“Mrs. Montgomery?” the lawyer presses.
“Yes,” Karen says, and shock ripples through me.
Whispers fill the courtroom. The judge calls for order. I don’t look behind me; my eyes are fixed on my sister.
Tears shimmer in hers.“My sister, Summer Montgomery, has always been a good mother to Mia. Even when her ex-husband, Kevin Masters, came home late, left her alone with a newborn, never looked twice at his own daughter, and had other women in his life ever since he got engaged to my sister.”
“She’s lying!” Kevin yells.
The judge sighs, frustrated.“Order.”
“Court is adjourned,” he says firmly, though he hasn’t given his ruling yet. He rises from his bench.“I have come to my decision.” His voice fills the room, steady, unreadable.
“Mr. Masters,” he begins, looking directly at Kevin,“I listened to everything that was said today, and I want both parents to understand that my ruling is based solely on Mia’s well-being. That includes physical, economic, and emotional care.”
My heart thuds so hard I swear the entire courtroom can hear it.
“I was raised by my mother,” he continues,“a woman who did everything she could to give me the best she could afford. But most of all, she never made me feel wrong. She believed in me. And that shaped my entire life.”
He looks at Kevin again.“While you can certainly provide for Mia financially, the court has found a significant absence of emotional and physical care from you, documented and witnessed, even while Mia lived under your roof. The fact that you did not respond to the mother’s attempts to include you, and only now, six months later, express concern over custody tells me all I need to know.”
Kevin shifts in his seat, jaw tight, eyes cold. I can barely breathe.
Then the judge turns toward me.
“Miss Montgomery,” he says gently, and something inside me breaks open, raw and trembling.“Everything I heard, saw, and witnessed today speaks loudly of a mother who is present. Wholoves without conditions. Who would give up the riches of this world to care for her child.”
My vision blurs. I blink hard.
“The partner you’ve chosen to live with clearly loves Mia as his own. In only a few months, he appears to know more about this child’s day-to-day life than her own father has in four years.”
Ethan exhales beside me, a shaky, barely-there sound. His hand finds mine under the table.
The judge turns back to Kevin.
“Money will not always solve a problem, Mr. Masters. Character is not defined by your bank account. It is defined by consistency, by presence, by how you love and care for a child.”
He gathers the papers before him, aligns the stack, and then, calm, decisive, speaks the words my entire soul has been praying for:
“I hereby grant full custody of Mia Masters to her mother, Summer Montgomery.”
My heart stops.
“Mr. Masters will have visitation rights,” he continues,“but given his recent DUI and the documented incident of violence toward Miss Montgomery, all visits will be strictly supervised until he can prove he has completed therapy and demonstrated consistent, stable behavior.”
He picks up the gavel.
“That is all. Court is adjourned.”
BANG.
The sound echoes through my bones.
For two seconds, everything is silent.
Then Kevin explodes.
“What? NO…no, this is ridiculous…SHE…she took her, THIS ISN’T…YOU CAN’T…”
