“So I moved her in with me and helped her the best I could throughout her pregnancy. Unfortunately, her staying sober only lasted a few months after Skyla was born. She was colicky and Amaya just didn’t have that maternal gene.”
I swallow thickly. I know all about lacking that gene. I can’t even imagine if I ever got pregnant, what I would do with a baby. Sure, financially I can afford one, but money can’t parent. It can’t nurture and love and protect. Nick’s mom was rich and lacked every maternal gene. My mother was poor and wasn’t any better.
“So you took care of her?” It wouldn’t surprise me. Jase’s heart is so damn big. I only knew him for a short time but could feel how deeply he cared for those around him.
“No.” He frowns. “We got into a fight over her choosing drugs and alcohol over her daughter. I came home from school one day to find she had taken off with Sky. I’m not sure what happened to her during those next two and a half years. I tried to find her but had no luck.” His eyes gloss over with emotion, and my heart squeezes for him and Skyla.
“She came back when Sky was three years old.” Jase is quiet for a moment, then adds, “It was actually the day you met her. She asked around and found out where we had moved to.” He shakes his head. “She told me she was back and apologized for taking off. She said things would be different. She wanted to get herself cleaned up.”
He takes a deep breath then continues. “The night you saw her in my bed, she had come over high and drunk. She had Sky with her. Quinn took care of Sky, feeding her and giving her a bath, while I tried to take care of Amaya. After she threw up and passed out, I laid her in my bed and watched over her to make sure she was okay. When she woke up, she begged me to be with her. Told me she needed me in order to stay sober. I told her that I could only be friends with her, but I offered to take her and Sky back in. I hated that she had her daughter around all those druggies she hung out with. She left upset, taking Sky with her. She said if I didn’t want her in that way then she would find someone who did.”
“That poor baby,” I whisper.
Jase nods in agreement. “I begged her to let me keep Sky but she refused. About a week later I got a call from Child Protective Services. Amaya was in the hospital in a coma after overdosing. The guy who called it in handed Sky over saying she wasn’t his. Apparently Amaya had put my name on the birth certificate as the father.”
I hear myself gasp at his admission. “So, you what? Showed up and claimed her?”
Jase nods once. “I felt so damn guilty, Celeste. I thought if I wouldn’t have pushed her away, maybe she wouldn’t have overdosed.”
“You can’t think like that. She had serious issues. Unfortunately, more than likely, something along those lines would’ve happened eventually.”
“I know,” Jase says solemnly. “I’ve, for the most part, come to terms with it all over the years.”
“Is that why you took Skyla? Out of guilt?” I ask, not trying to judge him, but trying to understand.
“No. Amaya’s parents are rich as fuck, but they’re older and flat out said they couldn’t handle raising another child. Hell, they barely raised Amaya. They said they were going to hire a full-time nanny, but I couldn’t let that happen. They chose their freedom, Amaya chose drugs… Sky needed someone to choose her.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal, when it is in fact a very big deal. He took on a three-year-old who wasn’t biologically his. He loved her and nurtured her, providing a home for her.
“Monica and Phil, Amaya’s parents, didn’t even put up a fight. A couple years later, when I told them I was planning to move to New York, they just asked that they be allowed to financially provide for Sky, including her education.” Now it all makes sense. The expensive clothes, the private school, the iPhone. “I could’ve argued, but it was a small price to pay to get full custody of her and be able to move. They could’ve fought me, and with the money they have, they would’ve won.”
“What you did is so selfless, Jase.” I climb into his lap, wrapping my legs around his waist. “Moving for your sister, taking on a little girl who wasn’t biologically yours. I don’t know anybody who would’ve done such a thing…well, except Nick. He has a big heart.”
Jase’s brows dip down. “Then you’re associating yourself with the wrong people. Speaking of Nick…” He lets his words linger, but the way his brows shoot up tells me he’s asking about our engagement.