The Mitchell Family Series BoxSet 1-4.5 (86 page)

“Tell her we got into it and you walked out on me for what I did. Lie to her Ty. Make her think you’re mad at me. She wants you to be mad at me. She wants you to want her.” I could feel the vomit rising in my throat, but I knew it was the truth. Heather wanted Ty and if I wanted to make this right, this had to be the plan.

What am I saying?

“I can’t do that, baby. I don’t want her.”

I don’t want you to want her!

I shook my head and started to cry. “I messed this up. I ruined our only chance. I need you to try Ty. Say whatever you have to.” I started to really cry, just imagining what I was about to say. “Kiss her if you have to.”

“I can’t.” He grabbed my hand with his good one and squeezed it. I felt his lips kissing me on my head. “I can’t do that.”

I cupped his face with my hands. “Do what you have to do Ty. Just don’t sleep with her. I can’t get past that, no matter what it’s for. I can’t picture that in my head forever. It would kill me.” I turned over and started gagging I was crying so badly. Ty rushed closer to me and pulled my hair back.

“Shh, calm down. I’m not going anywhere.” Once I finished, I looked up and saw that he was crying. “I don’t want to touch her. I hate her. How can you ask me to hurt you to save Izzy? How could you make me choose?”

I kissed his hands. “You have to.” I took a couple deep breaths “It’s for our family.”

He stood up and pulled me with him. I felt his hands on my belly. “Please don’t doubt my love for you. I live and breathe for you and our children. I’m nothing without you. As much as I want this paternity test, I can’t risk you. I can’t do it, Miranda. Please don’t make me choose you or Iz.”

I wrapped my arms around him. “I’m choosing for you.” I was sobbing so hard that he was literally pulling me against him to calm my shaking. “I can’t be responsible for losing our only chance. You need to save our baby from that awful woman. Please.” He needed to go before I grabbed him and held on for dear life. I didn’t want him going anywhere near her, but I had ruined our one shot. This was going to go to court without that paper. Ty would resent me forever. It wasn’t about the money or even about Heather, this was about our family.

“I need you to get your brother. I’ll be back before you know it, I promise.” He kissed me and left his lips on my head. “I hate this. I hate all of this.”

“I do too. I’m so sorry, Ty.”

I dried my eyes enough to walk in the house. Conner was sitting on the couch and I didn’t notice Bella anywhere. “Ty needs you.”

He stood up and walked toward the door. “You alright?”

I nodded my head. “Yeah, we aren’t fightin’. Just somethin’ that needs to be done.”

Conner shook his head and walked outside. I stood at the door watching them. The last thing I saw was Conner punching Ty straight in the face.

Chapter 14

Ty

I thought about explaining things to Conner, giving him a reason to beat the shit out of me. Maybe it was wrong for bringing Heather back into our lives, but it was my only way to save my baby from a horrible woman and a broken heart. I’d give my own life to protect her, even my own happiness.

Conner came walking out toward me. I was in the exact place where Colt and I had tried to fight for Van. It brought back memories of my father coming and breaking us up. Conner must have seen the remorseful look in my eyes, because he stopped dead in his tracks and cocked his head.

“What’s goin’ on Bro?”

Just say it!

“I need you to hit me.”

“Come again?” Conner’s one eyebrow raised as he stood there with his arms folded waiting for me to explain.

“I need you to hit me, preferably in the jaw so it leaves a mark.”

In all of the fucking times that this guy had wanted to kill me, he just stood there expecting me to explain why I wanted him to do it. Looking at his face, it would have been easier to run into a door myself.

“Why am I doin’ this?”

“Because me and Miranda need it to look like she kicked me out and you beat me up. We can’t get those papers unless that bitch Heather takes the bait.”

He pointed to me. “Let me get this straight. My sister is now in on this scheme? She actually wants you to go see this Heather person?”

I held my hands up in the air. “Look, man, Miranda sent Heather this text message, basically causing the girl to refuse to help us get those papers. I don’t blame her for it at all, but now we’re desperate. I just think she would be more forgiving if she really thought me and Miranda were on the outs. If you don’t believe me, you can go ask her yourself. This was her idea. I told her no, but she insisted.”

“So, what are ya plannin’ to do when you get there?” I could tell he was getting defensive and I needed him to be.

“Not that! I would never do what you’re thinking. Look, I know everyone thinks I am this big cheater, but Van and I were kids when we got together. We were more friends than anything. Yeah, we had a physical relationship, but it was just going through the motions of it all. I loved her dearly, but neither of us were in love. She knew that as soon as she got with Colt. You can think whatever you want, but your sister is the only woman I have ever truly loved. I’d die for her, Dude. I’d do anything for her to be happy.”

“Nah, I believe you. Living with you two makes it easy to see how happy you are. I’ll admit, it was hard to accept, but they both love you and I know you return those feelin’s. Miranda’s a tough girl, but I know this has got to be killin’ her inside. If you’re doin’ this, then I want to help. Bella’s my niece and it’s important to me too.”

Conner drew back and hit me on the side of my jaw, before I could see it coming.  He was shaking his hand as I turned around to look at him. My hand was already on my bleeding mouth. “What the fuck?”

“If I told you when I was doin’ it, you would have instinctively moved out of the way. I think you got what you wanted there.”

“Jesus Christ, this fucking hurts.” Conner stayed with me as I explained from the beginning what had happened. He seemed to really want to help and I was going to need it. Something told me this wasn’t going to go as planned. Heather was a lot of things, but she wasn’t stupid. She was going to know I was bluffing if I didn’t do a hell of a job convincing her otherwise. The thought made me sick.

I didn’t go back into the house and kiss Miranda goodbye. Instead, Conner went in his truck and grabbed me a duffle bag. “What’s this?”

“It’s got a change of clothes in it. I’ve kinda been seein’ someone and I never know if I need a change of clothes.”

“Who are you seeing?”

He held his hands up and shook his head. “It’s not what you’re thinkin’. It’s not really a booty call kind of thing. We’re just gettin’ to know each other, I reckon’.”

“Okay, Mr. Secretive.”

“Whatever. You got your shit together? You down with the plan?” Conner handed me his truck keys. He was changing the subject.

“Yeah, I have to pretend that my wife, that I love more than anything in the world, kicked me out and I need a place to crash where her brother can’t find me and beat my ass.”

He slapped me on the back as I climbed in the truck. “Go save your daughter, Ty.”

“This is fucked up in so many ways, you know that right?” I hated this.

“Yeah, but you’ve run out of options and I’d sell my soul to the devil before I let anyone from Tucker Chase’s family lay a hand on my niece. If this is what you have to do, then do it.”

I looked back at my carriage house, which had doubled in size now. All of the countless hours spent making it a home for my family rushed into my mind. The hours that I’d spent with Miranda drawing out the design of every single room. The nights we worked until the sun came up. Izzy seeing her room for the first time. Taking our first bath in the new Jacuzzi tub; planning out the room for the twins; having our first meal when the house was all finished.

All of those beautiful memories together and I was driving to do something I said I would never do again. The thought made me sick. I didn’t know how in the hell, if it came to touching Heather, I could go through with it, not when my beautiful wife was sitting at home worrying herself sick.

I waved to Conner and I pulled out of the driveway and headed for Heather’s place. Her mother worked weird hours at the hospital and there was no telling if she would be there when I arrived. I kind of hoped that she would be, because I didn’t want to be alone with Heather.

I sat out front of her house and thought about any other way that I could save my daughter from that woman. Did I have the balls to hire a hit man? Could I go through with something that evil for my daughter? What would something like that even cost? Miranda and I weren’t hurting for money, but I was certain something like that didn’t come easy.

Finally, I got to a point where I couldn’t take it anymore. I grabbed my phone and set the plan into motion.

I’m here. I love you more than you’ll ever know. Start sending the messages and stick to the plan. This is for Isabella. This is for our family.

I deleted the message and with shaking hands, awaiting what Miranda and I had planned on saying.

I hate you for what you’ve done to our family. Rot in hell Ty. You will never touch me again.- M

Even though I knew it was a lie, to read the words coming from my wife ripped my heart out. I never wanted to feel this way. I leaned over the steering wheel and tried to get my shit together, but the more I thought about those messages, the more upset I became. Soon, I had tears falling down my eyes and I was dialing my wife.

Ty?

Baby, I can’t do this.

I could hear her crying on the other end of the phone and I just lost it. Tears wet my cheeks and I listened to her pain.

I love you so much, Ty. I know you can do this for Bella, for your Izzy.

I can’t lose you to save her. I can’t choose.

You can’t lose me, if I’m not goin’ anywhere, okay?

I’m scared.

Please Ty, don’t make this any harder. Knowing you’re there and that you’re goin to have to touch her, it’s killin’ me. Get those papers and come home to me. Come home to us.

That’s the only place I want to be, baby. I love our life.

Bye Ty.

She could barely talk and I wasn’t much better. After looking in the mirror, I decided to use the real tears as an advantage. I took a few deep breaths and grabbed the bag Conner had given me. I knocked on the door just once and Heather opened it. She saw the look on my face and I actually sensed genuine compassion.
This plan may actually work.

“Ty? What’s going on? What happened to your face?”

“It’s Miranda. I defended you after our talk and she kicked me out. She said we’re done.”

She held the door opened and gestured for me to come in. “I’m sure she’ll get over it. You two seem to be attached at the hip. Besides, she is carrying your real children.”

Don’t clench your fists…

“You don’t understand. This isn’t the first time this happened. I’ve cheated before, so you claiming we had something, well it nailed my coffin. I tried to change, but I was no good at it.”
I am lying…

Heather sat down beside me and I could tell she wanted to smile. I clenched my jaws and thought about hitting a girl again. I loathed her. She was a fucking evil person.  “It’s okay to admit that you still haven’t found the one person to satisfy your every need. I mean, maybe you just aren’t looking hard enough.”

She traced my arm with her hand and I wanted to cringe. My phone vibrated again and I opened it up, hoping it was my wife, telling me to get out of dodge. Instead, it was her sticking to the plan. I wondered if she was having Conner send the messages, because it was just too hard for her to handle.

Packing my shit and moving back to KY. I will never forgive you.

My eyes burned and for once, I was happy about crying. I took the phone and showed Heather the messages. “I can’t even stop her. The whole family knows about this and they’ve pretty much disowned me. Even Van won’t speak to me.”

“So, are you here because you have no other place to go, or is it something else you want from me?”

Oh God! Concentrate.
“Maybe both. I’m a little confused right now. A few weeks ago, I had the perfect life. Now everything has turned to shit.”

“Baby, I can think of a few ways to make you feel better.” She traced around my busted lip with her finger. “What happened here?”

“Brother in law came to get Miranda, punched me in the face as I was leaving.”

She got up and came back with a wet rag and some ointment. While Heather focused on my busted face, I tried to close my eyes and imagine myself anywhere but where I was. All I could picture was Miranda crying against Conner’s chest. I knew he was there and it made it a little better, but this bullshit plan was tearing her apart, I just knew it.

After a few minutes, and her purposely taking her time, she sat down the rag and ointment bottle. “So, I don’t really know what to say to you right now. I knew you’d come around sooner or later. I mean, I really missed you TY. I wanted to be the one you fell for.”

Oh shit. This was it. This was my moment to make her believe this was real. I needed to grow a set of new balls and get this shit done.

“The timing was wrong.” I should have grabbed her hand or something, but I leaned on my knees and covered my face when I talked. Smooth talking Ty had left the building. I was a sap. A happily married sap.

“I’m glad you’re here.”

This is it! Swallow your pride. “
Me too. I missed hanging out with you. It was always a good time.”
If I had a gun I would just shoot myself. I wanted to vomit.
“So where’s your mom?”

“Working.” She slid down the couch and kneeled in front of me. Her hands slid up my thighs and then back down again. When she saw how I didn’t react, she pulled them away.

“Sorry, it’s just been a while and after the fighting I’m still fucked up in the head. It’s not just Miranda, you know. I love my daughter. Even if I wasn’t with Miranda, I would still want that paternity test. I know my daughter will miss me and even if I have to visit her in Kentucky, I will know she is safe.” The mere thought of not seeing my daughter for even one day burned through my mind. More tears rushed down my face, imagining having to see her once a month or less than that. It was tremendously depressing.

Heather reached up and wiped my tears. “I have the papers, Ty. My brother gave them to me the day after the test, but I was just so mad at you. Then your wife made those comments and I just refused to help someone like her get what she wanted.”

“Those papers are for me though. I don’t want to share custody of my child with an evil lady. Miranda will always have her daughter. This was all for me.”

She stared at me, as if she were trying to see if I was lying. “Wait a minute.”  She stood up and put her hand on her hips. “How do I know this isn’t some ploy? You’re a smart guy, Ty, and I know you love that little girl enough to break all the rules for her. How stupid do you think I am?”

No no! Fuck!

I took a few deep breaths and looked her dead in the eye. “One thing you’re not, is stupid. I really didn’t come here to trick you, Heather. How could I have known you still had the papers? Think about it? I came here because you were the first person I thought about. The first person I wanted to see.” My hand grazed her cheek and I had to swallow down the vomit that was fighting its way into my throat.

“Prove it!”

“What? What do you mean? Prove what?”

“If you are really here because you missed me, touch me. Kiss me Ty.”

Miranda…..

She was all I could see in my mind. I couldn’t cry like a baby, because it would show I was lying. I couldn’t talk my way out of it. I was stuck in this situation that I didn’t want to be in.

One kiss. It’s one fucking kiss, Dude. It means nothing. It’s for your daughter.

“Okay, come here.” My throat started burning and I knew it was only a matter of time before I lost it again. This idea was horrible. I hated myself for agreeing to it.