Chapter 47
Kia
I wake up the next morning before anyone else. It has nothing to do with being well-rested and everything to do with my brain refusing to relax now that I’ve finally found something worth holding on to.
The room is still dark, the city beyond the windows muted and gray. I slip out of bed carefully, pausing when Laiken shifts beside me. Instead of waking, he turns slightly, one arm reaching out, searching the space I’ve left behind.
I stand there for a moment and study him. He’s strong even in sleep. He’s the kind of man who knows exactly where he belongs in the world.
And that’s with us.
The thought startles me.
Laiken belongs with Elody, and now, I belong with them.
I move quietly around the kitchen and start a pot of tea. Even though I barely drink it, my fingers stay wrapped around the mug like it’s an anchor, something solid enough to keep me from floating away as the steam curls upward.
I slip into the hallway and peek down the spacious passage. A thin strip of light glows beneath Elody’s door. After what happened with Collin, she can’t sleep without it.
The quiet stretches, but it’s heavy with all the thoughts I’ve been avoiding.
If the judge decides it isn’t safe for Elody to be around me, I won’t have a choice but to walk away. I refuse to be the reason Laiken loses his daughter. And then I won’t just lose a husband. I’ll lose the child I’ve come to love in such a short period of time. The one who asked to call me Mommy.
My love shouldn’t feel like a liability.
But right now, it does.
The bedroom door creaks open and tiny footsteps pull me from my mental spiral. I find Elody standing in the kitchen, hair sticking up in every direction, her bunny clutched in her arms.
“Mommy?”
“Hey,” I murmur. “What’s wrong? Couldn’t sleep either?”
With a shake of her head, she pads toward me, and I crouch, opening my arms. She climbs right in, curling against my chest, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
As if she’s mine in every way that counts.
“My tummy feels funny,” she whispers.
“Mine too,” I admit, stroking a hand between her shoulder blades.
She nods, satisfied with that answer.
I sink to the kitchen floor with my back against the cabinets. Her warm weight in my lap calms me in ways I’m still getting used to. I focus on the way she smells like strawberry soap and fabric softener.
For a few precious minutes, I don’t think about courtrooms or looming legal decisions.
Instead, I think about breakfast and the morning school routines I’ve already learned.
I think about packing lunches, tying shoes, and reminders to grab a jacket.
And then I think about what life could look like a month from now.
Or six.
Or even a year.
I hope I’m here to be a part of it.
A few minutes later, Laiken appears in the doorway, barefoot and looking like he hasn’t slept at all. His gaze takes in the scene, and emotion flickers across his face. He doesn’t say anything at first. Just crouches in front of us and rests a hand on Elody’s back.
“Hey, bug.”
She gives him a sleepy smile without opening her eyes.
His gaze shifts, and he studies my face. “Are you okay?”
I hesitate. The easy answer would be yes. The honest one is so much harder.
“I’m scared.”
He nods, as if that makes perfect sense.
“I don’t want to be the reason this situation gets complicated,” I murmur. “Or a weapon they use against you.”
He reaches for my free hand, his thumb brushing slow circles against my skin. “You’re not a liability. You’re the reason everything finally makes sense.”
Tears prick the corners of my eyes.
“I choose this,” he adds, his voice low but unshakable. “I choose you.”
Elody sighs and nestles closer to my chest, the comforting sound breaking something open inside me.
“I don’t want to lose either of you,” I admit, my voice barely above a whisper. “For the first time, I feel complete.”
His grip tightens around my hand. “That’s not going to happen.”
Later, as sunlight creeps through the windows, I move around the penthouse on autopilot. Elody’s backpack waits by the door, already packed and ready to go. A lunch note peeks out of the front pocket with a red heart and the words I love you.
I crouch to tuck it back inside. Ordinary things shouldn’t feel this fragile. But they do when someone else gets to make decisions that affect your life.
In the bathroom, I pause in front of the mirror and study my reflection. I might not look different, but I am. So much has changed in such a short period of time.
I smooth a hand over my stomach, then over the ring on my finger.
Whatever happens in that courtroom today, they don’t get to decide who I am to this family. That choice has already been made.
When Laiken takes my hand hours later as we head out the door, I don’t think about what I might lose.
I focus on everything we have to gain. The life we’re building in quiet moments with ordinary mornings.
The little girl who curled into my arms like she belonged there, and the man beside me who chose me with certainty and conviction.
And then I think about how fiercely I intend to fight for it all.