On Halloween, My Husband Chose Her Family Over Ours novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Hearing

Ben made one phone call to Derek's lawyer, and it lasted four minutes.

Then he drove me to Derek's mother's house and parked at the curb.

"I'll wait in the car," he said.

"You won't come to the door?"

"If I come to the door, it's a fight. If you come to the door, it's a mother picking up her child. Tell them your lawyer has already told their lawyer that keeping her tonight is the first thing he'll put in front of the judge."

I went up the walk with my hand on my stomach.

Derek's mother opened the door before I knocked.

She had her chin raised and her cardigan buttoned to the neck.

"I told you she was fine."

"I know. I'm here to pick her up."

"We haven't finished dinner."

"Then she can finish it at home."

Behind her, in the hall, Maddie appeared in her pajamas with a stuffed rabbit under one arm.

She looked at her grandmother, then at me.

"Grandma said I'm not allowed to say no," she whispered.

"You're allowed to say whatever you want. Come here, baby."

She crossed the hall in four steps and wrapped herself around my middle, careful of the bump.

Derek's mother's face tightened.

"This is going to look very bad for you," she said.

"I know exactly how it's going to look."

I carried Maddie's backpack down the walk myself.

The hearing was ten days later, in a small courtroom with a flag and a clock and four rows of wooden benches.

Derek sat at the other table in a blue suit.

His lawyer, a tall man with a soft voice, talked for twenty minutes about my stability.

← Chapter 6 · All chapters · Chapter 8 →

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