Crescendo

Chapter 27

***

That evening, Theo drove us to his parents' house for leftover Christmas dinner, but my stomach was so full of nerves that I was barely able to get down a single slice of ham.

His mother noticed, and she sent Theo a less than subtle look across the table, but he just waved her off. After dinner, Theo's dad made himself a cup of tea and went into the study just off their living room. Theo nudged me with his shoulder, and I took it as my cue.

He leaned into my ear. "Want me to come with you?"

But I shook my head at him. I needed to do it on my own. If I was going to enter a solo battle with Will, I figured my conversation with his dad would be good practice. I excused myself from the table and crept over to the study, heart beating forcibly within my chest.

The door was wide open, and Theo's dad was reclined in an arm chair reading a newspaper. I tapped on the door frame until he peered up.

"Come on in, Jules. Have a seat."

"Um, thanks. Sorry, I don't mean to bother you. I just...I have a few questions about something and I was wondering if you could help me answer them. They, um, they have to do with, well, legal stuff."

A warm smile graced his face. "You can ask anything you like. With how happy you make Theo, you're family to us, Jules."

A different kind of tears than I was expecting were building behind my eyes. "Thanks, Davin. I guess I should start with some background."

I then proceeded to tell him about everything: our parents basically setting us up, his (and their) desire for children when I was just twenty-three, the failed counseling attempts, the failed divorce attempts, even about the conversations I'd recorded of Will; those were something I was sure he'd be displeased about, but he took everything in without a single note of judgement on his face.

"I can't hire a lawyer from Savannah because my family and his are too connected and Will was able to bribe the attorney I had hired into not working with me, so I think my only option is to try to represent myself."

"First, I'd like you to take a deep breath. That's a lot of information you've just given me, and I can only imagine what it's like to be holding onto this kind of stress for so long."

I took his suggestion, realizing that I'd spoken so quickly about everything that I was nearly out of breath.

"Second, I need to ask you a few questions. Did Will know you were recording him?"

I shook my head. "He wouldn't have said anything out of line if he had known. Does that mean I can't use them in court?"

"Well, it's going to depend on some things. There are exceptions to pretty much every rule, but typically out of court statements are not admissible in court. Due to the nature of the conversations you've shared with me, I can see a judge wanting to hear the tapes should Will deny he ever made such remarks, but that's nothing I can guarantee."

"Okay, well, that's something, I guess. Though...if Will was able to get to my attorney, I guess there's no stopping him from trying to get to the judge as well." Yet another roadblock.

"What your attorney did was highly unethical—illegal, actually. I'd be hardpressed to find a judge who would engage in the same shifty dealings. However, I don't think you'll have to go back to Savannah to file."

The confused glare I sent him was enough to spurn him to keep speaking.

"How long have you lived in Boston?"

"About a year and a half. I can prove I've been separated from him, at least physically, through the university."

"That's very good. In Massachusetts, you need to be a resident for one year in order to file for divorce if you were married in another state. You don't need to go back down to Savannah, Jules. You can file right here in Boston."