He Had a Wife I Never Knew, So I Married Her Brother novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: The Hearing
The courtroom on the fourth floor of the Franklin County courthouse smelled of floor polish and old coffee.
I sat at the respondent's table in my navy cardigan, with Tobias's lawyer on my left and Tobias in the front row behind me.
Marcy sat beside him, in a yellow blazer, with a notepad she had no reason to hold.
Gavin sat across the aisle in a borrowed suit.
He looked at me once, and I looked back until he dropped his eyes.
Philippa sat in the gallery behind him in a pearl-gray dress, composed and silent.
The judge, a heavy woman with reading glasses on a chain, looked at the papers in front of her.
"Mr. Ludlow seeks an order establishing paternity and barring the respondent from leaving the state before the birth," she said. "Counsel."
Gavin's lawyer stood.
He was young, smooth and well-paid.
"Your Honor, the respondent signed a surrogacy and parentage agreement three years ago at Westbrook Women's Health. She agreed, in writing, that the child of her body would belong to Mr. Ludlow and his wife."
A hum went through the room.
"Exhibit B."
The bailiff carried a page to the judge.
I could see it from the table.
At the bottom, over my typed name, was a signature that looked like mine on a day when I was in a hurry.
The judge read it.
"Ms. Marsden. Is that your signature?"
I stood.
"It looks like it. It isn't."
"Explain."
"I have never been inside Westbrook Women's Health before last week. My first visit was ten days ago, and the doctor there greeted me by name and handed me a chart three years old."
"That doesn't prove anything," Gavin's lawyer said.
"The date on the consent is a Tuesday in March," I said. "At two in the afternoon."
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