After My Miscarriage, My Husband Locked Me Out novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: The Hearing
The hearing was set for a Tuesday at nine, in a courtroom with oak benches and a flag that needed ironing.
I wore my gray wool dress and sat beside my lawyer, the woman who had told me on the phone, weeks ago, that the house was mine.
Leah sat behind me in the first row.
Cavan sat beside her.
On the other side of the aisle, Hoyt sat alone at a table with a man in a brown suit.
He had lost weight.
He did not look at me when I came in.
Danielle's lawyer was there too, a young man with a leather folder, and behind him sat Danielle.
She wore a navy dress this time, not a cardigan.
Several of the women from the church had come.
They sat in the back and kept their eyes on the judge.
The judge was a woman in her sixties with reading glasses on a chain.
She read the file for a long time.
"This is a petition for divorce, filed by the wife," she said at last. "And I have a letter here from a Ms. Ruddock, through counsel, claiming an interest in the marital home. Counsel?"
Danielle's lawyer stood.
"Your Honor, my client holds a written promise from Mr. Pelham that..."
"Mr. Pelham, did you make that promise?"
Hoyt stood.
His lawyer started to speak, and Hoyt touched his sleeve.
"I did, Your Honor," Hoyt said. "In a text message. I had no right to. The house belongs to my wife. It has belonged to her since before we married."
The lawyer in the leather folder went pale.
"The deed is in the file," the judge said. "It names Ms. Merrick alone. A promise to give away property you don't own isn't worth the phone it was typed on. Counsel, do you wish to withdraw the claim?"
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