CHAPTER FIVE
The conversation she’d had with Aiden lingered in Skylar’s mind throughout the day. She’d called him after initially texting because she’d wanted to lecture him about referring to Shiloh as their daughter. But somehow, they’d ended up having a full on conversation.
She’d gotten over her breakup with him and had even gone on to date other guys. And yet, seeing him again… seeing the man he’d become… was throwing her back into feelings and emotions she had never wanted to revisit.
Underneath the huge desire to flee Serenity and return to Vegas was the lingering desire to see Aiden again. It was a lesser desire, but the fact that it was there at all shocked Skylar. The last thing she should want was for the man who’d shattered her heart to be anywhere near her.
It was like her heart had separated the two in her mind. The person who had broken her heart was the boy Aiden had been. Who he was now seemed to be closer to the man she’d once imagined he’d become.
What was she supposed to do with that?
“Do you think there’s a chance that Charli and Blake would let Aiden meet Shiloh?” she asked her mom as they sat together eating lunch. Her dad was out at a lunch meeting with an old friend.
“Definitely.” The lack of hesitation before she responded had Skylar frowning at her.
“You don’t think they’d mind?”
“Not at all. They’ve wanted to tell Shiloh about you, and now that Aiden is back in our lives, I think they’d be okay with him meeting her.”
“Even with what he said when I told him that I was pregnant?”
This time, her mom seemed to consider her answer. “I think they’d like to meet him beforehand, to talk to him for themselves.”
Skylar struggled with Charli and Blake’s attitude toward Shiloh’s adoption. If she’d had her way, Shiloh would never have known she was adopted. However, they’d told her a couple of years ago that she was part of their family through adoption.
Shiloh had seemed to take it all in stride and unsurprisingly, she’d asked who her birth parents were. At the time, Charli and Blake had simply told her that her mother was a special person who hadn’t been able to raise her on her own.
Was now really the time to reveal who she and Aiden were to the little girl?
“I haven’t told Aiden her name or who adopted her,” Skylar said.
“Give Charli a call and see how they would like you to handle this.”
Skylar dragged a baby carrot through the puddle of dip on her plate. “You don’t think they have enough going on at the moment?”
“They do, but I think Charli would welcome a conversation with you.”
Skylar’s conversations with her older sister were few and far between, but that was because of Skylar, not Charli. She hadn’t wanted to be in Shiloh’s life because in her mind, it would be too hard to view her as Charli’s daughter and not her own if she was around her too much.
“I’ll text her and see if she has some time to chat.”
“I really think she’d love to talk to you. After all, this is your daughter going through this health ordeal, too.”
“She’s not mine,” Skylar said automatically.
Her mom stared at her for a long moment, then nodded. “I understand why you think that. However, she is yours. For nine months, you carried her. She is a part of you, just like she’s a part of Charli.”
Skylar had tried not to think too much about how it was her daughter that was facing cancer and not her niece. “I’ll call her.”
“Actually, she’s coming here in a few minutes.”
“What?” Skylar frowned. “Who’s staying with Shiloh?”
“Julia said she’d spend the afternoon with the kids so that Charli could get a break,” her mom said, referring to Blake’s aunt. “Layla is also off work and will give her a hand.”
“When does Shiloh have her first treatment?”
“She’s going into hospital on Thursday, providing all the tests come back indicating it’s okay to move forward with the chemo, then she’ll have her first treatment on Friday.”
Skylar didn’t ask for clarification of what the treatment was. Medical stuff would just go over her head. It was enough to know that Shiloh was sick and that the treatment required to get rid of the cancer was going to be rough on the little girl.
Also, because of all the medical professionals in the Halverson family, she trusted them to tell her what she needed to know. They would understand what was happening with Shiloh’s cancer and the treatment, and that was enough for her.
Once they finished their lunch, Skylar cleaned it up while her mom checked the meal she’d put in the crock pot earlier. Apparently, she’d been experimenting with crock pot recipes recently. In the few days Skylar had been there, the meals she’d had had been pretty good. Better than some of the ones she’d had growing up.
When the doorbell rang, Skylar froze. Neither of them moved to answer the door since they knew that if it was Charli, she’d walk right in. And if it wasn’t, they’d ring the bell again.
Sure enough, Skylar heard the door open and turned to see her sister walk into the kitchen. Right away, she could see the toll Shiloh’s diagnosis had taken on her sister.
But still, she smiled and came right to where Skylar stood. Reaching out, Charli pulled Skylar into a tight hug.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she murmured against Skylar’s ear. “I’ve missed you.”
Skylar clung to her, feeling emotions threatening to rise and flow over the walls that usually held them back. She blinked back tears when she felt Charli take a breath that caught in her throat.
Soon, her mom joined them, wrapping her arms around both of them. They stood like that for several minutes, and when they stepped back from the embrace, they all had damp eyes.
“Why don’t we go to the den?” her mom suggested, then led the way to the small cozy room at the back of the house.
The room wasn’t big enough for the whole family, so it was only used by her parents when it was just the two of them, or when only two or three of the kids were there with them.
Charli let out a long sigh as she sank into their dad’s favorite chair, pulling her legs up to rest her knees against the arm of the chair.
“How are you doing, darling?” her mom asked.
“I’m okay, I guess,” Charli said. “Tired, though. I’m just not sleeping well.”
“I’m so sorry that you’re having to deal with this,” Skylar said. “That should be me.”
Charli held up her hand as she shook her head. “No. I believe that God works things out the way they should be. Shiloh has been a blessing to our family, and I know she’s exactly where she should be.”
That was always how Skylar had felt, but still… “Her being sick will take you away from your other kids.”
“They will be fine,” Charli said. “Plus, there are plenty of people who will step in and help with the kids and with Shiloh.”
“Definitely,” her mom agreed with a nod. “We have so many people in the family who are willing to pick up any slack.”
But that wouldn’t be her, and it should be. Of anyone in the family, she should be the one stepping up to help. She’d handed over the responsibility of Shiloh to Charli and Blake, and now they needed help.
Skylar pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, hooking her heels on the edge of the seat cushion. “Do you want me to be here?”
Charli and her mom exchanged glances, then Charli said, “You need to decide that for yourself. We’d love to have you here, and not just because of what’s happening with Shiloh. But you need to figure that out on your own. We’re not going to pressure you.”
Skylar glanced at her mom, who gave a soft chuckle.
“Okay. Maybe a little pressure from me.”
“You’ve been trying to get me to move back for ages,” Skylar said. “So I know it’s not related to what’s happening with Shiloh.”
“I want to thank you for going to Aiden to ask him to be tested,” Charli said. “How bad was it?”
Skylar shrugged. “It wasn’t the best experience I’ve ever had.”
“Was he shocked?”
“Oh yes. He told me that the reason he said I should “get rid of it” was because he didn’t think I was actually pregnant. That I was just pretending so that he’d get back together with me. And the fact that Cole never mentioned me being pregnant or having a baby reinforced what he thought.”
“I guess that could be understandable,” Charli said. “But still… He should have known you better than that.”
Skylar propped her chin on her knees. “It seemed that at the end, neither of us knew the other very well. The boy I thought I knew never would have done what he did.”
“What does he seem like now?”
“From the look of the office he has, the company he works for is successful. He was wearing a suit, which was something he never really enjoyed doing as a teen.”
“How did he deal with you?”
“Well, he didn’t shoo me out of his office or anything,” she said. “Since then, he’s had more questions, and he’d like to meet Shiloh.”
“Really?” Charli tilted her head. “What did you tell him?”
“That I would have to talk to her adoptive parents. I haven’t told him anything about Shiloh beyond her diagnosis. Not her name, nor who adopted her.”
“You can tell him,” Charli said. “Blake and I wouldn’t have a problem with that. I’d also like Shiloh to learn who you both are to her.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you so willing to let Shiloh know who her birth parents are?” Skylar asked. “Wouldn’t it be confusing for her?”
“When we told her that she was adopted, we talked about the different roles we played in her life. She knows that regardless of who gave birth to her, she is ours and belongs in our family. If her adoptive parents are in her life, their roles would be more like aunt and uncle.”
“Kind of like how I already am in her life.”
“Yep. So you can tell Aiden who adopted her, and maybe Blake and I can meet with him before he meets Shiloh.”
Skylar didn’t want any of that to happen. And though she didn’t have total control, she was still going to try to limit any damage Aiden might do to their family.
She needed to make a couple of phone calls. One was to Denise, her supervisor, to request more time off. The second would be to the lawyer they’d used for the adoption. Before she gave Aiden any information, she wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to mess things up for Charli, Blake, and Shiloh.
She didn’t say any of that to Charli or her mom. They might be willing to give Aiden the benefit of the doubt, but Skylar wasn’t. He’d hurt her a bit too much for her to ever give him that much trust again.
Skylar listened as Charli and her mom discussed the tests Shiloh had undergone and what the treatment would entail. It sounded like too much for the little girl to have to endure, and Skylar couldn’t help but wonder why God would allow something like that to happen.
If she could switch places with Shiloh, she would. Anything to spare her little girl the pain she was enduring. But that wasn’t an option.
Over the course of the next couple of hours, they chatted about all kinds of things. Skylar could see that Charli was glad to be able to focus on something else for a short period of time.
Before she left, Charli gave Skylar a tight hug. “Please come by and see Shiloh. I know she would love to see you.”
Skylar didn’t want to promise anything, but she nodded. “I’ll try.”
After Charli left, Skylar headed up to her room, while her dad joined her mom in the den.
She didn’t know how long she’d be in Serenity, but she knew she needed to be there through the next weekend for the testing. Though she did have vacation time and some favors to call in, she couldn’t take off time indefinitely.
But the more pressing call was to the lawyer to get that all sorted out.
Skylar stared out the car window at the two-story brick building as her dad turned into the parking lot next to it. Her stomach was a mess of nerves, and she was so glad her parents had come with her. At first, she hadn’t been sure they should, but now, she was glad that they had.
“Let’s say a prayer before we go inside,” her dad suggested after he’d parked and turned off the car.
Though Skylar hadn’t spent much time praying in recent years, she wasn’t going to tell her dad no. If ever a situation needed prayer, it was this one.
After her mom and dad had both prayed, they got out of the car and headed for the entrance to the building. Her dad opened the door and held it for Skylar and her mom to walk in ahead of him.
The lawyer’s office was on the second floor, so they headed up the stairs. When they stepped into the waiting room of the lawyer’s office, she saw there was only one person there, aside from the receptionist. Aiden.
As soon as Aiden saw them, he got to his feet. His gaze swept over them as they approached him, and he held out his hand to her dad.
“Dr. Halverson,” Aiden said with a nod, then turned to her mom and greeted her as well.
While he did that, Skylar observed Aiden. He wore a dark gray suit, with a white shirt and blue patterned tie. Aiden was still about the same height as he’d been in college, but his shoulders had broadened over the years.
The most striking difference from high school to then, however, was the confidence with which he held himself. In the past, he hadn’t been super at ease around her parents, though he’d always been respectful and interacted with them whenever he was at their house.
But the way he held himself now was different, and it made Skylar wish he’d had that confidence back in high school and college. Maybe they would have gone down a different path if he had.
When Aiden turned his attention to her, Skylar willed herself not to show any emotion. She held out her hand, and as he took it, she felt a strength in his grip that she remembered from the past.
“Thank you for coming, Skylar,” he said. “I really do appreciate it.”
Skylar was prevented from giving a—no doubt snippy—response when her mom spoke first. Perhaps she knew what was on the tip of Skylar’s tongue.
“I was sorry to hear about your dad and your sister,” her mom told Aiden. “I’m sure it’s been very difficult.”
Aiden’s jaw clenched, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Yeah. It has been.”
“How’s your mom doing?”
Aiden slid his hands into his pockets as he shrugged. His gaze had dropped to the floor. “About as well as can be expected, given everything that’s happened.”
Before they could say anything more, the door to the office building opened again, and a tall man in a black pinstripe suit stepped through the doorway. His dark brown gaze swept the room, and when he spotted Aiden, he offered a smile and a nod.
“Hey there, Dennis,” Aiden said as the man approached them. After he shook his hand, Aiden said, “This is Dennis Ulrich. He’s my lawyer.”
Skylar frowned at Aiden. He hadn’t said he was bringing a lawyer. Was this about to get messy?
“Not here to create any issues,” Dennis said, as if reading her mind. “I’ve just drilled into him that if there’s anything legal involved, he needs to call me.”
“Hello, everyone.” A female voice interrupted them, and the woman who had helped with the adoption eight years ago joined them. After greeting each of them, she gestured to a hallway. “Why don’t we go to the boardroom?”
Their group migrated down the hallway to a room with big windows and a table surrounded by several chairs. Lynda Cartwright took a seat at the head of the table, while Skylar and her parents sat on one side, with Aiden and his lawyer opposite them.
“I’m glad you’re here, Dennis,” Lynda said. “I planned to suggest that Aiden take the document to a lawyer before signing it.”
“Good to hear,” Dennis said. “So what’s going on? Aiden shared a bit about it, but you know I’ll need more details.”
Lynda grinned. “Of course.”
It didn’t take long for Lynda to recap the situation that had brought them there that day.
“You’re okay with this, Aiden?” Dennis asked when Lynda was done.
“Maybe the two of you should discuss it,” Lynda suggested. “We’ll just step outside.”
Skylar almost asked why, but instead, she got up and followed her parents out of the room. They returned to the waiting room and settled into seats to wait for the side meeting to end.
“Do you think this is going to create any problems?” her dad asked.
“It shouldn’t,” Lynda said. “But if it does, it’s better that they come up now rather than later.”
Skylar supposed that was true, so she didn’t protest it. But if this didn’t go the way she hoped, she had no idea what would happen. Worst case would be if his fancy-dancy lawyer filed for a custody agreement so that Aiden had a permanent role in Shiloh’s life. Or worst case, he’d fight the adoption because he’d never terminated his rights to Shiloh.
Oh, how she hoped that wouldn’t be the case.
Her parents chatted with Lynda while they waited, but Skylar kept her thoughts to herself. It felt like forever before Dennis appeared to tell them they were ready. In reality, it had probably been less than twenty minutes.
They gathered back around the table, and Dennis slid the file that Lynda had given him before they’d left the room, back across the table to her. The file that would make sure that Aiden could never challenge the rights of Charli and Blake to raise their daughter.
“Any questions, comments, or concerns?” Lynda asked as she took the folder and flipped it open. Her gaze skimmed the page before looking back up at Dennis.
“I had a few, but Aiden assured me that this was what he wanted to do. That it was the right thing.”
Relief rushed through Skylar. She’d thought he might refuse to sign it until they allowed him to meet Shiloh. That he hadn’t done that gave Skylar another glimpse of the man he’d become.
Unless there was an angle she wasn’t seeing.
However, even if that was the case, Skylar trusted that Lynda or her parents would have figured it out.
Usually, she didn’t rely on other people to pick up the slack for her. However, this whole situation with Shiloh had been stressful and confusing for her from day one. She didn’t trust her own judgment when it came to anything pertaining to the child she’d given birth to, then placed in her sister’s arms.
For a moment, she was back in time, listening as the doctor announced that she’d had a healthy baby girl.
If Aiden had been there with her, they would have had a daughter. Now, they only had memories of a horrible time of heartache and betrayal, and she’d had to watch their daughter grow up from a distance. And now she’d have to watch her fight for her life from a distance.
As her gaze held Aiden’s, she saw regret in his eyes. It should have made her feel better, but it didn’t. His regret did nothing to change the circumstances they found themselves in. There was no going back.
She’d accepted that a long time ago. And with the stroke of a pen, Aiden had now accepted it.
Skylar was glad of that, but there was something within her that wished with all her heart that he had been the man she’d thought he was back when they’d been dating. At least at the start of that teenage romance.
When the meeting came to a close, Aiden turned and said, “Can I speak to you for a couple of minutes, Skylar?”
She glanced at her parents, who were both looking at her with raised eyebrows. They didn’t say anything though, clearly leaving it up to her. She didn’t want to speak with him. Not really. But she couldn’t deny she was curious about what he wanted.
“Sure.”
“Is it okay if we use the room for a few more minutes?” Aiden asked Lynda.
“Definitely,” the woman said with a nod.
“We’ll be in the waiting room,” her dad said before they all filed out of the room, leaving her alone with the man who’d broken her heart so spectacularly.
And he was slowly drawing her back in, whether she wanted that or not.