Page 101 of Skylar

Blake sighed. “I’d better go.”

“Could you let me know how she does through the night? Text or call me at any time.”

“We’ll do that.”

“And I’ll be praying.”

“Thanks. We’ll be praying hard too.”

After the call ended, Aiden felt a rush of emotion. Fear, anger, worry. It swamped him like a tsunami, and he didn’t know how to deal with it, so he just let it come out.

At one time in his life, weeping would have made him feel emasculated, but right then, all he felt was broken with helplessness. But in the midst of the storm in his heart there was one bright unwavering light.

He may be feeling helpless and broken, but he was not without hope.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Aiden took a deep breath, then lifted his phone. For a long moment, he pondered what to say. It took several attempts to get out the simple message to Skylar.

Have you talked to your parents? If not, give me a call when you can.

As he waited for a response, he prayed that she was in a place where she could have a difficult conversation with him. If shewas in the middle of a flight, he probably wouldn’t hear from her for several hours.

While he waited, he called his mom back and let her know what was going on. Her silence after he told her that Shiloh was back in the hospital told him that she was finding the news as difficult to process as he had.

“I’ll fast and pray for her healing tomorrow,” she said finally, her voice tremulous.

Fasting was something he’d learned recently that his mom frequently did, especially in combination with praying for a specific situation.

“Pray also that Skylar will be strong enough to hear this news on her own.”

“I will, sweetheart,” his mom assured him.

“Speaking of Skylar, she’s calling,” he said when his phone vibrated in his hand and her name popped up on the screen. “I’ll call you back later.”

When he answered her call, her first words were, “What’s going on, Aiden?”

“Shiloh spiked a fever earlier today, and they’ve had to take her back to the children’s hospital,” he told her, deciding that ripping the bandage off was the best way to go.

“Noooo.” The word came out as a soft wail, piercing deep into Aiden’s heart. “She wasn’t supposed to get sick again.”

“They don’t know for sure what’s causing the fever,” he told her. “It might be something that just requires antibiotics.”

“Or it might be something more.”

Aiden sighed. “Yes. It might be something more.”

There was silence from Skylar for a long moment.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“I’m in Miami at the moment,” she said, her voice wavering. “I’m supposed to fly back to Vegas tomorrow.”

Aiden wanted to tell her that she should come to Serenity, but he had no right to do that. It was a decision she needed to make for herself. She had the information, now it was up to her to decide what to do.

“I’ll keep you updated on what’s going on,” he said. “Blake was the one to call me earlier, and he said he’d keep me in the loop.”

“Blake called you?”

He knew that would seem as strange to her as it had to him. “Yes. He said Charli and Gareth were with Shiloh as they were getting her admitted. I guess he was given the task of calling people.”

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