He Divorced Me While I Carried Twins, Now He Wants Them novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: Custody

Family court was on the fourth floor, and it smelled of floor wax and wet coats.

Ronan wasn't in the room.

I had told him not to come, and he had stared at me for a long time and said, "Then I'll be in the hall."

My lawyer sat beside me at the table with one thin folder.

Across the aisle Marilyn sat in a wheelchair, in a navy suit, with a blanket over her knees.

Her hair was perfect.

Her face looked ten years older.

Her lawyer, the man in the gray suit from the hospital, stood to address the judge.

The judge was a gray-haired woman who hadn't smiled once since she sat down.

"Your Honor, my client is a grandmother of two unborn children," he said. "She petitions for temporary guardianship of their interests on the grounds that the mother is unstable."

"On what grounds?" the judge said.

"She was found unconscious twice in a month. She has no employment, no stable address, and she has engaged in extramarital relations with a business competitor of the family."

"Photographs?"

"Exhibit A."

He set one on the easel.

It was the hotel doorway again.

I kept my eyes on the judge.

"My client is concerned for the children's welfare," the lawyer said.

"Is that so," the judge said. "Mrs. Winslow?"

My lawyer rose.

"Your Honor, my client fainted from dehydration and was discharged the same day. She has a safe home with a friend and a standing job offer. And the photograph is of a consenting adult, after the husband's affair, in a divorce she signed under pressure in a hospital gown."

"I'll want to hear that," the judge said.

"You will," my lawyer said. "First, Exhibit B."

She took a small black recorder out of the folder.

Marilyn's head came up.

"This is a recording of a conversation between my client and Mrs. Marilyn Carrington in October," my lawyer said. "Mrs. Carrington didn't know."

← Chapter 18 · All chapters · Chapter 20 →

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