CHAPTER TEN
Skylar gritted her teeth as she used the crutches to make her way into the hospital and up to Shiloh’s room. It wasn’t her first time on crutches in her life. When she’d been a cheerleader, she’d sprained her ankle on a badly performed cartwheel. But she wasn’t any happier about using crutches this time than she’d been that time.
“Hi, Sky.” Charli greeted her with a smile and a hug. “How’s the ankle?”
“It’s throbbing, reminding me it’s still attached.” Skylar glanced over at the bed to see that Shiloh was asleep.
“How long will you be on the crutches?” Charli asked as they sat down on the chairs by the window.
“Too long.” Skylar leaned her crutches against the wall. “Gareth said probably for four weeks or so.”
They chatted quietly for several minutes before Blake showed up. The man smiled at them, but he went to the bed and leaned over to brush a light kiss on Shiloh’s head.
Seeing Blake treat Shiloh with such love and affection was always so reassuring to Skylar that she’d done the right thing. Blake might be rough around the edges and on the stoic, silent side, but she could see that he was fiercely protective and loving of those close to him.
After kissing Shiloh, he came over to greet Charli. She stood up and moved into his embrace. They shared a brief kiss, but then Blake continued to hold her when she tucked her head against his shoulder.
Skylar looked away, feeling like she was intruding on an intimate moment between her sister and her husband, even though it was just a hug.
“Have you decided where we’re going?” Blake said as they stepped apart.
“I think so.”
“Do you want to go now?” he asked.
“Sure. Skylar’s here if Shiloh wakes up.”
Skylar felt a frisson of alarm at being left alone with Shiloh. “Will she be upset if she wakes up and you’re not here?”
Charli shook her head. “She’ll be fine. I talked to her about the plan, and she was excited about it.”
Skylar wasn’t sure she was going to be fine. But she was this far into things, so she couldn’t back out now.
Before Charli and Blake had a chance to leave, Aiden showed up. Skylar felt her heart skip a beat as he walked into the room. He was wearing a suit, so had probably come from work. He carried several things, including a drink tray with two large cups and a smaller one.
“Hi, Aiden,” Charli said with a smile. “Good to see you again.”
“You as well,” he replied. “Thanks for agreeing to let me spend some time with Shiloh.”
“Well, it works out all around.” She smiled up at Blake. “I’m looking forward to a couple of hours alone with my husband.”
Aiden set the drink tray and bags he carried down on the small table next to Skylar. He stared at her wrapped ankle with a frown. “What happened?”
“We’re going to leave you guys,” Charli said. “Have fun!”
When it was just them, Skylar said, “I twisted my ankle while I was out on a run.”
“You weren’t watching where you were going?”
She gave him a withering look, which prompted a grin from Aiden. “I was doing just fine until a bird shot out of the trees and scared me.”
“A bird?”
“Yep. And I had to call Dad to come rescue me.”
“Are you going to be able to work with your ankle like that?”
“Nope. I had to let them know that I was going to be out of work for at least four more weeks.”
“Where do you work?” he asked as he removed the drinks from the tray, setting one in front of her.
“I’m a flight attendant for a company that rents out private jets.”
He paused for a moment before turning his attention to the contents of a bag with a fast food company logo on it. “You decided not to pursue interior design?”
“No. There was too much going on back then. I got through my first year, but after Shiloh was born… Well, it was just a difficult time. Charli’s friend Melissa, who was a flight attendant, eventually helped me get a job with an international airline. Then, from there, I got the job at this place.”
He set a wrapped burger and a container of fries next to her drink. “And you enjoy it?”
“I do,” she said, then pointed to the food. “What’s this?”
“I took a chance that you still like chicken burgers and fries.” He looked up at her. “Do you?”
She wanted to tell him that she hated both items, but the reality was that she did still really like them. With having to watch her weight so she’d fit into her uniform, it wasn’t a meal she indulged in very often, however.
“And the drink?”
“It’s diet.”
Skylar didn’t want to be touched that he’d remembered what she liked nine years after they’d last shared a meal like that.
Seeing this version of him was really a struggle for her.
“Did you get food for Shiloh as well?” she asked, gesturing to the smaller drink.
“Yep. I asked Charli if I could bring something for her. She said there was no guarantee that she’d eat anything, but her favorites are nuggets and fries.”
Skylar nodded. That seemed to be a favorite with most of the kids in the family. It had been her favorite at that age, too. It was a quick food that her mom couldn’t mess up since it involved pulling bags of nuggets and fries from the freezer and dumping them on a tray and putting them in the oven.
“Auntie Sky?”
Hearing Shiloh’s voice, Skylar reached for her crutches and got herself up on her feet. She made her way over to the bed to find her niece awake and smiling at her.
Skylar reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “Hey, sweetie.”
“Is Uncle Aiden here too?”
Aiden joined her at the side of the bed. “I’m here.”
“Momma said you were going to stay with me while she and Daddy went on a date.”
“Yep. And Aiden brought you some supper.”
Her eyes lit up. “Nuggets?”
“Yep,” Aiden said with a grin. “Do you want them now?”
At Shiloh’s nod, Aiden went to get the food while Skylar rolled the over-the-bed table into position in front of Shiloh, then moved so that Aiden could set the food and drink on the table.
When Shiloh held out her hands to them, Skylar knew immediately what she wanted. With a glance at Aiden, she took Shiloh’s hand. He did the same, then she bent her head, waiting for Shiloh to pray.
Only silence followed, however, so Skylar looked up to find Shiloh sitting with lifted brows as she stared at them.
“What’s wrong?” Skylar asked.
“We all have to hold hands.”
“Oh.” Skylar looked at Aiden again.
The man didn’t hesitate or blink an eye as he reached out to take Skylar’s hand. “You’re quite correct, Shiloh.”
The moment his fingers tightened around hers, Skylar was thrown back in time, and it was all she could do not to cling to his hand. She tried to focus instead on Shiloh as she prayed for their meal.
The prayer was actually short, but it felt like it had stretched on unreasonably long. When Shiloh ended her prayer with an amen, Skylar echoed it, then pulled her hand from Aiden’s. She waited until Shiloh released her hand, pulling it back to clasp it together with her other one.
Shiloh pulled a nugget from the container and took a small bite. Skylar felt a bit sad at the thought of how little Shiloh might eat of the meal Aiden had brought.
“We have some food too,” Aiden said as he went to sit at the table.
The room was small enough that they could still talk with Shiloh even when they were at the table. Skylar’s appetite had dipped, but she didn’t want the food to get cold. Or colder than it already was.
Shiloh took small bites of her nugget as they talked, and she ended up eating two of the four, plus half the fries. Skylar had no idea if that was good or bad considering her current circumstances, but she supposed that any amount of food that Shiloh took in was a good thing.
It appeared that Shiloh might be discharged in the next couple of days since her first round of treatments was almost done. It all depended on how she was doing after the final treatment.
It wasn’t long before the little girl started to fade again. Skylar got up to move the table out of the way. As she did that, Aiden approached with a decorative bag in his hand.
“My mom and Willow picked up a few more things for you,” he said as he set the bag on her lap.
Shiloh’s face lit up, and she reached out to tip the bag toward her. Aiden helped, holding it in position so she could reach into it with the hand that wasn’t currently hooked to an IV.
Over the next few minutes, she pulled out a selection of books, a thick coloring book, some colored pencils, and another small pink stuffed unicorn that looked like the baby of the one they’d given her previously.
“I love all of it,” Shiloh said as she smiled up at Aiden. “Thank them for me, please.”
“I will,” Aiden assured her as he reached out to rest his hand briefly on Shiloh’s shoulder.
In his words and actions, Skylar could hear love and affection for Shiloh. She still wasn’t sure that allowing Aiden into their lives—or her life—was a good thing. However, it was clear he did. And she was sure that Shiloh did too.
Watching them together was yet another harsh reminder of what had been lost. Even if Shiloh had still ended up with cancer, at least they would have been a family.
A nurse came into the room while Shiloh and Aiden were looking at the books. Shiloh greeted her by name, then showed her the items Aiden had brought her.
“You got another unicorn! What’s this one’s name?” the nurse asked as she stood at Shiloh’s bedside opposite Aiden.
“Rainbow?” Shiloh held the unicorn in front of her face. “Yep. Rainbow.”
“Rainbow the Unicorn,” the nurse said. “I like it.”
The nurse spent some time chatting with Shiloh, casually asking her questions that Skylar realized would help the woman gauge how Shiloh was doing without asking her directly. Soon, the nurse left, giving Skylar and Aiden a smile as she headed for the door.
“Did you want to nap a bit more?” Skylar asked Shiloh.
The little girl hesitated, then nodded. Aiden returned the books to the bag, then set it on the floor next to the table. He left the stuffed animal with Shiloh, as she didn’t seem inclined to let it or the other stuffed unicorn out of her sight.
“Will Momma and Daddy be back soon?” Shiloh asked.
When Aiden glanced at her, Skylar said, “I think they’ll probably be here not long after you wake up from your nap.”
Shiloh nodded, appearing fine with the news that her parents wouldn’t be back right away. The little girl shifted on the bed, then wrapped her arms around the stuffed animals.
Skylar stared at Shiloh as her eyes closed, wishing there was something she could do to take away everything Shiloh was struggling with physically. She imagined that Charli and Blake felt the same way.
“She looks a lot like you,” Aiden said as he sat down across from her again.
Skylar flicked her gaze in his direction before looking back at Shiloh. “Which means she also looks a lot like Charli. That was why I thought they could get away with not telling people that Shiloh was adopted.”
“Did you really not want Shiloh to know?”
They’d talked about it before, but it was clear that Aiden really had no idea how much she hadn’t wanted that.
“No, I didn’t,” she said. “I didn’t want her to be confused by my presence in her life. Even though they told her she was adopted, I didn’t want her to know I was her birth mom.”
“Was it just for her sake?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, perhaps you didn’t want her to know because it would be easier for you.”
Skylar glared at him, hating that he’d focused in on that. “Her not knowing didn’t mean that I didn’t know. I’d never forget giving birth to her and then giving her away.”
“True. But Shiloh not knowing allowed you to keep your distance from her.”
His words, unfortunately, hit close to home. She hadn’t known how to be around Shiloh and not want to take her into her arms and run away with her. Her emotions had been—and apparently, still were—a mess.
“So you think I didn’t want them to tell her about me because I was selfish?”
“I don’t think that at all,” Aiden said.
Maybe he should, because it was partly true. She’d kept her distance because it was easier for her. Emotionally, she had thought it would be too difficult to be so close to Shiloh. So yes, she’d been selfish in the decision to keep herself apart from Shiloh after the adoption.
She’d been so young—two years younger than Charli had been when she’d had Layla—and she’d feared ruining Shiloh’s life if she tried to raise her on her own. In her mind back then, Charli would be a better mom to Shiloh, and through Blake, Shiloh would also have a father, which she wouldn’t have with Skylar.
Regardless of her motivations for giving Shiloh up, it was clear that she’d made the right decision. Charli and Blake had been better parents to Shiloh than she and Aiden would have ever been, even if they’d stayed together. She was sure of that.
“I know you did what you thought was right,” Aiden said. “And given the circumstances you found yourself in, I can’t blame you for what you did.”
Skylar wanted to be angry at him, but it was getting harder to hold on to the anger she’d had towards him for so long. She wasn’t sure why, because she didn’t think she could say that she’d forgiven him for how he’d hurt her in the past.
Perhaps it was because she’d been able to vent to him all the hurt and anger she’d carried from what had happened between them.
Aiden sighed. “I’m sorry that my desire to know Shiloh has forced you into a situation you really didn’t want to be in.”
“Three times now you’ve forced me into situations I didn’t want.”
“Three?”
Raising her hand, she lifted her index finger. “First, when you broke up with me. Second, when you told me to get rid of the baby. And third, when you wanted to meet her, when all I wanted from you was a little blood.”
Aiden’s shoulders slumped. “I’ve let you down in a lot of ways, and I’m sorry for that.”
Skylar didn’t want his apologies. Except she kind of did. But what she didn’t want was to talk about the past all over again.
“Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked.
The question had been in her mind since they’d reconnected, and she’d been curious where he was in his personal life. If he did have a girlfriend, did he plan to introduce her to Shiloh?
Skylar didn’t like that idea at all.
“Nope. Ever since my sister passed away, I’ve had other things to focus on.” He hesitated, then said, “Do you have a boyfriend?”
It was weird that not that long ago, she’d had one. It felt like she’d lived a lifetime since the breakup. She hadn’t thought at all about Emmett since the day she’d gotten the call from her mom.
As she thought of him, she felt nothing. Apparently, a family health emergency was the cure for the breakup blues.
“No.” She didn’t tell him that recently she’d had one. Or that the guy had broken up with her because she hadn’t let him get close.
Aiden looked at her expectantly, as if waiting for her to expand on her answer. He could wait from then until eternity because she wasn’t going to. The last thing she wanted to do was tell him that she’d just been dumped. Again.
She could only hope that he would move on or allow himself to be guided in a new direction for their conversation. “Have you met any of Cole’s girlfriends?”
Aiden gave a huff of laughter. “A couple.”
“We haven’t met any of them.”
“That’s because he would only bring someone home that he was really serious about.”
“And he hasn’t felt that way about any of them?”
“Nope. He said he didn’t really have the desire to commit to marriage while he was at the height of his career.”
“So why bother dating?”
“It looked good, I suppose,” Aiden said with a shrug.
“Did he lead them on?”
“No. They know what the score is. The relationship lasts until the ladies call it off.”
“So weird,” Skylar said with a shake of her head. “I’d have never imagined that Cole would end up like that. The pair of you and relationships. So messed up.”
She waited for him to defend himself and Cole, but he didn’t.
“You’re probably right,” he said. “But hopefully it’s not too late to change our ways.”
“Even though Cole is still at the height of his career?”
“Maybe he’ll meet someone who’ll make him reconsider his stance.”
“Mom would like that,” Skylar said. “She’s determined to get all her children married.”
“Even you?”
“Oh, I think Mom’s given up on me.”
“You’ve never brought anyone to meet the family?”
And now they were back to her dating life. “Not a chance. Never got serious enough about anyone to risk bringing them home to Mom.”
This time it was Aiden who redirected the conversation, asking about the grandkids in the family. Though Skylar didn’t spend much time with any of them, she still knew who belonged to who and their relative ages.
“Cole didn’t tell you about them?” Skylar asked after she’d given him the rundown.
That got a laugh out of Aiden. “I think the guy has trouble remembering the spouses of his married siblings, let alone all the kids.”
“Yeah, Cole wasn’t here for most of the weddings.”
Aiden’s expression turned sad as he stared out the window. “Having lost my one sibling, I wish Cole had more appreciation for what he has.”
Skylar had to admit that she wasn’t as appreciative of her siblings—beyond Charli—as she could have been. But distance and lack of communication wasn’t conducive to building strong relationships.
As she took in Aiden’s profile, Skylar had a momentary thought, wondering if she’d be attracted to Aiden if this was the first time they were meeting.
Frowning, she looked away. Why would she even think about something like that?
Regardless of how he was now, he’d betrayed her in the past. And he was only back in her life because she’d sought him out for Shiloh’s sake. Not for hers, and certainly not for his.
So there would be no thinking about him like that. None at all.