Blinding Trust (Mitchell Family #7)(12)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Savanna walked out of the room and sat on the couch. I didn’t mean it like I wanted to be with Krista. I think she’d just had enough for the night. “Look, I think it’s best that we just sever ties. Noah has met you. If you want to see him, it’s going to be here. I don’t want my son knowin’ your lifestyle. It’s not the place for a kid.”

“So he can’t come and stay with us?”

“No!”

Zeke grabbed his wife by the arm and almost pulled her out of the kitchen. “If you’re going to refuse me to see my own nephew, I’m going to have to contact my lawyer. Do you really want to go about it that way, Colt?”

“You do what you gotta do! No judge in his right mind is goin’ to think that Noah bein’ around all that partyin’ is a good idea.”

Zeke shook his head again. “I hoped this would go better, I really did.”

Once we watched them pull away, I hugged my wife. “It’s goin’ to be fine, Savanna. He’s just mad that we wouldn’t let him take Noah. He’ll calm down and it will be fine.”

“I hope so,” She cried with her face tucked into my chest.

Our kids had never been threatened like this. I didn’t know what to think. On one hand, I was hoping that it was just some phase that the guy was going through. Maybe after he left and calmed down, it would just all blow over and he would decide it wasn’t worth his time or his money. It wasn’t like I forbid him to see my son. I just said it had to be on my terms. I’m his father. He had to know that I would throw that card out there. Any good father would have done the same.

It also wasn’t because Zeke’s appearance. I knew there was a good guy somewhere in that tough armor he wore. The problem with Zeke was the package that came with him. He may not have been using and he could have been married to a princess for all I cared. It was the crowd of people that surrounded him wherever he went. It was the type of things that his songs implied.

He couldn’t get away from the life he’d made for himself.

I got that he broke down after losing Krista. It made sense. The kid came from nothing and she was his only lifeline. Before they stayed with me, it was Krista who fed him and made sure he went to school. Their dad wasn’t much of a father at all. They had no supervision.

“The bottom line is that Noah is our son. We decide what happens.”

Savanna turned and looked at me. She was so serious and I knew what she was going to ask. “Colt, I am going to ask you something and I need you to tell me the truth, no matter how much it would hurt me.”

“Don’t do this Savanna. I know where you’re goin’ with this.”

She put her hand over my lips and was already starting to tear up. “When I was going to marry Ty and your father had his fall, what would you have done if Krista was on your doorstep, pregnant with your child?”

“I would have done the right thing.” She was starting to get up. I pulled her back down beside me. “You wanted the truth and you of all people know what kind of man I am. As much as I was in love with you, I’d have to take care of them. I would have felt obligated.”

She covered her face and I could hear sniffling. “I get it. You’re a good man, Colt. I just can’t imagine coming here and the pregnant woman at your door not being your cousin. I can’t imagine a life without you in it.”

“You don’t ever have to, because you’re right where you belong, darlin’. I didn’t say I would ever love Krista. She came from nothin’ and if I wanted my child to be taken good care of, it would have been under my roof.”

She still wouldn’t turn to look at me. “It doesn’t bother you that things could have turned out so differently?”

“If your askin’ if I would have showed up for your and Ty’s wedding, I’m not goin’ to answer that.” I wasn’t that guy that runs in and breaks it up, even if it was what I wanted to do. “I’d never get over you, Savanna. Losin’ you would kill me.”

She finally turned to face me with a face full of tears. I brushed them away as she spoke. “You’re saying that after being with me for over ten years. You don’t know what it would have been like back then. Having a baby with someone changes people.”

“I know what I know. You were always the one. Thinking about you bein’ with Ty still makes my blood boil.”

“Well, I feel like I’ve been kicked in the stomach when I hear you say that you would have just been with Krista.”

Why did she even ask if she knew what path I would have chosen. Women were so difficult. “Oh, so it was alright for me to go to sleep in that carriage house while you were showering with my cousin?” It was a low blow and I knew that my frustration had caused our disagreement to escalate. She stood up and started walking away from me. I tried to grab her arm. “Wait!”

Savanna turned and pointed at my face. “How dare you! You knew how hard it was for me. I wasn’t showering with Ty. He came into the bathroom. Why are we even rehashing this, Colt. It was years ago!”

“You started this!”

“Screw you!” She threw her little temper tantrum while walking away.

I followed her and grabbed her from behind. “We shouldn’t be fightin’. Everything turned out the way it should have.”

Just as Savanna finally started to relax her shoulders, we both caught a glimpse of Noah standing on the stairs. His eyes were wide open and he had tears in them. “You wished my mother dead!” He ran up the stairs and we heard his door slam shut.

Savanna followed me up the stairs to Noah’s bedroom. He’d locked the door, so I knocked to get him to open it. “Open the door, son. We need to talk about this.”

Silence.

“Noah, I’m not kiddin’. If I have to break down this door, you’re goin’ to be sorry.”

I heard footsteps and then the door knob jiggling. He didn’t open it. When I pushed the door ajar, I saw him jumping back on his bed, face first. “Are you goin’ to talk to us?”

“I heard you, Dad. I heard you say it turned out right. You wished her dead! You wished my mom dead so you could be with her!” He pointed at Savanna and then threw himself back down on the bed.

The damage was done. Savanna walked out of the room and I was so mad at Noah that I couldn’t think about running to her. “You watch your mouth, boy! Savanna is your mother and you don’t…”