From The Day I Met You

43

Liam

"You look beautiful." I say as Gianna comes into our bedroom. She looks classy and professional yet stunning.

"Thank you. You look quite handsome yourself." She smiles and kisses my cheek.

We are about to go to court over custody of Charlotte. Something I definitely did not think I was going to do at the ripe age of 18. But it's something that needs to be done before anything else.

Last night me and Gianna had a conversation about whether we should wait until we are both done college. I'm busy with hockey and she's busy finding colleges to go to while also working but we decided that Charlotte is only getting older and we don't want her growing up having to move houses every week.

"Char!" Gianna calls Charlotte into our room and she comes running in with a huge grin.

"Wow you're such a beautiful little princesss." Gianna acts shocked as Charlotte spins in tiny circles, watching the pink floral dress poof up like a ballerina tutu.

"Are you ready to go?" I ask her.

We've prepared Char for this day, telling her truthfully how it could go. She could live with us but there is a chance she could end up with my father.

"I am." Charlotte holds Gianna and I's hand as we leave our house to get into the car.
-

"With all this information gathered, I have one final question." The judge turns her eyes to us.

We've been in the courthouse presenting both sides of the case. My father and mother explaining why she shouldn't live with us and why Charlotte should live with us. A major downfall of ours is we are only teenagers, which my parents and their lawyer brought up quite a lot.

But I feel like we are doing great. Sure we are young but we've given Charlotte the best possible life when she's with us.

"This question is for Charlotte." The judge zeroes in on Charlotte. Charlotte smiles happily at the judge and the judge smiles back.

"Charlotte, who would you like to live with?" I'm not sure if legally the judge can ask this, but she did. I had no question Charlotte would say us.

"I like Liam and Gianna. They make me very happy." She beams. I can tell it makes the judge very happy as well.

"What the fuck? You're asking a what, 3 year old?" My father has a sudden outburst and the judge looks over at him.

"Look at our bank statements, our card history, our net worth. We have everything to prove we have the money and are financially stable for Charlotte. They're only teenagers." He scoffs and rolls his eyes at the judge.

"I will take that into consideration. We will take our recess now and I will have your answer after." She bangs the gavel and leaves.

Talk about behavior, my father can't even hold himself quiet for that short span of time.

"I think that went really well." Gianna looks up at me with bright eyes full of hope. It makes me feel hopefull. I hug her and Charlotte who she's carrying.

"I really do hope so." I kiss Gi's forehead and I see my father come up to us.

"You don't get to pull shit on me like this. We will have custody of Charlotte." His teeth are bared like a dog as he speaks to me. I do nothing but smile and nod, as this seems to get him even more mad.

The recess ends and everyone is back in their chairs, sitting down waiting for the judge's verdict.

"My verdict for this case is, Charlotte will be living with Liam Harrison and Gianna Mendez." My father almost bursts out his seat but the judge shuts him up.

"The biological parents are deemed unfit to emotionally support Charlotte Harrison. Case closed" She bangs the gavel twice and exits.

I blink once. And then again. We won the case. We actually won the case.

I hug Gianna as tight as possible, smothering both her and Charlotte with many many kisses. Gianna's jumping up and down with excitment and so is Char. Charlotte will have a stable home growing up. I can't help but look over to my family.

My father has been vivid this whole time but my mom has stayed silent almost the whole time unless told to speak. My father's whole side of the family was supporting him and were equally as enraged as he was. My mom on the other hand had no family, she looked defeated.

"Hold Char for me Gi?" She looks up from smiling at Charlotte and finds me. As if reading my mind through my eyes she nods, knowing exactly what I'm going to do, swooping Charlotte up into her arms.

I then go over there to hug her and only her. My mother was with me through thick and thin even though she did get into drugs and alcohol now.

"Thank you mama." I embrace her, like the time I came home crying for the first and only time when I was 10 from falling off my bike. That's the first time I've called her mama in years.

"Why ever would you thank me? I've been horrible." She starts tearing up.

"For letting me have custody of your daughter. For raising me to be the man I am. And for being there for me no matter what. I know you've been horrible to me the past year but that doesn't erase the childhood you gave me. You supported me in everything and anything no matter if dad was on board or not. Motherly love is a different kind of love and can never be erased no matter how hard or bad it gets. I love you mama, thank you." I kiss her cheek and pull away.

"I'd do it all over again for you Liam. I'm so sorry I ruined our relationship because if the bad choices I made." She looks at me with solemn eyes, knowing we will not talk for a while after this.

Both my parents were allowed to say their goodbyes to their daughter, we all had mutual knowing Charlotte would not be in their abusive home or seeing them anytime soon until they got their shit together.

Aiden, Shelby, Shane, and Claire were all here supporting us with Gianna's parents along with Rikky and Marissa.

I go back to Gianna and spot everyone hugging her and Charlotte.

"We did it." I smile at her as I spin her around the waist.

"I told you everything was going to be okay." She winks at me and smiles.

The same smile I fell in love with 10 years ago.

A/N: ahhh!! That's the last chapter of this book! So sad, it took me about a year and a half almost two but we are done! Stay tuned for epilogue but thank you all for reading I love you guys<3