Room 14's Secret novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Ten Minutes

The judge came in at nine sharp, a gray-haired woman with half-moon glasses and no patience.

"Be seated," she said.

Then she saw me at the back of the room in a borrowed navy dress.

"Counsel, approach," she said.

My father's lawyer and Quinton's lawyer went to the bench and spoke quietly.

I stood very straight beside Leanne's chair and kept my eyes off Giselle.

Posy turned around on Giselle's lap and looked right at me.

She did not wave.

She only looked.

The judge took off her glasses.

"Mrs. Teel has a statutory right to attend her own hearing," she said.

"The order of confinement does not apply in this courtroom. She stays."

A murmur went around the gallery.

Quinton's lawyer sat down hard.

"Your Honor, we request a ten-minute recess," he said. "My client is unwell. He had no warning that Mrs. Teel would appear."

"Ten minutes."

The gavel came down.

I walked out into the corridor with my head up.

Zachary stayed in the aisle beside Leanne's chair, not touching it, standing guard.

I had made it as far as the water fountain when someone said, "Mindy."

Quinton stood three feet away.

He had gone gray, and the knot of his tie had slipped.

He looked at my face, and then at my hands, and flinched.

"You look better," he said.

"I've been off your tea for nineteen days."

His mouth worked.

"Listen to me. Please."

He glanced at the courtroom door and lowered his voice.

"I can fix this. I'll withdraw the petition. I'll tell the judge there was a misunderstanding."

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