Chapter 198: Did You Choose Me?

"Are you really... really my mom?" Skylar asked again, his voice muffled against her shoulder.

Sienna held him even closer.

"Yes, sweetheart. You are my son—"

Emotion tightened her throat, making it difficult to continue speaking.

"M-Mommy..." Skylar’s voice trembled.

"I’m so sorry, my son..." she whispered. "I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to watch you grow up." Sienna’s voice faltered despite her efforts to remain calm.

She had imagined apologizing to him countless times before. Now that she finally had the chance, the words felt utterly painful.

Skylar quietly hugged her for another moment before suddenly pulling back.

Looking up into her eyes, he asked with innocent confusion, "But, Mommy... Why did you leave me? Why did you only come now?"

Sienna’s expression grew tense.

Before she could say anything, Skylar spoke again, "And... when we first met, why did you act like you didn’t know me?"

The question caught her completely off guard.

Every explanation she had prepared instantly disappeared from her mind. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

She couldn’t tell her six-year-old son about the surrogacy or everything that had happened in the past. He was still too young to understand something so complicated.

Helplessly, she looked toward Zachary, silently asking for help. Yet before Zachary could answer, Skylar turned to him instead.

"Daddy..." Skylar’s little face grew serious. "Did you hurt Mommy?"

Zachary and Sienna froze. Neither of them expected Skylar to say that.

"Is that why she left me when I was very small?" Skylar continued to heighten the tension.

For a brief moment, Zachary was completely speechless.

Sienna immediately shook her head. "No, sweetheart," she said gently. "It wasn’t like that..."

Zachary leaned forward and spoke in the calm, steady voice Skylar had always trusted.

"Son, something happened a long time ago that caused you and Mommy to be separated."

He briefly looked at Sienna before returning his attention to Skylar.

"It wasn’t your fault, and it wasn’t Mommy’s fault either."

Skylar listened quietly.

"But that’s all in the past now," Zachary continued. "What’s important is that Mommy has come back to us."

A warm smile appeared on Zachary’s face as he stood from his seat and sat down beside his son.

"She’s here now, and she’s not going anywhere." Zachary reached over and gently ruffled Skylar’s hair. "So, let’s leave those sad things in the past, alright?"

Skylar looked back and forth between his father and Sienna.

After a few moments, he slowly smiled.

"Okay, Dad." Then he turned to Sienna again. "So..." he asked shyly, "does that mean I can hug you whenever I want?"

Sienna laughed softly, tears welling in her eyes. "Of course you can, sweetheart."

"And call you Mommy every day?"

"You already did that, right?" Sienna smiled amusingly. "You can keep calling me Mommy every single day..."

Skylar’s smile became even brighter before he wrapped his arms around her once again. "Thank you, Mommy. I love you..."

Sienna hugged him tightly, closing her eyes for a brief moment.

Beside them, Zachary watched his wife and son embrace each other with quiet relief. He knew they had chosen not to tell Skylar the truth about the surrogacy—not because they wanted to hide it forever, but because he was still too young to understand such a complicated story. Someday, when he was older and mature enough to comprehend everything, they would tell him the whole truth.

For now, all that mattered was that their family, after years of separation, had finally found its way back together.

...

Even though they had told Skylar the truth about her mother’s identity, Sienna still wanted to know the real reason—

Why hadn’t Zachary gotten married and had children? Why had he chosen the unconventional path of IVF instead? And in the end, she had been the one selected to become his surrogate.

That afternoon, while the two of them were walking together in the backyard, Sienna decided to ask him again. She stopped in her tracks, and Zachary, who had been walking beside her, stopped as well.

He reached for her hand and held it gently. "Are you tired already? Should we head home?"

Sienna shook her head as she looked at him. "No, I’m fine... But, Zach, you still haven’t answered my question."

"What question?" Zachary asked, looking genuinely puzzled.

"Why did you choose IVF to have a son instead of marrying the woman you loved?"

Zachary let out a slow breath before answering. "It started with my father. He suddenly pressured me to get married and have a child. If I didn’t, he planned to remove me from his will."

Sienna wasn’t particularly surprised. Riley had already told her about it.

"At that time, I didn’t have a girlfriend or even a woman I was close to..." Zachary trailed off when he noticed the faint smile on Sienna’s lips, as though she didn’t quite believe him.

"I’m serious. There wasn’t any woman I liked back then," he said, trying to convince her.

Sienna let out a soft laugh. "Well, you can’t blame me for not believing you. Honestly, no one would believe that a man as handsome and wealthy as you didn’t have a girlfriend."

She slowly shook her head and looked away, but before she could avoid his gaze, Zachary gently cupped her chin and guided her eyes back to his.

"You can ask anyone close to me. They all know I wasn’t in a relationship for the past ten years," he said earnestly.

Sienna didn’t respond right away. She was genuinely surprised to hear those words directly from him.

"I tried to open my heart, but I couldn’t," he continued quietly. "No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t force myself to accept any woman back then. Then one day, Scott suggested IVF, and I agreed without hesitation."

"Did you choose me?"

Zachary fell silent for a moment, carefully considering his answer before speaking. "To be honest, I didn’t. I gave Scott the authority to decide. The only requirements I gave him were that she had to be young, healthy, and intelligent."

Sienna nodded, believing him. She remembered the qualifications Scott had listed during her interview, and they matched exactly with what Zachary had just said.

"I’m grateful it was you, Sienna," he said, pulling her into his arms. "And... let’s not dwell on the past. Let’s just enjoy this moment together as a family."

Sienna lifted her head to meet his eyes, a gentle smile spreading across her face.

"Hmm... I’ll listen to my husband."