Madeline woke to the sound of her husband lying.

The trial took four months.

Diane had told her it would, and she had been right about most things, so Madeline had arranged her life accordingly.

She moved with Poppy into Carol's house for the first six weeks, then into a rented apartment two neighborhoods away from the house she and Preston had shared — a place with a small garden that Poppy immediately claimed as her own.

She went back to work.

She had been a medical editor before Poppy was born, and a former colleague had offered her freelance contracts while she rebuilt.

She worked in the mornings while Poppy was at school and found that the precision of the work — the careful reading, the attention to what was actually being said versus what was implied — suited her in a new way.

She attended every day of the trial.

She sat in the same seat each time.

Grey blazer the first week, then others — blue, green, once a deep red that Carol had picked out and Madeline had almost put back before deciding not to.

Serena testified on the third day of the prosecution's case.

She was on the stand for most of the day.

She described the plan in detail — when Preston had first raised it, how he had framed it initially as a hypothetical, how it had shifted over months into something concrete.

She described the account transfers, which Preston had directed and she had helped conceal.

She described the afternoon in the kitchen — what she had added to the milk, how much, what Preston had told her the effect would be.

She described leaving the house before the ambulance arrived.

She did not look at Madeline while she testified.

Madeline watched her the entire time.

Preston's attorney cross-examined her for two hours, working to establish that she was a cooperating witness with motivation to minimize her own role.

Serena answered every question directly.

She did not minimize.

She said, more than once, that she had made her own choices and was not attempting to deny them.

At one point, Preston's attorney asked, "Isn't it true that you were romantically involved with the defendant and that your testimony is shaped by feelings of betrayal?"

Serena looked at him steadily.

"My testimony is shaped by what happened.

I was there."

Preston testified in his own defense on the eighth day.

He was composed, articulate, and entirely unconvincing.

He claimed the bottle had contained a mild herbal sleep supplement he had purchased for himself and accidentally left in his jacket pocket.

He claimed Poppy had misunderstood what she saw.

He claimed the account transfers were legitimate financial planning he had intended to discuss with Madeline.

He claimed the email to Serena had been taken out of context.

His attorney asked him, "Did you love your wife?"

Preston looked at the jury.

"I still do," he said.

"This has been a nightmare for our entire family."

Madeline looked at her hands.

Diane had told her not to react visibly to anything Preston said on the stand.

She had practiced this.

She was good at it by now.

The jury deliberated for two days.

On the afternoon of the second day, Madeline was in the courthouse cafeteria with Carol when Diane called.

"They're back," she said.

They returned to the courtroom.

Madeline sat in her seat.

Carol sat beside her and did not take her hand, which was what Madeline had asked for — she needed to be able to feel her own steadiness.

The foreperson stood.

Guilty on all counts.

Preston's attorney put his hand on Preston's arm.

Preston sat very still for a moment.

Then he turned and looked at Madeline for the first time since the proceedings had begun.

She looked back at him.

He had nothing to say.

She could see that.

Whatever he had prepared for this moment — whatever version of himself he had planned to show her — it wasn't there.

He looked away first.

Sentencing was scheduled for six weeks later.

Diane estimated eight to twelve years given the premeditation, the financial crimes, and the involvement of a child.

Serena, with her cooperation agreement, was looking at a suspended sentence and community service, plus full restitution of her share of the transfers.

Outside the courthouse, Carol put her arm around Madeline's shoulders.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

Madeline thought about it honestly.

"Like I can breathe," she said.

Carol nodded.

They stood on the steps for a moment in the afternoon light.

"Poppy's at school until three," Carol said.

"I know.

I want to be the one to pick her up today."