Chapter 23: Nine A.M.

The Buncombe County courthouse had marble steps and a metal detector that beeped at Annette's knitting needles.

"They're for emergencies," she told the deputy.

"Ma'am, you can pick them up on the way out."

"Fine, but I'm not responsible for what happens in there without them."

We sat in the second row, the five of us in a line.

Stephanie in a navy suit of Annette's, with her braid pinned up.

Dalton's mother beside her in her camel coat.

Shane on my left with his arm along the back of the bench behind me.

Dalton came in two minutes before nine with the same gray-suited lawyer.

He had shaved, and he wore the navy suit from the wedding.

He did not look at anyone, and his lawyer wouldn't look at him.

The judge came in.

The judge was a man this time, white-haired and tired, with a stack of files.

"Nash versus Hargrove," he said. "Petition to annul for fraud. Ms. Nash, you may proceed."

Stephanie stood up.

She was shaking so badly that the pages in her hand rattled.

"Your Honor, I signed a marriage license on a Friday because my boss told me his fiancée had cheated and left him a month before."

"He told me his father would only give him the company if he was married that night."

"I believed him. I thought I was helping."

The judge peered at the opposite table.

"Mr. Hargrove's response says that the marriage is valid and was freely entered. Counsel?"

Dalton's lawyer rose.

"My client states that Ms. Nash understood what she was signing."

"Mr. Hargrove, did you tell Ms. Nash that your fiancée had left you?"

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