Since I was unable to say much of anything coherently, Gavin took it upon himself to do the introduction. “I’m Gavin Tillery, Crystal’s husband. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
We sat down with my attorney and showed him all of the paperwork. Gavin held my hand from underneath the table and used his thumb to rub it and calm me down. As the attorney looked everything over, I could tell that he was suspicious. I felt my heart drop into my stomach and wanted to pass out.
Gavin saw the color go from my face, bent down, and kissed me on the cheek.
“Well, congratulations, Crystal. Per your attorney in California, I was advised you had been single, and yet you seem to have gotten married just in time.”
Gavin spoke for me yet again. “We’ve been together for a while, sir.”
My attorney looked at both of us, back down at the documents, and eyed us suspiciously. Gavin squeezed my hand a little tighter at that moment, and it gave me a burst of confidence.
“Yes, sir, yes, Gavin is correct.” I agreed.
“Now, it’s time for you to see the judge.”
I was relieved that he bought our lie, but somehow I managed not to breathe a sigh of relief. That would only make everything seem even more suspicious.
We waited in the courtroom for what felt like forever until a judge finally came out. “Miss Hotchkiss, will you please approached the bench?”
Gavin squeezed my hand one more time, and then I stood up. I don’t remember how I got from the table in front of the judge, but I did it somehow. By the time I got up there, I had started to feel as though I’d pass out. I practiced my mother’s silent breathing techniques that she used to calm herself, though, and within seconds I was focused on the task at hand.
“Yes, your Honor.”
“You are here to collect an inheritance from your uncle, is that correct?”
“Yes, your Honor.”
“And to collect that inheritance, you must be married and living a stable life before the second anniversary of your mother’s death. Is that correct?”
I felt beads of sweat forming on my face. “Yes, your Honor.”
The judge looked over the paperwork—all of the legal documents that Gavin had forged. I tried not to think about it. Instead, I convinced myself that I was genuinely married to him.
He took off his glasses and gazed into my eyes. “So, when did you two meet?”
I opened my mouth, but all I could do was stutter. That’s when the room started to spin. I felt lightheaded and dizzy but pulled myself together while recalling my mother’s breathing techniques for the second time.
Then I remembered what Gavin said and turned around to look at him. He winked and smiled back at me, and at that moment, I knew that I was in love with him.
18
Gavin
Itried not to take an obvious deep breath to calm myself. It was nerve-wracking watching Crystal tell our fabricated story to the judge, but she was doing very well, so far. She told him every little detail about our relationship, from the moment I hit her car up until we flew to Moldova. I listened as she explained how she had never meant to fall for me so quickly, but it wasn’t long before she knew that I was the one. Except for the getting married part, everything she told him was the truth.
Even though I had been calm and collected on the outside, I had been a ball of nerves on the inside during the last few weeks.
Crystal had been under the impression that’s just how I was wired, but it was far from the truth. So much was at stake, but I was relying on my business skills to get us through the whole ordeal. However, I had come to realize that even though the stipulation Crystal’s uncle made seemed archaic at best, it really didn’t matter what Crystal and I thought or what contacts the Truman family had, our fate laid in the hands of the judge.
After she finished speaking, the judge looked over the papers and then directly at me. “Mr. Tillery, will you please approach the bench?”
I gave Crystal a reassuring look as I stood up. “Yes, your Honor.”
My heart began beating pretty fast, but I remembered an old trick that I learned from the yogi in India. Whenever you feel your anxiety getting out of control, simply count back from one-hundred in sevens. By the time I reached the judge, I had convinced myself that I was married to Crystal.
“Now that we’ve heard your wife’s testimony, it’s time to tell us the relationship from your point of view.”
“I met Crystal a few months ago, initially after I scratched the bumper of her car as she was backing out of a parking lot. She was justifiably upset, but the damage to her bumper was minimal, and I found her outrage adorable. Anyway, I was running late for a business meeting, so I gave her my business card and hoped to hear from her. Later on that evening, we attended the same party and were surprised to see each other.”
