“I call myself Vanessa’s spouse. But if I have to wear someone else’s label in order to be with her forever, then I will.”
“What happened after you fell in love?” Angela asks.
“I moved into her house. This April, we got married in Fall River.”
“At some point did you two talk about having a family?”
“On our honeymoon,” I say. “I had assumed, after my hysterectomy, that I’d never have children. But I had three frozen embryos with my own genetic material in them . . . and, now, a partner with a uterus who could carry those babies to term.”
“Did Vanessa want to gestate the embryos?”
“She was the one who suggested it,” I say.
“What happened next?”
“I called the clinic and asked to use the embryos. I was told that my spouse had to sign off on it. But they didn’t mean Vanessa—they meant Max. So I went to him and asked for his permission to use the embryos. I knew that he didn’t want a baby—that was why he’d asked for a divorce. I honestly believed he would understand.”
“Did he?”
“He said that he’d think about it.”
Angela folds her arms. “Did Max seem different to you at that meeting from the man you used to know?”
I look at him. “Max used to be a surfer dude. A laid-back guy who didn’t wear a watch and didn’t have an agenda and was always a half hour late. He’d get his hair cut only because I reminded him to do it; he never remembered to wear a belt. But when I went to talk to Max about the embryos, he was at work. And even though he was doing manual labor—landscaping—he was wearing a tie. On a Saturday.”
“Did Max get back to you regarding the embryos?”
“Yes,” I say bitterly. “He had papers served, suing me for the right to use them.”
“How did that make you feel?” Angela asks.
“I was angry. And confused. He didn’t want to be a father; he’d told me so himself. He didn’t even have a relationship with anyone, as far as I knew. He didn’t want the embryos. He just didn’t wantmeto have them.”
“When you were married to Max, did he have a problem with homosexuality?”
“We didn’t really talk about it. But I never knew him to be judgmental before.”
“During your marriage,” Angela asks, “did you often see his brother?”
“Not very often at all.”
“How would you describe your relationship with Reid?”
“Contentious.”
“And with Liddy?” Angela asks.
I shake my head. “I just don’t get that woman.”
“Did you know that Reid had paid for your fifth cycle of IVF?”
“I had no idea, until I heard him testify. It was a huge stress for us, because we didn’t know how we could afford it—and then one day Max came home and said he had it all figured out, that he had found a credit card with zero interest, and I believed him.” I hesitate, correct myself. “I wasstupidenough to believe him.”
“Did Max at any point tell you that he wanted the embryos to go to his brother and sister-in-law?”
“No. I learned about that when a motion was filed.”
“And what was your reaction?”
