Silvia covered her mouth.
Mikhail slammed his hand on the table.
“This is insane!”
The judge raised his voice.
“Order in the courtroom!”
Emilia moved.
I began rocking her gently.
She was so small.
And all around her, adults were shouting, arguing, and trying to decide whether she had a right to exist.
“I don’t owe you an explanation for every step of my personal life,” I said. “But I owe you the truth because you are my children. And the truth is that I wasn’t deceived. I wasn’t forced. I wasn’t confused. I made this decision after months of medical consultations, conversations with Todor, lawyers, and specialists.”
“You’re seventy-nine!” Mikhail shouted.
“Yes.”
“She’ll be twenty when you’re almost a hundred!”
“And you’ll be fifty-three when she’s twenty. That doesn’t make you incapable of being her brother.”
He stared at me.
“I’m not her brother.”
“By blood, you are.”
“That means nothing.”
Tears ran down my face.
