Her Love Came Too Late novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: The Certificate

Elliott brings the marriage certificate to the station, sees the reports naming him, and Marin admits in front of the officer that he is her husband; he asks for a divorce.

Elliott walked back into the Fourth Precinct at seven the next morning with ten stitches over his eye.

His sister Briana had stood beside the ER doctor through every stitch and whispered curses about his wife the whole time.

He had not been home.

He had slept on Briana's couch with his coat on and his phone face down.

The phone had lit up fourteen times before dawn, and he had read none of them.

Officer Greer was still at the front desk, coat half on, her shift almost done.

She looked at the stitches, and then at the manila envelope under his arm.

"You should be asleep," she said.

"I need to see every report with my name on it."

"That's a records request. It takes ten days."

"I'm asking you the other way."

She studied him for a second.

Then she pulled a grey binder out from under the counter and set it down between them.

It was thick.

"I made a copy of every one," she said. "I don't know why I did."

Elliott opened it.

Every page was a Contact Report, and every one began the same way.

Subject: Hartley, Elliott. Persistent unwanted contact with the artist.

At the bottom of each page, in the filing box, was the same line.

Filed by: Slater Artist Management.

"Not Ms. Granger," Elliott said.

"Never her name. Always the office."

He turned the pages.

Each one carried a number in the top corner, and the numbers climbed in order, 1, 2, 3, up to a page near the end marked 198.

The newest page was loose in the front of the binder, and its number was 199.

It had been filed at eleven twenty last night.

"Eleven twenty," Elliott said.

"The officers took you in at eleven forty." Her voice was careful. "I noticed."

Neither of them said what that meant.

He had not finished working it out himself when the glass doors opened behind him.

Marin came in first, in a long black coat, with her hair tied back and no makeup.

She looked small without the stage.

Russ Slater came in behind her with a leather folder, in a camel coat that probably cost more than Elliott's car.

"Elliott," Marin said. "Thank God. I've been calling you since midnight."

"I saw."

"Mr. Hartley," Russ said, and his smile was friendly and tight. "Good to see you walking. Officer, we're here to close this out. Ms. Granger is willing to drop the charges against the men from last night, as a courtesy, if Mr. Hartley will sign this."

He laid a single sheet on the desk.

Elliott read the first line.

I, Elliott Hartley, have no relationship with Marin Granger and will not attend any venue where she is performing.

He read it again.

"Five years I've stood outside that door because she asked me to," he said.

"Now, now," Russ said. "Nobody's blaming anybody."

"Elliott," Marin said quietly. "Not here."

He opened the envelope and took out the marriage certificate.

It was cream paper, with a county seal pressed into the corner, and he had kept it flat in a plastic sleeve since the day they were married.

He laid it on top of Russ's statement, and the two sheets sat there side by side.

"Read it," Elliott said to Officer Greer.

She read it.

Her eyes went to the date, and then to Marin's name, and then to the clerk's stamp.

Nobody in the station was making a sound.

Russ's folder had gone slack in his hand.

"Marin," he said. "Don't."

Marin looked at the certificate, and at the officer, and at Elliott's stitches.

Her mouth trembled.

"He's my husband," she said.

It came out small, and it was the first time he had heard her say it in front of anyone in five years.

Russ turned grey.

"Officer, my client is exhausted and has been through a trauma. Nothing she says this morning..."

"I'm not exhausted," Marin said. "It's true."

Elliott had waited five years to hear it.

It felt like nothing at all.

"Then I'll say the rest," he said. "I'm filing for divorce on Monday."

Marin's face changed.

"Elliott, no. Please. Listen to me."

"The reports are in that binder. All hundred and ninety-nine."

"I can explain every one of them."

"You can explain them to a judge."

He picked up the certificate and put it back in the envelope.

Behind the counter, Officer Greer took his ring from the little dish where she kept paper clips, where she had moved it after he left, and set it down in front of him.

"This is yours."

"Keep it for the lost-and-found," he said, and walked toward the doors.

Marin caught up with him on the steps, and Russ stayed inside with the officer, talking low and fast.

She took hold of his sleeve.

"Saturday," she said. "It's the hometown show, the Ardmore, my whole family will be there. I'll say it on stage. I'll tell everyone. Come to the stage door, same door, and I swear to you, I'll say it."

Elliott looked down at her hand on his coat.

"Same door," he said.

"One more time. Please."

← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend