Most of it. I did marry my first husband young. His family did have money. And when he died, they did decide I was a burden, and they did put me on a train, and they did say every cruel thing that lawyer just read out. She let that sit a moment.
I'm not going to stand here and tell you those people lied. They didn't lie. They just told the story in the way that made them the innocent ones. She turned slow and looked out at the room at all the faces watching her. You want to know what really happened?
I married a man I loved and for 4 years I tried to give his family the grandchild they wanted and my body wouldn't do it. That's all. That's my whole crime. I couldn't give them an heir. And when my husband died, they looked at me and they saw a woman who'd cost them four years and given them nothing back.
And they decided the cheapest thing to do was call me a schemer and put me on a train west and let the winter finish what they'd started. Her voice did not shake. That letter isn't proof that I'm cold or scheming or false. It's proof of exactly one thing, that there are people in this world who will call you worthless the moment you stop being useful to them. And I have the great misfortune of having married into a family of them.
Somewhere in the crowd, a woman made a small sound. That lawyer says, "I married Nathaniel Carter in seven days because I had nothing to lose and everything to gain." Eleanor's eyes swept the room. He's right that I had nothing to lose. I'd already lost it.
But he's wrong about the gain. You want to know what I gained? I gained a boy who used to ask me every single day if I was going to leave because everyone he ever loved had. And I gained a girl who told me to my face I'd never be her mother. And who 3 days ago stood on my own porch and told a rich woman from Cheyenne that I was worth fighting for.
Her voice caught just slightly and she let it. You can call that a fraud if you want. You can call it an arrangement. But I've been in a real marriage and I've been in a false family and I know the difference in my bones and I'm telling you this is the realest thing I have ever had. The room had gone very still.
Charles Whitaker's lawyer rose smoothly. Moving testimony, your honor, but testimony is not evidence. The witness admits the marriage was made in 7 days for shelter and security. However eloquently she dresses it, she has confirmed our case in her own words. I'm not finished, Eleanor said.