Raging Love (8 page)

Savanna started to stir and nestled her body into mine. Since neither of us liked sweating in bed, we kept the window cracked so we could touch while we slept.  With her arm on my chest, I fell fast asleep knowing everything was going to work out.

The next morning I got up early. Ty and Conner were already at the barn waiting for me. As I got closer it looked as if they were fighting, but instead they were playing some stupid slap game from when we were kids. I started to yell at them, but the truck full of sod came rolling in. I shook my head as I walked by them and started directing the truck in.

Ty and Conner must have sensed my frustration with their love hate relationship, because they got right to working. The entire inside of the barn needed to be sprayed white. I left Conner and Ty to the task. They each took a spray machine and did opposite sides. Of course, I should have never trusted that they could go for a long period of time without acting like total morons. I
came in to check on their progress and they were both covered in white paint from head to toe. They were back to work, but after they spotted me coming toward them, they both pointed to each other.

Instead of playing into their drama, I walked back out of the barn, knowing they would work harder to try and not piss me off again. The sod was looking seamless and I decided to have the landscapers come back and lay flowers all around the edges of the barn.

Savanna had planned on riding Daisy, her horse, up
to the barn. I decided to make D
aisy her own little corral with a little white picket fenced in area.  Since our wedding flowers were lilies, we could have some draped around the small fencing.

When the jokesters were done painting the inside, they came outside and we got right on to finishing the outside, with a second coat of paint all over.  When it finally started to get dark, we went inside and got to installing the floor. The floor was dirt, so we needed to frame out an almost deck formation, in order to lay the plywood down flat. 

Conner was amazing at construction while Ty and I were great
at
the mathematical aspect of it. Ty made the measurements while I cut the wood, then finally Conner installed it. We had a great system going and at about midnight, we were all starving to death and exhausted.

The wedding wasn’t until four in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to run all of the electric and get ready without Savanna having to worry.

Since she and I w
ere being married and we
didn’t
want to jinx anything
, she chose to sleep at the main house with all of the girls. Plus her parents
and my aunt and uncle
had arrived a
nd they were also staying in
the guest rooms. Us guys came back to my place to a tray of lasagna and a fridge full of beer. We were too tired to stay up and party, and after about an hour, Ty finally snuck away from us to sleep with Miranda. He claimed that she couldn’t sleep, but Conner and I thought he was the one who couldn’t
handle being away
.

The following morning came too soon and my nerves were getting the best of me. I don’t know why I was nervous. I had wanted to marry Savanna for so long.
There wasn’t a doubtful bone in my body. I think I was more worried about her not showing up. I let myself love her with everything I had, so the thought of losing her was just too hard to ever imagine.

Ty was already at the barn when Conner and I arrived. A truck full of flowers and another full of tables and chairs had arrived. We hadn’t had time to paint the wooden floor, but with everything being decorated and set up, the brown floor just wasn’t an issue. The white inside walls of the barn gave it a clean look. People from different companies started decorating and setting up
with chairs, table
s
, balloons and other things to make it perfect.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Ty standing there. His hair was all sweaty like it was hot out, but it really wasn’t at all. “What the Hell? Did you run here or somethin’?”

“Nope, got up early and made you something. Come out back and look.” Ty suggested.

We walked out back and I stood there shocked. It wasn’t anything fancy, but Ty had made a trellis out of lattice to use on the altar. “I didn’t have time to do this. Thanks Cuz. This is fantastic.” I patted Ty on the shoulder and went
over
to thoroughly look
at it
.

“The paint is still wet. I just finished spraying it. I figured after it dries we could put flowers all over it. So you think she’ll like it?”

I turned to face Ty. “I think
s
he will love it. She is goin’ to be so surprised about all of this, but I will make sure she knows you did this for her.”

“For you both Colt. I did it for both of you. I’m glad she’s marrying you.  You were always the right choice you know.”

I didn’t answer him. We both knew it was true, so I didn’t have to agree. Ty was so overly happy about his own life, that I would never in a million years think he wasn’t being genuine. His priorities were on his own family now. I used to picture him
trying
to have one last plea with Savanna to not marry me, but
seeing him now, I knew it was never going to happen. He might tease Savanna, but there was nothing between them.

“So what do we have left to do?” Ty asked.

“Yeah, what do we have left? Brina said she’d meet me before the servi
ce if
I hurried up.” Conner interrupted.

“T.M.I. brother.” Ty joked.

“Brother, my ass. Stop callin’ me that
you cock sucker.”

“
Speaking of cock sucking, you should have seen your sist…….”

I had to interrupt them before they went wrestling through one of the barn walls. “Can you two just shut the Hell up for one Goddamn day? Jesus, you may as well be in
kindergarten
. Neither one of you fought like this when we were little. Conner, just get over it. They’re happy together and there ain’t nothin’ you can do to change it, and honestly I know you don’t really want to. In my opinion, you’re just jealous of them. You want to settle down, but don’t want to admit it. How long are you two goin’ to do this shit? Make amends, were family for Christ sakes.”

I’d had enough of the bickering. Two grown ass men arguing for no reason. Yeah, Ty went behind everyone’s back, but so did I. I snuck around to be with Savanna on Ty’s own farm.  I knew the consequences to my actions and did
it anyway, with no regrets. Conner needed to let it go. He was going to lose his sister if he continued, because I knew for a fact that she would be
with
Ty without a single regretful thought.

“I don’t have a beef with Conner
. He just can’t accept that both of the girls
chose me.” Ty stood there waiting for Conner to reply.

He just stood there staring at Ty. We had been through this for almost a week. Every time we thought things were good between them, they would go all hog wild again. If they didn’t quit it would cause problems with the family. As much as Ty tried to make things a joke, I knew it was his way of dealing with feeling uncomfortable. He did feel bad about lying to Conner, but he wouldn’t regret it.

“I don’t want to be like you. Let’s just get that out in the open r
ight now.”

Ty took a big gulp from his water bottle and poured some over his head. He was listening to Conner, but making a point to not give him direct attention. “Conner, it doesn’t bother me if you dislike me, but don’t ever doubt my intentions. I love her like no other man could ever love her. Izzy is my daughter in every way and I would never hurt either of them. I wo
uld die before I let anything
happen to my family. You can say whatever you want about me, but don’t you ever say my feelings for them aren’t real. If you need me to repeat
this every day for the rest of our lives, then so be it, but just know, it will always sound exactly the same.”

Ty didn’t wait for Conner to react, he just walked away from both of us.

I thought Conner would say something smart about Ty since he walked away, but instead, he walked up to me. “I ain’t jealous Colt. You both can have that monogamous shit.”

I threw my hands in the air and watched him walk in the opposite direction. For the next two hours, we worked without talking about anything other than the task at hand. Conner and Ty never even made eye contact with each other.

With the wiring run through the rafters and the lighting wor
king properly, we gassed up
all of the generators and set them out back, to hide them from the guests. The caterers were starting to arrive and we needed to start getting ourselves ready. The three of us jumped on the golf carts and headed to get cleaned up. In just two hours I would be marrying Savanna. It was really happening.

My house was so quiet and if it wasn’t for my dog Sam following me around, I think I would have gone a bit crazy with
anticipation
. After showering, shaving and getting my tux on, I heard the guys coming into the house. Sam went flying down the steps to greet them. I could hear them telling her to stop
jumping. It was a good thing it hadn’t been muddy outside, or she would have made a mess out of their tuxes.

I came downstairs to Ty and Conner fixing each other’s jackets and flowers. “Good to see you
’
r
e
getting along.”

“It’s just a show. We can hate each other tomorrow,” Ty joked.

Conner didn’t say anything and I didn’t give a damn. They needed to shut up until Savanna’s day was over with. I had about two hundred people coming to the ranch. My grandparents were deceased, but Savanna still had two sets and she hadn’t seen either of them in two years, on account of them living in California and Florida. She was more than excited to see them and impress them with the life and future that we had here. Of course my mother was a nervous wreck, running around making sure that everything was in order.

“You ready to get this over with Cuz?” Conner asked.

I took a deep breath and looked at the clock. Conner was right, we needed to head over there.  “I’ve been r
eady for this for two years.
”

Ty put his arm around me while we were heading out. “Hey man, I never said thanks to you.”

“For what?”

“For taking her from me.” I pulled away and gave him a dirty look. “If you wouldn’t have taken her from me, I never would have my girls. Maybe it sounds terrible saying it that way, but you gave me my future, at least that is how I see it.”

Conner was already on the golf cart. “You guys comin’?”

I held up my finger for him to hold on. “I never thought you’d be here with me today. I wanted to regret lovin’ her but I just couldn’t, not for one second. I never meant to hurt you, even if it was temporary. I know you were in a bad way last year, while Savanna and I were planning our future. I should have been there more, but I didn’t know what to say. I felt l
ike I was the reason for
ruinin
’
your happiness. When I found out about you and Miranda and then saw you two for myself, it was like a weight lifted off of me. I could tell immediately that you were crazy about each other. I’m real glad that everything has worked out Ty.
Your
my cousin, my blood, and
nothin
’
will ever change that.”

“Love you too man. Let’s get you hitched dude.” Ty pushed me off the porch as if he were more eager to get there than me.

“Bout time!” Conner said as we hopped on and headed to the barn.

Crowds of people were already outside. Soft music was coming from inside and we were greeted with
lots
of familiar faces. Ty pushed me toward a group of elderly people
standing with Savanna’s parents
and
I
l
eaned over and
greeted them first.  Even Ty reached in and shook Savanna’s dad’s hand and gave her mother a quick hug.

“I heard you got married. I never thought I would hear that, but congrats Ty,” her mother said.

“Thanks.
Have you met my girls yet?” He asked.

“As a matter of fact, your mother introduced us earlier. Bella was running around looking for you. She is adorable.”

Ty got a huge smile on his face and spotted his parents. “Colt would like to meet both of your parents.” He waved to his mother and father. “Excuse me, I need to say hi to them.”

I met the two couples and talked to them for a short while before my mother blessed us with her loud voice over the microphone.

“Attention everyone. The girls are on their way here. Guys, you need to take your places and everyone else needs to find a seat. My son is getting married!” She was more excited than me.

We took our places and stood there waiting in anticipation. Beads of sweat were running down my head. My heart was racing and I stared at that barn door just waiting to see my beautiful bride for the first time.