Wrapping Up (Mitchell Family #4.5)(21)
Author: Jennifer Foor

She leaned over and puckered her lips, waiting for me to kiss them. As I pulled away, she smiled with her eyes still closed. "You’re awesome."

I touched my finger to her nose, making her open her eyes. "You can show me how awesome I am in bed tonight." I winked.

She opened the door and climbed out. "Maybe I will."

I unbuckled my seat belt and looked back at my daughter. I still remember looking back at her when she was just a little two year old. "You ready to help me, kiddo?"

"Can I help carry the tree, Daddy?"

We walked toward the back of the SUV and I climbed up on top to untie what was securing the tree on the roof. "You sure can. Just let Daddy get it down first. Stand back." I freed the tree and let it fall to the ground. Iz stood there like the good little girl she always was for me. "Grab your gloves and put them on so you don’t mess up your hands Iz." She got her gloves and we carefully carried the tree toward the house. Conner came walking up to us and offered to help me get it in the house and Iz never argued. I was trying to hold all the weight myself, but I could tell that as much as she wanted to help, she was done with her efforts for the time being.

Conner and I got the six foot tree in the house without trouble and he took off to take a shower while Iz and I headed over to my parent’s house to get the boys.

By the time we got back, Miranda was walking out of the house in her pajamas. She grabbed Jax while I grabbed Jake and we got them in their high chairs and started feeding them dinner. Izzy ran back over to my parents to get some kind of decoration she wanted to put on our tree. The boys were both in playful moods and were jabbering away as we attempted to feed them. We usually played this game where we would turn our heads and snap them back around really fast, startling them into a laughing fit. Miranda turned her head around right after giving Jax a bite of applesauce. She shot her head back in his direction and he laughed and spit at the same time, covering her face with his mouth full of food.

It was hilarious to watch.

Izzy came running in the door just as Miranda stood up to get cleaned off. She was dragging something behind her. "Hey, what did you bring over here now?" Miranda leaned down to take a look.

A long ass strand of berries was in our daughter’s hands. "We made berry strands for the tree. Mimi says it is a tradition."

I grabbed the strand and handed one end to my wife. She smiled and looked at me, while talking in a whisper. "Are we really going to put fresh food on the tree with the dog in here?"

Ever since we’d gotten Iz the puppy for her birthday, she’d been a terror. She was potty trained easily; in fact she was good except for the fact that she had some kind of anxiety disorder if you left her alone in a room. There was no way you could leave her in the house when you went somewhere. The first time we’d done it, we came home to a disaster. The trash was ripped out and scattered through the whole house. She’d jumped up on the sink and tore up all of our toothbrushes. She shredded three pair of Miranda’s underwear out of the hamper, which she still does when she gets ahold of them. I find that weird and intriguing at the same time. I also had a dog that would do that to all of our underwear in my house.

Anyway, the dog goes crazy.

The idea of hanging something that smells remotely edible didn’t seem like a good idea at all. Unfortunately, I knew it would be too hard for our daughter to understand that, although she worked her butt off, we wouldn’t be able to have them in the house. So I did what every good dad would do. "They will be fine on the tree. It already smells of pine, so I’m sure the dog won’t notice the berries."

"I hope you’re right, Ty."

Once the boys were fed, we spent the next hour in the living room decorating the tree. Even Conner came out and helped pick Iz up so she could put the angel on the top. With the tree looking beautiful, I grabbed the kids and we put them all to bed, making sure they were tucked in and satisfied.

I grabbed my wife’s hand as we walked down the hallway. "I remember you saying I was going to get some more loving tonight."

Miranda shook her head and just kept walking.

I would just put that in my collections of rain checks.

Chapter 5

Miranda

I owed my husband big for letting me get a bath and take a little break. We were both so exhausted from our day of shopping, but I managed to get everyone on the list taken care of.

While I was in the tub, I thought about everything we had actually done in one day. Then my mind went to Ty going into the lingerie shop.

Now, I was all for dressing in sexy things, but he came out with three bags and lingerie doesn’t really take up much space.

He was up to something and I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know what it was.

My husband could piss someone off by just being in the same room with them. He instigated people until they wanted to punch him, and he somehow got off on getting them roused up. Ty was the funniest person I knew and I appreciate his humor much more than anyone else. A while back, when we were having problems, it’s how I knew something was bothering him. He stopped joking around all together.

This new sneakiness was going to drive me crazy, except this time, I was sure it was nothing that would hurt me.

After the tree fiasco, I decided that next year we needed to buy an artificial tree or get one that was precut. It didn’t help that Bella had picked a tree that had a super thick trunk. Ty chopped at the tree with our dull ass axe until he looked like he was going to pass out. I don’t know where he even got it from. It had a blade that looked like an inch thick butter knife and it looked to be over a hundred years old.

My arms felt like Jell-O by the time I climbed in that tub. I’d tried to show off and cut the tree down myself, except all along I knew I wasn’t going to be able to actually do it. Bella sat there the whole time so excited about what we were doing that I couldn’t even act frustrated about it. Just seeing that twinkle in her eye made it all worth it.

After feeding the boys I sat down on the couch, while Ty tucked in Bella. The next thing I knew, I was being carried to our bed. My husband was sweet like that. He never woke me up and made me walk, even when I was pregnant, he still carried my fat butt to bed. I was still semi awake when he climbed into bed next to me, so I nestled my body against his and fell fast asleep.

Ty and I had to get up with the boys twice overnight. I’d almost converted all the way over to formula. The boys both had teeth and they had a problem with biting me while I tried to feed them. One time last week, it drew real blood.

With Ty working on the farm, he never complained about getting up at night and helping me with the boys. In fact, some nights he would race in and calm them before I could even get out of bed. I never saw a man that loved being a father the way Ty did. I think if he could have been a stay at home parent he would have been.