no chance of that once I’d gotten to know her.
There had been no resisting Skye. She’d made me crazy.
“You don’t have to decide your whole future today,” Noah said. “You just found out that you have a child. Get to know her. It’s going to be a big adjustment.”
My sisters both nodded their agreement.
“I still can’t believe that Maya is my niece,” Jade said happily. “But it makes so much sense now. She looks so much like you, Aiden. I’m not sure why I never suspected it before. And the timing matches up.”
“I’m getting a paternity test,” I shared.
“As you should,” Noah agreed.
“For some reason, I feel it in my gut that Skye is telling the truth.” There was really no reason for her to lie about it. She sure as hell didn’t act like she was itching to get the two of us back together.
In fact, she’d been pretty damn adamant about not getting married again.
“She’d never lie about it,” Jade said firmly.
“Is she really moving here tomorrow morning? That’s fast,” Brooke said. “How are they going to get everything together to move?”
I grinned at her. “That’s one of the perks of having so much money that I don’t have to think about the details. The moving crews are already arranged.”
“Which room are you giving Maya?” Jade asked.
I hadn’t thought about the sleeping arrangements. “I’m not sure. I don’t really have a room decorated for an eight-year-old. Damn! I guess I should have thought about that.” We’d had a girly room in the house for my sisters when they were kids, and it had never entered my head to do the same for my daughter.
This father thing was going to take some getting used to. Brooke and Jade hadn’t been that young in a long time.
“I know what she likes,” Jade said as she stood. “I think it’s time to go shopping. The mall will still be open.”
My ass got out of the recliner instantly. The last thing I wanted was for Maya to not feel like she was at home here.
“I’m coming, too,” Brooke said as she hopped up.
“I want to meet my niece, but I can do without the shopping expedition,” Noah said as he rose to his feet. “But I’d like it if you could get her something from me. I’ll give you the money.”
Brooke made a face at Noah. “I’ll get her something from you. I don’t need the money to do that for you.”
Noah nodded. “I’ll owe you.”
We all looked at my eldest brother.
I knew exactly what my sisters were thinking.
What Noah had given all of us was something we’d never be able to pay back. He’d kept us together as a family, and sacrificed his own life in the process. He’d been a mother, a father, and an older brother all at the same time. And he’d fought to retain custody of us all because he was the only legal adult among us when my mother had died.
But he’d never, ever complained about giving up his life for his family.
In reality, we owed Noah, and always would.
“I have some stuff I need to do in the office,” Noah explained as he headed for the door.
“It’s Saturday night,” Brooke called out after him.
The door closed solidly without a reply from my eldest brother.
“He works too much,” Jade said with a sigh.
“He always has,” Brooke agreed. “What good is having all that money when he never seems to spend any of it? He needs a vacation. Maybe we should give him one for Christmas or his birthday.”
Somehow, I couldn’t see Noah relaxing with a cocktail on a beach somewhere, but I didn’t want to burst my sisters’ bubble. “I’d pitch in for that.”
My twin sisters both smiled at me. “Right now, we need to take care of what you need for tomorrow,” Brooke said.
I put an arm around each of them. “Lead the way.”
They both chattered as they headed for the door.
It was moments like this that made me grateful for the fact that I had a really large family.
I had to work hard to push the thought that Skye had never had anyone out of my mind.
She’d been little more than a girl trying desperately to hang on to her child.
Our child.
That line of thought haunted me for the rest of the night.
CHAPTER 7
SKYE
“I’m so happy that you’re my dad,” Maya told Aiden with an enormous smile as we tucked her into the bed in her new room.
I’d hung back a little as Aiden