Page 64 of From the Courtroom to the Court
"Of course," Leah responds firmly.
Mia swallows, tries to undo the knot in her throat while stretching her hand across the table to take the tennis player's.
"And what does all this mean for Leah?" she asks Emily, but Leah is the one who answers.
"It means I'll be Aaron's legal guardian, but I trust you and him. You just have to say yes, Mia. Give your approval to Emily and Emma so they can start the paperwork, and maybe in a couple of months, you and Aaron will be moving into my house to live under the same roof once and for all. You're a few months away from meeting the judge's last requirement, then you can start the custody petition again, but meanwhile, you don't have to stay separated."
"Are you both okay with this?" Mia asks, shifting her gaze between Natalie and Anne as tears slide down her face.
"Of course, what kind of question is that?" Natalie huffs, making an annoyed motion with her hand.
Mia smiles through her tears, and her gaze shifts to Emma for a fraction of a second, finding her smile.
"Okay, yes," she says and stands up at the same time Leah does so they can melt into another hug.
"Good," Emily says, running her fingers under her eyes to collect the moisture that emotion has brought to them. "In that case, we'll get started tomorrow. Emma will focus exclusively on preparing all the documentation they ask for. If they consider Leah suitable, we'll try to get Aaron out of the Morris home as soon as possible. In our favor, this case isn't going through the normal channels, so with a little luck, it'll be quick."
"I don't know how to thank you, Leah," Mia says, still hugging the tennis player.
"Aaron and you are like family. I know you'd do the same."
Mia nods and hugs her tighter before letting go. When they separate, she feels the weight of the day fall on her like a slab. Suddenly, she's exhausted and only wants to get home and throw herself on the couch, preferably with Emma, who seems to read her mind and stands up to position herself next to her.
"Want me to take you home?" Emma whispers as Leah sits back down next to Emily.
"Please," says Mia, nervous about her closeness.
"If you don't need anything else," Emma says, addressing all the women, "I'm going to take Mia to her apartment. It's been an intense day for her."
"Of course," Leah responds, smiling as she watches them.
Mia seems like a disoriented doll, standing by the table, dazed. Until Emma, without thinking much about it, takes her hand, interlacing their fingers, and they start walking toward the exit while the lawyer whispers something in Mia's ear.
"What don't I know?" Natalie asks, fixing her gaze on her daughter and the lawyer.
Anne bursts out laughing, although she too watches them, waiting for an explanation.
"You mean Mia and Emma?" Leah asks, amused.
"Them and you two. Nobody's leaving this table until you tell your mother and me everything I want to know," she says, rubbing her hands together at the look, both complicit and terrified, that Emily and Leah exchange.
Chapter 34
Three weeks later.
"I'm sorry, the traffic this morning was unbearable," Emily Harris apologizes when she arrives flustered at the court where she's scheduled to meet Leah for one of their weekly practice sessions.
Today the lawyer had a session with Dr. Mitchel—she was also late—and then class at the Walker Elite Sport Club. Emily has been attending in the mornings instead of afternoons as was her habit because for a couple of weeks she's been under so much stress that she's needed a higher dose of exercise to drain all that tension. It hasn't helped that each night she goes to bed later than usual; she's been meeting with Leah at one of their two houses and, between conversations, dinners, and good sex, she sleeps little. The trial that takes almost all her attention, the one where she faces her ex-partner Vanessa Cooper, is reaching its end. Emily hopes that tomorrow the jury will deliberate and close it. She's also somewhat anxious because the judge handling Aaron's case is taking her time. Both Emily and Emma had thought that it would take a week at most to make a decision, but it's been three weeks now. In fact, they've filed an appeal citing the priority for the boy to leave the Morris home, but the response received was firm: there's still time.
"Don't worry, not many people come at this hour, we can stay on the court a little longer," Leah approaches her girlfriend and, after giving her a kiss on the lips, studies her face carefully. "How are you?"
Emily makes a face with her lips. It's not typical of her to say she feels somewhat suffocated, but thanks to the sessions with her therapist, she's learning to release what she carries inside, what overwhelms her.
"Not very well, honestly," she says and drops her gym bag on one of the benches on the court. "I'm a little stressed, though today I feel somewhat better."
Leah knows. The previous week, Emily, with her eternal clumsiness, knocked over the coffee table Leah has in her living room. She fell to the floor and, additionally, a small vase on the wooden surface shattered into pieces. Emily cried inconsolably, promising she would travel that same week to Puerto Rico to buy the piece—Leah acquired it in that country during one of her getaways—and also tried to pay her with all the cash she had at that moment, though twelve dollars were far from covering its price. The tennis player consoled her, made sure she hadn't hurt herself, and convinced Emily to stop searching on her phone for plane tickets to go buy the darned vase. They talked at length and the lawyer began to relax. Leah Walker is sure that she only needs a response to the custody application and to close the case she's handling for Emily to relieve all that distress.
"We could go to the spa with Theresa this afternoon," Leah suggests while hugging her. "It'll help you feel better; that woman has magic hands."
