Chapter 44
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
cameron
I’D SPENT COUNTLESS HOURS in a courtroom, but none of them had made me feel the way I did now.
I had all the faith in the world in Juniper—I never would have stepped aside if I didn’t—but that didn’t mean that I didn’t feel a little powerless and a lot restless, standing at the back of the room.
This was our third consecutive day here. Blake and Delaney had been called as witnesses yesterday and then stayed to support Natalie in the gallery. Today, they’d switched with Gemma and Noah—who’d watched Chloe yesterday—so they could be brought forward to the stand.
Korey’s lawyer pressed Noah the hardest. They questioned his fame and character and ability to be the support system Natalie claimed he was.
Noah kept his cool, like he promised me he would when we talked last week.
He told me he was used to getting grilled by the press and media, but I’d been a little worried it would be different when the topic of conversation was his family.
But he did well. I suspected it pissed Juniper off more than Noah, based on the fire in her words when it was her turn.
My eyes drifted over Natalie’s parents in the gallery, sitting next to Ellie.
They’d all flown in for the trial, even though there wasn’t much they could do except just…
be here. But sometimes that was all that mattered.
Anne London had her hand in Natalie’s best friend’s while they sat stoically in the benches.
I couldn’t see their faces from where I was standing, but I could see the tension in their shoulders.
I felt it, too. Everything had gone how I imagined it would, for the most part.
But God, I needed this to be done for Natalie’s sake.
I could see how exhausted and stressed she was.
Not many people would notice. Her shoulders were straight, her chin up.
But her eyes told me she needed a break, and fuck if it wasn’t killing me.
The trial likely could have wrapped up yesterday.
I’d been hoping we were going to, but at least we were getting a ruling today.
The judge was on a recess at the moment and would be coming back shortly.
Well, hopefully shortly. But as long as we didn’t have to wait days or weeks for a decision, I didn’t fucking care.
I physically couldn’t imagine it at this point, letting Chloe leave with Korey.
To live with him? There was no way in fucking hell.
I could barely stomach the idea of letting her go with him for his normal visitation weekends.
Chloe belonged with Natalie and me. In Boston, with the rest of her family.
Not a dad who only used her as a tool, a pawn in a game of chess.
I had so many plans for the three of us. A lifetime of plans for my girls, my family.
The bailiff cleared their throat, and I stood straighter. They called for us to all rise, and people shuffled to their feet as Judge Anderson entered the room again.
Fuck, this was it.
My eyes drifted to Natalie, and at the same moment, she glanced over her shoulder. Our eyes met, and I gave her an encouraging smile. This is it, Sunshine. After this, it’ll all be over.
She breathed in. Breathed out. I could tell she didn’t want to look away from me, terrified of facing a reality that might not be what we’d worked for.
But I gave her a nod, and she straightened her shoulders, twisting back to the front of the courtroom anyway, strong as ever as she gave all her attention to the judge.
I kept all my attention on her. We waited with bated breath as Judge Anderson began an oral reading of the ruling, and I just couldn’t take my eyes off Natalie.
Which meant I got to see everything I felt reflected in her—the shift of her body, the breath whooshing out of her, the loosening of her shoulders, the relief in her posture as it was all brought to a conclusion.
Natalie would maintain sole physical custody of Chloe.
Chloe was staying with Natalie.
Chloe was staying with us.
And I couldn’t keep the smile off my fucking face, even while I could barely believe that it had been announced, that this was over.
Fuck, I was so goddamn relieved to have this finally draw to a close. And so unbelievably happy for Natalie. And Chloe, because I knew this was what she’d wanted, too.
She wouldn’t have to move schools or find a new skating club. She wouldn’t have to be separated from the extended family who’d actually been there for her. She wouldn’t have to move back in with a man who had been an apathetic loser toward her his entire life.
As Judge Anderson stopped speaking, I was moving.
I hadn’t wanted to risk agitating Korey before things were final.
I’d kept to the background, letting Juniper do her job expertly, like I’d known she would.
I hated not being directly beside Natalie, but if I had been the one fighting for her, it would have been so hard to stay professional at this point.
I wouldn’t have been able to keep my hand from finding hers and giving it a squeeze.
My eyes would have constantly tracked her movements instead of staying focused on the task at hand.
I probably would have called her Sunshine in front of the entire court.
Kissed the top of her head as I sat down.
Wrapped my hand around the curve of her thigh beneath the table.
In the last month, I’d lost the ability to pretend around her, and I didn’t really know how to go back.
And now, I got to march to the front of the courtroom and catch Natalie in my arms when she turned and met me in the aisle, a mixed expression of exhaustion and elation dancing across her features.
“Cameron.” She choked out my name, crumpling a little despite the smile stretching over that beautiful face.
“See?” I whispered over the top of her head. “I told you everything was going to be okay.”
She nodded, like she’d known, too. But knowing it would happen and finally having it happen were different, and we both knew that.
Relief was a drug I could get high on at this point.
Natalie pulled back, wiping at her eyes.
Behind her, I noticed Korey. He stood alone, looking as angry as ever.
I’d seen parents lose custody battles before.
I’d seen their defeated, sad expressions, the ones that told me that they’d really wanted their kids.
And maybe they hadn’t made the best choices in life and needed to do things differently before they could make that happen.
Or maybe they really had deserved a chance, but the case simply hadn’t gone the way they wanted.
Korey bore no resemblance to those parents.
His reaction had nothing to do with the love of his daughter or the desire to be a good parent.
The look on his face was one of indignation and rage—emotions that stemmed from his ego being wounded as he watched his control over Natalie and Chloe snap.
And then he had to watch me throw an arm around his ex-wife’s shoulders before tossing one final wink his way, and I was pretty sure that was the nail in his proverbial coffin, considering how his gaze flared and his face turned a whole new shade of red.
I hoped he understood it was a “thank you.” Because without him throwing me off this case, I wouldn’t be sleeping in Natalie’s bed more than I was sleeping in my own.
Korey’s face twisted in outrage, but we both knew he couldn’t do a damn thing about it anymore. I turned, gently guiding Natalie in the opposite direction of her ex-husband and letting him stare at our backs as we walked away, stepping through the large, imposing double doors of the courtroom.
I heard Juniper’s little tsk behind me.
“I saw that, Bryant,” she muttered.
“Do you know how exhausting it is to always be the bigger person, St. James?” I asked over my shoulder.
She gave me a look back that I knew had nothing to do with Korey and everything to do with my slipup of her name.
“Briggs, sorry,” I laughed.
Juniper tossed her long brown hair over her shoulder and smiled, the look of a lawyer who knew they’d just crushed it in court. Her heels clicked against marble as we walked into the atrium outside the courtroom.
Natalie slipped from beneath my arm, attacking Juniper with a hug that was warmly returned. “Thank you so much. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”
Juniper shook her head. “We all love Chloe so much, Natalie. No one wanted to see her leave Boston, and now she doesn’t have to.”
“Juniper.” A voice cleared behind me, and I glanced back to see Noah, flanked by Gemma, Julian, Ellie, and Natalie’s parents. “I hope you know that I am your biggest fan,” Noah said, his grin wide.
Julian scoffed next to him. “The fuck you are,” he grunted, but his lips were also tilted in a smile as he bent over, brushing a kiss over the top of Juniper’s head and muttering, “Me haces tan orgulloso, Juni baby.”
A blush worked its way to Juniper’s cheeks, but she let Julian pull her into him.
His hand came to rest on her stomach, smoothing over it protectively.
We’d recently learned that Juniper was pregnant with twins, which meant Julian spent a lot more time glaring at, well, basically anyone who dared to get too close to his wife.
I heard him check in with her beneath his breath, switching to English to ask her if she needed anything.
She tipped her head up, making it hard to hear her response, and I looked back to Natalie.
She was releasing a long breath, shaking the nerves out of her hands as she looked around at the circle of smiling people. Noah and Gemma simultaneously pulled her into their arms, followed by her parents, and I slipped away to the back of the crowd.