Loving Her (Mitchell Family Series BK9)

by Foor, Jennifer

  “True, but I wouldn’t share that secret with anyone else. He likes people thinking he’s a douche. I don’t understand it, but it’s the truth. There’s been so many times where I wanted to strangle him but, at the end of the day, if I need a shoulder he’s always there.”

  There was a time when I would have been jealous of their relationship. No woman wants their husbands ex to be one of his best friends, but Van was our family. Her bond with Ty was nothing romantic. Her cancer scare had proven that to everyone, especially Colt, who had to apologize several times for assuming they were involved.

  When we heard the screen door slamming shut, we both turned to see Bella and Noah walking outside. They walked up to the guys and looked at the playhouse. Ty grabbed Bella and kissed her on the side of the head. When she didn’t run away, Van and I looked at each other. “That’s a good sign, right?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I think it is.”

  “Kids are curious by nature, Miranda. I know you’re both worried and maybe you have good reason, but Bella is a good girl. She’ll probably drop this whole thing as soon as you go home. Think about it. She’s finally heading back to school with all of her friends. Once that happens, she’ll be too busy to worry about some stranger that died a long time ago.”

  “I hope you’re right, Van. It would be nice if this all went away. I haven’t seen Ty act like this since he was tryin’ to get those papers. I mean, I know how much he loves her, but that man has risked his life, broken laws, and even put our marriage on the line to give her the perfect life. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for her. I wish that was easy to explain to a curious eleven year old.”

  “Hopefully, one day, when the time is right, he’ll be able to tell her everything he’d done. When that day comes, I can’t see her hating him. She should love him more for everything he’s done to protect her.”

  “Let’s pray that’s what happens.”

  I sat there with my cousin, watching Bella standing there with Ty. I couldn’t, for the life of me, picture them not being close. I had to pray that Van was right. Hopefully, going home would make this entire nightmare disappear.

  Chapter 15

  Tyler

  Later that night, Colt pulled me aside. I knew what he was going to talk about, but as my family, I found it important to hear him out.

  “Ty, I get that you’re upset about Bella. I can’t imagine what it’s like for you or even Savanna to love a child that you weren’t a part of makin’. When I see her with Noah, I know that there ain’t anything she wouldn’t give to have Noah be her real son. In her heart, he already is. I think that’s why she understands you so much. The two of you have opened your lives up for two children that neither of you had to do. Of course, Savanna and I were married when Noah came into our lives, but you and Miranda weren’t anything. I think we all knew that from the day she was born you had some kind of attachment to her. Helpin’ bring a child into this world will do that to you, but you stepped up. You didn’t just want to be some uncle that visited from afar. When Bella was born, you turned into a man. No matter what happens from here on out, nothin’ can change the bond you have. I’m sayin’ this because I’ve seen my son doubt his feelin’s for Savanna. It took him a little while to see it, but when he did, he knew he’d been wrong to push her away. Savanna is the best thing that could have happened to that boy. He needed a mother, and she stepped in at a moment in her life when things were horrible for her. Ty, you have that bond with Bella. You know it in your heart. If she does uncover the secret, it may take her a while to get over it, but I promise you, she will.”

  We stood there staring at each other as I tried to ponder on what to say. “We’ve brought her up to understand that lying is bad. How do you think she’s going to feel when she realizes that our whole relationship is built on one?”

  “Hopefully, she will get why you did it. Look Ty, if you peel away the layers of the secret, it was all out of love. You weren’t bein’ selfish when you signed up to be her daddy.”

  “I still remember the day she said it. We were sitting in a car waiting to go into church. Van was there visiting and I couldn’t believe it. I don’t care what medical tests say. I’m her father.”

  He put his hand on my shoulder. “That you are, cuz. Keep tellin’ yourself that, no matter what happens. You’re goin’ to be alright. No matter what, she’s a part of this family and so are you. You will never be alone.”

  “You probably think I’m being a pussy.”

  “Hell no! Tyler, you’re a lot braver than you give yourself credit for. I don’t know if I could have done what you did. People assume I’m this all around great guy, but I couldn’t have claimed a child that wasn’t mine. I’m selfish that way. If Savanna had a child with someone else, especially if it was yours, I’d never be able to see past it not being mine. I wanted my own kids.”

  “You would have adopted.”

  “That’s different. That child wouldn’t have belonged to Savanna and some other guy. When you look into Bella’s eyes, what do you see looking back at you?”

  I thought about his question for a moment. “At first look, I see her mother. She looks exactly like her.”

  “You know what I mean, Ty.”

  Colt was right. From early on, especially when they first came to stay with me, I’d felt it and seen it for myself. I wasn’t just signing up to be her dad. There was this bond between us, like she’d picked me out herself. She was the one who called me daddy and it was her love all along that made me fall in love. “I see myself. When I look into her eyes, I see my daughter.”

  He put his hand on my shoulder and looked right into my eyes. “That ain’t ever goin’ to change.”

  Colt left me standing there, thinking about a lot of things, not that I hadn’t already had a bunch on my mind. Maybe I needed him to remind me of the big picture.

  We finally headed in the house to say goodbye to all the grandparents and Lucy. Miranda and I had decided to get an early start on the drive home and it was easier to say goodbye now, instead of having to drive to each person’s house.

  Karen, my mother-in-law, hugged me tightly. She whispered in my ear when she spoke so that nobody else could hear. “I don’t care what anyone says. You’re the best father that I could ever want for my grandchildren. I know I gave you a hard time, at first, but let’s be honest, you weren’t exactly in the best of ways. You’ve got nothing to worry about, Tyler. There’s no way you will ever lose that little girl. When everyone else in the world doubted your intentions, that baby knew you were the one. She’s always known. None of us could ever have the bond that you share with her.”

  She grabbed both sides of my face and forced me to look her in the eye. It was emotional, hearing my mother-in-law being so positive to me. For so long, I’d always been the one they were watching, waiting to screw up. Through their doubt, I’d finally been noticed for doing something right. “Thanks, Mom. That means a lot.”

  “I love you, kid. Even if I used to call you my nephew and my friends still don’t understand how you and my daughter aren’t really blood related.” She smiled, and I felt the burning in my eyes again. Just thinking back to those days seemed like forever ago. We’d all become so close, because time heals all wounds.

  “I still would have slept with her if she was my cousin.” I winked at her, and she lightly slapped my chest.

  “Some things never change.”

  “I have people on their toes.”

  She gave me one last hug and finally walked away, smiling. Clearly I was joking. If Miranda was my cousin, I never would have touched her. It was weird enough when we first got together, after calling each other family our whole lives.

  The boys whined about going home and Bella wasn’t happy either. Miranda and I rounded them up anyway and headed back to the guest house.

  Since we were still so hung up on ticks, I took the boys into the bathroom and looked them over before forcing them to get in the shower.

  “I
don’t need a shower, dad.” Jax hated getting washed. He acted like it was going to melt his skin.

  “Get your ass in that water.”

  “But I don’t want to. I didn’t even get dirty today.” The child had played outside in leaves and a forest all day long, but was claiming he hadn’t gotten dirty. He had marshmallow around his lips with accumulated dirt stuck to it.

  Jake laughed and stood there, completely naked in the tub. He wasn’t sitting down, but at least he was in it. “Sit your butt down before you fall.”

  “I won’t fall.” He danced around like a fool. Sure enough, two seconds later, he slipped and went under the water. When he came up, he looked so embarrassed. Jax was cracking up and pointing at him.

  “Idiot!”

  “Jax, quit stalling. Get in the tub. I’m not sitting here all night with you.”

  “But—”

  “But nothing.” I picked him up and stuck him in the tub behind his brother. Then I sat down on the closed toilet seat to monitor the two of them.

  “Can we have bubbles?”

  “No.”

  “Can we have a little bubbles?” Jax repeated his brother’s question.

  “I said no.”

  I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and started reading, seeing Jake out of the corner of my eye pouring something on his brother. As I turned, I noticed that it was an entire bottle on conditioner. Jax punched him in the gut and water began to splash out of the tub as they wrestled for the remainder of what was left in the bottle.

  I reached in, getting soaked myself, and grabbed it. “Seriously? What is wrong with you two? You could be done getting washed by now, but instead you choose to act like punks.”

  “What’s a punk?” Jax asked while his brother giggled.

  “It’s you two. Get washed, because if I have to do it, you’ll be sorry.”

  Jake handed his brother the soap after lathering some up on his hand for himself. I looked back at my phone and heard them laughing again. This time, Jax was peeing, in the direction of his brother. Jake stood up and grabbed his penis, ready to attack with his own stream of urine.

  I reached in and pulled him out, wrapping him in a towel. “What is wrong with you two?”

  “He did it first.”

  “It doesn’t matter. You both were wrong.”

  As the water drained, the boys dried off and headed to get changed. I wiped up the floor, so that Izzy wouldn’t slip when she came in to use the bathroom. We passed by each other and I handed her a fresh towel. “Here, sweetie. Use this one. You’re brothers soaked the other ones.”

  “Thanks, dad.”

  Hearing her call me that was enough for me to feel good. I found Miranda in bed, cuddled up watching something on television. “What was all the commotion about?”

  “The boys decided to give each other golden showers.”

  “What the hell? Are you kidding me, right now?”

  I plopped down next to her. “Nope. Honest to God, they were peeing on each other and laughing about it.”

  Miranda rolled her eyes, like she wasn’t that surprised. “What are they doing now?”

  “Probably plotting to take over the world.” I kissed her neck and she started to pull away.

  “Ty, wait until they go to bed.”

  “That could take hours.” Knowing she’d been asleep before they were, I decided it would be best to get out of bed. Being that closed to Miranda, especially when she was in just a t-shirt, made me extremely horny.

  I found the boys attempting to make chocolate milk by themselves. Of course, chocolate syrup was all over the counter. “Seriously. How much destruction can you two possibly do in five minutes?”

  Their faces got red as they turned around and realized they’d been caught. “We’re thirsty.”

  “Ask someone to help, why don’t you?”

  “Dad, don’t be mad. We’ll clean it up,” Jax assured me.

  “Just sit down and I’ll get it.”

  I cleaned up the mess and made the three of us chocolate milk. We sat there at the round kitchen table looking at each other. “I want to milk a cow.”

  The milk came out of my nose. “Why?”

  “It looks cool. You get to squeeze those nipples and milk just comes squirting out. I wish I could make my own milk, don’t you, Jake?”

  Jake nodded.

  I ran my hands over my face and thought about what I should say. I couldn’t deny these two numb nuts. No matter how much I tried to think I was better behaved, I knew I wasn’t. “Can you two finish up and get into bed? Dad needs some alone time.”

  “How come you were kissing Mom’s private parts? I know you were.”

  I looked at my son and clenched my jaw. “One day I will tell you both all about being with a woman. For now, you two need to go to bed, before I lose my mind.”

  Izzy came walking into the room. She grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and kissed me goodnight on the cheek. I grabbed her hand as she was walking away. “Hey, you okay?”

  She gave me a half smile. “Just tired, dad. See you in the mornin’.”

  “Okay, goodnight.”

  I sat there, watching the boys, with my mind on Izzy. As long as she loved me, everything was right in the world.

  Chapter 16

  Miranda

  After a very exhausting weekend, we’d made it home in one piece. I say that with a grain of salt, because Ty wasn’t exactly feeling great about things.

  Bella acted as if nothing was wrong, albeit he still seemed on edge.

  Her big return to school, after having her lessons in the hospital for the past month, was the next day. I think she was excited to see her friends, but also nervous, like they were going to wonder if she’d contracted a contagious disease.

  Amy and I had planned on giving her a special day, where we pampered her with a new haircut and some pretty decorated fingernails.

  We headed over to the salon in the afternoon and Bella was in a great mood. She gabbed to her aunt about Noah and their new puppy. She was happy after seeing her other grandparents and being able to do things again. For so long she’d been stuck in that bed at the hospital, and I often wondered what something like that did to her mentally, not that she talked about it much. With new devices and the internet, she had plenty to keep her occupied.

  Nowadays, playing outside had been replaced by kids staring at little screens as a means of communication. They no longer required face to face conversations. When I was her age, all I wanted to do was spend the night with my friends and be a social bug. Bella wasn’t like that. Sure, she was popular amongst her friends, but their interests were very different.

  I hadn’t filled Amy in on the whole Tucker situation, so when Bella brought it up as she told the puppy story, I was flabbergasted. She looked right at me as she spoke, as if she was trying to get a rise out of me. It was uncomfortable.

  I knew if I responded negatively, it would give her a reason to think I was lying to her. For all I knew, her and Noah had only uncovered that Tucker had a daughter with the same name. I had no reason to believe that she knew anything else.

  Looking back, I think I should have prepared for the worst, instead of hiding behind my faith that everything was goin’ got be fine.

  After she was all dolled up and ready to go back to school, we started to head home. Bella was sitting in the car next to me, and out of nowhere, she started asking me questions again. “Mom, are you certain that you never knew that guy, Tucker?”

  I felt so frustrated that I pulled over to the side of the road. “Bella, I told you already. I don’t know who he is. Why do you keep askin’ this? Do you have any idea how upset your father is over this?”

  She shrugged. “Don’t you think it’s weird how I don’t look like daddy? I mean, Jake and Jax look just like him. Even Noah said it was weird.”

  “Did you ever consider that Jake and Jax look nothing like me? It goes both ways, Bella. You got my genes and they got your fathe
r’s. Listen, honey, I’m sorry you ran into that woman that got your head all messed up, but you need to drop this. Do you want to break daddy’s heart?”

  “No.” She seemed like it made her sad to hurt Ty. I felt bad that I was lying, but Tucker was someone I never wanted her to know about. Finding out that your biological dad was not only a criminal, but also an evil person that never wanted you, wasn’t exactly something any mother wanted her child knowing. It hurt me that she was looking for answers when they were only going to cause her pain.

  “I want you to drop this. Do you hear me?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  By the time we’d pulled up at the farm, I think we both felt uneasy. I put the car into park and sat there.

  Bella got out and headed inside like she was unfazed, while I was praying in my mind that this whole nightmare was going to be over. She was too young to dig into Tucker, not that she’d ever be old enough to learn the truth. I wish she could understand that we were doing all of this to protect her.

  The boys saw me pull up and came running out of their grandparent’s house. Jax was carrying a little brown box. “Mom, look what we found in Mimi’s kitchen. It’s a snake. Can we keep it?”

  They opened the box and a black snake came striking out at me. I screamed and fell back on the ground. The snake, who’d come halfway out of the box, was being scooped back up by one of my brave sons. “Get that thing away from me!”

  I stood up and saw that Bella had run away too. Ty came walking out of the house with a sandwich in his hand. “Where’d you get that, guys?”

  “Under Mimi’s sink. Ain’t it pretty?”

  Ty picked up the snake and looked it over. “You grabbed it with your hands?”

  “Yeah. Mimi got us a box. She said you used to have a snake. Can we keep it, dad?” Jake asked.