Blinding Trust (Mitchell Family #7)(37)
Author: Jennifer Foor

The girls were still in the playroom and had done quite a job at decorating everything. They had cut out, well they’d tried to cut out, flowers with construction paper.

“Mommy, you’re just in time! How do you spell, just married?” Christian had a marker in her hand.

I told her and watched her writing down the letters in her neatest first grader handwriting. Addy leaned over the table and watched her sister, like she wanted to know how to spell it herself.

“So, when is the big day?”

She stuck out her tongue when she tried to make little hearts on the corner of the paper. “It’s Saturday night. Daddy and Noah have to be home for it.”

“Are we having it in here?” I looked around the room full of toys.

“Yes. Can we bring up some chairs?” Obviously this event was really going to happen. I wanted to laugh at how serious they both were about it.

Then it hit me.

I needed to prepare myself for not being able to be around for these kind of things. Even if the test was negative for cancer, I still needed to live each day as if it were my last, incase there was no tomorrow. I just wanted to surround myself with the family that I adored so much.

I could feel myself getting upset as I stood thinking about my girls being without me. Before I could let them see me, I ducked out of the room.

Ty was standing outside the door and without even saying anything, he opened his arms up for me. After I had sniffled back my emotional breakdown, he pulled away. “God isn’t going to take you from them, Van.”

For him to say something so serious like that, just reminded me of how real the situation was. “You don’t know that. It happens all the time, Ty. We can’t change our fate.”

“Would you please stop being so negative? I get that you’re scared. Hell, I’m scared for you, but we have to have hope, because without that, we have nothing.” He rubbed his face. “Let’s just…We need a beer!”

He pulled me down the stairs like he used to when we were kids. I followed behind him and didn’t argue or fight. He was here to be supportive and I needed it, now more than ever. In fact, aside from Colt, Ty knew me better than anyone, even the girls. Colt wouldn’t have agreed with me, but it felt normal for him to fill in.

He pulled out a bottle of wine from the refrigerator and smelled it. “This shit is rank. You got anything harder?”

“We have beer in the garage.” Colt drank on weekends or if we had company, but it wasn’t like we did it every night. Surely, I hadn’t planned on Ty coming to visit, so I had no reason to go out and buy it.

“No! I’m talking about the shit that puts hair on your ass.” He opened the pantry and looked around. “Hey, remember when you and Colt were in here getting it on? That was awesome!”

“Colt keeps that stuff locked in his office. He didn’t want the kids getting into it.”

Ty popped out of the pantry. “What are they, five and six year old alcoholics?”

“It was a precautionary measure for the future. Noah will be curious in a couple years.” Ty’s sons were going to be trouble. I could just see it in his future. He’d be gray in the next ten years, for sure.

“It takes one time and he’ll change his mind. That little peck will sneak a few shots and it will knock him on his ass. After he pukes it up, he’ll put off drinking for a few more years.”

I started to laugh. “Where did you learn that, because I’m sure it wasn’t from a professional.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m a guy and it’s the truth. Just face it, I’m awesome!”

No matter what I could say to him, he was going to turn it around and make a joke out of it. I grabbed the bottle of wine and drank right from it. “It’s going to be a long night.”

He grabbed a large cucumber off the kitchen table. “If you’re planning on taking this up to your room tonight, can you at least take a picture?” He was laughing before he even finished the sentence.

“You’re sick. Besides, I bought it for you. I thought I heard you tell me that you liked them big.” I smacked him and walked out of the kitchen.

As gross and perverted as Ty was, he was offering me little distractions and it was working. Even if Colt was around, we would have been dwelling on the negatives together.

Realizing that it was almost time for dinner, I left Ty in the kitchen and ran up to get changed. I checked on the girls before getting a quick shower. When I was ready, I found the girls downstairs playing with their uncle. He had Addy on his back and was crawling around the couch, chasing Christian. She was giggling so hard that they were gaining space on her. When he caught her, they all tumbled on top of each other and laughed.

“Are you three children ready to go?”

They all stood up and said, ‘yes’, at the same time.

When I checked my phone, I’d had several missed calls from Colt and even a voice message. I excused myself from the living room and went to listen to it.

Darlin’ it’s me. Look I get that you’re angry, but there’s somethin’ important that I need to talk to you about. Can you give me a call, please? I love you.

I listened to the message twice just so I could hear his voice. Sure, I was angry at him, but I missed him terribly and the distance between us wasn’t helping with any of our problems. Plus, it was really bothering me that Ty knew my secret and Colt didn’t.

I decided to text him, instead of calling. The reasoning behind that being that I just didn’t have the energy to get myself all upset in front of the girls. They didn’t need to know anything was out of the ordinary.

Headed to dinner at your mother’s house. I will call you later when the girls are in bed. I love you, too. –S

Colt was rough around the edges, but he was born to be a family man and I believed in the bottom of my heart that it was never going to change. I could only hope that the doubts I was having were just my imagination playing tricks on me. Losing him would kill me before any ailment could.

Dinner at my mother-in-laws was always a good time. We drank wine and talked about all sorts of things. Ty was like the eighth man out, never really getting into our social life talk. Lucy made the best dessert and while scrubbing the house, I’d steamed some vegetables. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was enough.

We played cards for a little while, but the girls were getting too tired and whiney for us to stay any longer. While Ty carried a sleepy Addy to the golf cart, and Christian followed behind them, my mother-in-law pulled me to the side. “Is everything okay, Savanna?”