AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Aiden had opened that door, and I couldn’t close it.
I loved him, and I was completely screwed.
If I was really honest with myself, I’d admit that I’d always loved him. Probably always would. We were connected in a way that just didn’t happen every day.
I knew that because he’d been the only man I’d ever loved. The only guy who could make me feel this damn miserable. The one who could also make me unbelievably happy.
Sweeping at the tears pouring down my face, I tried to be strong. I was going to have to pull myself together for my daughter.
She was really going to need me to be there if her father wasn’t.
I startled when I heard somebody pounding on the door at the back of the house.
Putting my coffee down, I headed in that direction, wondering if I should even answer it.
I was staying in Jade’s house. It was probably a friend or acquaintance of hers. But something drew me to the back entrance, and I pulled the door open anyway.
Aiden!
He was here.
He was real.
My heart was racing as I stared at him like he was some kind of illusion.
He looked like he’d been dragged through the depths of hell, judging by his weary face.
He slammed through the door. “You’re here. Jesus Christ! I only checked here out of desperation.”
“J-Jade said I could use her place if I wanted. And I didn’t really have a place to go,” I explained.
“So your car is in the garage?” he guessed.
“Yes.”
“You’ve been this damn close and I didn’t know it?”
He started to chuckle. And it wasn’t because he was amused. It sounded very much like he was laughing at himself.
“Aiden, what’s wrong with you?” He looked wiped out, and I was getting worried.
“I’ve been all over the city at least three times, Skye, and I’ve called and texted you like crazy,” he growled. “I’ve searched every lodging for your vehicle. It was the only thing I had to figure out where the hell you went. Why did you leave?”
“You were angry,” I said. “And I didn’t want Maya to get upset if you slipped up and said something about the tests. I turned my phone off because Maya will answer it if I’m not right next to her.”
“I was a fucking idiot, Skye. I should have stayed. I should have just talked it out with you. Instead, I ended up bending my brother’s ear for a couple of hours.”
He went to Seth’s.
Not for a minute had I believed he was trolling for another woman, but it was a relief to know he had gone somewhere innocuous.
I pushed on his shoulder. “Sit. I’ll get you some coffee. We need to talk.”
He ran a hand over his face. “I’ve had too much already.”
But he did plop his butt on a chair at the table before he added, “I’ve been looking for you since last night.”
I grabbed my own coffee, got him a bottle of water from the fridge, and sat down across from him. “All night?” I questioned.
No wonder he looked like he hadn’t slept. He’d probably never gotten to bed.
He nodded, his eyes devouring me like I was some kind of rare treasure. “All morning, too. I was afraid something had happened to you. Don’t ever do that shit to me again. I probably deserved it for being an asshole, but you took ten years off my life. Maya okay?”
I inclined my head. “She’s fine. She’s at school.”
“She’s my daughter,” he said in a rush. “I don’t give a damn what the test says, I feel it in here.” He pounded on his chest twice. “It doesn’t matter if we don’t have the same genes. I don’t give a shit. And I know there has to be a good reason why you said she was mine. Talk to me, Skye. Explain, like I never gave you a chance to do last night. I shouldn’t have left. We’ll get through this if you swear never to lie to me again.”
He’s actually going to give me another chance? He’s willing to accept Maya as his daughter even though he thinks she’s not biologically related?
I was stunned, and my tears were falling freely down my cheeks all over again.
“Are you as in love with me as I am with you?” I asked before I could censor my words.
His eyes were wild as he answered, “Crazy in love, Skye. Insanely in love with you. We have to work this shit out or I’m not going to be any use to anybody ever again. It’s that bad.”
I started to bawl like a child. “I love you that way, too.”
Aiden got up and lifted me out of my chair, and then took us to the living room. He sat on the couch with me sprawled on his lap.
I sobbed tears of relief onto his chest, letting him shoulder the pain that had been eating me up.
He stroked my back, murmuring incoherent words of comfort in my ear.
Years of pain, fear, and sorrow were being released, and I couldn’t stop. I cried until all of those negative emotions were completely gone.
And Aiden did nothing except support me.
It was crazy that he seemed willing to accept me, even if I had lied to him about Maya.
But once I’d calmed down, I couldn’t let him continue to think she wasn’t really his daughter. “I called the lab,” I said in a voice weak from having cried for several minutes straight.
“Then you have the test results?” he asked. “I wanted to call them, but I couldn’t find the papers, and I really didn’t give a shit because I was too worried about you and Maya.”
I moved back so I could see his face.
Everything I’d ever dreamed about was there in his eyes.
His commitment.
His desperation.
And his unconditional love.
“Maya is your biological daughter, Aiden. The lab thinks they swapped two samples and labeled them incorrectly. Another guy called them. A man who matched and shouldn’t have. He’s sure the child isn’t his, but he just needed the paperwork to confirm it. Your samples came in on the same day. The results you got were probably his. And he got yours. You need to do a retest, and so does he. But I swear on my life that I was never with anybody but you. And that I was already pregnant when I left for San Diego. It’s not possible for her to be anyone else’s child.”
I could see that he was listening this time, and his gaze was tormented.
“Fuck!” he cursed. “How does that shit happen? And how the hell can I ever make something like that up to you? I called you a liar, Skye.”
I shrugged. “Human error. And if you love me, I give you a pass. I’m not always rational when it comes to you, either. And it meant the world to me that you’d accept Maya even if you knew she wasn’t your biological child.”
“She’s a perfect kid. Why wouldn’t I? I love her, too.”
I nearly went into another crying phase, but I managed to force myself to hold it back this time. “So you believe me now?”
He nodded. “I’ve got my head on straight now. I shouldn’t have ever doubted it in the first place. Tell me what I can do to make it up to you. Please,” he rasped.
I could feel in my heart that he wasn’t doubting what I’d told him. “Just tell me that you love me again,” I insisted. “Because I love you so much it hurts.”
