“And would you like to spend more time with your daddy?”
My nails dig into my palms.
It’s too much for a six-year-old.
Too confusing.
Too unfair.
Mia shrugs.“Maybe… if Mommy is there.”
Kevin stiffens.
The attorney clears her throat.“But you’d like the chance to see him more, right?”
Mia frowns.“I think so…”
My eyes burn.
Then my attorney steps forward, his voice warm and steady.
“Mia, sweetheart, do you like living in Lander?”
She brightens instantly, like someone flipped on a light inside her.“Yes! I love it! Efan teaches me how to ride a horse, and Oma makes pancakes with bananas, and Opa lets me help him fix things in the barn…”
The judge raises a brow.“Oma and Opa?”
“That’s how you say Grandma and Grandpa in Oma’s language,” she explains proudly.“They’re Efan’s mommy and daddy.”
A tiny smile twitches at the judge’s lips, the first real one I’ve seen all day, softening the edges of his otherwise unreadable face.
“And who is Ethan?” the judge asks.
Mia turns in her seat and smiles at Ethan behind me. Her voice drops into that earnest, matter-of-fact tone little kids use when they’re telling the truth with their whole heart.“My superhero,” she says, nodding once.“He saved Mommy and me from the fire.”
A murmur ripples through the courtroom.
My throat tightens.
Heat gathers behind my eyes.
Something in me aches at how small her voice sounded… and how certain.
Mia feels safe.
She feels seen.
She feels home.
Still…
The judge is young. New. Hard to read. His expression folds back into neutrality so quickly it’s like the smile was never there at all.
Kevin has money. Lawyers. Influence.
And me?
I’m just a mother who ran because she had no other choice.
