“Yes, sir.” I didn’t know what else to say. At least he was trying to put me at ease.

“And would you say your income was low, high, or average?”

I kept focusing on breathing and keeping cool. “Average, Your Honor.” I paused and added, “To low average.”

The judge nodded and wrote down a few notes, and then, in a very calm and quiet manner, said, “How long before the wedding date was the prenuptial agreement presented to you by Mr. Moore?”

“Two days before the date we had set.”

The judge said, “Did Mr. Moore offer any ultimatums? Did he ever say anything like ‘If you don’t sign this, we’re not getting married’?”

This was another important question. I gathered my thoughts and said, “Brennan said his dad needed the agreement signed, and if not, we’d start off our life together broke. I told him I was used to not having any money. He said he wasn’t and then just stood silently until I signed the agreement. I later learned that he was really concerned about his own assets.”

I stood, trying to hide my smile at having been so concise in showing duress, coercion, and false financial disclosure in my brief exchange with the judge. I had hit this one out of the park.

But then it was Brennan’s turn.

Chapter 13

The judge had some of the same questions about background and how we met. Brennan pointed out that he’d graduated from Georgetown and worked in finance. I guess if you manage your family’s hedge fund you are, sort of, working in finance.

Then the judge asked him about the intent behind the prenup.

At that moment, I wished Marty was sitting next to me so I could hold his hand. Also, I wanted him to see firsthand how pompous Brennan was.

Brennan finally got to the meat of his answer. “The intent of the prenuptial agreement was to protect not only my assets, but assets that had come to me through my family. The prenuptial agreement was something I had discussed with my parents and lawyers long before I’d ever met Christy.”

“Did you feel you waited too long to present the agreement?”

“No, Your Honor. Not at all. We’d talked about it for months before I presented it to her.”

That was a lie, but my lawyer’s death grip on my arm told me we’d get a chance to straighten out the record.

The judge said, “Would you still have married Mrs. Moore if she had not signed the agreement?”

This was what I was waiting to hear. This was a question I had been asking myself since Brennan had tossed me out.

Brennan said, “It never came to that, Your Honor. Christy signed immediately. I never had to consider any alternatives. I loved her, Your Honor, but I do have certain responsibilities. I’m glad I didn’t have to make that choice.”

The judge said, “Do you feel the absence of a prenuptial agreement would have affected the marriage in any way?”