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Skylar took a sip of her milk, then held the glass next to her chest with both hands. “Would you two do something for me?”
Charli narrowed her eyes at her sister. “Is this something that will make Mom and Dad wish they could ground me?”
“I don’t plan for them to know.”
“That doesn’t reassure me, Sky. What’s going on?” Charli demanded, worry on her face.
“I need you to adopt my baby.”
Charli’s mouth dropped open, and Blake saw a variety of emotions cross her face. Shock. Worry. Resignation. “Baby?”
“Yes. I’m pregnant, and I want you to adopt the baby.”
Charli glanced at Blake, then looked back at Skylar. “Tell me what happened.”
Skylar took another sip of milk, her gaze dropping to the table. “Last summer, while Cole and Aiden were home, all Aiden could seem to talk about was how the girls liked the athletes. They were throwing themselves at the guys on the basketball team. I guess I just worried that they were going to give him something that I couldn’t, so we started sleeping together.”
“Did you not use birth control?”
Skylar shrugged. “Most of the time. I’m not sure what happened, but I found out in August that I was pregnant.”
“When are you due?”
“March. I’m almost thirty weeks.”
Blake’s gaze briefly dropped to Skylar’s stomach. She did have a soft look to her, but Blake had just figured she was built more like Charli, who had a curvier figure. Still, hiding a pregnancy for that long was pretty impressive.
“Does Aiden know about the baby?” Charli’s question brought a scowl to Skylar’s face. “Cole said you haven’t been talking to him.”
“Yes. Aiden knows about the baby.”
“And he’s okay with the adoption?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care.” Skylar’s expression hardened. “When I told him I was pregnant, he told me he’d give me the money for an abortion.”
Charli sighed. “Oh, boy.”
Blake wondered what his reaction might have been if Charli had actually been able to tell him about her pregnancy. He didn’t think he’d have told her to get an abortion. He’d known even then how much she wanted children and valued the lives of the unborn, so telling her to get rid of the baby would probably have ended things between them.
“As soon as he said that, I knew we were over.” She took another sip of milk. “But I can’t keep the baby.”
“Are you sure?” Charli asked.
When Charli asked the question, Blake realized he didn’t know if she’d considered giving Layla up for adoption. Though he knew adoption could be a really positive thing, selfishly, he was glad that she hadn’t.
“I’m sure,” Skylar said. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about it. I can’t keep the baby, but I also don’t think I could give it up to a stranger.”
“Why me?”
Skylar gave her a small smile. “You’re a great mom. I want the baby to have that.”
“Misha and Jay are great parents, too. So are Gareth and Aria.”
“I know. But you’re my first choice.”
“I won’t be the only one adopting this baby,” Charli told her. “You know that Blake and I are dating. We plan to get married, so he’ll be adopting the baby, too.”
Skylar’s smile grew. “I know. Finding that out reinforced my decision to ask you to take the baby.”
