Winning Over Skylar by Julianna Morris

Author:Julianna Morris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-09-15T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

SKYLAR COULDN’T BELIEVE IT.

She’d worked in the garden the afternoon before and somewhere, somehow, her wedding ring had gone missing. Worse, she hadn’t noticed until the next morning—thoughts of Aaron had kept her mind occupied. She hadn’t said anything to Karin to keep from upsetting her, instead waiting until after she’d left on the school bus. But as soon as she was alone, Skylar arranged for an extra employee to cover at the Nibble Nook and raced outside.

Jimmie had gotten her the ring when she was still pregnant, planning to propose after the baby was born. The thought that it could have gone out in the trash, picked up that morning by the disposal company, was too awful to think about. It had to be in the yard.

Skylar tried to calm down and hunt through the soil she’d dug up in the vegetable garden. An hour later she was in the front of the house, still searching, when she glanced over at the hydrangea bush and saw a glint of gold on the ground beneath a branch.

Breathing a grateful prayer, she snatched the band, remembering how she’d shaken her gardening gloves out; her ring must have come off then. It was loose on her finger—she’d lost some weight since Aaron’s reappearance in her life.

It was so annoying.

Why hadn’t she slapped his face when he’d kissed her? No matter what, she couldn’t afford to get involved with him, even in a small way. She had to think of Karin. And she’d felt guilty ever since, remembering her husband. How could she have responded to Aaron when she still missed Jimmie?

Skylar rocked back on her heels and looked around at the yard. However annoying, Aaron had been making her think about things lately. She loved gardening, but maybe it was particularly important to her because of the way she remembered her childhood home...a front yard filled with weeds and rusted-out cars. The brief time she’d dated Aaron she had refused to let him pick her up there, ashamed she lived in such a horrid place.

But the truth was, she’d never had anything to be ashamed about—children weren’t responsible for their parents. She’d survived a violent childhood with a deeply troubled mother and father. Maybe her rebellion in high school had simply been part of that survival—emotionally, at least, though it had taken pregnancy to make her wake up and turn her life around.

“Skylar, we have to talk.”

She jumped.

Aaron was standing in front of her as if he’d materialized out of her thoughts, and he looked angry. Not that there was anything new about that. Being pissed was his usual condition, and she wondered if Melanie’s lawyer had sent him another letter.

“What?”

“I talked to my father this morning. He claims Karin could be my child.”

Skylar felt the blood leave her face. “I’ll show you her birth certificate—Karin is Jimmie Gibson’s daughter.”

“Biologically?”

“After fourteen years it isn’t any of your business.”

“Damn it. I deserve a straight answer.”

“You don’t deserve anything.”

She got up and marched into the house with Aaron at her heels.

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