This Time Neither of Us Wanted Our Daughter

Delia's POV

Elliot Knox and I were in court fighting over custody of our daughter.

In my first life, when the judge asked who she wanted to live with, I heard her thoughts.

Mom looks so sad. Cordelia wants to stay with Mom...

My eyes welled up right there. I signed away half of everything we owned and walked away with nothing else, just to keep her with me.

Three months after I got custody, my sweet, obedient daughter handed the FBI a forged tax fraud document herself.

I spent years in prison with everyone in there gunning for me, and I died coughing up blood on a snowy winter night.

In my second life, I wasn't about to risk it again. I gave custody to Elliot instead.

A few years later, he ended up in the hospital, gravely ill. By the time I got there, he was barely hanging on. He told me:

"It was Cordelia... she's been poisoning my medication..."

I opened my eyes again and found myself back in that courtroom.

That same childish voice went off in my head right on cue, word for word identical to the last two times.

But this time, I looked up and saw Elliot across from me, clearly reborn too, his face full of the same shock and confusion.

So which one of us does she actually want?

"Ms. Hollis, Mr. Knox, the court needs your final decision on custody of your daughter, Cordelia Knox."

The judge's voice pulled me back. My eyes snapped open and I sat there catching my breath, staring at a scene that felt both familiar and completely foreign.

I'd been reborn. I was back at the turning point of my entire life, sitting in this custody hearing.

In my first life, I'd given up half of everything Elliot and I owned and walked away with nothing else, all to win custody of Cordelia. I thought I was protecting the child I'd carried for nine months. But look how that turned out.

Three months after I got custody, my sweet, obedient daughter handed the FBI a forged tax fraud document herself.

People in prison went out of their way to make my life hell, and I died coughing blood on a snowy winter night.

In my second life, I gave up custody to Elliot instead. When Cordelia turned fifteen, he suddenly ended up in the hospital, deathly sick.

By the time I got there, he had next to nothing left in him. He grabbed my wrist and used the last of his strength to whisper in my ear:

"It was Cordelia... she's been poisoning my medication..."

"Ms. Hollis?" The judge's voice snapped me back to the present. "Do you intend to pursue custody of Cordelia Knox?"

Right as I opened my mouth to answer, a young voice suddenly cut through my head.

Mom looks so sad. Cordelia wants to stay with Mom... but, but if I go with Mom, Dad will be all alone too. Cordelia doesn't want Mom and Dad to split up...

My whole body locked up.

That heartbreaking little voice was exactly what made me lose my mind in my first life, what made me fight for her without thinking twice.

I'd believed it was some kind of mother-daughter miracle, proof from the universe of how much my daughter loved me.

Hearing it now, all I felt was my scalp crawling.

I took a breath, forced myself calm, and said, "I'm not."

"I'm giving up custody of Cordelia. I work too much to give her the attention she needs. I think she'll be better off with Mr. Knox."

The room erupted.

Whispers broke out across the gallery.

"What is going on? Weren't they fighting tooth and nail over her yesterday?"

"That's cold. Dumping your own kid just so you can go live it up?"

"Poor thing..."

I ignored all of it and turned to look at Elliot, and froze.

His face had gone paler than mine. Sweat covered his forehead, and his eyes, usually so composed, were wide with something close to panic.

The judge knocked the gavel and turned to him. "Mr. Knox, since the mother is voluntarily relinquishing custody, are you prepared to take on sole custody of Cordelia?"

Elliot flinched like he'd been shocked and blurted out, "No. I'm not taking her. There's no way I'm raising her."

He said it so flatly, like she wasn't the daughter he'd doted on for ten years.

That's when I knew. He'd come back too.

The courtroom went dead silent for a second, then erupted ten times louder than before.

Even the judge looked stunned. In all her years on the bench, she'd probably never seen a wealthy couple shove their own kid back and forth like a hot potato, both of them dead set on it.

Cordelia sat frozen in her seat, like she couldn't process what was happening, then burst into tears.

What's happening? Why don't Mom and Dad want Cordelia anymore? Grandma Wanda said if I just kept thinking it, they'd fight over me...

That voice again, ringing through my head.

I bit down hard on my lip and forced my eyes away from her, back to Elliot.

We just stared at each other.

In his eyes I saw exactly what I probably looked like too, someone who'd barely made it out alive.

"Order! Order!" The judge slammed the gavel down, furious. "Given how volatile both of you are right now, and this sudden reversal on custody of a minor, this court is in recess. Both parties, report to the conference room immediately for mediation."