Chapter 18: The Hearing

The courtroom smelled of floor wax and wet wool.

I sat at the long table beside my lawyer, the woman in the gray cardigan.

She had told me to wear my good tie and say as little as possible.

Across the aisle sat Dean, in a navy suit, with a man whose haircut cost more than my car.

Lindsay sat behind him.

She didn't look at me.

Freja sat in the second row behind my side, in a dress I had never seen, with her braid pinned up and her hands folded very tight.

The judge was a stout woman with reading glasses on a chain.

She read the petition aloud in a flat voice, and I heard it.

"The court has the DNA result in front of it," she said. "It confirms Mr. Tolland is the biological father."

A small sound came out of me.

I had known.

It still went through my chest.

"Mr. Tolland's attorney," the judge said. "Call your first witness."

"We call Lindsay Niskanen."

She stood, smoothing her black skirt, and walked to the stand.

She took the oath in a voice so small the clerk asked her to repeat it.

Dean's lawyer smiled at her gently.

"Mrs. Niskanen, you are Eli's mother."

"Yes."

"And you and Mr. Tolland have a relationship."

"We did."

"Did?"

"I ended it on Thursday."

Dean's head came up.

His lawyer didn't miss a beat.

"But you signed an affidavit in October stating that Mr. Tolland is the proper custodian of the child."

"I signed it."

"Because it's true."

"Because he told me what to write," Lindsay said.

The room shifted.

"Objection," said Dean's lawyer. "The witness is..."

"Overruled," the judge said, without looking up. "Go on, Mrs. Niskanen."

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