He took his seat back in the courtroom totally secure and ready to face whatever was thrown at him. He was counting the seconds until he could get out of here, he was desperate to see Anna, make sure she was safe and in one piece and to see that damn suit with his own eyes. She had looked magnificent he reflected. He had to make a real effort to drag his focus back to what was going on here and he listened dilligently to what his solicitor was saying. His testimony began with his statement, then it went on to Linda's, Christian's and Benny's. It shook him emotionally to hear what his kids had picked up on over the years and what Benny had seen from the outside. The statements from Emma and Anna had overwhelmed him and he'd had to find his hanky for he found that his eyes were leaking as he relived those dark times through their eyes. His guilt and horror weighed on him heavily, the testimony of the man with whom Lena had been having an affair with stripped whatever blinkers had remained on Bjorn's eyes away as he realised the depths of her deception. Lena had attempted to put a stop to these testimonies many times throughout the afternoon but the judge was determined a fair hearing would happen. He told Lena many times that it was Bjorn's right that he had his case heard as hers had been. Bjorn saw the point when Lena's temper got the better of her halfway through the testimony of her lover when she screamed that it was all a set up and Bjorn was lying. His solicitor produced the photographic evidence which the judge accepted much to Lena's horror. Bjorn was much relieved when he thought it was all over and they just had the finances to wrangle over but he was stopped in his tracks by his own solicitor announcing a final testimony, he frowned in confusion and turned to look over his shoulder at Benny who shrugged equally confused. His heart sank as he wondered what it would say and who it was from, it had all been going so well and now it could all go horribly wrong but his surprise couldn't be faked to the judge or the other legal staff in the room when Agnetha's name was called out. He had no choice but to sit back and listen to her statement, it was like she had known what Lena would say and she refuted every allegation firmly. She opened up about some of the real reasons their marriage broke down, their youth, their inability to cope with fame, their inability to talk. She detailed the part that Lena had played in the breakdown of their marriage for which she produced proof, Bjorn was stunned, he hadn't realised she'd known all along and he hadn't quite realised all of the terrible things Lena had done in that last awful year to Anna and the kids. She took more than her fair share of the blame Bjorn considered, saying her love for her children and her post natal depression had blinded her for some while. She admitted that her increasing phobias of the time had made her difficult to live with but that even in the heat of their break up Bjorn had never raised a hand to her or the children and neither had he throughout their marriage. She added that in her opinion having known him for 50 years he wasn't capable of such violence. She talked at length of the damage Lena had done to Linda and Christian and the solicitor produced proof that Anna must have given him from her archives, she discussed frankly the threats and the blackmail that she had endured from Lena over the years concentrating on the maintenence money for Linda and Christian that Lena had denied her but touching on the general decades long hatred that Lena had shown her. She detailed the years that she'd protected Bjorn, Lena and the girls and provided proof of the monies she had paid out over the years, the totals made Bjorn's mind boggle. She provided proof of a link that Lena had directly to two of her stalkers which shocked Bjorn rigid even though it was a while ago now and finally she went on to discuss her cancer and the role her children and Bjorn had played in her recovery despite Bjorn already having done it once before when Lena was diagnosed with cancer, proving that Bjorn had tried his best for all of them and hadn't abandoned Lena like she had suggested. She finished her statement with the killer blow of the photographic evidence of the injuries Lena had inflicted upon him and the court clerk played the recording of the conversation between Bjorn and Lena that night before her final statement which bought tears to Bjorn's eyes "This man is the father of my children, I would wish for nothing different. He is a good, kind, caring man who has been and continues to be a loving and committed father and grandfather to all his children and grandchildren in extremely difficult circumstances. He does not deserve to have his life's work stripped away from him. Despite our own failed marriage he has my respect, my affection and my support, it would not be right that he is given the reputation that Lena is attempting to force upon him, he does not deserve to have obscene amounts of his earnings taken from him nor his reputation wrecked. I will stand by him as will the other members of ABBA. He is not and never has been the man that Lena says he is."
