "I started investing the money I made modeling for mail-order catalogs while I was in school." Umehagi paused, taking a sip of coffee. "When the web started, I invested a lot of money. I'm pretty sure this stuff is going to grow." Again, she stopped; and when she looked up again, she smiled brightly at the other two women. "Long story short, I made millions." There was still no look of shock on Ellie's and Lacey's faces. "I feel like I owe a lot to my old folks back home. If they hadn't sent me to New York, who knows what would have happened to me? Maybe I'd end up in Erskine, marry someone I hate and..." Her voice trailed off. Go, as if the scenarios were too absurd for her to imagine. "In short, I told Murray my idea, and he wholeheartedly agreed, so we invested most of the money in Erskine and set up a clinic. After seeing general internal medicine for more than a year, we decided to go to professional rehabilitation medicine. That was my favorite. Now, Murth and I own a small hospital, and we have a total of six rehab doctors working for us." She smiled and leaned back in her chair. "And you know? Now the clinic is not only self-sufficient, it's even making money, so at Christmas, we give the staff a year-end bonus. Children are often injured while skiing in the resort near Erskine, and the clinic The operating capital of the hospital is all on those wounded outside the field. The surplus of the clinic also allows us to provide free medical care to the residents of Erskine.” She looked at Ellie and Lacey as if waiting for them to ask a question, but both women were silent, and encouraged by this, Meigi continued. "Life is really strange, isn't it?" said Umegi. "When the shops in town sent me to New York to model, I was pissed at these nosy rednecks interfering in my life. To be honest, I thought they were trying to use me to make Erskine famous so they could get rich .It's weird to think about it now, I hated my dad more at the time - he was actually a nice old man who would visit his grandkids by the way - and I was mad at him for sending me to New York. I don't know what made me I changed my mind, and all of a sudden, all my grievances disappeared.” For a while, Mei Hagi looked at them. "Do you know? I changed after we met. After leaving the prison, all my grievances seemed to disappear, and I just knew what I should do." "It's as if someone has cast a spell on you," Ellie said softly. "Yes, that's it: I was a different person after we met. And because I changed the way I did things, all the good luck followed. I met Moshi, I started a wonderful family, and— " "Your hometown will benefit from it too," Ellie said. "Yeah, but that's what I owe them, don't I?" Meigi said. "I wanted to do something for them to repay them for sending me to New York and taking care of me when my mother died and my boyfriend dumped me." "What happened to Ajie?" Ellie and Lacey said in unison, making Meigi laugh. "Poor guy," Meigi shook her head. "I'm so sorry for him." She looked down a moment, then at her two audience. "After what he did to me, I don't know if you'd believe it was going to happen to him—you remember that part?" "Remember!" Lacey and Ellie responded loudly again. "He called me shortly after I arrived in New York and told me that he had been in a car accident and was badly injured, physically and emotionally. He said he needed me and begged me to go back and help him. He Saying that since I've cared for my mother, I already have all the knowledge to take care of a sick person, and I'm the only person in the world who can help him." "How did you reply to him?" Lacey asked. Mei Hagi raised her head, a look of sadness appeared on her pretty face. “Honestly, I still feel a little bit guilty about what I did to this day. As I got older, I realized how much pain the car accident caused him, but at the time, all I could think of was that he was so devoted to me. After him, he abandoned me. I was not very sympathetic to his condition at that time, and I told him..." Mei Hagi showed a guilty expression. "I told him that since his family is financially well enough to hire the best rehab for him, I wouldn't be his free nurse. Pretty mean answer, huh?" Meigi saw Lacey and Ellie look at each other with a happy expression on their faces, and she gave them a hard look. "If you're going to start dancing again, I'm leaving. It's fun to do it once, it's embarrassing to do it twice." "We'll hold ourselves back," Lacey said. Ellie smiled and asked, "What happened to Ajie afterwards?" "Yeah," Mei Tho paused. "That's where I feel guilty. He didn't get the care he needed. To make matters worse, his doctor made a wrong diagnosis. After the car accident, the local doctor told him he would never walk again and no one said anything about it. This diagnosis calls into question." "You mean he's still in a wheelchair to this day?" Ellie asked. "Yes, it's very pathetic. His parents were cruel, and I think they might feel ashamed to have such a handicapped son, so they put him on the second floor of their home and had a male nurse take care of his basic needs, But no one ever questioned the original diagnosis. After he recovered from the trauma, no one sent him to check the spinal nerves to determine whether there was still a chance of recovery." Mei Ha paused. "As I said, after Ajie called me, we had a few letters, but I think his parents put him off the idea of ​​continuing to contact me, because they always thought my background was too low. Anyway After all, Jay never recovered from the injuries caused by the car accident. A few years ago, his parents drowned on a boat trip, and Jay inherited a house and a lot of cash. But none of these made him happy. He Been married three or four times--I don't remember--and each time he divorced, he lost a lot of money. "I know so much about him because three days a week he has to come to our clinic. I was the one who saw that his spinal cord wasn't completely damaged. We tried to rehabilitate him, but..." Mei Hagi waved her hand to express her helplessness. "Honestly, Applejack just can't stand that kind of pain. He needs someone to push him, beg him, and... I think he needs someone to make him believe that he's still the captain of the football and the most popular boy in school. But no one To give him that kind of confidence, he's put it off for too long." For a moment, Mei Qiu showed a little anger. "It's embarrassing to say, what a pity! If his parents weren't so petty a few years ago and refused to find him proper treatment, Applejack might have recovered. Who knows what would have happened to him then Achievement?" This sentence made Ellie and Lacey look at each other again. "Yeah, who knows?" Ellie said. "Jack is a nice guy, isn't he?" "I don't think you should judge him on the fact that he dumped me," Meigi said. "Sometimes I wonder, if I had agreed to him when he asked me to go back, what would have happened to me? And—" "No!" Ellie almost screamed, then looked behind the neighboring table and lowered her voice. "You were right not to go back to him." "Of course," Mei Hagi said, frowning. "But I still feel that I owe him. If he hadn't dumped me, Erskine's people would not have sent me to New York. If it hadn't been for Ajie's letter, I would not have applied to Columbia University. And even Odo Le introduced me to Moshi, if his younger brother also knew Ajie, Moshi and I would not know each other. Because..." Mei Qiu smiled slightly. "Well, Murray comes from a wealthy family, and he's very defensive about pretty girls who offer to be nice to him." "For you, he didn't." Lacey said softly. "Indeed, he didn't for me. It seems that I knew him very well from the moment I met Moshi. He and I—" Mei Qiu interrupted the words.She could tell her story, but she didn't want anyone to see how attached she was to her husband, her children, her job, and her life. "Do you know?" Meiqiu said softly. "I'm happy. I know it's cliché to think that, but I'm happy. I have family, friends, and my own career. My life isn't exciting; in fact, it's pretty mundane. And yet I enjoy it .Sometimes people see pictures of me, especially the one with Orochi, and they can't believe that I'm giving up my chance to be a supermodel and travel the world to run a boring little clinic in Erskine. but……" For a moment, she turned her head to calm down her excitement. "What about you two?" she asked as she turned her head. "Very happy," Ellie said, and her thoughts began to clear. After speaking, the two women looked at Lacey with questioning eyes. "I don't know," she said honestly. "I have to take some action in my life and I don't know if it will work until I do it. Ask me in six months." "You—" Ellie was about to ask, wanting to know all about Lacey's movements. Lacey interrupted her question and stood up. "I don't know about you two, but I suddenly feel very tired. I want to go back and rest." "I agree." Meigi said. "Me too." Ellie followed, but what she really thought was that we weren't telling the truth.We each have things we want to do in private.In her case, she was going to the stationery store to buy some pens and paper, because the story of Mei Hagi inspired her.She's going to write a book about how three women influence each other, how- "Ready to go?" Lacey said, and Ellie realized she was standing at the table daydreaming. Umegi went out first, and Lacey followed after Ellie. "I want to hear about the changes between you and your ex-husband," Lacey whispered. "How is the divorce case judged?" "If I told you I needed to sit down and think about it, would you think Taiwan was unreasonable?" "Very reasonable," Lacey said. "I also have to think about what happened to me." Ellie gave Lacey a suspicious look. "You're going back in time, but you're determined not to make any changes. Is your future president an asshole? Tell me the truth so I don't vote for him when he does run for president." She was joking, but Lacey didn't respond. "Actually, he's a nice guy. I think maybe he's cuter than my husband, maybe smarter, definitely more considerate and kind." "Yo!" Ellie exclaimed. "You don't want him?" Lacey paused before answering. "Would you understand if I said I love my family but at the same time I feel like I've had enough of them?" "I do understand. So what are you going to do?" Lacey smiled. "I don't know. I have no idea." Ellie laughed. "Okay, now we're all going to pretend we're going to take a nap, but we're going to do something private. Maycho is going to call her family and tell her how much she loves and misses them; you're going to— " "I'm going to take a walk and see if I can figure out what to do with my life. Stop imagining behind closed doors what it would be like if I went on with that boy I knew in college. From now on, I want to live in the moment." Lacey smiled slightly. "And you will...let me guess..." Lacey exaggeratedly touched her temple with her hand, pretending to be thinking seriously. "You'd write down all the thoughts that went through your head when Maygi told her story, and you'd try to write her story into a book—without getting yourself into a lawsuit." Ellie laughed. "I'm that easy to understand, huh?" "True, but not quite right," Lacey said earnestly. "I think I've finally learned how important an ego is to a person. In your case, it's your ability to come up with those stories. Without that creativity, you're—" "Just a regular fat, depressed woman," Ellie said. "Indeed," Lacey replied. "Speaking of which, isn't there a nice clothing store around the corner? Before you leave, I think you should stop by there. You don't want to go home to your husband and wife in clothes twice your size. Son?" Thinking that she had regained her former slender body, Ellie couldn't help turning her head away.In fact, what she recovered was not only her beautiful figure.Thanks to Jesse, she also has her self-esteem back. After arriving at the gingerbread house, Mei Hagi went straight into the house, apparently in a hurry to make a phone call.Lacey and Ellie didn't go in.Ellie wandered back into town to find the stationery store; Lacey continued on down the road, her mind wandering thousands of miles away. Ellie leaned her head against the back of the plane seat and smiled unconsciously.She's back where she started, but this time her life is, uh, so different.Since she walked that trip...how should I put it?She didn't know what to call that experience.Time travel? Whatever it was, it literally changed her life.She still remembered the pain of divorcing Martin the first time, but now it looked like some writer's outlandish fiction, a fiction no one would believe. Now, she closes her eyes and thinks about the second divorce again.Last night she stayed late with Lacey, and Ellie told Lacey everything. "Jessie figured out what was going on," Ellie said with a smile recalling the past. "Before I can love Jesse, I have to let go of the anger and urgency of what I call 'justice.' Once I do, I can answer Jesse's questions. And he— " "How is it?" Lacey asked. "It was only later that I realized that all the people who heard about my divorce did not analyze it rationally. I thought maybe my self-pity was so strong that the listeners also fell into the quagmire of my opinions. And I point of view is incorrect.” "And what about the divorce this time?" Lacey asked softly, casting a glance at May Hag's closed door.They were careful not to say anything in front of Mei Hagi that would make her feel suspicious, and they didn't want Mei Hagi to know anything about her other life. "Jessie," Ellie said simply. "I helped him and he helped me." "Don't tell me you really solved a murder?" Lacey said in horror. "You didn't put yourself at risk, did you?" "Actually, I think I...we...did take some risks. Jesse said we could do things the police couldn't, like bug Shannen's phone. Actually, it was just me Can do it because Jesse is a lawyer." "I thought..." Lacey stopped before finishing her sentence. "Is he living off his billionaire brother?" Ellie asked, smiling slightly. "That's what I thought at first. But then I found out that Jessie gave up a bright career in Los Angeles to work for his brother, and, uh..." Ellie looked down at her feet for a moment, then at Lacey. "Let's put it this way, although Jesse is not a billionaire, he is not a poor boy. And of course I don't have to worry about what he wants, the little money I make from writing books." Hearing this, Lacey squeezed Ellie's hand and smiled at her. "I'm so happy for you. So you illegally tapped a woman's phone. What happened?" "We found out that she has a lover, and Louis's money is all from his father's bequest, which means that if they divorce, the money will belong to Louis alone, and it does not need to be included in the joint property of the husband and wife." "So she won't get any alimony," Lacey said. "Exactly. But she is the legal heir of Louis. Once Louis dies, she will enjoy everything. That is her motive for committing the crime, but we still have to find evidence for her crime." skimmed. "I didn't like what Jesse did, but it worked, so it turned out to be the truth." Lacey looked at her and thought for a moment. "He played a scene in front of her. She may know that Jesse is also rich. If she will kill for money, she may also marry for money." "Exactly," Ellie said. "Jessie wanted to devise a scene like an Agatha Christie novel, where the police would hide in the next room and let him induce her to confess. I told him it was not creative, but he said he was not He didn't want to be well received when he wrote the novel, he just wanted to catch Louis' murderer." "Looks like he knows you very well," Lacy said with a smile. "But still not as deep as he thought he knew," Ellie replied. "Anyway, his strategy worked. Two policemen and I hid behind the door, and Jessie invited Shannon to his house for a drink. After a few drinks, he pretended to be in love with her by pretending to be crazy. In fact, he drank The whiskey was just tea. By the time the champagne she had drunk made her slightly tipsy, Jessie started talking about how much he hated his rich brother. Within minutes, Shannen was planning how to get Jessie to murder his brother She said it was too easy to kill Ed, and the local police were too dumb to tell the difference between murder and suicide. After a few glasses of champagne, she started bragging about how she kissed Louie and made him think She was too pleased to be angry with him to notice that she was holding the pistol around his fingers." "I think so," Lacey said. "When it comes to sex, men seem to forget everything." "Poor Louie is like that. She shot him and put the blame on Boyle, she knew he was always hanging out of their house. But Shannon confessed to Jesse that it was because she purposely was at the same time every night. Change clothes with the windows open so Boi knows when to go and watch." "Wow! So you and Jessie actually solved that murder together. What about your divorce case?" Ellie took a deep breath. "After that incident, even though I knew the court date was getting closer, I couldn't just leave Jesse behind." "Of course not! After all, didn't you say Shannen was beautiful?" "After careful makeup, she can still look, but she is definitely not Meiqiu." Ellie's tone contained a hint of malice. Lacey looked at her and smiled. "So you missed the court session?" "It didn't occur to me at the time, but in the days when we were trying to find out the truth about Louie's death, Jessie kept asking me a lot about my divorce proceedings. Some things I had to vague because some of them were actually It hasn't happened yet. I don't want to tell him the part about Madame Zola." "I understand," Lacey said. "But in the end, you told him everything?" "Almost all said. He is a good listener, and I am eager for someone, especially a lawyer, to listen to my story carefully. I thought that the first ruling must be morally flawed, even legally. Can't even stand." Ellie took a deep breath and smiled slightly. "The night before I had to appear in court, Shannen was arrested and in jail, and the next morning Jessie flew me to Los Angeles—his own plane, by the way—but we didn't appear in court. You See, I was wrong about everything. I thought everyone believed in Martin, so the judge awarded everything to him. But Jesse figured out the truth of the matter." "Just tell me!" Lacey held her breath. "Do you remember when I said that Martin took a lot of money from me during those years?" "Remember," Lacey said. "Have you found out where the money is hidden?" "Well, I found out." Ellie paused, touching her face with her hand. "Looking back now, I still can't believe what an idiot I was. Me! A writer of suspense novels!" "Anyway, Jesse speculates, after the fact, and it turns out, that Martin, on the advice of his lawyer, transferred the money to a friend of his for safekeeping. I told you that it was not illegal for him to take the money, because according to According to the law in California, that part of the money is shared by our husband and wife. But once a divorce lawsuit is filed, Martin must sign a document swearing that he has not hidden any private money, so his lawyer asked him to transfer the money first before signing the document. give others." "But even if the money wasn't in Martin's name, it was still under his control. And he used 150,000 of it to bribe the judge." "What? Martin bribed the judge?" Lacey's eyes widened. "True, but not quite right," Ellie said. "Jesse figured out the truth. He was confused by what I told him. He said no one would believe anyone in court and no one cared if my ex-husband was my agent. Jesse asked me Hundreds of questions, and I can tell you that it was very difficult for him to get the right answer from me, because I always assumed that the judge believed what Martin said that led to that sentence." "In fact, it's all about money." "Yes, it was all about money. I went back to court, this time with Jesse. He caught Martin off. It turned out that Martin had gone to see the judge in private, under the witness of a stenographer. He told the judge he was going to donate $150,000 to his re-election fund, and as soon as the donation was made, the judge said he was sure Martin was the hero behind my book, and a A man of Martin's caliber deserves to own my book in perpetuity. After all, the judge said he wasn't sure I was sane." "You said there was a stenographer there?" "Well. So everything they do is legal." "Think the money wasn't actually put into the campaign fund?" "No, Jesse has already guessed this. Because everything is recorded, he can easily compare the date when Martin handed over the money to the judge, but the money has never been deposited into the foundation." "And Jesse managed to get this intel?" Lacey asked, eyes widening. "Indeed, and Jesse used it to change the situation. When it came time for the trial, Jesse wrote a note—he won't tell me what it says—and had it sent into the judge's chamber. Ten minutes later, the judge asked Jesse to go in. An hour later, Jesse came out and we entered the courtroom together." "and then?" Ellie smiled slightly, happily recalling the situation at that time. "You should have seen the look on Martin's face! When we walked into the courtroom, he gave me a smug snicker and decided he was going to get 100 percent control of my book—or I'd have to agree to whatever he wanted. Conditions. But three hours later, he walked out of the court with a dark face and annoyed. All the property we share is half and half according to the law." "The irony is that because Martin spent most of the money I earned, he still owes me money at the end of the day." "What about your house and your book royalties?" "The house was sold and I got half of the price. The judge didn't mention that he could control my books, or that I had to share my future earnings with him." "So this time he didn't get the house, and he didn't get you to pay him." "That's not right!" Seeing that Lacey didn't speak any more, Ellie stood up and yawned. "That's the way it is. I finally figured out why everyone believed in Martin and not me." "It relieves you, doesn't it?" Lacey said, standing up too. "Indeed. It's not the money that matters to me; it's the injustice that beats me." Lacey hugged Ellie impulsively. "What happened to Martin after that?" "He's broke and has to work to support himself," Allie said with a laugh. "Work to support yourself?" Lacey repeated exaggeratedly, and they both broke into laughter. "Where's the money he's hiding from his friends?" Ellie smiled. "Jesse figured Martin's lawyer might know where the money was, so he had a chat with the lawyer over lunch one day. After lunch the lawyer took a bank statement to the judge, proving that Martin had hidden the money. I got the money, so I got half of it back." Ellie closed her eyes for a moment, then she opened them again to look at Lacey. "He took all my money in the first divorce, but I learned I could get by without it. The second time I got the money back, I thought it was dirty and I didn't want to touch it. They. So I donate every penny to the Foundation for Battered Children." For a while, the two women were silent. They first smiled at each other, and then laughed heartily.Then, as if on cue, they danced again as they had done in the restaurant.当她们终于上床时，她们仍是笑声不断。 现在爱莉搭飞机回牧场的家，回去和她的丈夫杰西及她那蹒跚学步的小儿子团聚。她的记忆中有这个孩子的存在，但她却从没见过他本人。想到这里，她不禁失笑出声。她买了三个旅行袋才够装下所有她要带回去送给杰西、纳森、夷华、阿德，以及他们的儿子伍华德二世的礼物。 闭上了眼睛，她开心地笑了。 下一秒钟，她的眼睛又倏地睁开。她可以写一个有关—— 十分钟后，她已经快速地写出新小说的故事大纲。