Page 163 of Overdue I Love You's
“While that may be true, Your Honour. The plaintiff took this case to trial in Toronto. Ontario accepts holographic wills as legal documentation without witnesses, as long as it’s signed by the individual who wrote it.”
The room goes silent.
We watch her think. “Agreed. You may submit the document.”
I’m on edge when Nadine hands a paper to the clerk. The judge takes it and reads it carefully.
Ms. Cartwright’s voice rises a notch as she whisper-yells at her lawyer. She’s desperate and it fills me with pity how different a child can be from their parents.
“Defence, it seems that the signature has been erased. How will you prove your evidence?”
That’s when Nadine falters. She swallows hard. The pad of her thumb presses against her finger’s knuckle.
The door bursts open. “We can prove it,” the deep rumble echoesthrough the hall.
I whip around, eyes popping out of my socket.
Nadine mutters athank goodnessbefore asking the Judge for permission to bring a witness to the stand. That woman does not care because she allows it.
Drama, I tell you. They all love it.
Dean walks down, stare glued to Nadine when they let another man walk through.
I don’t hear the rest of the trial because my eyes are glued back on Dean.
He returned with someone who can help me. That’s why he left. Not because he didn’t want me anymore. This was it. This was his way of asking to forgive him for dumping money in my account—that he should’ve clarified if it was my fault or not.
Dean doesn’t look at me. My ogre keeps his head down, sitting next to Tatay who squeezes his shoulder. Rosa’s eyes are watery, listening to Nadine defend me.
This won’t go in history books, but this will be my history. The beginning of Nova, the downfall of her—the epitome of who she becomes.
I wait for him to look at me, to see the love bursting in everlasting flames, but he doesn’t.
The man he brings is someone who can analyse handwriting, he can figure out when the signature was erased, and they find out it was Ms. Cartwright.
A lot happens in the next while, Nadine fires against her. She goes meek.
We win the case.
I’m free of all charges.
McCartney smiled at the end.
It’s a movie-ending. People cheer. They hug, smile, and congratulate me.
But none of it matters when the person I want the most doesn’t come near me.
I’m still in the courtroom when the lights turn off, leaving us both in darkness. A ray of sunshine shining down right in the middle between both of us.
We’re divided by ourselves, an insignificant border that doesn’t need to exist.
Dean picks up a box I didn’t notice before and walks towards me.
I let him, not saying a single word as he passes the threshold and makes his way to my table. It’s a wordless argument. Language is love, but silence is a weapon. He uses it with me in every way.
He unboxes the item, taking out a wooden stage-set. Theatres that England has. With red curtains, intricate details along the borders, and sandpapered to a precise smoothness.
“Did you make this?” He’s barely a foot away from me, taking more pieces out of the box. Each made of wood. Delicate. Excellent. Skilled.
