Skila

I wake slowly, the fog lifting at its own leisurely rate. Bits and pieces of the ordeal come back to me as I come to. Kiptyn and I had a fight. I left. Camryn was home.

Camryn.

I remember the look in his eyes when he saw me in the doorway. I don’t think I'll ever be able to erase it from my mind.

A throat clears across the room, and my eyes fly open. Camryn sits in a chair, his chin propped on his fist, leaning forward on spread legs. He’s staring straight at me. I wonder what he sees. Does he know the child in my womb is his? Is he angry? Should I say something? I don’t have the slightest clue what to say to him.

He looks like hell, and I mean quite literally. I’d bet he’s lost at least fifty pounds. His face is sunken in, causing his jaw and cheekbones to jut out sharply. There’s a fresh scar across his right eyebrow, and judging from the way it looks, I don’t think it was treated at a hospital.

His clothes are clean, but even they look to be at least three sizes too big on him. Physical attributes aside, there is something else different about him. He feels darker. His aura or presence is haunting, and if I didn’t know him, I'd be afraid to be alone with him right now. As it is, I’m mildly curious and a little uncomfortable. I have questions I want to ask, and yet I know he does too. What is the correct protocol here?

“Are you happy?” he asks first, and I let the breath I’ve been holding escape in a rush. It's a start, and I'll take it.

“Yes. What happened to you?” I ask, because it's the only question I can think of at the moment and I need the answer.

“Nothing, everything, too much to ever talk about, so please don’t ask me to. I can't.” I see him fighting to not close down, so I nod my head vigorously and change questions.

“When did you get back?”

“Yesterday. I went to Atlanta . . . to find you, believe it or not, and then I came here to Kip’s.” He laughs like he has told some amazing joke that only he gets.

“I’m sorry,” I say, and I am. I’m sorry he didn’t trust me with me his real identity, and he didn’t tell me what he did for a living. I’m sorry he didn’t call me when he found out he was getting shipped out, and that he had to find out all of this like he did. He nods his head in acceptance.

“Do you love him?” His body is taut, waiting for my answer. I don’t know what he expects, but I'll only tell him the truth.

“Yes.” His entire body relaxes, and I wonder if maybe that was the answer he was searching for.

“Good. Good. He deserves someone like you, Sky. Take care of him. Take care of both of them,” he says, gesturing toward my stomach. He stands to leave the room, but before he goes, he walks to the side of my bed and leans in, kissing me softly on the forehead and laying a packet of papers in my lap. I don’t know what to make of his statement.

What did he mean by ‘take care of them’? Is he leaving? Where is he going? Is he coming back? What about Kip? This will destroy him. He cannot lose his brother again.

“I'll be back for those in a little while. Get some rest. Your son needs it,” Camryn says, walking out the door. My hand flies to my stomach. My son? I’m having a baby boy? Kiptyn is going to be so happy. I can't wait to tell him.

I don’t know how much time passes before I remember the pack of papers in my lap. Lifting them, I pull the stack out and skim over the form on the top.

TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS

Big, bold letters stare me in the face. I feel all the blood leave my face as ice floods my veins before I read through the rest of the papers. He is signing over all of his rights to the baby so that Kiptyn can legally sign the birth certificate. Tears well in my eyes. I can't decide if I'm happy or sad. Does he not want my baby? I don’t understand it. Who would not want him?

Strong arms wrap around me, and I know right away it’s Kip. I smell his masculine scent of pine and fresh cotton. He strokes the hair from my face and whispers sweet nothings in my ear.

“Have you seen this?” I ask him on a sob, thrusting the papers toward his chest. He takes them from me and sets them in a chair by the bed.

“Yeah, baby. He told me he was doing it. As soon as he knew for sure the baby was his, he contacted a lawyer and had the papers delivered straight to the hospital. I tried to tell him to wait, but . . .”

“Why is he doing this? I don’t understand, Kip.” I can’t calm down. I grab onto Kiptyn and pull him to me. I cry uncontrollably into his shirt. My heart hurts so much that I’m about to be sick.

“I don’t know, baby. I think he was trying to make you happy. He’s not in a good place right now, and he wants the baby to have the best chance it can have.”

“He,” I say. Kiptyn looks at me with lost eyes before I realize what I’ve said. Every time we’ve gone for a sonogram, he’s been hiding his junk between his legs so we weren’t sure if it was a boy or a girl yet.

“He? It’s a boy?” he asks, and I nod into his chest. “That’s great, Sky. Are you happy?” I pull back and look at the man sitting on the bed next to me. He is asking me the same question Camryn asked me not even ten minutes ago, and while the answer is the still the same, we still have a lot of things we need to talk about.

“I was very happy, Kip,” I say, starting a conversation neither of us wants to have.

He sighs and turns away from me. “I know, Sky. A lot of shit has happened, hasn’t it?”

I get the feeling he is headed in a totally different direction than I am. I grab his hand and pull it into my lap, careful to not hurt his other arm. I can’t believe he’s up and moving around with his injury. I’d be lying in the bed whining like a little girl if it was mine.

“I fucked up last night. I should have taken a cab home, but you should know better than to think I’d bring some bitch home with me.”

Now it’s my turn to hang my head in shame. I did know better, but my hormones and my overactive imagination got the best of me. He takes my chin in his hand, lifting my face to his as he gazes into my eyes with his startling blue ones.

“Sky . . . baby, I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you.”