593 Riverside Drive - 10. Chapter 10

Ella certainly wasn’t happy with what she’d heard at dinner, but she knew what was important to her, and the next afternoon, Florrie gave her a short list of the names of lawyers who handled divorce. Pic had collected them.

“They’re all men, of course,” Florrie was the first to mention.

“You seem surprised,” I answered.

“No. I suppose it’s a man’s field,” she acknowledged. “Like medicine or business.”

“Do you know any of these men?” Ella asked, and Florrie looked more carefully at the list.

“Not really. I’ve heard several of their names and have probably met one or two at dinners or parties. But I can’t say I’d recognize them if we met again.”

“Then I guess I should meet them all.”

Florrie sighed. “That’s a lot of appointments. Are they really necessary?”

Ella looked at Florrie and then at me. “Unfortunately, yes.”

Though after Florrie left, Ella asked me to speak with Dr. Gildersleeve at Barnard, to see if she knew any women lawyers who handled divorces.

“It’s not really her field, either,” I pointed out. “No more than Pic’s. Dr. Gildersleeve studied literature, and that’s what she writes about. But she does know a lot of people, and that may be why she was chosen as dean. Would you like to come with me?”

Ella said, “Yes,” and Dr. Gildersleeve was nicely able to see us between the times Ella took Laurie to school and when she needed to pick him up. Regrettably, Dr. Gildersleeve told us almost exactly what Pic had.

“There’s a shortage of knowledgeable divorce lawyers to begin with,” she explained, “and I’m afraid that none of the ones I’ve met are women.”

“Is there someone I should speak with in the law school?” I asked.

Dr. Gildersleeve smiled. “You know they’re all men. And you know how they feel about women in the school, let alone in courtrooms.”

“But if you needed to find a divorce lawyer who was a woman, what would you do?” Ella asked.

For a moment, Dr. Gildersleeve seemed to think. “I’m afraid I’m not the one to ask about that. I’ve avoided marriage myself because it’s not something I felt would add to my life. It’s seems too restrictive, though I know many women find comfort in it. It may depend on the man.”

“Joe is something of a charmer,” Ella admitted. “He’s been that way since before he became my beau, and he’s still giving me things and taking me places.”

“Things you want?” Dr. Gildersleeve questioned.

“Often things I’ve never considered.”

“Then they’re not hard to leave,” Dr, Gildersleeve pointed out.

“No,” Ella agreed.

“You just need to figure out how.”

Ella seemed to consider that and then went on. “I would’ve thought divorce law would be natural for women to study, since there are so few men who seem to understand our points of view.”

“The judges are men, too,” Dr. Gildersleeve warned.

“I think I’ve just chosen my field,” I told them both, laughing. Then I turned to Ella. “But not soon enough to help you.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” she replied.

Before we left, Dr. Gildersleeve looked over the list Pic had given Ella, but, like Florrie, she only recognized several of the names.

“I wonder if they’re all younger?” she asked. “That could be an advantage, though also a liability.”

“Could you explain?” Ella asked.

“Well, they might be less traditional in their thinking, but they may still have been raised by late-Victorian mothers. And even if they’re married and have their first children, they may still lack extended experience with women. They may not understand how marriages change over many years.”

“Joe and I haven’t been married for ‘many years,’” Ella explained. “Only two.”

“But you said he’d been married before?”

“Yes. For fifteen years. To Anna.”

“So he’s had experience.”

Ella had to agree.

“I have what may be a difficult question,” Dr. Gildersleeve went on. “If it were just the two of you, would you feel more comfortable?”

Ella shook her head. “That was never a possibility, considering the children and Joe’s father – though I honestly didn’t understand that he was going to live with us. He hadn’t lived with Joe before. And I really wouldn’t want to give up Laurie. He may only be my adopted son, but we’ve grown very close.”

“It seems like you’re going to give any lawyer a complicated time,” Dr. Gildersleeve admitted. “So the best thing I can suggest is you choose the most experienced one.”

Ella thanked Dr. Gildersleeve and soon made appointments to see each of the lawyers Pic had recommended. Mama went to two of the meetings with her, I went to several, and Ella went to one alone because Mama was teaching, and I was in class. Still, comparing our thoughts afterwards, they all came back to what we’d been repeatedly told.

“In New York at the present time,” one of the lawyers had made clear, “there are very few grounds for a divorce. Or even for an annulment.”

“What would be considered grounds?” Ella had asked.

“Infidelity or adultery,” he’d replied.

“I didn’t know there was a difference,” Ella admitted.

“Most people don’t,” the lawyer explained. “Though adultery may be easier to understand because it has to include a sexual act.”

Ella and I nodded, so the lawyer went on.

“Still, a person can be unfaithful to a husband or wife by forming a close, often romantic relationship with another person. Two especially close women friends could constitute infidelity to a husband, even if a sexual act was never established.”

“That’s not my situation,” Ella assured him. “But I am very close to my sister Lee.”

“My mother,” I clarified, and the lawyer nodded.

“Then I’m afraid the only other recognized basis for divorce is non-consummation of marriage,” he concluded. “And you seem to be well past that.”

Sitting in the lawyer’s office, Ella had offered no comment. But in our more private living room, with only Mama and me, Ella had said, “Maybe not.”