"No." A ghost of her old spark flickered in her eyes. "I'm done backing down."
A brief moment of silence passed between us.
"How is she?" Claire asked, her voice softening. "Millie. How is she doing?"
"She's..." I swallowed hard. "She has been asking for you. Every day. Every time she's awake long enough to form a sentence."
Claire's face crumpled, just for a moment, before she pulled it back together. "I shouldn’t have stopped paying her visits.”
"You're always welcome." The words came out more emotional than I intended. "Claire, you have to know that. You're always..."
I stopped. This wasn't the place. We were standing in a courtroom, surrounded by strangers, with reporters probably lurking outside the door.
"Will you come to the hospital?" I asked instead. "To see her? She needs—"I need."She needs to see you."
Claire studied my face for a long moment.
"Yes," she said quietly. "Let's go see her."
We walked out of the courthouse together, shoulders nearly touching, not speaking. The reporters descended immediately, shouting questions, snapping photos, demanding statements. I ignored them all, focused only on getting Claire to my car without losing her in the chaos.
"Mr. Sterling! Miss Cross! Are you back together?"
"Is Victoria really going to prison?"
"Miss Cross, do you have a response to Mrs. Sterling's accusations?"
Claire kept her head down, her pace steady, until we reached the car. I opened the passenger door for her, and she slid inside without hesitation.
The door closed, and suddenly it was quiet.
I got in the driver's side, started the engine, and pulled away from the courthouse. The reporters shrank in the rearview mirror.
For several blocks, neither of us spoke.
"She called me a nobody," Claire finally said, her voice distant. "A desperate little nobody."
"She was wrong."
"Was she?" Claire turned to look at me. "Because from where I'm sitting, that's exactly what I was when you found me. Broke. Desperate. Nobody."
"That's not what I saw." I kept my eyes on the road, but I could feel her gaze on my face. "I saw a woman who gave her everything to a stranger's child. Who stood up to a monster to protect a seven-year-old, who walked into a courtroom and told the truth even when it cost her everything."
"That's a generous interpretation."
"It's the only interpretation that matters." I glanced at her. "Victoria spent two years trying to make everyone see her version of reality. You spent one evening with my daughter, and she's asked for you every day since. That tells me everything I need to know about who the 'nobody' really was."
Claire was quiet for a moment. "I didn't know if..." She trailed off. "Your text made it sound like you wanted me gone. Complete freedom, you said. All ties dissolved."
"I wanted you to have options. I didn't want you to feel obligated to stay in… this." The words were harder than I expected. "But I never wanted you gone, Claire. I just didn't think I had the right to ask you to stay."
"You could have asked."
"After what happened to you in that courtroom? After watching your private pain become public entertainment because of me?" I shook my head. "I couldn't ask you to endure more. It seemed kinder to let you go."
"Kinder." She repeated the word like she was tasting it. "That's one word for it."
"What word would you use?"
