Folding Hearts (32 page)

There was no way in hell I was going to tell them about that first night. Miranda and I had experienced many hot nights since then, but that topped them all. The anticipation alone was insane.

“In other words, you screwed her twenty four hours after she got there.”

“Come on Conner can you be resp
ectful please.” Colt was starting
to g
et as annoyed as I was at him
.

“It’s the damn truth,” h
e added.

“Well, since you know, what do want to do about it? She is my wife Conner. I did right by her  and Izzy. There isn’t another man on
this planet that could love them
like I do. That child is mine in every way that it counts. If you hate me for that
,
then I am not going to apologize. In fact, I’m not apologizing for any of it. I’ve never been more happy. They are my whole world. I’m just sorry that you can’t understand it.”

Finally what I said seemed to hit a nerve. Conner went flying back out of the door and this time he didn’t stay close.

I took a deep breath. “That went better than expected.”

“Boy, if you were a stranger you would be in deeper shit than you already are.” My aunt chimed in.

“Shit!” Izzy said her new favorite word.

My aunt put her hand over her mouth. “Sorry.”

“Mom, I kind of need to know what you are thinkin’ over there. Now that the cat is out of the bag, I need to know that you will support us.”

She put both of her hands flat on the table and looked from Miranda to me. I could tell she was really trying to think about what she said. “I’m really hurt, but I understand why you felt the need to do things the way you did. I just always pictured my daughter having a real wedding. Aside from the shock, I want you to be happy. I know Ty has made mistakes, but I can’t deny that it’s obvious you love each other.”

“I think I have an idea to make this all easier on all of us to take. If I can arrange it, would you be willing to renew your vows tomorrow night?” My aunt asked.

“They can get
re-
married in the barn. It’s already half way decorated.” Van added.

Colt turned to look at her. “You sure that is okay darlin’?”

She nodded. “I think
it will be fun. Besides, after how I have been treating them, I kind of owe them.”

“So how about it you two? You up for letting that hard headed brother of yours walk you down the aisle, so he can have some kind of redemption?”

Miranda started laughing. “I don’t know if he will want to do it, but of course I am up for it. I would marry Ty a million times.”

I loved that she looked right at me when she said it. It was like watching someone throwing a kiss and the other person catches it and puts the invisible kiss on their chest. Well, it was something like that.

“Then it is settled. We are now in double wedding mode. Everyone help clean up breakfast. Us girls have to go out shopping for a dress and the guys need to finish getting that barn decorated.” My aunt stood up and everyone followed suit.

Miranda and I just looked at each other. “I guess we are getting married again.”

“I really hope we don’t have to
sleep in separate rooms tonight,
” I joked.

“I heard that Ty. I think pretending you aren’t marrie
d yet would be a fantastic idea,
” Miranda’s mother noted.

I shook my head and decided I needed a laugh.. “That’s just mean Aunt Karen. Cousins should be allowed to sleep together before they are married. Everyone does it.”

She threw a dish towel at me. “Tyler!”

“Shit! Shit!”

“Thanks Aunt J for teaching my daughter cuss words!” I announced.

“Miranda you really have your hands full with this one
,” s
he said as
she came up behind me and kissed
me. “My hard headed nephew.”

Chapter 29

Miranda

One minute I felt like I was being disowned and the next I was being pampe
red. After our family meeting, m
y aunt and mother drug me out to find a last minute dress. Ty insisted on keeping Bella so that I could relax and enjoy my day. I think he wanted her around so that my brother would be reluctant to start trouble.

He and Colt were put on decoration duty. As an added surprise, I called Ty’s parents and begged them to come. It wasn’t just my idea, in fact my aunt sprung for them to fly. She called the airline and bought two round trip tickets like it was nothing.

She had more money than she knew what to do with and she never spent it unless she had a reason. I suppose my wedding was a good enough reason for her. We had lived on the ranch since my father died when I was ten. I was the closest thing to a daughter that she would ever have. She and my mother weren’t just sister
s
, they were best friends. The two of them made me try on so many dresses.

I didn’t want anything big and formal. They seemed upset that I didn’t want a real wedding dress, so we settled for a dress that was white and long. It was strapless and had a
light
purple
beaded design over the top and around the waist. It
was very straight and ca
me down to my feet. After trying
it on, I knew it was perfect.

They also insisted on buying Bella a different dress than she was wearing In Colt’s wedding. We found her a little white dress that had purple beads just like mine. It was so cute and I knew she would get a kick out of us matching.

Just to set my mind at ease, Ty agreed to send me random text messages letting me know that he was alive. Of course I should have known that every single one would be totally inappropriate.

Make sure you buy crotchless underwear. –Ty

I don’t plan on wearing any. – M

Even better.-Ty

Everything okay? – M

Izzy and I decided to go cow tipping
- Ty

I love when you teach your daughter about nature –M

I love when you are naked. – Ty

Leave it to Ty to request crotchless underwear. I
wasn’t
really sure if my aunt would be buying those anytime soon.

Our late lunch was relaxing. I had been spoiled all day. It was nice to no longer feel like a disappointment.  “Thank you both for everything.”

“Honey, it’s our pleasure. We just want you to do this the right way. I don’t want you regrettin
g not having had a real wedding,” m
y mother replied.

“I am really sorry for lying to everyone. I just didn’t thi
nk anyone would ever understand,
” I admitted.

“Miranda we may be old but we aren’t blind. If you
weren’t
attracted to Ty we would think there was
something
wrong with you. That boy is very easy on the eyes. I appreciate how much he has always looked out for you. I really had no idea
,” m
y mother looked to her sister and smiled.

“I agree, my nephew has the handsome gene, but let’s not forget how gorgeous Miranda is. You two remind me of Ken and Barbie. Seeing you both
interact
with Bella is just something else.
She sure does love her daddy.”

I started  to tear up thinking about it
. “We never told her to call him daddy. They watch this
show together and one day
she heard it on there. The dad was reading to his child. I will never forget the day she did it. We were in the car on our way to church and she pointed to Ty and kept sayin’ it. He just started cryin’. It was the sweetest thing I had ever seen.”

“Isn’t that funny that he was there for her birth? Almost like he was
meant to be her daddy all along,” m
y aunt suggested.

“He says that too. She is the luckiest little girl. He reminds me of daddy the way he holds her. When he walks into the room she lights up. She hates being without him. You should see when we pull up at his work now. She recognizes the building and starts yellin’ for him. If she wants somethin’ she asks daddy, because she knows he will give it to her.”

“This morni
ng I heard him singing with her,” m
y mother added.

“It sounds like s
he is a very lucky little girl,” m
y aunt replied.

“Are you mad at me for changing her name?” I asked.

My aunt winked. “Mitchell is a good strong name.”

“The more I hear about him, the more I realize that I may have been compl
etely wrong about my nephew….uh…
son in law. Sorry, it is still hard to change that. Sweetie this morning was a shocker, but now that I have had time to process things
and
I have gotten the picture of Tyler in his underwear out of my head, I have come to accept things. You are an adult. As far as Tyler being Bella’s father, well if
he isn’t the perfect daddy than I don’t know what is. Besides, Bella chose him herself. I think you really didn’t have
a
choice.”

We all started laughing. “You are probably right about that.”

My mother reached across the table and took my hand. “I love you and I know that things haven’t been easy for you. Losing your daddy was the hardest thing for a child to ever deal with.  I honestly still don’t know how we made it through.  What broke my heart the most was seeing you look at
other kids with their fathers
”
My
mother started to cry. “Your daddy loved you so much, you and your brother. If I could bring him back I would. I still miss him so much.” She wiped her face before continuing. “
When I think back to when you got pregnant, I remember how much family meant to you. I wanted Tucker to want to be
a
father to Bella, because I knew it was all you had ever wanted. When he did the exact opposite I saw how much it hurt you. No mother wants their child to be called a mistake. You know I never remarried because no man was ever as good as your father. It’s so hard finding someone to take full responsibility for a child that isn’t theirs. For Tyler to be that devoted to that child is a God given miracle. From the way you describe him I have to wonder if your daddy is out there somewhere looking out for you. Whatever put him in that car that day changed both of your lives.”

The people around our table must have thought the three of us were nuts. We were all three crying and smiling at the same time. I held up my glass. “Here’s to flat tires.”

Just to appease my mother, Ty spent the night in my room, while I stayed at my mother’s house. He did however spend the whole evening with us. Conner had made himself scarce. He didn’t come home for dinner and wouldn’t answer my mother’s calls. I couldn’t help the way my mother smiled when she watched Bella with Ty. She was even more impressed at how he refused to leave until he had told her goodnight.

“So I guess I will see you tomorrow Mrs. Mitchell.”

I laughed and kissed him. “Yes you will Mr. Mitchell.”

“You sure you don’t want to have a quickie?”

I wrapped my arms around him and didn’t answer.

“You okay baby? You know you can’t back out of this, on account of us already being married.”

“I’m not backing out. I just wish my brother would stop being such a dick. I am so afraid he is going to ruin tomorrow. This is really important to my mother.”

“Stop thinking about him. I better go before I decide to stay.”

He pulled my hand as he started walking away from me. “Love you.”

“Love you too!”

Sleeping was totally out of the question. I was a little overwhelmed with feelings and suddenly understood why the courthouse was so appealing to me. I tossed and turned until finally I just sat up.

I decided to see if Ty was having the same problem.

R u awake? – M

No-Ty

I can’t sleep –M

We should have had the quickie – Ty

I am serious –M

SO AM I – Ty

I miss you – M

Keep that in mind if you ever want to leave me – Ty

Whining wasn’t working. It was time to break out the guns.

I am so horny tonight I can’t stop touching myself. – M

Play fair – Ty

My nipples are so hard. – M

I know for a fact that Izzy is asleep next to you. –Ty

Please babe –M

Come open the door. I am outside. – Ty

Ty being outside meant that he had already left before I sent the sexy messages. He wasn’t playing fair at all.

Once we got into my room, we climbed into bed with Bella between us. “Are you mad at me?”

“No.
Go to sleep. I can’t have my wife looking all tired tomorrow.
”

When I woke up I saw Ty curled up with Bella. She had turned to face him in the middle of the night. They would both be sweating but never separate from each other.