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“I have documents here that show you deleted a legal document sent to you along with a stream of emails between yourself and Katy Barrows’ grandparents where they promised you money in exchange for you declaring Dr. Barrows to be an unfit guardian. Not to mention, I have another document here with your personal financial statements highlighting several large, random payments made to you that correlate with the dates of cases you worked on. Can you explain those?”
Mrs. Bible stares up at the judge and then, without a word, tries to book it for the exit. All of us gasp, shooting to the edges of our seats as we watch her run.
The judge bangs his gavel, his complexion ruddy as he shouts. “Bailiff, will you please stop Mrs. Bible from leaving and take her into custody?”
Mrs. Bible continues to race for the door, only to be blocked by a police officer and after a small skirmish, they manage to wrangle her out of the courtroom.
Holy shit. How is this happening?
“Holy hell. She tried to make a run for it.” Asher is half-laughing, half-shocked. “This is like some insane TV shit going on.”
“No joke,” Grey agrees. “What the hell is going on?”
My head spins wildly, and Layla grips my forearm with the hand not holding mine and shakes me. “She was never going to side with you,” she says in a low voice. “Which likely explains why she was such a megabitch and questioned everything you did and said when she came for her visits.”
My forehead meets her shoulder. “I wasn’t sure you’d come today, and then you show up and have done all this?”
She leans in and rubs her nose against mine. “Every Superman needs a Lois Lane to save them. Also, you can’t beat the timing of Drunk Joe.”
I grin, sitting up. “Drunk Joe?”
“That’s not actually what they called him in the police report,” Tom supplies.
I turn to him. “Is this enough for me to keep Katy?”
He doesn’t crack a smile, but there is an unmistakable gleam in his eyes. “I think so, but we’ll see. The judge is still unhappy about the lying, but I can’t imagine he wants to make Katy a ward of the state when all you did is lie about having a fake fiancée. Then again, with how today has gone, I’m not sure anything would surprise me.”
The courtroom is still buzzing with noise, and I can hear my friends behind me going nuts, grilling Lenox for answers.
The judge wipes at his forehead and bangs his gavel again, calling order back to the room. “Now that that’s taken care of, Miss Fritz, do you still wish to address the court?” The man is clearly at the end of his patience, but despite that, Layla doesn’t hesitate.
She stands, addressing him directly. “I do, Your Honor. Because my presenting you with those documents wasn’t just to prove who the wrong people for Katy are, it was also to show you who the right person for her is. You see, I understand Katy’s situation. When I was six years old, my parents were killed in a car accident. My sister Amelia, left college to move back to Boston to take care of me. I was lucky. She was my next of kin, and she wanted me. She was twenty at the time and it was a rough several years for us. But I never felt unsafe. I always felt loved and cared for. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t perfect, but Amelia was what got me through. We were everything both of us needed, and that’s what I’ve seen in the two months I’ve been living with Katy and Dr. Barrows.”
She sucks in a deep breath and straightens her spine.
“They are it for each other. Callan’s love for Katy isn’t fleeting. It’s not monetarily based. It’s the sort of love that will sustain her through the hardest, darkest time of her life, and instead of constant tears and heartache, she’ll have smiles and laughter in there too. He will take care of her. He would lie down in traffic for her. He would even go so far as to ask his student to be his fake fiancée because he would do anything not to lose her.”
She turns and glances down at me, and then back over to the judge.
“I’m sorry we lied to you. Love and fear can drive us all to do wild things. Things we would never foresee ourselves doing in any other situation. Dr. Barrows is a good man. The best man I’ve ever known and considering who my family is, that is saying something tremendous. I love him, but Katy does too, and I know he will always put her first. Please, sir. We lied. But it was a lie of love. It was a lie of fear. But everything between us now is as real as it gets.”
She sits back down, and I immediately take her into my arms and kiss her mouth right here. Right in this courtroom.
“Fuck Lois Lane, you’re the Black Widow. Bold. Fierce. Savage. And sexy as fucking hell.” I hug her against me before dropping my forehead to hers. My hand caresses her cheek. “Thank you.”
“You saved me with the school. The least I could do was return the favor.”
I chuckle against her. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
I kiss her again, deeply, and then sit back in my chair. The judge rubs his forehead again and shifts in his chair. “Dr. Barrows, in light of all of the evidence presented today, I don’t feel this court has much of a choice but to continue your temporary custody of Miss Barrows.”
My heart leaps in my chest, only to snag on the word temporary.
He takes a breath. The sort of breath that usually feeds into things no one wants to hear. “I am going to be extending the probation period for another ninety days, and in addition to requiring another four observations by anewcourt liaison, I will also require parenting classes for you.”
“Of course, Your Honor,” Tom speaks for me now. “My client will do whatever is necessary.”
