The Mitchell Family Series BoxSet 1-4.5 (79 page)

I grabbed my brother’s hand. “Conner, everything will be okay. The family doesn’t know the bad stuff.”

“What if my friends want to go out?”

I squeezed his hand. “It’s probably better if you don’t. Just hang out with us for the weekend. If it gets too bad then we can come home early. I can make up an excuse that I’m not feelin’ well. Ty will be cool about it.”

He leaned over and kissed my head. “I couldn’t do this without you, I hope you know that.”

Conner got up and headed back to his room. I heard him and Ty talking to each other in the hallway as they passed. I hadn’t thought about how hard things were going to be for Conner on our visit. I knew he missed his friends, but seeing them again, could test his sobriety. He and I both knew that he didn’t want to go down that road again.

It made me very nervous.

That night I told Ty about Conner and how worried I was. He told me that Conner had talked to him about it in the car and that he suggested the same thing. The two of them may have joked a lot and even gotten into heated arguments, but they acted like brothers. If something was wrong, they were the first ones to stand up for each other. Like always, Ty had Conner’s back and I knew we would be able to make it through the weekend if we just stuck together.

The next week flew by and we found ourselves packing up the cars again. This time Ty’s parents were coming. We still had to take two separate cars and of course Bella wanted to ride with her grandparents. I had to admit that I was a bit relieved. My ride was going to be annoying enough with Conner and Ty.

Ty’s parents wanted us to all ride in their new SUV, but thankfully, Ty insisted we drive separately. It would have been too packed for us to be comfortable.

After four stops for pee breaks, we pulled into the ranch. Conner was the only one staying somewhere other than the main house, so we dropped him off at my mom’s first before unpacking our car.

While Ty carried everything up, Bella and I went into the living room to see Lucy and my aunt. Ty met us downstairs at the same time his parents walked into the room. The older adults began a full blown conversation, while Bella was itching to get to Noah. We saw ourselves out and headed toward Colt and Van’s house.

Chapter 8

Ty

Being in Kentucky was one of my favorite places. I loved being with my family. When the three of us walked in the door, Iz went flying past us and headed up the steps to find Noah. We heard him call her name and then a bunch of chattering upstairs.

Van’s mother was holding Christian when I went over to say hello. She gave Miranda a quick wave before giving her grandchild all of her attention.

We sat around the house for the rest of the evening catching up with everyone. It was nice being around the whole family and not having one single argument. My parents as well as my mother in law and John stayed up at the main house for dinner, while the rest of us ate at Colt’s place.

Van was so busy appeasing her parents that she had little time to sit down and relax. Colt was sitting around talking about hunting with her father. I think he really missed doing that with my uncle. He’d been hunting with his dad since we were too small to even hold a gun. It was always a tradition that, while the women hung around the house, all the men got up before daylight and went out into the woods. Miranda was kind of jealous this year. She was the only girl in the family who loved to hunt and since she had a big ole belly, I wouldn’t even let her think about going.

Izzy was still too little, but Colt planned on taking Noah, at least for a little while over the weekend. Once she heard about it, she started giving her mother and me a fit to let her go.

The next morning, the women got up and started making food for the celebration. The smell of home cooking filled my aunt’s giant house. I reached around the bed before opening my eyes and realizing Miranda was already downstairs. I could hear female voices laughing and carrying on.

I sat up in bed and started wiping my eyes. After checking my phone, and realizing it was only eight in the morning, I wanted to go back to sleep. My daughter came running in the room and jumped on the bed. “Daddy, Mommy told me to wake you up. Come on,”

She started pulling me out of bed. “Honey, Daddy is in his underwear. Let me get dressed and I will be down.”

She let go of my hand but stood there with her hands on her hips. She looked so much like her mother. I loved her big green eyes and that beautiful blonde hair. When she refused to take her eyes off of me, I pointed to my jeans. “Hand me those, Iz.”

She reached down and grabbed my jeans. I slid my legs around the bed, making sure nothing was hanging out of my boxers, then pulled the jeans up. “Do you need me to get your shirt?”

“No. Daddy can get it himself. Did your mother tell you to stalk me until I came down?”

She giggled. “Yes.”

I laughed. “Did you brush your teeth yet?”

She ran into the bathroom in front of me. I opened our zip lock bag and pulled out each of our toothbrushes. She held hers out and let me apply the toothpaste. We started brushing right away and I couldn’t help but laugh at her copying me. “Do you remember Daddy teaching you to brush your teeth?”

She wasn’t even two when I showed her, but it still was something that was special to me. She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. She waited for me to spit first and then spit out her toothpaste. As I rinsed off my toothbrush, she stuck hers under the water. I pushed hers out of the way and started smiling. “Daddy, no fair. Share the water.”

I leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “I couldn’t help it. You’re too pretty not to tease. You ready to go downstairs?”

She grabbed my hand and led the way.

I headed right to the coffee pot, trying to avoid contact with the gabbing group of women at the table. Van’s mother and my mother were sandwiching Christian between them, talking to her in baby talk. I sat my cup down in front of Miranda and kissed her on the head. “Morning, baby.”

She looked up at me as I reached over and took the baby out of her seat. The two women threw me a dirty look. “What? She’s my God child. Get in line.”

Christian loved getting attention, in fact I was pretty sure she got held way too much, but who was I to talk? If I could have held Izzy constantly when she was a baby I would have. I loved holding her and spending time with her.

Van’s mother caught my attention. “Ty, I think you’re in the wrong line of work. It looks like you should have your own Daddy daycare center.”

All of the women in the room turned to look at me rocking Christian in my arms. “Little girls love me, I can’t help that.”

Colt came up behind me. “You sound like a pedophile. Give me my child before you get all creepy.”

I pulled away from him, not letting him take her from me. “Christian, tell your daddy he is wrong. Tell him uncle Ty would never hurt you.” She smiled at me talking to her.

I looked up at the room full of people. “Just because I love kids, doesn’t make me a pedophile.” I stuck out my bottom lip like they all hurt my feelings. After sitting Christian back down in her seat, I took my coffee and pouted my way out of the room.

Colt came in and sat next to me. He had Christian in his arms. She was cooing and drooling everywhere. “I was just kiddin’, cuz.”

I threw the remote in the air and caught it, trying not to look him in the eye. “I’d never hurt a child.”

Maybe I was being defensive, but that wasn’t right.

“Man, you can dish out the jokes, but you can’t take em. Ty, you are the best father I have ever seen. The way you love your daughter is beautiful. After seeing you, it’s how I wanted to feel too. I envy you being a parent. Don’t get mad about my joke. Nobody in this house thinks that.”

He handed me Christian as a peace offering. Of course my mood changed immediately. Izzy came in the room with us and sat down so she could hold the baby. She was fascinated by her and I couldn’t wait for her to meet her two little brothers.

“You’re going to have two of those soon.”

She got a big smile on her face. “Can I help change their diapers?”

“You can change as many diapers as you want.” That wasn’t going to last long. I needed to get that in writing.

“Are you excited about being a big sister?” Colt asked.

She shook her head. “Uncle Colt, Noah says that when he gets big we are going to get married too.”

Colt let out a gasp, while I just sat there, not having any idea whether to laugh or cry. “Is that right?”

I patted her on the head. “Iz, you and Noah can’t get married to each other. You’re related.”

“Like cousins?” She asked.

“That’s right. You’re cousins.” I agreed.

“You and Mommy are cousins.”

Colt started laughing. I left him and Izzy sitting in the living room. “Miranda, I need you in here for a sec.”

She met me at the doorway and came walking in the room with me. We crouched down in front of Izzy, who was busy holding the baby. “Our daughter claims that her and Noah are going to get married when they grow up because they are cousins like we are.”

She looked from Iz to me. “Oh!” Miranda looked to Colt who was beside himself with laughter. She smacked him in the leg before turning her attention back to our daughter. “Honey, Daddy and I aren’t really cousins. We're not blood related. We just have the same cousin, which is your uncle Colt. Mommy and Daddy aren’t related at all. You and Noah are first cousins and you share the same blood. First cousins can’t get married, baby.”

“That’s not fair. Other boys are stupid.”

Us adults laughed. I put my hand on her little knee. “One day you won’t feel that way. I hope it is when you are thirty or older, but I promise you will find someone else to love.”

“What about Noah?”

Colt stepped into the conversation. “Noah will meet someone too. Then you can let your kids play together like you and Noah play. You and Noah don’t need to get married to be family, Bella, because you already are.”

I wasn’t sure she understood any of what we were saying, but I surely didn’t want her telling people that Miranda and I were cousins. Obviously, we needed to do a better job about cracking jokes around her.

Shortly after breakfast, we took the kids outside and let them ride the golf carts around. We were standing outside watching them when a strange car pulled up at the house. A man approached the house and Colt walked toward him.

“Can I help you?”

He held up a paper and looked at it. “Can you tell me where to find a Miranda Healy Mitchell?”

Miranda stood up and started walking toward the guy. Just out of habit, I followed her.

“I’m Miranda.”

He handed her an envelope. “You’ve been served.”

I started to go after the guy for having the nerve to come here on today of all days, but Colt grabbed my arm and held it until the guy took off down the road. As soon as he let me go, I walked over to Miranda. She had pulled the paperwork out of the envelope and sank down to the ground, crying. I rushed to her side and reached my arms around her as I grabbed the papers and read them for myself.

My worst fears were confirmed as I read them.

“What is it?” Colt asked.

My heart was beating so fast, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I reached my arms around Miranda tighter and held her as she cried, trying to hold my own tears in.

“Dammit Ty, start talkin’.”

I handed him the papers. “Tucker’s mom is petitioning for visitation of Izzy.”

Just saying it out loud made me feel sick. Miranda was bawling in my arms and I didn’t know what to say or do to make things better.

I thought we were past this ever happening. I was the only father Izzy had ever known. How could I be okay with some woman trying to take that away from me. I didn’t know what to say.

“Jesus Christ.” Colt handed Van the papers and crouched down in front of Miranda. “Randa, we will get this figured out. There is no way in hell the courts will give that woman any kind of custody. I will hire the best lawyer in Kentucky, darlin’.”

It was important for Miranda to calm down. She was too pregnant to be this upset. We couldn’t have her going into early labor over this. “Baby, please calm down. We will fight this. I won’t let her take our baby. I promise, I will do whatever I have to do.”

“I’m goin’ inside to call my lawyer right now. Sit tight. We will put an end to this.” Colt walked into the house with a determined look on his face. Van followed behind him, leaving me and Miranda outside alone.

“Baby, please look at me.”

She buried herself into my chest. “What are we goin’ to do, Ty?”

“Whatever it takes. If we have to leave the damn country, we will.” I meant it too. I would drop everything to keep my family safe.

“We can’t just leave everything. You know that’s not practical.” She pulled away from me and looked into my eyes. I’d tried so hard not to get emotional, but seeing her face did me in. 

I pressed my lips against my wife’s forehead. “I won’t let anyone take away my daughter. I don’t care what I have to do. I can’t lose her, Miranda. God, I can’t lose her.”

A little while passed before both of our mothers came running out of the house. Colt wasn’t able to reach his lawyer directly, but left a message that it was urgent for him to get back to us. I didn’t care what I had to do, or what it cost. I needed to protect my family.

We tried to relax enough to enjoy dinner with the family, but the room was filled with concern. What happened didn’t just affect me and Miranda, it affected our whole family. Lots of hugs were exchanged, along with even more tears.

It wasn’t a life or death situation, but it felt that way for me. I felt like someone was taking my heart and ripping it out of my body while I stood there and watched. That child was my life. I’d loved her since she took her first breath of air. I was the only father she ever knew. Every day of my life revolved around my love for her. How could someone be able to just rip that away from me?

She would always be Miranda’s child, but this woman threatened my whole relationship that I had built with her. I’d never felt pain and fear like this.

After dinner, Miranda went upstairs to take a nap. She needed to try to relax. It wasn’t helping that it was all the whole family was talking about. Conner had even asked if I wanted him to make the woman disappear. As much as I did, I couldn’t imagine him committing acts of violence to protect us.

I was sitting on the porch swing outside, when Izzy climbed up into my arms. I zipped up her coat and kissed her on the head. She slipped her little hand inside of mine. I looked down at it and felt my eyes burning. “Daddy, what’s wrong with you?’

I let go of her hand and wrapped my arm around her while putting my other hand back in hers. “Nothing’s wrong.”

She gave me a silly look. “You’re sad today.”

I kissed her nose. “Daddy just loves you so much, that’s all. I just love you so much.”

I kept my mouth over her head so she couldn’t see the tears pouring down my face. I tried not to sniffle, but it was impossible. It was inconceivable for me to be able to give up being her father. I knew it was just a formality and I would always be her dad, but I wanted to be the only one. She was my baby, my little girl. I helped bring her into the world. I kept her safe and loved her unconditionally. It was me who rode with them to the hospital. I changed her diapers, I spent hours talking to her through a computer screen. I visited to be able to see her when she was a baby. I taught her how to get dressed, how to eat French fries, how to brush her teeth, how to pray and how to sing.