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I know he has no real case against me.

I know this is a waste of everyone’s time—including the court’s.

And yet as I walk into the courtroom a week later, I’m terrified.

Harper wants to stay with me. She belongs with me—her real father. I don’t know why Callahan is fighting this fight other than to try to squeeze money out of me.

It makes no sense to me.

Still, beads of sweat form on my forehead as Victoria takes Harper’s hand and they wait in the lobby since my father informed me Harper should not be in the courtroom. If the judge wants to ask her questions, she’ll do so privately.

I take a seat next to my father, and I wipe my forehead with a tissue on the table as a knot forms in my stomach. I spotted my mother in here along with Victoria’s mom and dad, too.

People showed up to support me. To support us . These people know my daughter belongs with me.

I know I’m right. I know she’ll go home with me.

Yet a tiny voice in the back of my mind can’t help but ask what if .

What if she doesn’t go home with me?

What if Callahan wins?

What if the judge agrees that I’m unfit to raise my daughter?

What if Harper changes her mind today and tells the judge she doesn’t want to be with me?

I’ve never been so scared in my entire life.

Getting sent away to live by myself at age twelve has nothing on the feelings coursing through me right now.

I’m projecting a confidence I’m not feeling.

I love that little girl with a sort of love I never knew existed, and I will always want what’s best for her. The Callahan family is not it.

I can’t imagine them winning and her going to live with them and being happy, and that’s what tears at my soul.

They can’t win.

The judge walks into the courtroom, her expression stern and giving nothing away. We all rise for her honor, and she tells us to sit.

“This hearing is to determine custody of Harper Randall,” the judge says. She reads through the formalities, and I try to focus on what she’s saying, and I can’t help but think of my daughter’s face as I walked into the courtroom and she stood outside it.

She looked as scared as I feel.

Victoria was clutching her hand tightly, and she looked terrified, too.

This is horrible, and it’s all at the hand of someone who has literally zero business being here.

Callahan’s lawyer is his brother-in-law, and he’s a slimy character who probably told him he’d be able to squeeze some cash out of the famous football player thanks to his connection to the little girl.

“Let’s hear from the petitioner first,” the judge says, and Jerry takes the stand as his lawyer stands in front of the judge.

“Your Honor, my client believes Mr. Woods is unfit to raise Miss Randall due to his criminal history.”

My chest aches. I should’ve known they’d hammer my recent mistakes first. I should’ve known doing something as fucking dumb as violating that douchebag’s property would be brought up in the most important trial I’d ever face.

I swallow thickly as I keep my eyes down on the table in front of me.

Jerry starts blathering some bullshit about how he’s known her since she was born, how he’s loved her and always been there for her.

I very nearly stand and blurt how this asshole hasn’t been there a goddamn single day for my child since she moved to Vegas with me, but my father must sense my rising anger as he places a hand on my arm to calm me.

The judge seems to be listening carefully, and when Callahan’s lawyer finishes his argument, the judge nods and dismisses him from the stand.

“Next we’d like to hear from Mr. Woods. Do you have anything to add?” she asks.

I nod, and I stand to be sworn in. My dad moves to stand, too, but I shake my head.

I don’t want this fight full of lawyers. I want to speak from my heart.

My dad’s brows dip, and he doesn’t sit, but he also doesn’t move toward me.

I glance out at the small group gathered, and Victoria is sitting in here now. My mother is no longer in the room, so I assume she went out to sit with Harper and switched places with my wife.

“Your Honor, I’d like to begin by saying I know I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve worked hard to turn my life around to be a good person, a good dad…a good human. Before Harper came into my life, I was a pro football player who didn’t need anyone or anything else. And then along came this little girl who was terrified after a horrific tragedy, and she immediately took center stage in my life. Over the last five months, we’ve had our ups and downs, but I will never stop making sacrifices to do what’s best for her, and I know that staying with me is what’s best. I know this with every fiber of my being. I’ve never known a love like what I feel for her, and it’s my duty to protect her at all costs. Sending her to live with someone who was in the right place at the right time in the most tragic of situations wouldn’t be the best thing for her. Keeping her with her one surviving biological parent is. It’s what her mother wanted, and it’s what’s allowed me to turn my life around. It’s what’s allowed me to open myself up to love and at the same time give Harper the most wonderful female adult role model I’ve ever known.”

My eyes find Victoria, and she brushes away a tear as I continue.

“It’s what allowed me to find the type of stability I’ve never really known in my own life. It’s why I’m missing practice today—because she comes first over everything. And it takes a father’s love to treat his daughter that way…not some friend’s dad. Not some virtual stranger. Not some old neighbor. It takes me . If you’re so inclined, Harper has told me she’d be willing to tell you that herself, though I wouldn’t want to subject her to that if it’s not absolutely necessary. Thank you for your time.”

As I speak, I notice something change in the judge’s expression. She’s considering my words carefully, and the stone-cold sternness seems to shift into something just a little softer.

I glance over at Callahan and his lawyer, and they both look furious.

“He has a criminal record!” Callahan’s lawyer argues. “He has no business being responsible for a child!”

The judge’s eyes flick to Callahan’s lawyer with a bit of distaste and then back to me before looking out over the courtroom. “Do we have any other witnesses?”

To my complete and utter shock, Victoria stands. “Your Honor, I’d like to be a character witness for Mr. Woods.”

The judge nods, and I step down as she’s sworn in.

“Go ahead,” the judge says.

Her voice trembles as she begins her testimony. “I’m Victoria Hartley…uh, Victoria Woods .” Her eyes dart over to mine, and a frisson of fear darts up my spine. “I first met Harper in March when I became her reading teacher. We immediately diagnosed a reading disorder, yet that didn’t stop Harper from thriving at Stratford Elementary when she moved schools after moving in with Travis…um, I mean with Mr. Woods.”

She pauses as her eyes meet mine again, and they stay on mine as she speaks from the heart.

“Her father supported her by helping her read, and buying her ability-appropriate books, and working with her to ensure she had a tutoring program set up to help her reach the potential we all knew she had. He’s a wonderful father, and if you know anything about how he was six months ago versus five months ago, he’s a new person. The one criminal act he was arrested for was my fault. My ex-boyfriend had kept an important memento of mine, and Travis got it back for me. My ex decided to press ridiculous charges, and Travis never should’ve gotten in trouble for that. He’s a hero. He’s dedicated to his little girl. He’d do anything for her. He's loving and caring, and he’s an adult that Harper immediately trusted the moment she met him. They have a sort of unbreakable, impenetrable bond that only daddies and daughters can have. It’s been my honor to watch the two of them grow together into a family, and I can’t say enough about how good he is with her.”

She finally looks away from me and turns toward the judge, and my chest feels like it’s cracking in two. I can’t believe she’s saying the things she is about me.

Tears prick behind my eyes. I can feel the love in here. I can feel how she feels about me. I can feel her passion.

And I can’t believe it’s over. I can’t quite make the two thoughts meet in the middle. It just doesn’t make any sense.

“Ripping Harper out of the arms of the father who loves her and provides for her and cares for her the way Travis does would be a horrific mistake, your Honor.”

The judge nods. “Thank you, Ms. Hartley.” Victoria steps down, and the judge flips through some paperwork. “I have additional character witnesses here for both parties which I’ve already reviewed, but I have to be honest with you. After reviewing this case and listening to both sides here today, I can see how hard Mr. Woods has worked to turn his life around after Harper came into it. He seems to be both a positive role model and a wonderful influence on the child’s life. He’s worked hard to help her adjust after the most tragic thing a child could face. Barring the recent media attention, I can’t in good faith take this little girl from her father. Mr. Callahan’s petition for custody is denied, and I find Mr. Woods fit to raise his child. Case dismissed.”

The courtroom erupts in noise—some cheers and some outcries as my father claps me on the back. I turn toward him to hug him as reality plows into me.

I’m fit to raise my daughter.

Of fucking course I am. She’s mine, and she belongs with me.

“Congratulations, son. I’m so proud of you,” my father says, and the tears that pricked behind my eyes before start to fall.

We rise as the judge exits, and then I ignore Callahan and run up the aisle and out the courtroom to give my daughter the news.

She knows as soon as she sees the wide smile on my face.

I don’t have to say a damn word.

She lets go of my mother’s hand then stands and races over to me. She leaps into my arms as tears stream down her face, and I squeeze her tightly to me as we both cry.

I knew I had found my place in this world the moment I became a real father to this beautiful and perfect little girl who has brought me so much joy. Together we’ll face anything that comes our way.

I want to shout from the rooftops and celebrate the joy, but it’s all so short-lived.

Victoria steps up behind her, and she reaches over to hug me, too. It’s a Harper sandwich as Victoria’s arms come around my shoulders. “Congratulations,” she says. “I’m so happy for the two of you.”

And it’s then that I’m reminded now that the court case is over, Victoria is going to file the papers.

It’s over.

Both the court case and my marriage.

I’m both overjoyed and devastated at the same time.

I guess now we go home and attempt to move forward.