“Thank you, Your Honor,” Noah began, his voice steady despite the weight of everyone’s gaze. “I want to start by saying that I hold no ill will toward Ms. Whitman. I understand that life is complex and that people make choices based on circumstances we can’t always comprehend.”
He paused, glanced at me, his eyes filled with quiet determination, then continued. “But I also want to talk about the past seventeen years and what they’ve meant to me.”
He took a breath, gathering his thoughts. “When I was abandoned, I was given a second chance. Not by a millionaire or someone with incredible wealth and status, but by a woman who had nothing more to offer than her love and her life. My mom—” he gestured toward me, “—she’s taught me what it means to care for someone beyond reason, to sacrifice, to give without expecting anything in return.”
