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Her head shot up and she looked at him with eyes wide, her lower lip trembling. “Technically, I’m not a Shaw. My last name is Bradford.”
Luka turned to Skylar, “I’ll take care of that Ava,” he told his daughter.
The rest of the picnic was quiet. The others made small talk. Skylar and Luka didn’t speak at all. His brothers were loading up the remainder of the picnic lunch into the back of Luna’s car. Ava was swinging on a playground set. Skylar was avoiding Luka at all costs because she knew that he was pissed. Was he such a bastard that she couldn’t even give his child his last name? She could practically hear the question going through his head.
Luka watched Skylar to the point that every now and then she had to look at him and the pain in his eyes and the heat of his anger bore into her so she had to look away. That was something no one had told him. That was something that he hadn’t even though of. He just assumed Ava was a Shaw.
“Skylar, could I talk to you?” She turned and looked at him.
“Nope,” she replied. “Not now Luka.”
He crossed his arms over his massive chest. His mother and her sister were looking at her then at him. “Just tell me one thing.”
‘What?” Her voice trembled. She knew what he was going to ask.
“Is my name even on Ava’s birth certificate?”
She shook her head no. She couldn’t even say the word. He turned and started walking. It was like a kick to the balls and the heart. He knew how she felt that day finding out that he had left her. He had no claim to his own child.
“Luka, where are you going?” She called after him.
“God dammit, Skylar just let me walk.”
&
nbsp; She let him go.
Chapter 9
“Momma, where’s Daddy going?” Ava asked.
“To blow off steam,” Skylar explained.
“Who is he mad at?”
“Me, baby,” Skylar explained.
“What’d you do?”
“Something a long time ago,” Skylar told her.
“So why is he mad now?” Ava asked.
“Ava, honey. Stop worrying. Daddy will never leave you. Not ever.” She put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. “I promise you that.”
“He went away once,” she said. It was obvious that Ava had concerns that they had not eliminated. She needed reassurance. “He loved you.”
Skylar looked up at Luna. She was about to cry as well. “But he won’t leave you Ava. You are his flesh and blood. That means something to him. Momma needs to fix some things for your daddy.”
Brett walked over to them. “We have everything loaded now.”
“Could I play for a little while?” Ava asked.
“Sure honey,” Luna told her. When she walked away she said, “It will give Luka time to cool off.”
“I think he needs more than a little while after this.”
Luna sat beside Skylar at the picnic table. Brett and Ramona went to the other side. The other brothers went to the playground with Ava.
