Chapter 9 - Reclaiming Our Names
With Neil behind bars and the corrupt system that enabled him dismantled, Grace and I had a monumental task ahead of us: we had to rebuild our lives.
The first step was legal. We had to officially "resurrect" Grace. Standing in front of a judge who declared her legally alive was one of the most surreal and beautiful moments of my life.
"Welcome back to the living, Grace," the judge smiled, signing the decree that nullified her death certificate.
Next came the physical move. We sold the suburban house that held so many ghosts of Neil's betrayal. With the money from the sale, combined with a settlement from the hospital that had allowed the fraud to happen, I bought a small, sunlit cottage near the coast in Maine.
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It was a place of fresh air, ocean breezes, and endless blue skies. We painted the walls together, planted a wild flower garden in the front yard, and adopted a golden retriever puppy named Sunny.
Grace legally changed her last name to my maiden name, Sterling. She was no longer Grace Vance, the victim of a father’s greed. She was Grace Sterling, a survivor.
