“Oh, Jack…” I whispered to the hallway walls. “If I don’t find money for a lawyer, I’ll lose. I’ll lose Mia. And then I’ll disappear myself.”
I closed my eyes and forced myself to breathe. “I have nothing left to pay with. Just my father’s apartment. Fine… I’ll mortgage it.”
***
A month later, I sat on that hard courtroom chair next to my lawyer, my fists clenched so tight my nails dug deep into my skin.
Even after I’d mortgaged the house and scraped together the money for the expensive lawyer, even after all the evidence — I could still lose.
It must’ve been the hundredth minute of the hearing when the judge finally looked up at us and said calmly,
“Alright. We’d like to hear from the child. Mia, you know you don’t have to be afraid. Tell us, who do you want to live with?”
I felt Mia freeze for just a moment. Then she stepped forward and looked the judge straight in the eye.
The judge nodded. “Of course, Mia. That’s exactly what we want to hear.”
Mia looked at me first, then at Jack and Kira sitting there pressed together like conspirators. Then she said something I didn’t even know.
“I have two moms now. They both take care of me. But my Mom, Lora, loves me just because. And Mommy Kira… loves me because Daddy pays her. Daddy wants me to live with him, so he pays her.”
I felt my whole body go numb. The judge raised his eyebrows; Kira’s lawyer cleared his throat awkwardly.
Mia turned to me and gave me that small, grown-up smile of hers.
“Mommy Lora tries so hard to give me everything. Maybe she doesn’t buy me all the toys at once, like Kira does. She buys me one, and I get to love it longer. I learn to take care of my things. So I want to stay where I’m loved just because. With Mommy Lora.”
Tears filled my eyes. I didn’t expect that. I didn’t know my Mia saw it all so clearly. We won that case. When we stepped out of the courtroom, I hugged Mia so tight she giggled.
“No, baby. We’ll get it back soon.” I winked at her. “I got us an inflatable pool. Now we have our own ocean every single day.”
I looked at my lawyer, Christian, the one Mrs. Rayner and her son had helped me find. He reached out his hand to me, grinning.
“You did it, Lora. Now let’s celebrate. And by the way, I won’t take another cent from you. Or any ‘thank you.’ I can’t stay your lawyer forever… because then I’d never get to ask you out on a real date.”
I laughed through my tears. “Thank you, Christian. That’s… generous. And the date? I’ll think about it. But first — our waves.”
Mia was already pulling me toward the yard. “Mommy! We’re gonna splash everyone!”
And I thought how good it feels to hear that ‘Mommy’ every single day. To know we’ll have our home again. And our ocean.
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If you enjoyed this story, read this one: Everything fell apart that summer — money gone, Dad gone, nowhere to run. And just when I needed family most, my stepmother gave me a price for staying. Read the full story here.
