Page 63 of Echoes of a Southern Song

She hesitates, eyes flicking to where I sit.

I try to give her something—warmth, courage, whatever I’ve got left.

“I didn’t see him for what he was doing, but I did tell him I didn’t want to think about my parents dying,” she says quietly. “I started to feel like something was off. We’d fight and I would tell him we should slow down. Every time I’d start to question things, he’d do something sweet. Bring me flowers, write me notes, tell me how much he loved me.”

I feel it like a gut punch. I can see how hard it is for her to say it. She still doesn’t want to believe it. That’s the worst part. She wants to see the good in people so badly that she let him drag her into this.

The lawyer keeps going. “What about the wedding?”

Jinnie’s lips press into a line before she answers. “I didn’t want to get married. At least, not like that. Not without my parents. Not in Vegas. But he kept saying I was eighteen and could make my own decisions. That if I really loved him, we didn’t need anyone else. He made it feel like if I didn’t say yes, I was proving I didn’t love him.” Her voice cracks a little.

Damn, I hate this.

She takes a breath and keeps going. “I felt guilty. Like I was doing something wrong by having doubts. He kept pushing. And eventually I gave in.”

My stomach twists. I remember how small she looked when she first told me about this. Like she was carrying this invisible weight no one else could see. And now here she is, unpacking it in front of strangers.

“After we got back, I didn’t tell anyone. Not even my parents. I said he was just staying with me for a while. And they were supportive because they didn’t know the truth. They had met Sam several times. He had dinner at their house and told my dad he loved me.”

“What happened after that?”

“The first week was okay. He was still nice. But then he started bringing up the property again. More directly. He wanted me to talk to my parents about signing it over to me—and then to him. I kept telling him no. That they needed it, and I didn’t want to betray them. He said if it was in his name, he could say they were paying rent or something. It would be a tax write-off. I didn’t understand and I never took the time to look into it. I was never going to ask them to sign over their land. We had a big fight about it. Then one day I came home from work and he was just gone. No note. No explanation. Nothing.”

Jinnie looks down at her lap.

Her lawyer lets the silence hang a beat. “Thank you, Jinnie. No further questions.”

Sam’s lawyer rises like she’s on a stage, smooth and precise. I don’t like her. Not just because she’s representing a snake, but her. I don’t like how slick she is. No wonder Sam hired her.

She approaches the stand, smiling that too-slick smile. “Ms. Parker, I understand this must be difficult for you. But I’d like to ask a few questions.”

Jinnie just nods.

“Would you say you were in love with Mr. Crawford at the time of your marriage?”

“I thought I was,” she answers.

“And you willingly went to Las Vegas with him?”

“Yes.”

“You were not drugged, coerced, or threatened into the marriage?”

“No.”

“So you made the decision yourself?”

“I felt like I didn’t have a choice.”

The lawyer raises his eyebrows. “But you said yourself, you were eighteen. An adult. You had legal autonomy.”

“I know,” Jinnie replies. “But he knew how to manipulate me. He knew I was in love with him.”

Sam’s lawyer tilts her head. “I thought you said you tried to end it several times?”

Jinnie opens her mouth and then closes it. “I did, but he always found a way to get me to change my mind.”

“Really? He forced you to change your own mind?”