never had much of a poker face. When I saw Naomi in the flesh for the first time, I tried to contain my shock, but I’m not sure it worked. In that moment I knew beyond any doubt that there was no longer any need for a DNA profile. It was as clear as the nose on my face—and the nose on her face as well. Naomi looked so much like my daughter, Kelly, and like me by extension that it took my breath away. Of the two, Naomi was fifteen years younger, but she appeared to be much older. Drug use and years of rough living will do that to you.
“Have a seat,” Rachel invited. “This is Mr. Beaumont and his dog, Lucy.”
I bumbled to my feet, hand extended. When Naomi’s hand met mine, the skin of her palm was dry and rough to the touch. Her fingernails were ragged and grimy, and her limp handshake was halfhearted at best. Her brunette hair, dull and lusterless, had been chopped off in a ragged manner that hinted it was a DIY job, done with a dull scissors and possibly without benefit of a mirror. Her face was chapped and devoid of makeup. She looked haggard, worn, and unhappy, to say nothing of angry. She glowered at me as she took her seat.
At my feet Lucy stirred restlessly. I wondered if her keen sense of smell had somehow made a connection between Naomi’s scent and Athena’s. If dogs can be used to detect cancer cells these days, it wouldn’t surprise me if they could make a mother-and-child connection as well—or even the connection between a father and daughter. Or maybe Naomi’s anger was registering on Lucy’s threat-detection monitor.
“How come Alan sent a detective out looking for me?” Naomi demanded. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Referring to her father by his first name was a clear indication of disrespect. As for her not having done anything wrong? That wasn’t entirely true. From my point of view, abandoning a drug-addicted newborn in a hospital nursery seemed totally beyond the pale. But I wasn’t there to address the prickly philosophical differences between right and wrong. I was there to help Alan Dale, Athena, and maybe even my own newly discovered daughter. So I let her declaration of innocence pass without weighing in on it.
“Your father needs your help,” I said.
“Why?”
“He wants to take Athena back home to Texas.”
“What’s stopping him?” Naomi returned. “I left her at the hospital so Grandma could do just that—come get her. These days you’re supposed to be able to leave babies at safe places with no questions asked. That’s why I gave the hospital Grandma’s phone number—so she could come take Athena home.”
“I doubt you’ve been in touch with your grandmother recently,” I said. “She’s currently dealing with some serious health issues and is no longer able to travel. With her unable to come, your father dropped everything and showed up in her place. He’s spent more than a month looking after Athena in the neonatal unit at Children’s Hospital here in Seattle. Not only was Athena a preemie, she was also born with a serious addiction to methadone. She had to go through withdrawal before she could be released. That finally happened just this week.”
“Oh,” Naomi said. There was no acknowledgment that she’d known the baby would be born with an addiction problem and no hint of regret about it either, nor did she ask how Athena was doing now. “Well then,” Naomi added with a dismissive shrug. “He should take her back home with him now and be done with it. That’s what I wanted to have happen to begin with.”
“He can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because by abandoning Athena at Harborview, you turned her into a ward of the courts. Your father has been appointed to be her legal guardian, but only on a temporary basis. If it weren’t for him, she would already have been placed in foster care somewhere in the Seattle area. In order to take Athena home to Texas, that temporary guardianship needs to be made permanent. That can’t happen unless you relinquish your parental rights. That requires a legal document, one you’d have to sign, either in front of Athena’s social worker or before a judge.”
“Fine,” Naomi said. “Bring me the damned paperwork, and I’ll sign it right now. Somebody needs to take care of Athena. I sure as hell can’t.”
She had given a verbal agreement for the sign-over. Yay! That was a huge step in