Page 67 of One Unexpected Gift

“My grandfather didn’t approve of my mom because she was Latina, and the live-in housekeeper’s daughter.”

“Your family had a live-in housekeeper?”

Nick chuckled. “That’s what you’re questioning right now?”

“I just... I’ve never met anyone who had a housekeeper who lived with them.”

He normally kept tight-lipped about his family’s background, not wanting a woman to show interest only because he came from Texas oil money.

“My parents loved each other and refused to be bullied by my grandfather. He threatened to disown my dad if they kept the baby and if he continued seeing my mom. He’d only cut the trust fund in half if they gave the baby up for adoption and my dad promised never to see my mom again.”

“Disown? Are you from some mafia family or something?”

“Sometimes I wondered.” Skylar’s eyes grew wide. “Kidding. Only because of the asshole my grandfather was. Long story short, my dad and mom took off on their own and had their baby. They started from the ground up. My dad was twenty-three and already had experience working at Pierce Oil so he—”

“Pierce Oil?”

Nick scratched the back of his neck with his free hand. “Pierce Oil goes back a few generations. Dad gave it up for my mom and for me.”

“You? You were the baby?” She scooted closer and squeezed his hand.

“Yeah.”

“That’s such a romantic story. And your parents, they’re okay now? They struggled?”

“From what Dad says, he had to adjust to washing his own dishes and doing his own laundry, something Mom was more than happy to teach him to do. As a pampered boy for twenty-three years, she said she fell in love with him even more while they were poor and getting their family started.”

“See?” Skylar sniffed and threw her hand in the air. “You do this stuff; you have this amazing family story to tell...”

“I’m not following.”

“Your family, you, you all sound too perfect. Why would a judge let me raise Gabby, a woman who could be called to action any time, who has to put her daughter in daycare full time, when you and your family have the ability to care for her? I don’t want her taken from me.”

The waterworks fell again. Nick pulled Skylar onto his lap and held her while she cried into his shoulder.

“No one is going to take Gabriella away from you. That was supposed to be the moral of my story. My parents went to great ends to make sure their baby was never taken from them. They’d never do that to anyone else. If anything, they’d fight to make sure you had one hundred percent parental control and not give me any.”

“What?” She lifted her head, her green tear-filled eyes blinked down at him. “Why wouldn’t they want you to see your daughter?”

Your daughter. Not my daughter. The words lifted his spirits, showed him Skylar was finally accepting him into her life, whether she realized it or not.

“I was kinda kidding about that. Of course they’d want me to be part of her life. They worry about my extracurricular activities and are still lecturing me on my safety.”

“They must feel better knowing you haven’t done any extreme sports since your dissection. I’m sorry. That was rude.” She stroked the side of his face. “It sounds like they love and respect you, and are probably worried about your health, but I’m sure a piece of them is thankful you’re not risking your life.”

“They don’t know about the dissection.” Nick glanced away. “Neither one.”

“What? Not even the first? Nick, they would want to know.”

It warmed him that she cared. “I don’t want them to worry.”

“They’re your parents. Besides, they’re already worried about you every single day because of your crazy antics. I’d think knowing about the dissection might actually put them to ease. You need to tell them.”

Nick traced her lips with his fingertip. “I like this feisty, bossy woman on my lap. Obeying your orders is much easier than figuring out how to handle your tears.”

And just like that the sadness swept in again. Her mouth curled down in a pout, her eyes slanting in the same direction. “I’m a hot mess.”

“You’re hot. And I wouldn’t mind seeing you a little messy. Your hair tangled from my hands running through it, your lips swollen from my kisses, your clothes tossed in a corner.”

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