The Wrong Harmony

eleven.

"The next case is the custodial battle for the custody of Harmony Sobeida Lovato-Valderrama. The father, Wilmer Eduardo Valderrama wants full custody and does not want to allow Demetria Devonne Lovato, the mother, visitation rights," the presiding officer handed the judge the case files and discreetly rolled her eyes at the names. Of course she always got the celebrity cases and each one was the same. Fame had torn them apart and left a child in the middle and both parents thought they could take care of the child better than the other one because their career allowed them to have more time with the child or they didn't have to travel as much. As always, the judge was sympathetic towards the child, which was a little girl named Harmony who was sitting on her mom's side of the court with a stuffed polar bear in her arms and a frown embedded on her lips. It was a shame that she was so young and going through all of this. It was something that she would never forget.

"Mr. Valderrama...you're still married to this woman, Demetria. Why do you want full custody of your child?" She questioned and the handsome Latin man cleared his throat and fixed his tie.

"I love Demi with everything that I am and everything that I will ever be but she is not fit to take care of our daughter. She has been through a rehabilitation center before and I know she hated it, but for the sake of our daughter and what's left of our marriage, she needs to go back. I'm just trying to be a good husband and a good father," Wilmer explained, and the judge nodded at his honest answer.

"A good husband and a good father? By sending me back to the place that I hated the most and taking my daughter away from me?" Demetria, the mother, hissed back with a defiant roll of her eyes. They were obviously a young couple in the early years of their relationship. They obviously both needed to grow up a little bit more for the child on the second row with the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"You sold our-"

"It was an accident, Wilmer! I made a huge mistake! Don't you dare sit over there and try to act like a saint!"

"Enough!" The judge banged the gravel and Wilmer and Demi instantly straightened up.

"Demetria Lovato, I am making it mandatory that you spend at least three months in a rehabilitation center while I grant Wilmer Valderrama full custodial rights over Harmony Lovato-Valderrama. Once you complete the required treatment, you may see your daughter again and petition for your custodial rights back," Demi was near tears as their lawyers began to pack their things up.

"But for both of you, if you wanna salvage your relationship, especially for the sake of that little girl, you need to grow up. Go to counseling. Spend some time apart. Go on a vacation. Do something. You obviously love each other but you need to get over yourselves in order to grow together. Case dismissed."

As promised, a first class UPS box was sitting on the porch on Tuesday morning and as soon as Harmony saw the postman she was down the stairs and opening the door. She briefly thanked the postman before grabbing the box, closing the door, and ripping it open with her bare hands. No one was home yet because her mom had left after dropping her off and Trey was off somewhere with Lyric.

Inside of the box was her phone, her car keys, and her wallet. There was also a letter from her dad but she crumpled it up and tossed it to the side because she was still upset with him. Whatever he needed to say to her he could say it to her face while verbally apologizing for how he talked to her.

Harmony walked to the small mud room that led to the six car garage to hang her keys up on the hook where they rightfully belonged. After that, she grabbed a snack from the kitchen before going up to her room to prepare for bed.

The next day Harmony ran down the stairs after getting ready for school. It was the middle of the week so she had lazily dressed in a khaki mini skirt with her uniform polo shirt and a burgundy cardigan. She walked to the mud room and searched for the keys to her Mercedes G Class but couldn't find them and she definitely hadn't taken them upstairs.