Blinding Trust (Mitchell Family #7)(25)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Even at his worst, Noah loved Savanna too. He was obviously going through something, but at the end of the day, I guarantee she’d be who he asked for if he needed help. We were buddies, and that was enough for me.

When they saw me standing there they both smiled. I wasn’t certain, but I had this feeling that maybe they had spoke to one another. It would have been nice to get back to normal. The silent treatment wasn’t feasible in our house.

The girls were being awfully quiet, so I headed upstairs to check on them. Little voices weren’t coming from the playroom. They were coming from my room. I followed them into the master bathroom and found them both sitting on top of the counter. They heard the door creak and turned to look at me. Giant eyes, displaying makeup fit for two clowns just stared back at me.

“What are the two of you doin’ in here?” It was difficult not to laugh. They looked hideous, and if the circus were in town, they’d fit right in.

I could hear Savanna running up the steps, so I knew that any second they were going to be in serious trouble.

They looked at each other and then back to me. “We are getting ready for a wedding, Daddy.”

Savanna came in and gasped. She put her hand over her face and I wasn’t sure if she was more upset at the girls for doing it, or the makeup they had ruined in the process.

I chuckled. “Who is gettin’ married?”

“Barbie and GI Joe, silly. They can’t live together until they get married. Are you goin’ to come?”

Savanna said nothing as she walked up and grabbed a washcloth out of the closet. She ran it under the faucet and started with Addy’s face. She tried to pull away. “No, Mommy!”

“I have to wash it off. You will get a rash if I don’t,” Savanna argued.

Addy fussed some more. Savanna looked at me and rolled her eyes, while trying not to laugh herself.

Once we had them back to normal, and cleaned up the ruined makeup mess, we all headed downstairs. Noah was in the kitchen getting a drink. He no sooner walked back out into the living room, when he tripped and went falling forward. The large glass of milk covered the hardwood floor.

He looked back and noticed that he tripped on one of his sister’s shoes. “It’s all your fault Addy!”

I was already picking up the broken pieces of glass from the cup, while Savanna was heading over with a towel. “Just get out of the way until we clean up the mess. Noah, it was an accident.” I looked up at him and saw him pointing at Addy and mouthing ‘I hate you’.

Savanna looked at me, like she’d seen it too.

“Mommy, Noah said he hates me.” Addy was not one to keep things to herself. Both girls enjoyed getting Noah in trouble. I guess it was part of being a sibling. Since neither Savanna or myself had any, we didn’t know what was normal.

I pointed toward the steps. “Get your ass upstairs, boy!”

Noah stood up, looking guilty. “I didn’t do anything! She’s a liar!”

“Noah, we saw you do it!” Maybe Savanna should have just let me handle it, but she seemed pretty annoyed.

“No you didn’t. You’re just takin’ up for your kids!”

He didn’t get another second to back talk his mother, because I was right on his ass, chasing him into his room. My belt was off before I entered through his door. He flew onto his bed and backed himself up against the wall, holding his arms over his head. “Don’t dad! I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!”

I took the belt and slammed it against his bed, making a sound that was loud enough to cause him to jump. He balled himself up tighter. “I am about sick of your attitude, Noah. You’re being mouthy! You’re lyin’ all the time.”

“Please don’t beat me!”

I didn’t want to hurt my kid. My own father used to tell me that it hurt him more than it hurt me. I understood what that meant, as I stood there with a belt in my hand. I held it up. “Look at me, boy!”

He looked up with tears in his eyes, sniffling.

“I am done with the way you’ve been actin’. If you don’t straighten up, you’re goin’ to be done with lacrosse. You hear me?”

He nodded.

“You stay up here until you can apologize to your mother and sisters. If I ever hear you talk to them like they aren’t your family, I will tear your ass up!”

Noah put his head down in his knees. “Yes, sir.”

I left the boy in his room to sulk by himself. There was no way I was going to sit there and feel sorry for him. After all of our talks, he still wasn’t acting like he’d been taught to. His disrespectful attitude was going to cause him to spend his whole summer in that damn room if he didn’t shape up.

Savanna and the girls were downstairs watching an animated movie. They were cuddled up on either side of her. I stood there looking at the very clean floor, before heading over to the couch. Savanna smiled when I sat down and reached my arm around them. She and I didn’t care much for animated movies, but family time was always important. Plus, we also knew that the girls would soon fall asleep and we would have some alone time.

It took longer than we both thought, but after an hour, they were fast asleep against us. I grabbed Christian while Savanna picked up Addy. They were getting heavy to carry up the stairs every night. You’d think that after three children we would have mastered the concept of bedtime. Contrary to every parenting book Savanna had read, nothing worked on our kids.

We met each other in the hallway. I reached for her hand and led her to our room. Before climbing into bed, she wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly. “I love you so much, Colt. Please don’t ever doubt that.”

I had no idea why she would say something like that. It was almost cryptic, like I should expect something bad to happen. “You sure you’re alright, darlin’?”

I kissed her head and pushed her back far enough to be able to look into her eyes.

“I’m fine.”

“You sure that their ain’t somethin’ you need to tell me? I feel like there is.”

Savanna shook her head. “No. I’m just upset about Noah. I guess I just thought he would miss me while I was gone. I don’t get how all of the sudden everything has changed.”

“He’s bein’ a kid, darlin’. It’s just a stage he’s goin’ through. I know the kid loves you and his sisters, too. He’s bein’ a little jerk and it’s goin’ to stop or I will have to take drastic measures to correct it myself.” I hated threatening violence, but if it was what it took to knock some sense into my son, it was going to have to happen.