The Mitchell Family Series BoxSet 1-4.5 (80 page)

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.

He grabbed my hands but I pulled away from him. “What are you doin’?”

“Hear me out, baby. I was up all night thinking about how to get out of this mess. When he said the only way to get that woman out of our lives was a paternity test, it hit me.”

I was so confused. “What hit you? I’m goin’ to hit you if you don’t explain to me what you’re thinkin’.”

He leaned against the desk and grabbed my hands. “Tell me you trust me, Miranda.”

“I do, but you’re startin’ to scare me.”

“What if I told you there is a way for me to get a paternity test altered? What if I can make it so that nobody can ever take her away from me?”

He was so intent. I just didn’t know what to say. “How? I don’t understand.”

“I know someone from college. His mother works at the hospital in the lab. He can hack into anything. During football, he changed the results of a few blood tests for a couple guys on the team. One of the tests was a paternity test.”

His confession made me feel very uneasy. “Please don’t tell me you have a child out there somewhere.”

He pulled me into his chest. “I have three kids and you’re the mother of every one of them. I know this is a crazy idea, and that I can probably go to jail for something like this, but Miranda, I have to do something. I can’t just sit here and wait for my daughter’s future to be determined. I just can’t do it. I have to try this option and I need you to be okay with it. “

I didn’t want to tell him no, because saying that meant I didn’t believe his plan would work. I was so confused and caught off guard. “Maybe this will all just go away on its own. She obviously only did this because she saw Bella.”

He got down on his knees and wrapped his arms around my midsection. “Baby, I am begging you. Please. I have to try. Please just let me look into it at least. I need to do this. I can’t let her take my girl.”

“Ty, it’s illegal. You could go to jail. I can’t have twin babies and have their father locked up.”

His voice was almost a whisper. “Please.”

“You know this guy personally?”

“Technically yes. He is a friend’s brother.”

“And you think he can really do this and make it legit?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I at least need to find out. Miranda, if he can, we need to do it.”

I shook my head, even though I felt like it was a really bad idea, if it meant saving our family, I was willing to try anything. “Okay.”

He hugged me tighter. “If this works she will be out of our lives forever. I can put my name on that birth certificate and our family will never have to hear a word from that family again. It will be over Miranda. I promise you.”

God, I hoped he was right.

When we went out in the living room, practically the whole family was waiting for some kind of good news. I wasn’t sure what to say and Ty wasn’t acting like he wanted to let the family in on his illegal venture. We smiled and acted like the lawyer was going to look into a few different options. It settled everyone that neither Ty or myself were a crying mess.

Instead of staying until Sunday night, Ty and I went home early Sunday after the church service. My parents stayed and agreed to bring Bella and Conner home with them. Ty and I needed some time to deal with what was going on. As much as I wanted to take Bella home with us, I knew we needed to get our emotions together so she didn’t have to worry about why her mommy and daddy were upset.

We didn’t say much on the ride home. Ty drove the whole way and I just cuddled up against his arm. I had the need to be as close to him as possible.  Emotionally, this was taking a toll on us, even if we tried our hardest for it not to.

I thought that once we got home we could finally relax a little, but Ty was definitely not himself. After he carried our bags in, he went into our room and crashed face first onto our bed. I went in there to join him, but for the first time since we had been together, he seemed like he didn’t want my company.

Ty’s parents decided to stay an extra night, which gave us some time to cope with the bad news. That night when I went to bed, I woke up a few hours later and Ty wasn’t in our room. I tiptoed through the house looking for him and when I found him, I didn’t even know how to react. He was laying in Bella’s bed, holding on to her stuffed animals and crying hysterically. For a few minutes I just stood there watching him. I didn’t know how to react. He was so broken and my mistakes had been the reason.

I wanted nothing more than to assure him that we would be okay, but I was so afraid that this was literally going to rip us apart. If this woman found some way to weasel her way into my daughter’s life, I was afraid Ty would never recuperate from something like that. She was his world and it tore my heart up knowing this was crushing him so badly.

I started to turn to go back into our bedroom, but I heard the bed moving and stopped. “Baby, is that you?” He sniffled and sat up, trying to see me in the dark.

“It’s me. I woke up and couldn’t find you.” I walked over to the bed and wiped his eyes. “God, Ty, I am so sorry this is happenin’. You’re never goin’ to lose her. I wouldn’t let that happen.”

He started crying against my body again. “I love her so much, Miranda. Maybe I’m just being a selfish asshole, but I don’t want to share her. She is my daughter. From the moment she came into this world she was always mine. It took me a little while to realize it, but she always knew it. She chose me and I chose her. Why is this happening? Why now?”

“Shhh,” The tears were pouring down my face. To see my tough husband such a mess was like losing him all together. He was so sad. There had never been a time where I doubted his love for Bella, but I don’t think anyone else really understood the extent of his devotion to that child. Just the thought of having to share her, was crushing his heart.  “We will get through this and Bella will never call anyone else her father. No matter what, Ty. You aren’t losing your daughter. You have to remember that.”

“That woman is evil. You and I both know she helped Tucker take Van. She was in on the plan that killed our niece or nephew. She doesn’t deserve to live or ever even look at our daughter. I’d rather die than to let that happen.”

“I can’t live without you, Ty. Please don’t talk about dying. Don’t ever say that. I have three kids that need you. I need you.”

He pressed his lips over mine and held them there. His hot breath covered my mouth. “I’m sorry. I just hate feeling this way. I don’t want to spend one day without her. I miss her already and she is coming home tomorrow.”

I sat up and turned on the light on Bella’s nightstand. “Ty, do you really think this guy can change those results? Do you think we can really do this and not get caught?”

He nodded his head. “I do, baby. I swear I do.”

“Then tomorrow start making calls. I will support whatever you have to do to protect our family. I can’t go another day seeing you like this. It’s too hard on both of us.”

He started kissing me all over my face. “Thank you, baby, Thank you so much. I will do whatever I have to do. I won’t let that woman touch our daughter. I promise you.”

“Just promise me one thing.”

“Anything, baby, anything.”

I started shaking even thinking about saying it out loud. “Promise me that I won’t lose you over this.”

“Oh God, no, baby. You will never lose me. I would never ever leave you. My God, is that what you think? You think if we had to share Izzy with that woman, I would leave you and our kids? Jesus, Miranda. I would never do that. You are my world and you own my heart. There will never be anyone else in the world that I’d want to be with. Say you believe me.”

My heart was beating so fast. “I do Ty, I swear I do.”

We ended up falling asleep in Bella’s bed. It wasn’t the most comfortable night’s sleep, but we were both so emotional that it didn’t matter. Ty held me so tight I almost felt like I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t want him to ever let me go. When the sun came up, he was still holding me tight against his body. Our tears had dried up, but our emotions were still at the highest level.