Free SCARRED - Part 6 (The SCARRED Series - Book 6) by Kylie Walker

it’s not too inconvenient for you with work, that I’d like to live in a place like this.” Chloe hadn’t gotten used to asking for things yet. Her entire life it had been dangerous to ask for things because the person she asked usually wanted something from her in return.
    Derek smiled brightly and said, “I would love to live out here. I’d love it if we could find something close and then Sam and Trevor could see the baby as often as they wanted to. I want to buy him or her a pony too, so this would be perfect.”
    Chloe laughed. “A pony?”
    “Every kid needs a pony,” Derek said.
    “Every spoiled child,” she said with a grin. “This child is going to be a tad bit over-indulged, I think.”
    “Maybe,” he said. He looked at Chloe’s face and said, “Okay, probably...but what’s having money good for if you can’t use it to make the people you love happy and comfortable? They will have us and the Whitemore’s and Dad and Jake as examples so in spite of the spoiling, I’ve no doubt that our child will be a good person.”
    “I don’t doubt it either. I love to think about taking this same walk with our little one running ahead, picking flowers. It’s funny too, because I would have never even considered that before. I used to be afraid of bringing a child into the relationship between me and Jesse even though I didn’t think I could get pregnant. It’s one thing to be abused yourself and take it. It’s quite another to bring a child into it.”
    Derek put his arm around her as they headed back to the house. “This,” he said, putting his hand softly against her abdomen, “This is our miracle and I know without a doubt that you are going to be the best mother in the world.”
    She smiled and said, “I’ll have to be to save face. After all, the kid will already have the best father in the world.”
    As they walked back to the house, Derek talked to her about some ideas he had for houses in the area. When they got back to the house he said, “I’m going to go into the kitchen and call my junior agent. I’ll have her put a list of houses together for us to look at on Monday.”
    Chloe sat with Samantha while she knit and Trevor pretended to be watching a news program but was actually napping in the recliner next to them.
    “Are you okay?” Chloe asked her mother. Sam’s mood was subdued...she’s was usually so positive and bubbly.
    “I’m fine,” she said with a smile. She put the knitting down and said, “For twenty-four years I celebrated this day without you and it was always filled with a mixture of joy...for Sarah and sadness for you. Today it is the opposite and I’m just trying to put my head around everything that’s happened.”
    Chloe put her hand on her mother’s arm. “I don’t know why someone as kind hearted and giving as you had to go through so much. You’re a perfect example of what a mother should be. You shouldn’t have had to endure so much pain.”
    Samantha smiled at her daughter. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she said, “Pain is an unfortunate side effect of living. Some people...like you for example, have had to endure more than their fair share. I wish that I knew the explanation for that. I don’t, but what I do know and you do to is that it doesn’t last forever. You might have the same kind of pain again...or a different kind that hurts more or less...but in between it goes away, as long as you endure it. Then sometimes you endure it for years, the way your father and I did when we thought you were dead, only to be rewarded with a miracle.” Samantha gently placed her hand on her daughter’s still flat belly and said, “You had more than your fair share, but now you have your miracle. No one alive can explain why...but somehow that pain led you to here because somewhere inside of you, you never stopped believing that it would get better.”
    Chloe put her arms around her and hugged her tight. “I didn’t think of it like that before.