Page 133 of Skylar

“How do you feel about him?”

“I… really, really like him,” Skylar said, not wanting the first time she talked about her love for him to be with anyone but Aiden.

When he’d said he’d loved her in that previous conversation, her heart had about stopped. She hadn’t been sure if he’drealized he’d said it, so she hadn’t reacted at the time. At least outwardly. Inwardly, well, she’d been jumping for joy.

But yet she still hesitated to commit.

“When I see him now, I see the type of man I’d always imagined he’d become. Strong. Reliable. Added on to that, I see a gentleness in him I don’t remember from before. Shiloh and Willow really bring it out of him.”

“You do too,” Charli said. “Though I’m not sure you see it.”

Skylar nodded. “I do see it.”

“Have you forgiven him for what happened?”

“I think I have. I can be around him without being angry at him.”

“That’s good,” Charli said. “And have you considered your part in everything?”

Skylar shifted to look more fully at her sister. “What?”

Charli stared at her for a long moment before she said, “I understand that Aiden bears a lot of the weight of responsibility for what happened before. However, you also bear some of it.”

Skylar narrowed her eyes at Charli.

“Just hear me out, okay? I’ve been thinking a lot about this since we talked, and I want to share my thoughts with you. What you do with them is up to you.” Charli let her gaze drift to the boys. “I think that if you hope to make things work with Aiden, you need to shoulder some of the responsibility for your own hurt. Aiden shouldn’t have to bear all of it.”

“I need you to explain.”

“I know you struggled with the fact that you got pregnant,” Charli said. “And that giving Shiloh up hurt you a lot.”

“Yes. That’s true.”

“But unless Aiden raped you, you were as responsible as he was for what you did that resulted in your pregnancy.”

Charli’s words shocked Skylar, not because they weren’t true, but because they were. And she wasn’t done yet.

“I believe you also need to acknowledge that the decision to give Shiloh up was entirely yours. You know that if you’d wanted to keep her, you could have. You would have had lots of support.”

Skylar felt the truth of those words pierce her heart.

“I’m not saying that I wish that things had worked out differently, because I don’t feel that way at all. I believe things worked out the way they were supposed to.”

“So, what am I supposed to do?”

“I think you need to accept that you made decisions that would benefit you,” Charli said, not pulling any punches. She lifted her hand when Skylar started to say something, feeling the need to defend herself. “You were entitled to make those decisions, and clearly, we have also benefited in a way we hadn’t known was possible. I’m not getting after you for any of those decisions.”

“Then whatareyou saying?” Skylar wasn’t sure how she should feel at that moment. There was a mix of anger and sadness, along with some other feelings, bubbling inside her. One of them was going to spill out, and she wanted to make sure it was the right one.

“I’m saying that I think it’s important that you free Aiden from some of the weight he carries for your unhappiness during that time, because it shouldn’t all be his. Yes, he broke up with you in a way that was really hurtful, and his response to yourpregnancy was bad, but you also made some decisions that have added to your unhappiness.”

Skylar had never thought of it that way. Charli’s words peeled back a curtain in her mind, and her heart hurt once again. Except, it didn’t hurt for herself, this time it hurt for Aiden.

In her mind all these years, it was his fault that she’d had to give Shiloh up, and when they’d reconnected, she’d made sure he knew that. She’d thought she was too young—a couple of years younger than Charli had been—and not strong enough to be a good mom.

But Charli was right. The family would have supported her. She could have kept Shiloh.

“I don’t want to upset you,” Charli said. “But I think it’s important that you talk to Aiden about this before you move forward. Don’t try to build a relationship on the shaky past the two of you have. Sweep away all the regret and hurt and build your relationship on truth. And that truth should start with a very frank conversation about what happened nine years ago.”

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