Chapter 20
Their food came, and Micah said a prayer of thanks.
Then Naomi lifted her sandwich and looked at him over it. “Okay. I’ve been patient enough. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?”
Micah set down his spoon before he even took the first bite. He’d been turning over how to say this since he got the call from the federal liaison.
“I wanted to let you know something about Richard,” he started. “Word got back to him about his baby being born.”
Naomi’s eyebrows shot up. “I suspected it would eventually. How did he find out?”
“Hard to say for certain. He has contacts everywhere, and a man like that doesn’t lose his network just because he’s behind bars.
” Micah paused. “What I do know is that he got his attorney involved. When Sissy didn’t tell him their baby had been born herself, he got suspicious.
I think he’s turning on her. He demanded a paternity test.”
Micah watched the color shift beneath Naomi’s skin. Watched the way her hand went still on the sandwich. The way she stopped chewing.
“A paternity test,” she repeated.
“Sissy didn’t name him on the birth certificate—perhaps as a way of shielding the baby from Richard’s family instead of Richard.
” He met her eyes. “But you and I both know how Richard operates. He’s not the kind of man who lets something like this go without answers.
Sissy might think she loves Richard, but she’s in way over her head in this situation. ”
Naomi set her sandwich down. Her eyes were fixed on a point somewhere past his shoulder. But Micah saw her mind working, saw how she was turning this news over and testing it from different angles.
“So he doesn’t know for certain that the baby is really his,” she said.
“Correct.” Micah picked up his spoon again, not because he was hungry but because he needed something to do with his hands.
“But if the test confirms he’s the father, he’ll have legal standing.
Even from behind bars, he could have his attorney file motions.
He could request that a family member be given custody or visitation rights.
His mother. His brother.” He paused. “Obviously he can’t get custody himself while he’s incarcerated.
But he can make your life a nightmare trying to put Grace with someone who will do what he wants. ”
Her expression tightened. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“I didn’t think you would.”
“How long would a test take? If it’s court-ordered?”
“Weeks, most likely. Maybe longer, given that he’s incarcerated.” He met her gaze. “I wanted to be sure before I said anything to you. I didn’t want to bring you something I couldn’t back up.”
When Naomi looked up at him, something in her expression had shifted. The fear was there, but it wasn’t what was on top. What was on top was something harder, sharper.
She held his gaze. Then she picked up her sandwich and took another bite.
Something about the way she did it—her jaw set, her eyes forward—confirmed to him that Naomi wouldn’t let this one go without a fight.
Naomi turned the words over in her mind the way she used to turn over numbers. She looked for the angle, the weak spot, the place where something didn’t add up.
Richard knew about Grace.
She knew the day would probably come. But she hadn’t expected it so soon.
The café buzzed around her. Someone’s chair scraped back. Dishes and silverware clinked.
But all the noises felt far away, like she was hearing everything through water.
“Hey.” Micah’s voice sounded quiet, close.
She looked up.
He studied her the way he always did—quietly, patiently.
Gio would have been talking by now. Explaining what she should do, how she should feel about it, what the logical next step was.
Micah just waited. He let her find her own footing. And she appreciated that.
She wrapped her hands around her tea again. The warmth seeped into her palms, but it didn’t reach the cold spot in her chest.
“Could Richard’s family actually take her?” The question came out before she’d fully grasped the implications.
Micah leaned back. “If anyone on his side wanted to make a claim, the court would have to consider it. Blood relatives usually get first priority.”
The cold spot spread.
Naomi thought about Richard’s family. His mother, Linda, who’d smiled at her at every family gathering and said nothing when Richard’s moods turned dark. His brother, Dale, who’d looked the other way so often it became its own kind of complicity.
They’d chosen a side. Richard’s side. All of them. Every single one.
She knew it was mostly out of family loyalty. But loyalty shouldn’t be more important than someone’s safety and well-being.
“They’re not safe,” Naomi said.
“What do you mean?” Micah tilted his head as he waited for her answer.
“Richard’s family.” She set the tea down. “They were on his side. Through all of it—through what he did to Sarah, through her death, through the trial. They stood up for him. They defended him. They turned a blind eye to the evidence.”
“I know,” he reminded her. “I was there.”
The words settled between them, quiet but weighted.
Naomi looked at him—really looked at him—and felt something shift in her chest.
She’d seen him at the trial. Watched him take the stand, calm and unshakable, while Richard’s attorney tried to tear apart his testimony piece by piece.
Micah hadn’t flinched. Hadn’t gotten defensive. He’d just answered every question with the same steady precision, presenting the evidence exactly as he’d found it.
When Richard’s family had filled the courtroom—sitting in the front row behind the defense table, making a show of their support—Micah had faced them and testified. Even when it made him the villain in their eyes. Even when they’d glared at him with open hostility every single day of the trial.
He’d done it because it was his job. Because it was the right thing to do.
Not because it was easy. Not because it would win him friends. But because Sarah had deserved someone who wouldn’t look away.
Naomi’s throat tightened. “Thank you. For that. For . . . everything you did for Sarah. I don’t think I ever said that.”
Micah’s expression didn’t change, but something in his eyes softened. “You don’t have to thank me for doing my job.”
“It was more than that.” She held his gaze. “You could have let it go. A lot of people assumed it was an accident. But you didn’t.”
He was quiet a moment, and she thought he might deflect again, brush it off the way he always did.
Instead, he just nodded once. “No. I didn’t.”