Rose Bridges

Forty five

Romero

"Just be calm. You're going to be fine. Mariana is not going anywhere," Carmen's mother reassures us as we sit in her office after going over everything.

Avó anxiously nods and bounces Mariana gently on her lap.

Tia Vitoria looks out the window, lost in the thought.

Karine bites her thumb nail as she stares at her shoes.

My mouth feels dry.

Carmen's mother looks at all of us and sucks in a breath before exhaling. "Listen," she begins.

Everyone looks to her.

She adjusts her posture and sits there with folded hands. "I think we have a solid case here." A serious expression is on her face. "The judge is a young woman with an empathetic way of deciding these kind of situations. Therefore how that information is presented is important so she'll process it in a way where she will without-a-doubt keep you with full custody." She looks to avó.

She the looks to Karine and I. "Your mother's only solid case that I could think of is her being stable at this point in life." She shrugs. "Being stable at the moment and over a long period of time is helpful for her, but in the end it's not something that has all the weight in deciding whether she's fit to take care of Mariana." Her eyes dart to Mariana who is currently laying half asleep on avó's lap.

My leg bounces up and down slightly.

"Mariana doesn't know her mother, she thinks that you're her mother." She points to avó. "And in reality, you are. So why would a judge take away a little girl from being with the only family she's ever known and give her the trauma of being ripped away and handed off to someone who is practically a stranger?"

Avó nods and runs a soothing hand over Mariana's blonde curls.

"As long as we get the judge to overlook the fact that she's Mariana's mother and that she's quote-on-quote 'stable'," she glances to me. "Then we should be good."

We all stay quiet.

"Just.." she starts before reaching out and grabbing tia Victoria's hand. "Just tell the judge your testimonies as we went over, and I'll argue the rest." She looks to me and Karine. "And you two, just be strong up there and tell that judge what she as a sympathetic young woman wants to hear."

Karine swallows nervously and nods.

Ms. Flores's eyes meet mine and I wordlessly nod.

She gives all of us a knowing look and then leans back in her chair.

We say our thank you's and goodbye's as we all pile out the room to head home.

I stop at the doorway as I'm the last one out.

Turning around, I look back to her as she writes on her notepad.

"If for some reason the judge picks my mom, you'll tell them what I told you, right?" I ask.

She looks up and meets my eyes. "From the things you and your sister are going to be saying, I have a feeling that information will not be needed to be presented to the judge."

I scratch the back of my neck. "But...but if...just promise me you'll use it?"

Her lips thin and she closes her eyes for a brief moment before sighing. "You have a good day now Romero."

I stand there still, letting out a shaky breath. "Would you be okay with me going to see Carmen?"

She looks back up to me from her notepad. I can tell she's thinking really hard about something before opening her mouth to answer.