Page 15 of Skylar

“You are sorry, though, right?” she asked, lowering her hoop once again.

Aiden wanted to be indignant in his response, but his mom had every right to ask, given how out of character she thought his actions had been. “I am.”

“Have you thought of her over the years?” she asked. “Have you wanted to make amends before now?”

“I’ve honestly triednotto think of her,” he said. It wasn’t a confession he liked to make, but it was true.

His mom focused on her embroidery hoop again. “I think you know that I’m disappointed in how you handled things.”

“Yeah. I know,” he said with a sigh. “I’m disappointed in how I handled things as well.”

“Why do you feel differently now?”

“Trauma and loss have a way of clarifying things.”

“That they do.” A sad smile crossed her face. “I wish your dad could have known he had another granddaughter.”

Aiden felt a matching sadness, but his was tinged with guilt and regret. If Aiden had behaved differently, his dad could have had another granddaughter to love like he had Willow.

He’d inflicted so much pain because of his selfishness that continued well past the time during and after the breakup. It was a reminder that decisions made could impact more than just the people involved at the time.

Like ripples in the water after a stone is dropped into it, he could see the ripples of his long ago decision impacting the present and the future.

“I hope she’s been with good adoptive parents,” his mom said. “Though I suppose the Halversons would make sure she was in a good family.”

Did his daughter even know that she was adopted? Would they tell her who her birth parents were?

They didn’t know who Willow’s father was. Bethany had never revealed his identity, and there had been nothing in her belongings to tell them who he might be. That void had left them with lots of questions, but at the same time, he didn’t think that he or his mom would have been happy to lose Willow to her father, especially if he was someone Bethany hadn’t wanted in her daughter’s life.

In the short time he’d been fully present in Willow’s life, Aiden had tried to be a father figure to her, in the absence of her own and in the loss of her grandfather.

By all accounts, his daughter had parents and grandparents, so they might not want him or his mom involved in her life. That would be a huge loss for them now that they knew of her existence, but he’d have no one but himself to blame.

Aiden let out a long sigh as he slumped down further into the couch. Though he wasn’t doing much physically, he was exhausted. The shock of finding out about his daughter was taking its toll on him.

“Did I ruin Skylar’s whole life, Momma?” The name he’d used for her as a child slipped out, letting Aiden—and probably his mom—know just how vulnerable he felt at that moment.

She lowered her hoop again and put her glasses on top of her head. The smile she gave him held an edge of sadness. “I don’t know if you ruined her whole life, but it’s true that you definitely had a negative impact on it. Only she can tell you how she truly feels, however.”

“She’s just so angry, so I feel like I ruined her life.”

“The way you broke up with her would no doubt have impacted her,” she said. “And I understand why she might be angry with you still.”

Aiden nodded. He understood as well, but he wished that there was something he could do to make it up to her. But perhaps he’d done too much damage to ever be able to make things right with Skylar.

“I don’t know what to do.”

“There might not be anything else you can do, other than apologize,” his mom said. “If you offer her a sincere apology, then that’s all you can do. You can’t force her to accept it.”

Aiden sighed. How he wished he could go back to his younger self and smack him upside the head in hopes of knocking some sense into him.

He also wished he could go back and make sure that his dad was in the ER when his heart attack happened. And he’d make sure that Bethany never got on that boat with her friends.

But there was no way to change the past. He could only use it as a lesson for moving forward.

“Just apologize, then treat her with respect from now on,” his mom said. “There’s nothing more you can do. Treat her the way you should have treated her back then.”

Aiden nodded, then sat forward. He’d had his moment of vulnerability, of weakness. Now it was time to focus on taking care of the people he loved and the people he’d wronged.

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