"But I'm the patient."

"I know. Your wishes count, not mine. I'm just the girlfriend."

Morgana violently shook her head. "You're my spouse."

"Not legally."

"True, so let's fix that?"

"Get married?"

"Why not?"

"I would like that. I'm a go on that."

They reached and held hands across the table. Tears flowed and coffee went untouched. After ten minutes of silence they went upstairs to their bedroom, where they stretched out on the bed, fully clothed, and held each other.

Then they cried. Hard, wracking cries without letup.

It would be a long afternoon, and it had only just begun.

THE WOMEN MADE love that afternoon. Caroline held Morgana and gently kissed her face and mouth. They removed their clothes and turned down the covers. They lay side by side and touched for an hour or more, before giving into their desires and strong feelings for one another. Hands touched between legs, mouths tasted open bodies. Sated, they finally spooned and drifted off for another thirty minutes. Then they awoke and started all over again. Following the second round, they held on and cried.

By sundown they were cried out and starting to make jokes about small, insignificant matters in their lives.

Morgana bounced out of bed at six o'clock and announced she was going downstairs to her office to look into Iowa's same-sex marriage laws. Caroline said she wanted to make Morgana's favorite, beef stroganoff. They dressed in lounging clothes and parted ways, feeling closer and more bound together than they had in months.

They were both free to love fully and completely.

Adoring looks were exchanged and hands touched as they parted.

MORGANA AND A.W were seated at defense table while Thaddeus was whispering to Christine at the plaintiffs' table.

Judge Moody took the bench and looked down at the litigants. The jury was in the jury room and all but a few mostly disinterested spectators had taken up seats in the courtroom.

The judge spoke, nodding first to the reporter to indicate they were on the record. "Counsel, you asked to present a motion prior to the jury being brought in. So who goes first?"

Thaddeus stood. "I do, Your Honor. Judge, we've been able to get in touch with a missing witness. Now we've learned that we can get her here but not until tomorrow."

A.W's head jerked up. From the look on his face he clearly had no idea this was coming.

"So you're asking for a continuance for one day?"

Thaddeus nodded. "We are, Your Honor. She's a mission critical witness for us. A sine qua non."

The judge looked over at Morgana. "And what about you, counsel, what is the defense's position on this motion to continue trial for one day?"

Morgana quickly began, "Judge, we really have no objection-"

Whereupon A.W leapt to his feet. "Hold on! We do too object, Your Honor. Sit down, Morgana."

Morgana sat. A small smile danced at the corners of her mouth but she stared straight ahead.

"And what's the basis of your objection?"

A.W said, "We have our own witnesses scheduled for today. We have experts we've flown in to testify today, experts from Los Angeles and Atlanta. Everyone's meter is running and we want to put them on to testify without delay."

"Thaddeus?"

"Your Honor, I will be happy to personally guarantee payment of their witnesss' invoices for a full day of testimony today. We want to be fair about this."

"You'll pay out of your own pocket, win, lose, or hung jury?"

"Yes I will, Judge."

The judge nodded and cast a look around the courtroom as he pondered. The baby's father sat alone in the very rear of the courtroom, a pleading look on his face.

"Very well. Based on counsel's affirmation to the court that a day's continuance will be paid by plaintiff's counsel I see no reason why we can't all take a day off today. Personally I could use the respite and I'm sure the jury have errands they would like to run and family they would like to catch up with. Motion to continue granted. I'll see all of you back here tomorrow morning at nine sharp."

A.W said under his breath to Morgana, "I'll see you back at the office. We need to have this out."

She climbed to her feet and pulled herself fully upright. "Let's meet at The Judges' Chambers across the street. Give me a chance to toss down some eggs and bacon."

"See you there."

THE JUDGES' CHAMBERS, a local eatery and watering hole directly across the street from the courthouse, was bustling and blew the smell of bacon frying and eggs sizzling right out the door onto the busier sidewalk in downtown Chicago. A.W. and Morgana had just ordered and the waitress was walking away. Morgana stirred her coffee. A.W. was red-faced. His hands clenched at nothing and unclenched several times over.

"No objection to a continuance? What, are you kidding me?"

She was light and breezy. Dying, she thought, makes you that way.

She tasted the coffee and wiped her mouth. "I think it's time we make a serious offer and settle this case. We could use this day to do just that. So I didn't object, I thought we could make good use of the time."

"Have you been paying attention, girl? Sandy won't authorize one dime to settle!"

"He should think about that. There's a new witness on her way."

"Do you even know what witness they're bringing in on Friday?"

"Well, by the process of selection I can compare the witness list to who they've already called and see who's left to call."

"You know what I'm saying. Who are they bringing in?"

"Nurse Andrea. They found Nurse Andrea."

"The delivery room nurse? I thought we had her buried overseas!"

"We did. They dug her up."

"And you know this how?"

"Thaddeus told me just before the judge came in. He asked me if we wanted to settle and gave me a huge smile."

"Jesus."

"That's what I'm saying. I think it's time we tuned up Sandy and put some money on the table. If they've really found her then we're going down hard."

"Girl, are we having some kind of problem here?"

"No more than usual, why? Boy."

It hung in the air. Equals were faced off. No more girl, girl, girl. She had nothing to lose. Absolutely nothing. And everything to gain."

"How did they find her?"

"You know Thad, he's one hell of a lawyer, A.W."

"Let's call Sandy, see if he knows anything about this. Or her."

A.W. jabbed at his cell and punched it on SPEAKER. It rang twice.

Sandy came on. "What gives, old man?"

"New development, Sandy. I'm hearing they've located Andrea Mounce, the delivery room nurse."

"That's impossible! She's in Germany. They'll never find her."

"Morgana tells me they found her. And this morning they got a continuance until Friday to put her on."

"Not to worry. My people have already taken her statement. She'll say the records are her handwriting."

"You're absolutely sure of that?"

"I'd bet on it."

Morgana interrupted. "Sandy, Morgana. Are you willing to bet twenty million on it? Cause that's the minimum we'll get hit for if she takes the stand and denies the records are hers."

"I'll take that bet. We've statementized her and she's golden."

"Even if she is, this is the time to put some money on the table. I want this on the record and I'm delivering a letter to you this afternoon that I'm recommending settlement."

Sandy laughed derisively, as if dealing with an upstart teenager. "You're already on that record. You've been on that record for months, Morgana. You need to relax and let us handle this part of the case. I'm telling you she's golden. I was headed in to court, but I'm turning around. See you both Friday."

They hung up.

A.W scowled at Morgana. "What, are you trying to lose Hudd Family as a client with your cold feet?"

"I'm only trying to save my client. You should be too. This continuance is Thad's shot across our bow. He's known for knocking down big targets and we're in his sights right this minute. Only you guys don't hear me."

"We've got her statement. Relax and eat your breakfast."

"You eat it. I'm out of here."

She stomped to the door and threw it open. The cold air blanked off her face. It felt good. Getting away from the old man and his cronies suddenly felt exhilarating.

She walked down the sidewalk and never once looked back.

53.

On the final day of trial the jury was brought in and quickly seated. They were smiling and whispering to one another, restless and ready for things to begin. Thaddeus could tell they could smell the end of the trial coming when they would be freed of their duty as jurors. Once seated and settled down, Judge Moody looked over at them and smiled. He was wearing his black robes and his glasses perched on his forehead.

"Good morning," he said to the jury. Heads nodded, smiles exchanged; they were friends, judge and jury, and Thaddeus liked the symbiosis he was witnessing. "I hope you all enjoyed the day off," he said, and many of the jurors nodded emphatically. "Good."