On Our 6th Anniversary, My Husband Gave My Home to Her novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Under Oath

The courtroom on Dearborn was smaller than I expected and fuller.

The man from 1802 sat in the second row with his hat in his lap.

The stroller woman sat beside him. The building manager sat behind them in a tie.

Keaton took the seat directly behind my chair, close enough that I could feel him there.

Grady sat at the other table in a gray suit that no longer fit.

He had lost fifteen pounds in four months.

His lawyer leaned toward him and whispered, and Grady shook his head.

The judge was a woman in her fifties with half-glasses and no patience.

"Counsel, I have a signed statement in this file from Mr. Lindell," she said. "Notarized. It is very candid. I would like to know why we are here."

Grady's lawyer stood.

"Your Honor, my client wishes to address the court."

"Against advice?"

"Against my advice, Your Honor."

"On the record," the judge said. "Mr. Lindell. Take the stand."

Grady walked to the witness box.

His hand shook on the Bible.

He sat, and for a moment he looked at nobody.

"Say what you need to say," the judge told him.

Grady lifted his head.

"I'm the reason my wife and I don't have a child," he said. "I was the reason four years ago. I knew it. She didn't."

The room was perfectly still.

"I went to the clinic in secret. They told me. I signed a paper that said she wasn't allowed to be told."

"Why?" the judge asked.

"Because I couldn't stand it."

"Stand what?"

"Being the one." His voice thinned. "Everyone said I'd be a great father. My mother. My boss. My friends. I was supposed to be. I couldn't be the one who couldn't."

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