Something died in me that afternoon.
At mediation, Simone shocked everyone.
“I don’t want Caleb removed from Maya.”
Darius turned.
“Simone.”
She looked at him.
“I don’t.”
Her attorney whispered something.
Simone ignored him.
“Maya is his mother.”
I studied her carefully.
“And Leah?”
Simone’s face tightened.
“I’m Leah’s mother.”
“Yes.”
She seemed surprised.
“You agree?”
“I didn’t say DNA doesn’t matter.
I said seven years matter too.”
For the first time since the airplane, Simone and I saw each other not as women standing between children.
But as mothers terrified somebody was about to tear our families apart.
Darius looked frustrated.
“We can’t pretend the biology doesn’t exist.”
“I’m not,” Simone said.
“But you’re acting as though it automatically outranks everything else.”
“They’re our children.”
“No,” she said quietly.
“They’re themselves.”
That silenced him.
After mediation, Simone caught me outside.
