Page 54 of Say You're Mine

I nod, the motion mechanical, even as everything in me screams to fight, to demand my rightful place at my husband's side. But I can't be selfish, not now. June needs help, real help, and if Sarah is the one who can give it to him...

"Okay," I whisper, the word feeling like broken glass in my mouth. "Okay. I understand."

Natalie pulls me into a hug, her arms strong and steady around me. "It's going to be alright, Cara. June is a fighter. He's going to come back to you, to both of you. You just have to have faith."

Faith. It feels like a foreign concept, a distant dream in the face of so much despair. But I cling to it anyway, to the stubborn, foolish hope that love will conquer all, that our story will have a happy ending.

The days that follow are a special kind of torture, a waking nightmare of helplessness and fear. I'm banned from seeing June, from even being in the same wing of the house as him. Judith says it's for my own safety, for the baby's, but each hour apart feels like an eternity, an unscalable wall separating me from my heart.

I try to distract myself, to focus on the small joys still left to me - the fluttering of life beneath my skin, the unwavering support of Natalie and Judith, the knowledge that somewhere, not far away, June is fighting his way back to me.

But the worry is a constant companion, a leaden weight in my chest that makes every breath a struggle. I'm plagued by visions of June in pain, June afraid, June sinking so deep into the quicksand of his own mind that even Sarah can't pull him out.

It's on one such day, as I'm lost in a spiral of my own dark imaginings, that the summons comes.

"Elaine's filed an emergency petition," Judith tells me, her voice tight with barely suppressed rage. "She's claiming that both parents mental state makes him unfit to parent, that the baby would be in danger if left in his care."

"That's insane," I spit, my hands curling into fists at my sides. "June would never, ever hurt our child. He'd cut off his own arm first."

"I know that," Judith soothes, laying a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Anyone who's seen him with you, heard him talk about the baby... they'd know it, too. But Elaine... she's twisting the truth, painting him as some kind of monster. And with his history, with the state he's in now..."

She trails off, but she doesn't need to finish. I can see it all too clearly - Elaine in front of a judge, crocodile tears streaming down her face as she spins a tale of a unstable, violent man, a danger to himself and others. Next to that, what chance do we have?

"The hearing's tomorrow," Judith says, her tone turning brisk, businesslike. "Dante's lawyers will be there, of course, but Cara... you need to prepare yourself. Elaine's going to fight dirty, and she's got the money and the influence to make a lot of baseless accusations stick."

I nod, already feeling the familiar cloak of dread settle over my shoulders. I've been through this before, this sickening deja vu of legal battles and character assassination. But that was different. That was when it was just June on the line, not our child.

Our child. The thought is a lightning bolt, a call to arms. This is no longer just about me, about the love June and I share. This is about family, about the tiny, innocent life depending on us for protection. And I'll be damned if I let Elaine get her poisonous claws anywhere near our baby.

"Let her come," I say, my voice ringing with a conviction I didn't know I possessed. "Let her spin her tales and cast her aspersions. She has no idea who she's messing with."

Judith's grin is fierce, proud, a slash of approval across her careworn face. "There's my girl. There's the Cara Briers who looked the Devil in the eye and told him to screw himself."

I snort, some of the tension easing from my knotted muscles. "I think you're confusing me with you, Judith. I seem to recall you telling Elaine where she could stick her settlement offer, back in the day."

"Like sister, like sister," Judith quips, slinging an arm around my shoulders. "The Deveaux boys sure know how to pick 'em, I'll say that."

The mention of June, casual as it is, sobers me. Judith must feel me stiffen, because she turns to face me head on, her expression serious.

"He's going to be okay, Cara," she says, quiet but certain. "I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but June... he's the strongest person I've ever met. He clawed his way back to you once before, and he'll do it again. You just have to keep the faith."

"I'm trying," I whisper, blinking back the sudden sting of tears. "It's just... it's so hard, Judith. Being apart from him, not being able to help, to even see him... it's killing me."

"I know," Judith murmurs, pulling me into a hug. "I know it is. But you're not alone, Cara. You have me, you have Natalie, you have a whole army of people ready to go to war for you and June and my grandbaby. Lean on us. Let us be your strength, just for a little while."

I sink into her embrace, letting her love, her certainty, wash over me like a balm. She's right. I'm not alone. I have a family, a team, a goddamn battalion ready to fight tooth and nail for what's ours.

And tomorrow, when I walk into that courtroom, when I face down Elaine and her vitriol...

They'll be right there beside me, an unbreakable phalanx of support and defiance.

The courtroom is a sea of chaos, a maelstrom of flashing cameras and shouted questions. Journalists jostle for position, thrusting microphones and recorders towards me as I make my way up the steps, Judith and Natalie flanking me like guardian angels.

"Cara! Cara, is it true that your husband's been declared mentally unfit?"

"Miss Briers, how do you respond to claims that you're unfit to be a mother?"

I grit my teeth, keeping my eyes fixed straight ahead. Dante's legal team has warned me against engaging with the press, against giving Elaine any more ammunition than she already has. But God, it's hard, biting my tongue as they hurl accusations and insinuations like stones.

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