Rosalind Explained Under Oath Why She Had Never Asked Me

At Rosalind's deposition, a court reporter sat between us and a bowl of untouched mints.

There was no judge in the room. Devika had explained that. Rosalind would answer under oath, and the answers would become part of the record.

Her lawyer sat beside her. I sat behind Devika with my hands flat on my knees.

Rosalind looked at me before she swore to tell the truth.

“I hope this makes you feel safe,” she said.

“Please direct your answers to the questioner,” her lawyer told her.

Devika put the operating agreement in front of her.

“You signed this as manager of Harbor Access Ventures?”

“Yes.”

“You received eighty-four thousand dollars under it?”

“The company received development support.”

“Was it a gift?”

“An investment in a shared vision.”

Devika turned to the refund clause. It required the deposit's return if the promised transfer could not be delivered within thirty days.

“Was the deposit returned?”

“Malia interfered before we could complete the plan.”

“Was it returned?”

“No.”

The reporter's keys made a light, steady sound.

Devika showed her my ground lease.

“Did you read this before you signed the investors' agreement?”

“Colin explained the important portions.”

“Including the need for Malia's signature?”

Rosalind picked at the edge of a mint wrapper.

“We knew she'd need to finish the paperwork.”

“Had she agreed to do so?”

“She married my son.”

Devika waited.

“That wasn't my question.”

Rosalind looked at her lawyer. He nodded for her to answer.

“I understood that she would support him.”

“Did she tell you that you could sell operating rights?”

“Not in those exact words.”

“In any words?”

“We didn't discuss every detail.”

Devika placed Colin's email on the table.

“You received this before taking the deposit?”

Rosalind read it. Her face turned pale above the cream collar.

“Yes.”

“What did your son mean by, 'Once people have paid, she won't let us fail in front of them'?”

“He was upset. She can be stubborn.”

“Was the plan to obtain her consent before accepting money?”

“The plan was to move forward.”

The keys kept moving.

During a break, I stood beside the hall window. Across the street, someone watered a planter. I watched water darken the soil until Devika joined me.

“Am I supposed to feel better?” I asked.

“You're supposed to drink some water and eat lunch.”

I laughed once, though my chest hurt.

“She's still making it sound like I failed her.”

“She can say that. She also answered the questions.”

Colin's deposition came the next week. I didn't attend. I read the transcript after work, sitting beside the equipment rack.

He admitted that he had selected the sentence from my email. He admitted that I had never seen the investors' agreement. He said he thought I would accept once he explained the benefits.

The question beneath that answer was plain.

Why didn't you explain them first?

His answer was, I was afraid she would say no.

I closed the transcript.

For months, he had called our trouble a misunderstanding. There on the page, he finally described understanding me perfectly.

Four months after the first hearing, the case went to trial. All sides had agreed to let the judge hear the claims without a jury.

The morning before court, I tested the transfer seat while Beth checked the weather report. Three clicks. A mullet jumped beyond the float and dropped back with a small slap.

“You can take the whole day,” Beth said.

“I know.”

I finished the sheet anyway. Then I washed my hands and changed my shirt.

In the office mirror, I tried pulling my braid forward, then put it back where it always rested. I had spent too much of the spring thinking about how I would look to people who had believed Rosalind.

June was waiting for her lesson when I stepped outside.

“Big day?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Mine too. Beth says we're practicing getting back to the float.”

I looked at the water behind her. The whole point of this place was that people could leave safely and return safely. I wanted to come back that afternoon with the same right to be there.

At trial, Miriam described what she had been promised. Grant identified the two wire receipts. Ellen explained the donation letter and the request to send the money onward.

The foundation's accountant had found no other transfers connected to our business. Its grant accounts were intact. Ellen's records matched the bank's.

The landowner's manager testified that he had approved no new tenant. He had brought the original email telling Rosalind to ask me.

Then Devika called my name.

I walked to the witness stand with the blue folder in my hand. Rosalind leaned toward her lawyer, but he kept watching the judge.

After I took the oath, Devika offered the lease into evidence.

“Mrs. Trent called you temporary dock help,” she said. “Please tell the court what rights you actually held at that dock.”