“What about Chloe?” Garrick asked. “Didn’t Randy’s family hire people to come after you for rights to see her?”
Grace’s entire face transformed, and it was as if light emanated from her golden skin. “Chloe belongs to my first husband. Matt was a wonderful man. Sweet and funny and generous,” the twinkle left her eyes, “and just as alone in the world as I was. I lost Matt to a freak pulmonary embolism when he was only twenty-five. Just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “His death sent me reeling. I was taking care of Chloe by myself; I was working two jobs, and I wasn’t sleeping. Then this guy comes along, and he seems steady and safe and friendly; he was a cop for goodness sake.”
Grace seemed to turn inward, her voice so soft it almost couldn’t be heard. “He could have been anything, though, truthfully. I wasn’t even close to thinking clearly; I know that now. I was deeply mourning Matt, and my decision-making skills were not intact. I let myself get sucked into Randy’s world, and he slowly morphed into this brutal, belittling person. It was so subtle,” lines marred her brow as she spoke, “I didn’t even know it was happening at first. And he very cleverly stayed away from Chloe.” Grace looked toward the living room, very likely studying Chloe’s profile. “I think he knew putting a finger on my child would snap me out of my fog. By the time I woke up from my stupor, I didn’t have much money of my own to speak of, and none of his buddies would take my abuse claims and turn them into charges. They just gave him ‘warnings’.” Red lines burned across Grace’s cheeks as she said that. “I started secretly saving every penny I could. I didn’t know what I was going to do, because he was still harassing and threatening me, but when he attacked that guy, I knew I had to run. I didn’t have nearly enough money to do me any good, but I knew this was my one chance to disappear, and I took it.”
Devlin’s head spun. “How in the hell did you make it?”
Grace shrugged. “When you finally look in the mirror and realize it’s potentially your very life on the line, and you’re about to have a second child depending on you, you just do it. I kept tabs and knew Randy hadn’t escaped the charges. He eventually got out on bail, but it took a while and he wasn’t allowed to leave the state. I didn’t trust that, though. I got into a mode of moving, always feeling like I needed to get us a bit farther away from him geographically. I even kept it up when he went to prison. Then we hit Redemption.” Her lips turned up at the edges. “Something about it felt right. My kids seemed to breathe easier. I felt less jumpy. Eventually I felt completely safe.” She turned to Garrick. “At least until you started getting vibes a few days ago.”
Garrick looked beaten too. “Christ, Grace, you should have told me. I would have moved in here with you in a shot.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered. Randy obviously spent his time in prison thinking about coming to get me. If he saw you living in the house, he just would have changed his strategy. He wouldn’t have given up wanting to grab me or kill me or ... or ... God knows what. If he’d been successful... If he’d hurt Chloe or Shawn.” She grabbed at Garrick’s arm as her face drained of all color. “What if Randy saw Shawn and figured out he’s his son?”
Garrick rubbed at the hand Grace had embedded in his forearm. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. If Randy cared about taking the boy, he would have attempted to grab Shawn before going for you. It doesn’t make sense to go for the adult first, who will fight back and likely create a scene. As a former cop, I’m sure Randy understood that. If he realized Shawn is his, I don’t think he cared.”
“I’d agree with that assessment,” Wyn added.
Grace took a deep breath, and then another. “Thank God.”
Wyn’s phone suddenly vibrated and bounced in a circle on the table. “Excuse me.” He tilted the device and looked at the screen. “That’s the station. I need to take this.”
Getting up again, Wyn put the phone to his ear and wandered into the kitchen. Devlin heard him say, “What’s up, Shue?” before pulling his focus off Wyn’s back and putting it on Grace and Garrick.
“You’re both doing great.” He reached out and squeezed their hands. “How are you feeling?”
Garrick turned his hand over and put his palm flat against Devlin’s, linking their fingers. “You were right about your friend,” he said. His mouth was still set in a hard line, but less so than when Devlin had come to him on the sidewalk a bit ago. “I can see in Wyn’s face that we can trust him. He has your back, which means he has ours too.”
“I think this must be what therapy feels like,” Grace said, her pitch still high. “I’ve never shared so much about my history at once.”
Devlin’s heart squeezed as he studied this woman who appeared to be the same age as himself. She’s been through so much. “I’m sorry about your
