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“Is Dimity aware that this woman who visits her is her own mother?” Harrison snapped at Kelly. “Her mother who chose not to keep her? How is that in any way beneficial to her upbringing?”
Jesse’s blood heated. Sofia’s face clouded as the translator muttered at her side. Emory’s face grew grim. Kelly gazed at Harrison with something like contempt. “Yes, Dimity is aware that she is her birth mother. The baron agreed with Sofia that honesty from the start was the best course of action. As she grows older, it will be up to Dimity what sort of relationship she would like to have with her mother. In the meantime, Dimity is growing up aware that her mother does care about her wellbeing.”
Sofia burst in with a flurry of German. She held her head high as her eyes bored into Harrison.
“I love Dimity,” the translator said, “but I am not in a position to give her the life she deserves. Baron Von Magnusson has given her the sort of home every little girl dreams of. Do you really think I would stand by and do nothing if I thought she was in any way unhappy?” She shook her head. “Shame on you people. Shame on you for bringing this so far and putting Dimity in this position. If her needs really came first, we would not be here.”
“Thank you, Miss Graf,” the judge said. “I believe you’ve answered the main question I was going to ask. But I do have one more, I’m afraid.” Sofia looked up at her. “You are aware that the baron is not human. You are aware that, as a race, humankind is still relatively uninformed as to haemophile’s day-to-day habits and lifestyle. As the law stands, the baron cannot be held responsible for any of his actions prior to nineteen-hundred, but there is nothing to say that law won’t alter as it adapts to changing perceptions. Given all that and knowing the baron’s past, do you still really think he could be a suitable adopted father to your child?”
“I do,” Sofia said without hesitation, meeting Emory’s eyes and smiling. “I was a very young girl when I had my baby. I did not know Cooper, Dimity’s father, when I got pregnant. He did not live long enough for me to find anything out about him—or whether he would have made a good father for Dimity.” Her eyes moved to Helena, who sat, grim and silent, in her seat. “It was all very hard to take, but the baron came to me. He told me he was Dimity’s uncle, from many, many years back. I knew what he was. Butblutfressershave been accepted more easily in my country than they are here—to their benefit and ours. He told me what he could do for Dimity and that he would be there for her during her whole life, through good times and bad. He could provide her with every material need, yes—but it went beyond that.” She took a breath and the translator waited. The whole court waited. “He could give her more love than any human parent can within a lifetime. And I saw in his eyes that he spoke the truth.” She smiled warmly. “Dimity and I are friends. She trusts me. She has told me herself how happy she is. I have seen with my own eyes how well she grows.” Her focus swung back to Helena. “Her aunt means well. I think so, yes. But she does not have the love that Emory does.”
“Idolove her,” Helena snapped, standing. “Judge, ofcourseI love her. She’s my great-niece, for God’s sake. My human, flesh-and-blood relation—”
“Please, Mrs. Hawthorn,” the judge said sternly. “I have your statements already. It was Miss Graf’s I wanted to hear today.”
Helena, ashen-faced, resumed her seat.
“Thank you, Miss Graf,” the judge said, nodding to her. “You may step down.”
Sofia and her translator left the room. She gave Emory a smile as she left, which he returned. Jesse stared after her, trying to untangle what he was feeling.
The judge had to say his name twice before he realized he was being addressed.
“What? Huh?”
“Can you come to the witness stand, please, Mr. Truelove?”
Jesse looked around, panicked. Kelly was looking at him expectantly. Emory was giving him an encouraging smile. Helena was glaring like she might make him catch fire with thought alone.
“But I already answered all the lawyers’ questions,” Jesse fumbled.
“I understand that, Mr. Truelove,” the judge said, a little impatiently. “I have some of my own…if you please.”
Jesse stood. His palms were sweating. His breathing sounded hollow in his ears. He sat at the witness stand. All the eyes focused on him felt like laser sights.
“Mr. Truelove,” the judge said as she flicked through her papers. “I have read the transcript and listened to the recording of your deposition many times. I’d like to start off by thanking you for being one of the most honest witnesses in this case.”
Jesse blinked. “Well, yeah. You’re welcome. I guess.”
She looked at him over her glasses. “It is your apparent honesty and forthright nature that has made me want me to ask you this, of all the people involved.”
Jesse swallowed. Harrison and Ivor looked wary. Kelly was assessing, but Jesse thought he saw something like a smile shadowing his lips. Emory was gazing at him calmly, his hands on the table, tenderness and tiredness equally weighted in his eyes.
“I’ll answer anything you want, ma’am.”
“Good man,” the judge said, tapping her notes together. “And I’ll remind you that your partner may be in court, but it is me you are talking to, and I represent the law. I can guarantee your safety and the lack of repercussions for your answer. Clear?’
“What are you asking?”
“Has the Baron Von Magnusson ever hurt you, Mr. Truelove?”
He frowned. “What? No, of course—”
“Even when you asked him to?”
The room was silent. Jesse clenched his hands into fists, keeping his eyes locked with the judge, despite the pull of all the other eyes on him.
“No,” he said, his voice heavy.
