“I can explain.” Skyla shrugs as tears come to hereyes.
“Dinner’s ready!” Mom shouts, and both boys startle to life with a hacking cry. “I’m so sorry!” she whispers, but it’s too late for that. Even the child at Skyla’s breast kicks away as if the sound of my mother’s voice grated on her. The little thing stretches Skyla’s nipple out an inch before coming up for air. She looks right at me as her milk-lined smile expands from ear-to-ear, and I’d swear on all that is holy I’ve seen that grin somewherebefore.
“Hey there, pretty girl.” I frown up at Skyla and Logan for no good reason before gettingup.
I head over and take Barron from Ellis while Giselle trots Nathan around the room to calm himdown.
“So, how were finals?” Skyla pops up next to me while the baby resting on her shoulder points to Barron and giggles up a storm as if she were in love with him. Both Nathan and Barron will be lady-killers. I’ve already surmised that, and not just because they’re my replicas. But this little beauty seems smitten and mindfully playful of the handsome boy before her as if she already knows him on somelevel.
“It went well. There was just one today. I’m all done for the year.” Another year at Host under my belt and I couldn’t behappier.
“Nice.” She repositions herself so the little girl can see Barron better as her laughter hits ear-piercing octaves. It’s cute, though—reminds me of an exotic parakeet with her crystal-shatteringcrescendos.
“Looks like Barron boy has a littlegirlfriend.”
The smile dissipates from Skyla’s face as if the thought offendedher.
“Skyla”—I whisper as I lead us to the corner—“who is she?” I spot Logan narrowing his eyes over at me before he heads this way. “What’s going on? It’s me. We’re done with secrets, right?” My stomach cinches as if to call myself out on thelie.
“Yes.” She looks to Logan, and her brows peak as if she’s about to cry. “God, yes. This is silly actually.” Her lips quiver, and it’s becoming obvious whatever this is, it’s anything butsilly.
A million insane thoughts sail through my mind and the most ridiculous of them catches. “Is this—did you resurrecther?”
“No.” She shields the baby’s head as if I had just cast a pox on her. “I saw my mother today.” She glances at the ceiling, and immediately I realize who she’s talkingabout.
“Shit,” I hiss without meaning to. Candace Messenger has had it out for me since before my conception. Whatever the hell Skyla is afraid to tell me can’t be good. “What does this precious baby girl have to do with your mother? She’s not your mother, is she?” I twirl a blonde lock of hair around my finger, and the tiny thing gives a hearty laugh, her marbled aqua eyes set on my own. I can’t help but smile back. Everything about her is the embodiment of joy and it’scontagious.
“No,” Skyla growls as she glances up once again. “Trust me, that would have been much easier.” She takes a deep breath, and Logan stands next to her, both of them silently pleading with me to understand. Butwhat?
“Gage.” Logan pinches his eyes closed a moment. “We never meant for this tohappen.”
Skyla gives a frenetic nod. “And if I had my way, it wouldneverhappen.”
The baby girl lets out a squeal and claps her hand over Skyla’s mouth as if trying to slapher.
“What I mean is—” Skyla takes the baby girl’s hand and gives it a quick kiss. Something about that small insignificant action unsettles me. Skyla does that to our kids, sure, but a stranger’s child? Nursing her? Kissing her tenderly as if she were herown?
“What the hell is goingon?”
“What Skyla is trying to say is”—Logan takes the child from her—“Candace dropped our daughter off in Tenebrous thisafternoon.”
“It was a stupid ploy,” Skyla says it so fast my mind registers it as one solidword.
“Whose daughter?” My head swims, trying to digest Logan’s words. “Did you sayyourdaughter?”
“Yes.” Logan offers that depressed grin that only he can pull off when he’s in the shitter, and right now I feel like I’m right there with him. “Look, we don’t know why Candace does what shedoes.”
Then it hits me. This little girl is their child—Skyla and Logan’s daughter—a child born of their love—of their sexualunion.
I touch my finger to her tiny hand, and she curls her fingers around it, strong and sure, and I see Skyla there in hereyes.
“Yes,” I whisper. “Oh my God.” She laughs, and I see Logan there in her smile. My stomach sinks straight to hell, and my limbs feel heavy as lead. For a moment, I think I might drop Barron under the weight of this new reality. “What’s hername?”
“I’m sorry.” Logan shakes his head at me, and we lock eyes, cold and weary for what feels like two years. Logan and I have always been warring over Skyla, one-upping the stakes whenever we could. It always seemed that fate was on my side, or at least until this moment, this entire heartbreaking year. “We’re calling her Angel.” He bounces her in his arms, and she claps and laughs hard at the irony of her name. Barron leans over and grabs a handful of her hair, and she screams right at him until he relents. “It’s sort of a placeholder. We haven’t really named her. She just landed in ourarms.”
Skyla takes Barron from me and leans in until I wrap an arm around her waist and it feels like a relief. Like the noose that was just placed over our marriage was just as quicklylifted.
“I can have Marshall help us take her back to paradise.” Her voice grows heavy and weary. “I mean, I can’t feed three babies, can I?” She nods up at me as if asking forpermission.
