Page 23 of Skylar

She shrugged. “I figured that maybe it was time.”

“Will you tell me more about our daughter now that I’ve signed the papers?” he asked.

“Again… she isn’tourdaughter. She’s the daughter of the couple who adopted her. You really need to start thinking of her like that.”

Aiden nodded, though it pained him to have to accept that. “Sorry. This is all so new to me.”

“The sooner you accept that, the easier it will be.”

“Do you have a picture of her?” he asked. “Will you tell me her name?”

“Her name is Shiloh,” she said after a brief hesitation. “I can show you a picture. I don’t have a really recent one, though.”

Aiden was willing to accept anything at that point. He just wanted to be able to put a face to the daughter he’d never known. Given what he’d told Skylar to do with the baby years ago, he was grateful for even an older picture of her.

“This was her when she was around three,” Skylar said, holding her phone out so he could see the screen.

Aiden stepped closer, bending his head to look at the phone without taking it from Skylar. On the screen was a toddler with a big grin, her face framed by dark curls. Her brown eyes weren’t quite as dark as Skylar’s, but they sparkled with delight. Clearly, she was a happy child.

He searched for something of him in her features, but he couldn’t pinpoint anything.

“Here’s one taken a couple of years later,” Skylar said as she showed him another photo on her phone.

In that picture, Shiloh looked to be a bit younger than Willow was now, and he could see a resemblance between them. So perhaps there was something of him in Shiloh after all.

It was hard seeing her healthy and happy, knowing that wasn’t the case anymore. His heart clenched at the idea of her in pain and suffering.

“So you’ve spoken to her adoptive parents about me?” he asked, looking up at Skylar.

“Yes.” She stared at him for a long moment, her brown gaze unreadable. “Just so you know, all of this is pretty much my worst nightmare. Not just Shiloh’s health, but also you being back in my life and hers.”

Shame and regret flooded Aiden. He’d spent most of the days since their breakup tryingnotto think about Skylar. Given what he’d done to her, it was actually a surprise that she’d agreed to any of this.

He slid his hands into his pants pockets, dipping his head a bit, though he still held her gaze. “I really am sorry for all of that.”

Her eyes narrowed briefly, and in that moment, he understood that she might never forgive him. And he couldn’t blame her for that. She owed him nothing, while he owed her everything.

“Anyway… Her parents are Charli and Blake,” Skylar said.

Aiden straightened in surprise. “Like your sister, Charli?”

“Yes. She and Blake agreed to adopt her when I asked them to, once I realized you weren’t interested in being a part of my life or hers.”

The relief he felt at knowing who had been raising his daughter was immense. “I bet they’ve been great parents to her.”

“They have. When I made the decision to give Shiloh up, I knew I could only do it if it was to someone I already knew and trusted.”

“I’m glad they stepped up,” he said. “When I didn’t.”

“I don’t want to disrupt her life anymore than the cancer already has,” Skylar said. “But Charli and Blake don’t seem to have a problem with telling her who we are.”

“So she doesn’t know who you are?”

Skylar shook her head. “I’ve always just been Auntie Sky to her.”

“Have you spent a lot of time with her over the years?”

“No. I’ve just seen her at Christmas and if there was a family wedding during the year. It was the only way I could separate my feelings about her being their daughter and not mine.”

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