“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 balling 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 he
r 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.
It was my job to tuck her in at night, to make sure she took her bath and kissed her mommy enough. It was me who loved her little personality, who cherished her sweet kisses, who kissed her goodbye every day before school. It was me who played Santa and took a million pictures. I had built us the perfect house and given her the best room she could have ever asked for. It was me who she came to when she had a bad dream, and my side of the bed when she wanted to cuddle with us at night.
None of that had anything on what she had taught me. Izzy had taught me what the real meaning of love was. She had given me this life I was living. She’d led me straight to Miranda. She made our family complete.
I looked down at her hand holding mine. Her little perfect hand that I remember being so small it could only hold one of my fingers.
Izzy never let go of her hold on me, perhaps knowing that I just needed to hold her, or maybe she was afraid of seeing me so emotional. I just couldn’t help it. I’d never felt so sad about anything.
Conner came walking out and I didn’t even care about him seeing me upset. He gave me a nod and approached us anyway. “Hey Bella, Grandma says that she has somethin’ for you and Noah to do. Can you come with me for a sec?”
Thankfully, she didn’t turn back to look at me. I watched her walking away and felt like the life was escaping from my body. I put my hands over my eyes and just sat there as the night sky turned to black.
A little while later, I heard someone approaching me, but never looked up. Someone sat down beside me and reached their arms inside of mine. Van’s soft voice spoke close to my ear. “I thought I’d find you out here. I leaned my head down on top of hers and just sat there saying nothing. I wasn’t crying as bad as before, but I still couldn’t see clear on account of my eyes being filled with wetness.
“Colt will do whatever it takes Ty. We won’t let her take that title from you. This whole family knows who that child’s real father is.”
That’s when I just lost it again. Van pulled me close and wrapped her arms around me. She rubbed my back and let me cry. “I love her so much, Van. Maybe it’s wrong for me, maybe it’s selfish. I just don’t want to share her. She’s my baby, not anyone else’s. She’s my little girl.”
“Shhh, I know she is. You have to calm down, Ty. If Bella or Miranda sees you like this they are going to get upset. You have to be strong for them until we can figure out what to do.”
I kept my head against her shoulder. “I’m so scared, Van. I’ve never hurt like this. Please tell me how to be strong for them, when all I can think about is losing my family.”
She pulled away and looked me in the eye. “Ty, no matter what comes out of this, you will be her Daddy. Even at the worst, and she finds out about Tucker, you are still her father. She will always be Isabella Mitchell. Miranda had every right as her mother to change her name. We will get this figured out, I promise.”
I knew she meant well and maybe she even believed it herself, but it didn’t take away from my fear of losing my daughter’s trust. I’d prayed this day would never happen.
“Thanks for coming out here with me,” I grabbed her hand and kissed it. “and being my best friend, even when I’m a shithead.”
She wiped away my tears. “Ty, we’ve been through so much, but through it all, I can’t imagine you not being a part of my life; my family. You and Miranda mean so much to me and I love you. I love you both. That’s never going to change. You have one of the biggest hearts and you’re a great husband and father. I’m so proud of you for who you have become. Without you I wouldn’t have been able to get over the whole vagina thing at the hospital.”
“I knew how much you wanted to be a mother and that you knew damn well that shit wasn’t going to look like that forever.”
“Yeah, but what you said, it just helped me get over the shock. You made me realize what I was there to do.”
“All I said was, ‘get your mind off of your giant snatch and into this game. Do you want to have this baby or not? The faster you push her out, the quicker it goes back to its normal size.’ It was the truth.”
“You got me back on track, so thank you.”
“Thank you, Van. For everything.” She knew I loved her and appreciated her friendship. “You’re pretty darn awesome yourself.”
She smiled and stood up. “Tell me something I don’t already know.” Her smile made me smile as she held her hand out for me. I took it and let her guide me back into the house. Colt nodded as I let go of his wife and went upstairs to be with mine. She needed me and this was my time to be that person she could always count on. We promised for better or worse and I stuck to my promises when it came to family.
Chapter 9
Miranda
It was like a bad dream; like all of my happiness was being taken away from me. I couldn’t sit at that dinner table any longer. There was no way I could look at Ty and not burst into tears. I could feel his pain and his worry without even talking to him. I knew it was ripping him apart.
I was so relieved when everyone suggested that I lay down for a little while. Van had come upstairs and tried to get me to relax, but I couldn’t help from worrying. There was a chance that Bella was going to find out that Tucker was her real father. As much as that hurt me, it was killing my husband.
After Van left, I cried myself to sleep. I just wanted the pain and worry to go away. I wanted to wake up from this nightmare.
Strong arms wrapped around me and woke me from my sleep. As I opened my eyes, I wasn’t awake enough to be prepared to see his eyes so bloodshot. He didn’t say anything, as he tried to smile when I looked up at him. Unfortunately, as I reached my arms out for him, he started to cry again. It hurt me so much hearing him like that. I’d seen Ty cry before, but it was out of happiness, not pain.
There were no words I could say to make it go away. My body trembled in his arms, but I refused to let go of him. I refused to back down from being there for him.
“We are goin’ to be okay, Ty. You are the only daddy she is ever goin’ to have. Nobody can make her stop lovin’ you.”
He wiped his eyes and shook his head. “One day she will hate me. One day she will understand the truth and hate me for lying to her. She will resent me. I should have never thought I could have her for myself. I never should have believed that she was mine forever.”
“Ty, she is yours, in every single way that matters, Babe. She chose you from the very moment she was born. Tucker has nothing to do with who raised her. It was all you. It’s always been you.” I wiped his face and kissed his lips. He kept his eyes closed and just held me close to his body.
He buried his head into my chest and I stroked his hair. We said nothing and that was probably for the best. Bella was his breaking point. She could make him cry with the drop of a hat, but normally they were happy tears from him being so excited about something she’d done. This was something so terrible.
I started to worry about that woman getting to see Bella. If she won visitation, could she have her name changed? How far was she going to go to ruin my life? She’d had nothing to do with my child, why now? Why now all of the sudden was she doing this? Did us running into her make all of this happen?
Then my mind really started to wander. If Ty lost Bella, would he still want me?
Neither one of us got much sleep that night and we couldn’t function the next day either. Finally, the next day, Colt’s lawyer showed up at the ranch. He took us into Colt’s office and started reading all of the paperwork. After making a few calls, he cleared his throat and wrote a few more things down.
“Okay folks, as it stands right now, Mrs. Chase is petitioning the courts for a visitation type of custody. Now, because you live in a different
state there would be certain stipulations to her visitation, if she were to win out in court.”
“How do we prevent all of this? Is there any way to keep this from happening?”
He looked over the paperwork again. “According to the paperwork here, it states that there is no father listed on the birth certificate. Is this correct?”
I shook my head and waited for some good news.
“A sure fire way to make this whole thing disappear is for Tucker Chase not to have been the child’s biological father. Proving that would give us means to have this whole ordeal dropped.”
I looked down and felt all hope leaving the room. This was going to go to court and even though that woman was the biggest piece of shit I had ever met, there was a chance that she could win.
“So if we prove that then all of this goes away? She can’t touch us?” Ty’s question really confused me. I looked to him and shook my head.
“Yes. Is there something I’m not understanding?” The lawyer looked as confused as I did.
Ty squeezed my hand and I trusted him, even though I had no idea what he was doing. “There’s a chance that I am the father. We never had the test done, since I just assumed responsibility anyway. She’s always been mine. Are there any stipulations to where the test takes place? I mean, can I schedule it for when I get home?”
Was he insane? There was no way a test would say he fathered Bella.
“I can get all this paperwork submitted and request we postpone any further action until you get everything scheduled. I will give you the office information so that the hospital can fax over the results. Once we have them and if they are in your favor, we can submit to have your name changed on the birth certificate. I have a big trial coming up, so it may take a few months if we reschedule.”
“That sounds great. We’re sorry to pull you away from your family on a weekend. Something like this just couldn’t wait. Let’s just hope the paternity test comes out in my favor and we can make this all go away.”
Ty and I saw the lawyer out, before I drug him back into the office and waited for him to explain what the hell he was thinking.
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