CHAPTER TWO
The chime of his phone’s text alert drew Aiden McIntyre’s attention away from the large monitor sitting on his desk. He was revising a design that he and his team had developed, attempting to incorporate the modifications the client had asked for.
It was a frustrating, but also challenging, situation, given that they’d thought they were nearing the end of the project. Unfortunately, the client had recently decided they wanted some things changed, leaving them to scramble to please the man.
Picking up his phone, he got to his feet and arched his back to stretch it out as he read the message that had come in.
Mom: Hi darling! Hope your day is going well. Just a reminder that we’re getting fast food for dinner. Willow wants to make sure you don’t forget and work late.
Blowing out a long breath, Aiden stepped over to the window. He had, in fact, forgotten. However, there was no way he was going to miss out. Spending time with his niece and mom was a priority for him, so he made sure to leave work promptly, even if it meant he had to finish tasks at home.
I’ll be there. I plan to leave the office around five-thirty. Do you want to just meet at the restaurant?
Grateful for a bit of a break, he spent a few minutes messaging with his mom, sorting out the plans for their dinner date, then he returned to his desk. He hoped to get another solid hour of work in before he left to meet his mom and Willow.
He’d barely focused on his monitor when there was a knock on the door, then his assistant popped his head into the room.
“What’s up?” Aiden asked, leaning back in his chair.
Tyler crossed his arms and scowled at him. “You forgot, didn’t you?”
Aiden wracked his brain, then sat forward to grab his mouse and click it to bring up the calendar app on his monitor. “I have an appointment.”
“Yep. And she’s here.”
“She?”
“Miss Grace. She’s here for her appointment with you.”
Aiden frowned. “What is the appointment for?”
“She said she has a project she wanted to discuss with you.”
“Okay.” Aiden sighed heavily. So much for his plans for the last hour of his day. “Send her in.”
“Will do.”
Aiden turned off his monitor, then angled himself at his L-shaped desk to face the chairs on the opposite side. He pulled his tablet toward him and opened the app he used to take notes. Sliding the pen free, he set it next to the tablet, hoping the meeting wouldn’t take too long.
“Miss Grace,” Tyler said.
Aiden looked up, then froze in the process of getting to his feet. “Skylar?”
“Hello, Aiden,” she said as she stepped past Tyler into the office.
Tyler gave Aiden a questioning look but didn’t say anything before pulling the door closed behind him as he left the office.
Aiden was thrown back in time to when he had last seen Skylar, and it was hard to reconcile that distraught teen with the poised woman standing in front of him.
She wore a navy pencil skirt that reached her knees and had paired it with a lilac colored short-sleeved silk blouse that looked stunning with her dark hair and eyes. Hair that was sleekly pulled back from her face, and eyes that were made up to highlight them.
All in all, she looked like a businesswoman, and it made him think she might be there in a professional capacity. Whatever that could be.
Her expression remained serene as she stepped closer to his desk. “Thank you for fitting me into your schedule.”
“I had no idea it was you,” he said, the words coming out more harshly than he’d intended.
“Would you have agreed to see me if you had?” she asked, coming to a stop behind one of the chairs opposite him.
He considered that for a moment, then shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Emotion flitted across her face at his honest response, but Aiden couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
“It was important that I talk to you, so I couldn’t take the chance that you wouldn’t.”
“Why don’t you have a seat and tell me what’s going on?” he said, gesturing to the chair she stood behind.
He waited until she’d taken a seat, gracefully lowering herself into the chair, then crossing her legs, before he settled back into his own chair.
“I would rather not be here,” she said. “But I’ve been given no choice.”
“Has something happened to Cole?”
“No. This has to do with our… daughter.”
Shock locked Aiden’s breath in his lungs as he stared at his ex-girlfriend. Their daughter ? He was glad he was sitting down because he wasn’t sure that his legs would have held him up if he’d still been standing.
“Our what ?”
Skylar’s chin lifted and her shoulders pulled back. “You may have told me that I needed to get rid of it , but I chose to ignore your terrible directive. Seven months after that horrible day, I gave birth to a baby girl.”
“You really were pregnant?”
“What?” Skylar frowned at him, her eyes flashing with anger. “You thought I was lying ?”
Aiden shrugged. “You wouldn’t be the first woman who tried to hold on to an ex through a fake pregnancy.”
Skylar’s anger deepened, her brows drawing together over her furious brown eyes. “Maybe, but you knew I wasn’t that type of person.”
“Did I?” he asked. “You’d never gone through a breakup before, and you made it very clear that you didn’t want things to end between us.”
“Yes, because I thought I loved you,” she said, anger heavy in her words. “But I also wouldn’t have lowered myself to faking a pregnancy in order to keep you when it was clear that you didn’t love me. Would you have told me to get rid of it if you’d known that I really was pregnant?”
“No.” He hesitated. “I’d like to think I would have stepped up.”
“Personally, I don’t think you would have stepped up,” she said. “You seem to think you would have known if I was telling the truth, only clearly you didn’t because I was telling the truth. You didn’t want me, and you certainly didn’t want a baby, which would have stopped you from finding someone better than me.”
Aiden did his best to firm his expression under the onslaught of her angry words.
Over the years since that conversation he’d had with Skylar following their breakup, he’d done his best not to think about what he’d said. In fact, he’d tried his utmost to not dwell on anything that had taken place between him and Skylar—good or bad.
“Are you here for money?” he asked, figuring there could be no other reason.
He hadn’t thought Skylar could reach another level of anger. But it looked like they’d entered the highest level. Or at least he hoped it was the highest level.
The placid expression she’d arrived with was completely gone. Burned away by the anger she aimed at him. Anger she was probably entitled to, but he didn’t plan to let her know that. At least, not yet.
“No. I’m not here for money.” She spit the words at him. “You made it clear you had no interest in being a father, and I respected that. The last thing I wanted for her was to have a father in her life who had wished her dead, even if you weren’t convinced that she was real. You didn’t want her, and you didn’t want me.”
That was a stab to the heart, but he had thought he was doing the right thing for both of them back then. He’d told himself that they were too young to be tied to each other.
“So if you’re not here for money, why are you here?” Aiden asked, desperate to move forward in this shocking meeting.
The anger slowly faded from Skylar’s face, but it didn’t disappear entirely from her gaze. “She has cancer.”
“Cancer?” Shock greater than any he’d felt so far in this interaction overwhelmed him. Of all the things he’d expected her to say, that hadn’t been it.
“Yes. My mom called me yesterday to let me know about her diagnosis.”
“I don’t understand,” he said. “Why did you hear it from your mom? Is she her doctor?”
Skylar hesitated a moment before she said, “I’m not raising her. I gave her up for adoption. The adoptive parents… contacted my mom about the diagnosis.”
Aiden stared at Skylar for a long moment, trying to piece everything together. “So you kept the pregnancy but not the baby?”
“Yes. I knew that I wasn’t in the position to be a single mother, so I gave her to people I thought would be wonderful parents for her.”
“So, why are you here today?” Aiden was determined to not let Skylar see how all this was impacting him.
“My mom said they need to test you to see if you’re a match for her for a stem cell transplant.”
She said it like there was no way he’d refuse to be tested, and she was right. He wouldn’t. Mainly because his thoughts went to his niece, Willow. If she needed something from someone in order to live, he would have moved mountains and not accepted no for an answer.
Aiden could see the determination on Skylar’s face, and he knew she felt the same way.
“Just me?” he asked, wanting to know if his family was going to have to get involved too.
Or rather, if he was going to have to reveal to his mom what had happened with Skylar nine years ago. He hoped he didn’t have to because he really didn’t want to see the look of disappointment that would surely appear on his mom’s face when he told her.
“All of my family are going to be tested because even if I’m not a match, it’s possible one of them might be.”
“So, in other words, you want my family involved in this, too.”
She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Yes.”
Aiden pressed his fingers against his temple, trying to quell the pressure that was building there. This was just too much to deal with on top of the stress of his current project.
“I’ll have to have a conversation with them, then let them know.”
Skylar gave him a disgusted look. “As if your mom wouldn’t help someone in need. Especially a child. And more especially a child who is biologically her granddaughter.”
Aiden had forgotten how well his mom and Skylar had gotten along. His mom had been very upset when she’d learned that they had broken up.
“I haven’t decided yet how I’ll broach this with her,” he said. “Or if I’ll tell her who it is that needs the match.”
Skylar’s perfectly plucked eyebrows drew together for a moment before smoothing out. “You do you.”
The anger finally disappeared completely from Skylar’s face, but Aiden didn’t think for a minute that it was gone. The placid expression had settled back into place, and while there was no anger showing, there was definitely no happiness there either.
It was so wild to see Skylar again. He’d figured that at some point in his life, their paths would cross, given that her brother was his best friend. However, he’d figured it would be at Cole’s wedding or some other event where Cole was present. And that he’d have time to prepare for the encounter. This scenario had never crossed his mind.
“Let me know what you decide,” Skylar said as she got to her feet. She opened her purse and pulled out a small piece of paper, which she set on his desk. “That’s my number.”
Aiden got to his feet as well. He followed her as she turned and walked toward the closed door of his office.
Tyler looked up as they exited the office, his brows lifted, but he didn’t say anything until Skylar had stepped into the elevator.
“Meeting go okay?” he asked as Aiden stood by his desk, staring at the closed elevator door.
Aiden dragged his gaze from the elevator and looked at Tyler. “It ended up being personal in nature.”
“Ex-girlfriend?”
“Yep.”
“Hah.” Tyler grinned. “That was just a wild guess.”
“Wild and correct.”
“She’s back to tell you that you’re a dad and owe millions in child support?”
Aiden just gave his head an exasperated shake at Tyler, not wanting to confirm or deny his question. “It was an interesting conversation that I need some time to digest.”
“Good thing you have the weekend to do that,” Tyler said, looking at his smart watch.
“You can go ahead and leave,” Aiden said. “I’m sure you have a date.”
“That I do. I’m taking her to a concert.”
“Hope you have fun.” Aiden had thought he’d have an enjoyable—albeit not very exciting—weekend. Now, he wasn’t so sure. “See you on Monday.”
Returning to his office, Aiden prepared to leave for the day. He also had a date, only it was at a fast-food restaurant with his mom and niece.
Somehow, he had to decide how best to approach this with his mom. He was still trying to grasp that he had a daughter, when all these years, he’d told himself that there had never been a baby.
The fact that Cole—his best friend and Skylar’s brother—had never mentioned his sister being pregnant or having a baby had reinforced that for him. If Cole had gotten a whiff of Skylar being pregnant, he would have known it was Aiden’s and come after him, perhaps with a punch or two.
So, in his mind, he’d been right. Skylar had only been trying to manipulate him into staying with her.
Except he’d been wrong. So very wrong.
When Aiden finally arrived at the restaurant a little while later, he still had no idea what to tell his mom. He left his suit coat in the car on a hanger, along with his work bag, and made his way inside.
He’d no sooner set foot in the restaurant when he heard his name called.
“Uncle Aiden!” Willow came running toward him, her curly, long, dark hair bouncing in a ponytail behind her.
He swung the little girl up into his arms and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “How’re you doing?”
“I’m great!” She grinned at him. “Want to hear a joke?”
“You know I do,” he told her as they walked to where his mom waited at a table near the play area.
“Why can’t Elsa have a balloon?”
Aiden didn’t have to ask who Elsa was. Frozen was very popular with Willow. “I don’t know. Why can’t she?”
“Because she’ll let it go!” Willow laughed in delight as Aiden grinned at her.
“That’s a good one.” He held out his hand for her to give him a high five. “Probably your best one ever.”
“You say that allllll the time,” Willow said.
Willow’s obsession with jokes always brought levity to his day, regardless of how dumb the joke was or how bad his day had been.
He set Willow down so she could climb into one of the chairs at the table. Aiden bent to kiss his mom’s cheek.
She looked a bit tired, but that wasn’t uncommon these days. She’d told him that she struggled to sleep at night.
“So what are we having for supper?” he asked. “Our usual?”
“I’m good with my usual,” his mom said.
“Me, too!”
“Want to come with me, Willow?”
When she nodded, he held out his hand. With her tiny fingers tucked in his grasp, they walked to the counter to place their order. A big burger for him. A chicken burger for his mom. And nuggets for Willow. Each with fries and a drink.
After he had picked up the tray filled with their order, Willow skipped ahead of him to the table. His mom helped him clear the food off the tray. Then, knowing what was to come, he bowed his head and waited for Willow to pray.
It was a bit of an odd situation to find himself in. When he’d become a Christian as a teen, his parents hadn’t been interested in Christianity. They’d been great parents and hadn’t cared that he’d gone to church, but that hadn’t been something they’d wanted for themselves.
However, his own faith had faltered when he’d gone away to college. During those years, his parents had become Christians and had done a much better job of embracing their faith than he had his. But in recent years, he and his mom were on the same page.
He was somewhat surprised that his mom’s faith was still as strong as it was, considering the tragedies they’d suffered over the past couple of years. His dad’s sudden death had been a challenge to accept, but as time passed, they’d made progress in their grief.
The grief had intensified just ten months later when his sister had died tragically in a boating accident, leaving behind her young daughter. That had been much harder to accept and had resulted in a life focus change for him.
His mom had still been struggling with her grief over the loss of her husband, so she’d needed a lot of support as she assumed responsibility of her young granddaughter, since Willow’s father wasn’t in the picture. It hadn’t taken much thought for Aiden to decide to move in to help her.
The only thing he’d asked was that she consider a move to Coeur d’Alene so that he could get a job there and not have a long commute from Serenity each day. His mom had agreed, so he’d shopped around and bought a house with a suite in the basement. His Mom and Willow lived on the main floor so that he could have his own space while still being close enough to help them.
Thankfully, money had not been an issue as his dad had worked in finance and thus made sure to take care of all of them in the event of his death. His mom had refused to sell the house in Serenity, however. So it sat fully furnished but empty, with his mom going out every couple of weeks to check on it.
She’d hired a company to take care of the grass and snow, so Aiden didn’t have to go with her, though he periodically did, depending on his availability when she chose to go. But it was sad to see the property without the colorful flower beds in both the front and back yards, since she hadn’t planted anything there.
Thankfully, though, she hadn’t abandoned her passion for gardening entirely, so their home in Coeur d’Alene now had beautiful landscaping.
“Is everything okay, honey?” his mom asked with a gentle touch on his arm. “You seem distracted.”
That was very much an understatement. He was allowing his thoughts to go in the painful direction of the losses they’d suffered in order to not have to deal with the more pressing issue.
“Just had a meeting at work that is taking a lot of my attention.”
“Something serious?”
“Kind of,” he admitted. “But I’ll work through it.”
“If you want to tell me about it, I’m happy to listen.”
He looped his arm around her shoulders and leaned to touch his head to hers. “I know, and I appreciate that. For now, let’s just enjoy the evening.”
“Can I go play now, Nana?” Willow asked, lifting the paper container that had held her nuggets to show them it was empty. “I’m all done.”
“Yes, my darling,” his mom said. “You can play. Remember to be gentle and kind to the other children.”
Willow nodded, then ran off to the area next to their table where there was a tall structure with climbing ropes and slides. It was one of the places Willow liked to come to play. And that day, there were several other children her age already playing on the structure.
As his mom chatted about her and Willow’s day, Aiden found himself only half-listening. The other part of his focus was now on the situation with Skylar. He had a hard time trying to figure out what to do.
He could be honest with his mom about who the little girl that needed his help was. The little girl … he didn’t even know her name. But if he told her the truth about who she was, he’d have to give her the details about what happened nine years ago. And then deal with her disappointment in him.
The other option was to make up a story. To lie to his mom. To spare her the pain of learning that she had another grandchild, one she could lose if the treatments didn’t help and the worst happened. She didn’t need more grief in her life. Neither of them did.
But lying to his mom didn’t sit well with Aiden.
So he was going to need to figure out how to reveal everything, and brace himself for the disappointment his mom was going to have in him because of his past actions.