Blinding Trust (Mitchell Family #7)(23)
Author: Jennifer Foor

I followed his eyes across the lawn to a blonde looking down and talking to a boy that was about the age of Addy. It wasn’t until the woman looked up that I realized who it was and why Ty had made his comment. I kept my voice as low as possible. “Oh my God, is that Heather?”

She didn’t look that much different. She gained maybe ten pounds, but was still skinny and her hair was as perfect as it always had been. She was too caught up in the conversation with the child to notice Ty and me looking at her.

I turned around and looked at him instead. “I thought she moved far away?”

“As far as I know she did. Her mom still lives here. She must be visiting.” Ty kept looking at Miranda, just waiting for her to notice Heather.

After the whole episode with Amy’s ex, she and I had forgiven Heather for her flaws to the extent of being able to tolerate her. She had risked her life for our family, but no matter how hard she tried, Miranda would never forgive her for what she had done to her and Ty. I wasn’t even sure if Miranda had seen her since that all happened.

It had been years, and with time, the wounds of her wrecking my relationship with Ty were long gone. I got that she was in love with him and sometimes people do desperate things for the people they love. I didn’t agree with her actions, but we were all adults now. If the child holding her hand was her own, then she’d obviously found someone to love her.

I didn’t mean to keep staring, but when she caught me, all I could do was walk up and say something.

Except…I didn’t know what to say.

We were never friends.

It was always more like frienimies. We loved to hate each other.

Heather smiled, but I could see her concern as I got closer. Instead of speaking to her first, I bent down and looked at the little boy. “Well, hello there, cutie. Where’d you get those brown eyes from?”

He shrugged and buried his face into his mother’s side.

“He’s shy,” Heather announced.

“Is he yours?”

She smiled and looked down at him. “Yep. He sure is.”

“He’s very handsome.” I was still trying to make conversation with someone that I never should have approached.

“Thanks. He gets his looks from his daddy.” I noticed that she wasn’t wearing a ring and I think she saw what I was doing. “We..um…it’s complicated.”

I tried to play it off like I wasn’t being nosey. “I just wanted to come over and say hello. I never got to thank you for what you did for Amy.” I looked over at Amy. Conner was telling her something in her ear and she was smiling. “I’m sure she’d like to say hello.”

“I’ll wait until Ty and his wife aren’t around. I didn’t come here to make drama. My mom hasn’t been doing well, so Jacob and I made the trip to come visit. I promised her we would stop by today, but I don’t want to cause trouble for your family. We’ll just visit later.” She started to turn around and head back toward the parking lot.

I don’t know what got in to me, but I ran after her, grabbing her by the arm. “Heather, wait!”

She turned around and looked as shocked as I did for doing it. “You don’t have to be nice to me, Van. I’m not that same person anymore, but I will never forgive myself for what I did to you and your family. I ask God every day to forgive me.”

I bent down again and looked at the shy little boy. “So, your name is Jacob?”

He nodded.

I held out my hand to him. “I have a little girl your age and I think she’d like to play. Do you want to meet her?”

He nodded again and then took my hand. I looked up at Heather, who seemed astonished at me for being kind.

We made it over to the swings where Addy was. She hopped off and came running toward me. “Who are you?”

At first he hid behind me.

“Does he know how to talk, Mommy?”

“I’m Jacob,” he announced.

“Jacob needs someone to play with.”

She started running back to the swings. “Come on then!”

My daughter was something else!

Heather waved and walked over toward her mother. As I smiled back at her, Miranda grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side. “Why is she here?”

“She’s just visiting her mother.”

She pointed to Jacob. “Is that her kid? Her spawn?”

“Can you be nice? We are at church, for God sakes.”

“Fine! You and Amy may think she’s changed, but I don’t have to like her. She’s still the devil in my eyes.” I got how she felt and understood.

“She won’t bother you, Miranda. She’s here visiting just like I am. It’s been years and she’s obviously moved on. I’m not saying I want to be friends with her, but I’ve known the girl since I was a little girl. I’m just at a point in my life where I’m tired of being so angry. Without Heather in my life, I never would have been with Colt. I think in some ways I’m grateful for the life that she led me to.”

Miranda looked defeated. “I get it, Van. I just can’t get past it. Maybe that makes me a terrible bitch. I just can’t do it.”

I hugged her, not knowing what else I could do. “I love you and I know you have legitimate reasons. Let’s just keep the peace today and we don’t have to see her again.”

Ty came over with someone I didn’t recognize and pulled Miranda into a conversation. Since she was better and with her husband, I was able to run to the ladies room without having to worry about a cat fight in the church parking lot.

Heather was in the bathroom. She was on the phone and the conversation wasn’t a good one.

“You said that you would come with us.”

“I don’t care about that, right now.”

“Please don’t do this to me again.”

I could tell that she was arguing with someone. To not feel like I was imposing, I hurried up and tried to leave before she hung up. Unfortunately, by the time I flushed, she was leaned over the sink crying.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She shook her head and tried to clean up the eyeliner that was running down her cheeks. “It’s nothing that I haven’t been dealing with for the past five years. Same shit different day. I’m fine and I know you don’t really care if I had my feelings hurt. I don’t expect you to ever get over what I’ve done to you.”

I handed her a paper towel. “Do you need me to get your mother?” I didn’t want to rehash something from the past. We were adults now, with children. It was time to grow up.