Saved From Suicide, Sold Into a Lie novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: Guardian
Family court was a small room with a low bench and a box of crayons on the clerk's desk.
The judge was a thin man in his fifties, and he did not use a gavel.
My mother's lawyer stood first.
"Your Honor, Miss Brightman concealed a living woman from her own patient for five years. She forged the appearance of a normal household. She is not fit to raise a child."
Leanne sat beside me with her hands folded on the table.
She did not look at the lawyer.
She looked at the judge.
"May I answer, Your Honor?"
"You may."
She stood.
"Everything he said is true," she said. "I kept it from Connor for five years, and I was wrong. I'm not going to tell you it was kind."
A murmur came from the back.
"I did it because I was afraid he would die when he knew. I also did it because I was afraid I would lose the only person who needed me. Both are true. I'm not proud of either."
The judge nodded slowly.
"Why should this court trust you with a four-year-old?"
"Because I've never lied to him," she said. "I told him I'd forget no birthday, and I haven't. I told him I'd come when he cried, and I did. I'm done lying, Your Honor. I'll tell this boy the truth every year as he's old enough to hear it."
She sat down.
Her hand found mine under the table, and it was damp.
I squeezed it.
My mother's lawyer opened his mouth to cross-examine, and my mother stood up.
"Sit down," the lawyer murmured.
"No."
She walked forward until she stood in front of the bench.
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