“Don’t hate me but I kind of love that, we can call him Hammy for short or Rex depending on which one we decide to go with,” I tell him smiling and his body shakes as he starts to laugh.

The sound of his hilarity stirs the baby, and he pushes his feet and his hands out like he’s trying to get closer to the sound of his dad’s laughter, and feeling him move, Dayton slides his hand across my stomach to where his son is and just holds it there. At his touch our son stills like he recognizes his dad and tears fill my eyes. It’s such a surreal moment, because I know that Dayton can feel the love our son has for him and our son can feel his father’s love. The significance of that is not lost on me. It’s something that will forever be imprinted in my mind as one of the most beautiful moments in my life.

CHAPTER 23

Dayton

Staring out my office window with my phone to my ear I hold my breath as I listen to Charles’ lawyer tell me that he is taking the plea deal we offered weeks ago and that he will provide a full confession for the murder of Alice Groden.

When we presented our case to Judge Brown, he suggested that we offer a plea deal. He said that he believed our case was strong enough to go to trial, but he wanted to give the option to Charles, who is already serving a life sentence.

It left a bad taste in my mouth to even place the offer on the table, but with Alice’s sisters still believing that Greg had something to do with the murder, I knew that there was a chance we could lose and that Charles would get away with another crime.

Still, I never believed that he would take that offer. According to his lawyer, with Charles’ health going downhill the last few years, he’s turned his life over to God and wants a clear conscience.

I don’t care what his reason is, because the amount of relief I feel that Alice and her family will finally get justice is overwhelming. Her murder will no longer be categorized as unsolved, and her family might finally be able to heal.