The Imperfect Marriage novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: The Petition
The executor heard the petition on Monday in her own dining room.
She had no courtroom anymore, she said, but she had a table that sat twelve and a very good clock.
Lowell sat on one side of it in a fresh suit, beside his father and a lawyer with a leather case.
Ross and I sat on the other side, not touching.
Pru and Arne sat against the wall with a thermos, uninvited and unmovable.
The executor put on her glasses.
"The petitioner alleges that this marriage is a sham, entered into for the sole purpose of satisfying a clause," she said. "The petitioner may begin."
The lawyer rose.
"Your Honor, the marriage lasted a single night in a judge's chambers. It was offered for fourteen days. The bride herself told three hundred people at the gala it was a fourteen-day deal."
"Did she?"
"She stood up and said so."
"I was there," said the executor. "She also said a good many other things. Go on."
He laid out a copy of the newspaper, and a printout of a text, and a statement signed by Lowell.
Then he said Mr. Stenbeck had hidden the true terms of the will from his own wife.
He said that proved Ross had never treated her as one.
I felt Ross go still beside me.
"That is the strongest thing he's said," Ross murmured.
"Hush," I said.
The executor looked at me over the glasses.
"Mrs. Stenbeck. Do you have a witness?"
"I have two."
The charge nurse from the emergency room walked in, still in her scrubs.
A respiratory therapist from my ward came with her, the one from the smokers' bench.
The nurse took the chair and folded her hands.
Keep reading free with an account. Start The Imperfect Marriage from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 17 · All chapters · Chapter 19 →
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