A Marriage Contract

Chapter 45

Eliza's POV-

We all sat in the small cafeteria of the court. Everyone was absolutely quite. Lily was still holding on tight to Vincent. Even though she had stopped crying, she wasn't ready to let go off of him.

"That was something," Miles broke the silence.

"Yeah," Roman let out a humorless laugh.

"Hey Eliza, can I ask you something?" April asked.

"Go ahead," I said.

"Did you by any chance know already about this will and recordings?" All the eyes turned to me.

"Don't ask her stupid questions, how could she have known anything about any of this?" Miles asked April with an annoyed tone.

"April's right, I did know about this before," I said.

"Since when? And how?" Roman asked.

"Yesterday. The reason why Lily was lost that day and my attention wasn't on her was because of this. When we were buying ice creams Jacob came from behind me and handed me a note to meet him at Cafe Alera the next day. In that split second Lily went to the park. The next day I went to meet Jacob and I found out about it." I explained to them.

"Why did you not tell me about it?" Vincent turned to me. It was clear that he was still angry about the recordings and the will.

"Firstly, because you and I weren't exactly on the same page, and after I sent them to Nigel as evidence he told me not to tell you because he knew that you wouldn't stay quiet after that and to avoid any legal action against you so I kept quiet," I said.

Vincent just nodded at that.

"How did you know that Eliza already knows about this?" Miles turned to April suspiciously.

"I am a lawyer, Bates. I observe everyone's body language." April said.

"Hey, guys. We need to get back to the courtroom." Roman stood up and we all did too. Everyone walked ahead but I stopped Lily and Vincent behind.

"What happened?" Vincent asked. I signaled him to stay quiet for a moment.

"Lily," I softly placed my hand on her back.

"Yes?" She answered with a really small voice.

"Will you listen to what I have to say?" I asked. She nodded and slowly looked at me.

"I want to you listen to me carefully, okay?" I caressed her head. "No matter what happens in there and no matter what anyone says, you have to remember that your mommy and Appa love you more than the whole world. We won't let anyone take you away from us. Right, Vincent?"

"Not in a hundred million years." He kissed her forehead.

"Promise me, you will not leave me." She held out her pinky finger.

"We promise," I whispered to her. Stepping forward I hugged my daughter. The fear that I would lose her made a place in my heart and mind. I held her close for the fear that if I leave her she'll go away. Vincent's hand slowly wrapped around me and Lily.

We stayed in the hug for some time, I was the first one to pull back. "Let's go in and win this."

As I stepped back into the courtroom the first words I heard were "Mama". I looked at my son who was smiling and showing one small tooth which was still coming. That little boy was completely oblivious to what was happening around him.

I walked over to him and picked him up, "I love you so much, my baby." When I looked up I saw Celestine glaring at me so, I returned the same look back to her.