Part 4 — What the Man of the House Did Not Own
Gabriel spent the two days after signing the postnuptial agreement in the particular silence of a man who has been outmaneuvered and has not yet decided whether to accept the outcome or escalate.
He chose escalation.
On the third morning, he told me he had spoken with his brother and that his brother agreed the postnuptial was signed under duress. He told me he intended to have it invalidated.
I told him Patricia Webb had anticipated that response. I told him the agreement had been prepared eighteen months in advance, reviewed by an independent attorney Gabriel was free to consult before signing, and executed without any threat of violence, coercion, or immediate harm. I told him that presenting a document at a kitchen table and asking someone to read it before dinner was not duress. It was literacy.
He told me I had ambushed him.
