Wrapping Up (Mitchell Family #4.5)(22)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Since my own father had died when I was so young, some of my favorite memories were of him. I hoped that one day my children would look back and appreciate what a great father they had.

When I woke up the next morning, Ty was carrying the bags from our car into our bedroom closet. Bella was still too young to think about snooping around, but we didn’t want her to know what Santa was bringing her. After getting the puppy for her birthday, she had taken things up a notch and asked for a pony. We’d taken the horses to Kentucky, but the stalls and the corral were still intact, so Ty agreed she was old enough to have a small pony.

It just so happened that one of the neighbor farmers had an older pony that had been his daughters. She had moved away after college and nobody played with it anymore. Ty and I both agreed that we wanted her to start out on a pony that was used to being played with and ridden.

When he took me over to the guy’s house to take a look at it, I fell in love right away. The horses name was Scotch, for its obvious brown colored coat. His mane and tail were a blonde shade and it accented his darker body. He was ten years old and had been around little girls since he was just a colt.

I particularly liked how when we went to take a look at him, he walked right up to us and let us pet him. I stuck my hand down at his mouth and he never snipped at me. He didn’t have shoes, but his hooves were nice and clean and had recently been treated. His weight looked perfect and I couldn’t see a single rib on his body. When we walked away he started neighing at us, like he wanted us to come back.

Ty didn’t even have to ask my decision when we left that fellows farm. He was already dialing him as we pulled off his property to tell him he would be by the next day with the money. The guy was thrilled that Scotch was going to be living so close. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if his daughter showed up one day to visit her old pet.

Since we obviously couldn’t fit a live pony in our closet, Conner was helping Ty hide Scotch out in one of the far pastures until Christmas morning. We did have her saddle and riding gear, which was a dead giveaway that she was getting the pony.

I jumped out of bed and walked over to help Ty hide the saddle. We kept blankets in the closet and hid the things underneath of them. As far as her riding boots, pants and helmet, well we hid them behind everyone else’s presents. Ty and I walked out of the closet and he closed the door just as Bella came walking in the room. Her hair was standing in all directions and her eyes were half open. He walked over and picked her up, only to toss her down on our bed. Bella wasn’t exactly in the mood to play with her daddy and she started whining. He plopped on the bed beside her and started tickling her. "You better give me a smile." He loved to taunt her.

"Stop it, Daddy!"

"I can’t help it. I need a kiss and a smile from my princess right now or I will die!"

Ty stretched his body out on the bed and played dead. At first Bella laughed at him. She waited a few seconds and he still hadn’t moved. She took her hands and pushed him. "Daddy, wake up!"

When he still didn’t move she pushed him again. "Daddy, please wake up."

With another failed attempt to get her father to move, she leaned over and started kissing him all over the face. I stood there laughing the whole time, while she was really getting worried. Finally, he opened one eye. She put her hands on her knees and smiled and when she did, he opened both eyes. "There’s my princess."

She smacked his arm. "You tricked me."

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her head. "One day you’re going to be too old to give daddy kisses and I’m just trying to get as many as I can before that happens."

"You’re silly. When will Noah be here?" Their special moment had already been forgotten.

Ty rubbed her head. "Maybe next weekend kiddo. It depends on Uncle Colt. If he has to work late they aren’t going to come until that Sunday. Grandma will be here tonight though."

"Is Pop-pop John coming too?" Ever since their engagement, my mother had been encouraging Bella to call John pop- pop. They were getting married, so it just made things easier in the long run.

"Of course he is."

"Yay! He said the next time he sees me he would give me a present."

Ty pulled a bag out of the closet and walked over to the bed. "Iz, can you go see if Uncle Conner is awake?"

"He isn’t awake."

I laughed a little bit wondering how she knew that. “What do you mean? How do you know?”

"Well, I went in his room first and he said to leave him alone cause last night was a rough one."

I looked to Ty, who shrugged his shoulders, then back down to Bella. "Sweetie, is that what he said?"

"Yup, and he gave me five dollars to get out of his room and not tell anybody." She obviously didn’t understand that Ty and I were the people he was talking about not telling.

"Go make your bed, kiddo. Mom and I will make breakfast in a minute."

Ty scooted our daughter out of the room. He shut the door and turned to look at me. "Don’t go there, Baby. You know it will get ugly and I don’t feel like dealing with the drama. I love ya, but you need to save it for another time."

I sat down on the bed and shook my head. "There are some things that can’t wait."

"Miranda, I am asking you to back off of your brother. He’s an adult. Besides, you don’t even know what’s going on. If there is something between he and Amy it will come out eventually. For now, you have to believe they are only friends. Give him the benefit of the doubt."

I wanted to know what was going on between my brother and Amy. They’d been sneaking around for months, claiming they were only friends. Since they both had problems I really did try to stay out of it, but I could tell it was something more. He was playing with fire and I was sure he was going to get burned. I decided to let it go before my husband got all mad at me over it. "What’s in the bag?" It was the lingerie bag and I was wondering if he expected me to start trying the things he bought on.

Ty got that look on his face, the one where he was up to no good. "Promise you will take my side?"

I was more than a little confused. "Your side? What the heck are you talkin’ about?"

"What I have in this bag is what we’re going to wear for the Christmas picture."

I heard what he said; it just wasn’t registering in my mind. "Tell me you’re jokin’?"

"Nope!" He laughed as he pulled out the red fabric items. He spread them across the bed so I could see everything he bought. The first thing I noticed was three pair of men’s briefs that were red velvet. The next thing I saw were two ladies outfits. One was a two piece and the other was a one piece.