Loving Her (Mitchell Family Series BK9)

by Foor, Jennifer

  My body bucked, and he matched my movements. Our bodies slammed together, and then finally, all at once, they came to a halt.

  Our lips met one last time, slowly savoring what we’d just experienced together.

  Then we were interrupted by the sudden ringing of one of our phones. At first we chose to ignore it, continuing to savor each other’s embrace.

  The phone kept ringing, over and over again.

  Finally Ty got up and walked out of the room, coming back in still dripping with it in his hands. “Hello?” He hit the button and put it on speaker.

  “It’s Mom. I’m so sorry to call you so late, but we didn’t know what else to do. Bella’s missing.”

  “What do you mean?” I sat up in the tub and looked directly at Ty, who had the same worried look on his face.

  “We went to dinner, and I put the boys in the bath when we got back to our room. Bella was outside with John, and they were talking about what we were going to do tomorrow. He said he walked inside to get their sodas, and when he came back out she was gone.”

  I jumped out of the tub and ran towards my purse, where my phone was. Ty was still trying to get details from my frantic mother while I desperately dialed Bella’s number. We’d given her the phone in case she got separated from my mom. It was for emergencies only, and then we were taking it away again as soon as she got back. It rang three times before the voicemail picked up.

  I was standing there, naked, shaking, hoping and praying that my child was okay, that she hadn’t been abducted, or worse.

  I was so frantic that Ty came in, still on the phone with my mom, grabbing me and trying to get me to sit down. Instead I paced around the room, knowing we were too damn far away to do anything.

  I dialed Bella’s number again and she picked up. Ty put the phone down and listened to me, talking to our daughter.

  “Bella, it’s mom. Where are you? Are you okay?”

  She wouldn’t answer.

  “Bella, you answer me, right now.”

  “What, mom?”

  “Where are you? Grandma is frantic.”

  “I don’t want to talk to her about it anymore, Mom. Tell her to stop. I’m not going back there until she promises to stop.”

  “Stop what, baby? What is grandma doin’?” I was crying so badly that I could barely speak.

  “Tell her to stop tryin’ to talk to me about daddy. She doesn’t understand. Nobody understands. It will never be the same. Nobody knows how I feel. You both lied to me. It’s all lies.”

  “You’re so wrong, sweetie. Where are you, Bella? You can’t run off like this. A stranger could have grabbed you. I’ll tell her not to talk about daddy, but please, go back to grandma. I need to know you’re safe.”

  A few seconds later I could hear my mother on the other phone. “I see her. I see her coming around the corner. We’ve got her.”

  I was more relieved than angry, finally able to breathe knowing she was safe. “We’re goin’ to come and get them.”

  “That’s not necessary. I’ll take her inside and make her sleep with me. We’ll be home tomorrow. I’m sorry I had to call you. She wouldn’t answer when I tried her phone. I didn’t know what to do.”

  “Mom, it’s fine. She’s not her usual self right now. It’s not your fault.”

  “You two stay there and get some rest. We’ll leave first thing in the morning and meet you at home.”

  Ty and I both hung up the phones and looked at each other. Enough was enough. We couldn’t go through more of this. It was tearing us apart and this time we felt like something terrible had happened.

  He wrapped his arms around me and wouldn’t let go. I’d heard of children being defiant, especially at her age, but this was out of hand and ridiculous. It wasn’t like we told her Ty wasn’t her dad and he didn’t love her. It was the exact opposite.

  “What are we goin’ to do?”

  He kissed me on the top of my head. “Whatever it takes, baby. We’ll do whatever it takes.”

  I was afraid of what that answer meant, but was still too shaken up to consider our options. For now, our daughter was safe and that was all that mattered. Everything else was going to have to wait until morning.

  Chapter 31

  Tyler

  I couldn’t take it anymore, and I sure as hell couldn’t get any rest knowing that things had gotten to this point. The problem was that I didn’t know what else to do. It had been weeks, and nothing had changed. Izzy hated me, and she wasn’t giving me any inclination that it was ever going to change. I waited until Miranda went to sleep to make the call. I knew it would change everything and piss her off, but I was out of options to fix my family.

  This was a last resort, my last possible hope for getting back what we once had.

  It was late and I was fully aware that they’d be in bed, but I dialed anyway.

  Colt picked up after two rings. His voice was groggy. “Yeah?”

  “Hey, it’s me. Look, I’m sorry to wake you up, but I need your help.”

  “What’s wrong? Is everyone alright?”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried to fight the emotions running through me. “Colt, everyone is fine but me. I can’t take this anymore, man. I’m losing her.”

  “Who? Randa?”

  “No. I’m losing Iz. She hates me, dude. She hates me so much that she almost ran away from Karen and John tonight. The kid is damaged from all of this, and she’s made it clear that she wants nothing to do with me.”

  “She’ll come around. It takes time.” I wasn’t convinced that it was time she needed.

  “It’s getting worse instead of better.”

  “What do you want me and Savanna to do?” It felt good that he finally included her with things that had to do with me. It was about time.

  “I think I have a resolution, but Miranda ain’t going to like it. In fact, I know she’s going to flip out. She may even leave me. At this point I don’t know what else to do.” I was starting to tear up, thinking of not only being without one of my girls, but both of them.

  “It ain’t goin’ to come to that, Ty. This is just a bump in the road.”

  “For however long it lasts, I know I can’t keep up with what we’ve been doing. That’s the reason for my call. I have a plan, a sort of last resort plan.”

  “I think I know what it is. You want her to come here, don’t you?”

  It broke my heart hearing him say it out loud. “I need to know if she really hates me or not. I need to know if separating us will help. I don’t know what else to do.”

  All of the sudden the voice on the phone changed, and I realized that Colt must have put our call on speaker. “We’ll keep her. She can come stay with us. One week with Colt and she’ll be begging to go home.”

  “No offense, but that’s what I was thinking, too. Her biggest problem is how spoiled she is. I’ve turned her into a brat and now I’m paying for it. Listen, this is temporary. I’m not asking you to raise my child. I need her to stay there for one month. Come Thanksgiving, she’s back with us, whether she wants to be or not. Plenty of kids hate their step-parents.”

  “You’re not her step-parent, and don’t you ever let me hear that again.” I could hear that Van was mad. It comforted me to know that the family all considered me Izzy’s real father.

  “Right now I’m nothing to her. She can’t hate me anymore than she already does. Plus, she’s still pissed at Miranda.”

  Colt was back on the line. “We’ll do this for you, under one condition. You drive her to us. Spend a good five hours in the car with her alone. Remind her over and over what she means to you. Tell her how much losing her hurts you. Don’t hold back. She needs to know that the pain she’s feelin’ is exactly what you’re feelin’.”

  “We’ll have to make some calls to the school, to see if we can either get her work or transfer her temporarily. Plus I have to run this by my wife, and I’m not real sure how that’s going to go.”

  “Call us when yo
u know something, cuz. We’re here.”

  “Thanks, Colt. It means more than you know. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  We hung up and I stayed out on the balcony. It was freezing, but I was too upset to care. I felt like sending Izzy to Kentucky was like giving up on her. This whole plan could blow up in my face, and I’d be left in the same situation. Still, I knew that Iz felt safe with Colt and Van and that they’d keep her in line. She’d have Noah, which could turn out to be a big mistake, but I was willing to do anything to get back into my daughter’s good graces. Nothing had felt the same for me since that moment when she found out the truth.

  I only went back inside when I was calmed down enough. If Miranda saw me so upset she’d want answers, and I needed to prepare myself more to be able to tell her what I wanted to happen.

  I found her sleeping as I entered. She looked so peaceful, and I almost didn’t want to wake her to tell her something that I knew she’d be upset about.

  She stirred when I sat down on the bed, and I knew it was now or never. “Baby, I need to talk to you. I made a decision, and maybe I should have talked to you first, but I’m out of options.”

  She looked confused as she rubbed her face and turned on her side to give me her full attention. “What’s wrong?”

  “I talked to Colt. He’s agreed to let Izzy come stay with them for a month.”

  I could almost see her overreacting, even before it started to happen. “You what? How could you make that kind of decision without me? I’m her mother, Ty. Don’t you think we should have discussed a decision like that? I can’t believe you did this.” She sat up more and pointed at me. “You need to call him back and tell him never mind. It ain’t happenin’. She’s not movin’ to Kentucky.”

  I stood up and paced around the room, unable to let this option go. “Miranda, think about it. She’s suffering, and so are we. It’s not forever. I asked them to keep her for four weeks. I get that it’s a long time, but what other choices do we have? We’re losing her. I’m losing her. It’s killing me and you know it. Please. I’m begging you here. Please let me try to save our family.”

  She got up on her knees and put her hands on her hips. “You think that movin’ her out is goin’ to help?”

  “Right now she thinks that she’s in control. She’s purposely trying to hurt me, because I hurt her. I get it, and if I could take it back or make things better, I’d do whatever it took. We’ve tried being nice and even taking away her favorite things. Nothing has changed and you know it. Even Colt agreed that if we send her away she’ll realize what she’s giving up. I’m not doing it because I don’t want her around. I’m doing it because I want my daughter back.” I could feel myself starting to get emotional, and it was stupid to hide my feelings from someone that could read me the way she could. “Miranda, I don’t have to tell you how much I love Iz. She’s my sunshine. Without her in my life, I feel like I can’t breathe. This silence between us is killing me. I can’t take knowing she’s in the next room resenting everything I’ve ever done for her. I hate all of this. Can you honestly tell me that we have any other options?”

  She shrugged and looked down, and I looked away to wipe my eyes.

  “Have you considered that this plan of yours won’t work? Ty, I can see how hurt you are, and I’m hurt too. I want Bella back as much as you do. I just don’t want to get my hopes up and have this not work. I don’t want to count on it, because I know how much it hurts when it doesn’t go the right way.”

  I climbed on the bed and put my hands on her knees. “Baby, I won’t stop trying until things get back to the way they were before. I can’t let myself.”

  Miranda pulled away and lay back down. She flipped over and hugged her pillow. Sobs followed, and I knew she needed time to think. I don’t think she was angry at my plan. She was just hurt that I’d arranged it without her.

  After a couple minutes, when I realized that she wasn’t going to discuss it anymore, I climbed under the covers and decided to try to get some sleep.

  I wish it would have been easy to close my eyes and pretend that everything was going to go as planned. After talking to my wife, I was more convinced that this plan of mine could go as badly as all the other things we’d tried before it.

  If Izzy wanted to separate herself from me, I was going to give her the space she wanted. I was going to send her as far away as I could and hope and pray that it would bring her back to me. I had to try this, because if I had to spend one more day of her hating me and doing everything she could to hurt me, I was going to lose my mind.

  For hours I lay awake, just staring at the ceiling. The more I thought about things, the more anxious I’d become. Now my wife was furious with me, so much so that she’d gone to bed and refused to talk it out, after we’d promised never to go to bed angry. We were supposed to be having a romantic getaway, and instead we were ending it like two people that didn’t want to be near each other.

  I was afraid of this, afraid of losing my wife because I let my own selfish emotions get in the way. We should have been working together to solve things, but I found myself pulling away from everyone.

  I looked over at my sleeping wife and ran my fingers through her blonde hair. She meant so much to me, my whole family did. I didn’t want to be estranged from any of them. My boys needed their father and my wife needed her husband. I just wished that my daughter needed her daddy, the way I needed her.

  Chapter 32

  Miranda

  I wasn’t just angry that Ty had called Colt and Van. I was hurt that he’d not included me in his plan.

  The next morning I woke up, anxious to get on the road and get home. I didn’t want to piddle around at the beach when I knew what awaited us.

  Ty was quiet, offering to drive, but saying nothing as we loaded up the car and got on our way. I hated that we were fighting when it was more obvious than ever that we needed to stick together. Bella was determined to form a wedge between us, and we were letting it happen, without even realizing that it was.

  Even if I didn’t agree with Ty’s idea, I felt obligated to see it through, because I would have done anything to make things go back to the way they were before.

  I cuddled up next to him as he drove, and finally after about an hour, I’d made my decision. “Are you sure Colt and Van are okay with all this?”

  He clenched his jaw. “They said they’d do anything to help us.”

  “She’s expectin’ to be punished when she gets home, so I guess we can tell her then.”

  “At first she’s probably going to act happy about it. I’ve tried to prepare myself for that.”

  He was right. She’d want to be with Noah and be away from us. It could only be expected. “I know, but I trust you, Ty. If you think this could bring her back to us, I’m willin’ to try it.”

  He reached over and grabbed my hand, but kept his eyes on the road. “Thank you, baby. I felt like shit last night over it. The last thing I wanted to do was upset you. I don’t want to fight, not with you or our daughter.”

  How was it that we were going through such drama? What had we done to deserve it? I thought we’d been through enough when Bella had gotten sick. I figured that our problems were over when she’d started getting better. Now, we had another catastrophe on our hands. “I don’t want to fight either, especially considerin’ that I’m goin’ to be a mess until she’s back home with us.”

  He squeezed my hand and looked over at me for a second. “We’ll get through this.”

  “I hope so.” It hurt to think about how all of this had happened and how we’d gotten so desperate to find a resolution. I would have been able to wait until she stopped being mad at me, but Ty was so broken up over Bella. He couldn’t stand feeling lost any longer. If there was even the slightest chance that she’d love him again, he had to go through with it.

  We arrived home a couple hours later. I could tell he was exhausted, and he’d admitted that he hadn’t gotten much sleep. My mother and John had cal
led to say that they would be another hour, so Ty went to lie down.

  I sat in my living room, looking around at the pictures on the walls. Ty and Bella were so happy in all of them. In each family photo she was either on his lap or holding his hand. It broke my heart to think about that bond being broken, and I knew he was suffering more than I could ever imagine.

  Ty had told me how Colt wanted him to drive Bella to Kentucky. It made sense, considering that she’d have to speak to him at some point during that long ride.

  My problem was him having to ride home upset and alone. It made me nervous, and my heart hurt for him at being able to put himself in that kind of situation.

  When my boys came running through the door, I was more than happy to see them. While they both hugged me and started talking about all the fun they’d had, Bella headed straight to her room. I looked at my mother and John, and they both shook their heads and looked at one another. “Why don’t you take your stuff to your room?”

  I watched them running back to their rooms. My mother approached me. “She hasn’t said much this morning. I think she feels bad about worrying me last night.”

  I looked down at the floor, finding it hard to tell my mother what we were thinking of doing with Bella. “Mom, I think you might want to sit down.”

  “What is it?” She remained standing.

  “Colt and Van are goin’ to keep Bella for a few weeks. I still have to call her school and get somethin’ worked out, but we’ve already decided. If there’s a chance that pushing her away will bring her back to us, we’ve got to try it.”

  I could tell that my mother was upset. She’d seen us struggling and knew how hard a decision like this was for us. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but it could actually work. I get that she’s upset, but most of it is her acting out. She doesn’t hate either one of you. If you distance yourself and make her think that you’re done trying, it might cause her to admit her feelings.”