Deal with the Devil

I made a deal with the Devil. In two days, my ex-husband was supposed to start paying child support for my six-year-old daughter for the first time ever. For some reason, he really, really didn't want to. He moved to Texas about a year ago (Yay!), got married, bought a house, and actually got a job. My theory is that he lied on his mortgage application. To get out of paying child support, he agreed to give up his legal rights to her, so my current husband could adopt her. Why he would give up his rights to such a beautiful girl, I don't know. What he didn't realize was that the adoption process takes about six months and he would have to pay child support for that six months. Well, he got all mad and said if he had to pay child support, then he wasn't going to give up his rights. "Fine, then pay the child support," I said. Well, then he said he wasn't going to pay AND give up his rights. I explained that I had to pay money for him to give up his rights and to make this adoption go through. I had to pay $150 just to file the form. Then, there's another $100 for the investigation fee to see if my husband is fit to be a dad or if he's a criminal. There are plenty of other fees and then court costs when we get to the actual adoption. I also told him I was paying three mortgages right now. He said that wasn't his fault. I said that he was right, it wasn't, but it was a fact. So, finally I told him that I would tell the Friend of the Court that I didn't want child support (which would have been about $1800 for the six months) if he sent me a check for $1500. It was a deal with a Devil. But there still are some stipulations. He still has to pay me her medical bills that he owes me and some of the other money he owes me from before. Maybe I will be able to buy some beads. Or maybe I will have to pay that darn mortgage.