Contents
Chapter 63
Overview
Naomi confesses she took a newborn from a drugged man’s car at a rest stop and raised him as her own. With her mother’s help, she secured formula, named him Theodore, and falsified a birth certificate listing Jeremy as the father. This revelation confirms Teddy’s abduction and Naomi’s deception.
Summary
Naomi, insisting she acted for Teddy’s sake, recounts first seeing a newborn crying in the backseat of a car at a St. Louis rest stop. A man lay passed out in the front with apparent drug paraphernalia. Fearing for the infant’s safety, Naomi unlocked the car, removed the baby and car seat, and drove to her mother’s house.
Overwhelmed by maternal instinct and her own infertility history, Naomi decided to keep the baby. Her mother bought formula and retrieved a bassinet, while questioning Naomi’s claim that she had secretly given birth.
When arranging a birth certificate, Naomi’s mother pressed for the father’s name. Seeking legitimacy and a better life for the child, Naomi provided the name of her respectable ex, Jeremy Roth, despite knowing he wasn’t the father.
They named the baby Theodore after Naomi’s father. Naomi resolves to approach Jeremy later, cementing the deception with the falsified document and setting the foundation for the ongoing custody and identity crisis.
Who Appears
- NaomiNarrates how she took a newborn from a drugged man’s car and falsified paternity paperwork.
- Naomi’s motherHelps Naomi care for the baby, buys formula, and pushes to list a father on the certificate.
- Theodore (Teddy)Newborn taken by Naomi; named and cared for as her son.
- Unknown passed-out manDrugged driver at the rest stop; abandoned infant in the backseat.
- Jeremy RothNaomi’s ex; falsely listed as Teddy’s father on the birth certificate.