Blinding Trust (Mitchell Family #7)(54)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Anyway, when my mother got back in town, not only did she bring pictures, but she brought Bella as well. Noah was so happy to have his cousin come and stay with us, that I figured he would forget about helping out. Instead, he surprised me even more. Every morning, he would enlist his cousin to help out with chores. Before they disappeared to play together, he would make sure everything was taken care of.

He was a blessing and without him, I think I would have set myself crazy.

Bella was great to have around. The girls thought she was the best thing since sweet tea. They followed her around and begged her to play with them instead of Noah.

Ty and Miranda called every night to talk to their daughter. Savanna would stay on the phone with them catching up each time. She was getting bored and I knew she would be itching to go somewhere as soon as she got the okay from her doctor. We’d been going out to the grocery store and other local places, but she wanted to get to North Carolina to see her new niece. Pictures were never enough for my wife. Besides, she wanted to take her own.

On the day she got the go-ahead, we made plans to go out of town. Her radiation was set to begin that next week and it was important for her to travel when she wasn’t feeling ill. The doctor had informed us that her treatment was more for a preventative and it would be ‘low-grade’, as opposed to the intense treatment that other people require. He informed her that she probably wouldn’t lose her hair and that she may only have flu like symptoms.

We knew that every person handles things differently, so we packed up the kids, including Bella and made the long drive to North Carolina.

Our first stop was Conner and Amy’s house. Noah unhooked his sister and before Savanna and I could get out of the truck, the kids were running into the house. Amy was sitting in the rocking chair feeding the new baby when we walked in. Savanna rushed over and hugged her and then took a peek at our newest cousin. “Oh my goodness, she’s so pretty!” Savanna was all smiles and I loved seeing her that way.

Since Amy was breastfeeding, I opted to wait until she was back to decent. I waved from afar. “Where’s Conner?”

“They’re out at the barn working on some engine.” She whispered.

“I reckon I’ll just go look for them.” I walked out of the house and noticed that my kids had already found their cousins. They were out back playing in the fort Conner and Ty had built for them. The girls were on the swings, while Josh and Noah were up high looking through a scope. Noah was showing him something.

Conner and Ty were both on the ground out in front of the barn. They were covered in dirt and grease. “What the hell are you two doin’?”

“What does it look like, you old cocksucker?” Conner stood up and brushed off his pants.

Ty stayed on the ground. This was the first time I’d seen him since we’d fought in my front yard. We’d spoken, but it wasn’t the same as being in the same space. I nodded to him and he gave me a flip look and kept at what he was doing. “How’d she do on the ride?”

I should have known that the first words out of his mouth would be about my wife. “She’s good. I think she’s stiff, but it ain’t like she’d admit it.”

Finally Ty stood up and held out his hand to shake mine. “Are we good?”

I shook his hand. “Yeah, we’re good.”

Conner stood between us and put a hand on both of our shoulders. “Now that we got that settled, let’s go have a beer.”

We walked into the old barn, where we played pool and cards with the family. Ty pulled three beers out of the refrigerator. We all popped the tops and took a drink of the cold goodness. “Is she upset about the radiation?”

“I think she’s more anxious.” I leaned against the pool table. “I can’t blame her. We all just want to put this shit behind us. It’s been so hard.”

“She told me you hate being Mr. Mom.” Ty started laughing. “Do you wear an apron while you vacuum?”

Conner chimed in. “He only wears an apron. Can you see him with a feather duster?” They both started laughing at me.

I shook my head and took another swig of beer. “I just got here! Can’t you act right for ten minutes?”

They looked at each other and answered at the same time. “No!”

I just shook my head. There was no changing them and since they spent all of their time together, they even thought alike. It was disturbing.

We spent the next hour shooting the shit and talking about the new baby. Since neither of them could be serious for more than five minutes, I felt like I was babysitting, instead of hanging out.

In some ways I was jealous that the two of them had fun all of the time. I took my life and my family serious. I didn’t have time to fool around. Somehow, they managed to make it work.

In celebration of our visit, we barbequed at Conner’s house. After stuffing our faces with fried chicken, steaks and every kind of side item that the girls could think of, we sat around a campfire out back. The kids had long sticks for roasting marshmallows. I held Addy on my lap, while Christian and Noah managed their own sticks. Every one of those kids caught their marshmallow on fire except Christian. She took her time, browning it to a perfect hue. Jax and Jake took their first ones and caught them on fire just to be able to fling them in the field. Of course, where they fell was dry and soon caught fire. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Conner hadn’t sat bales of hay on the field edge. Once it reached one of the bales, we had a huge bonfire. While the women frantically counted the kids, we managed to wet the entire surrounding area. Ty and Conner got a great idea to keep the fire going. They threw wood on it and soon we were further away from the house with flames that were higher than the house.

Ty’s mother called to check on us. She told him they could see the flames from their house. My two dingbat cousins then let the kids come over to the new fire and roast more marshmallows. However, Jake and Jax were not allowed to have their own sticks. While pouting over it, they decided to start fighting with each other. Soon they were wrestling on the ground. Ty grabbed one of them by the back of their shirt, while Miranda ran up and grabbed the other one.

I looked over at my wife and saw her smiling back at me. If I knew one thing for sure, it was that she loved this family that we belonged to. She loved all of their crazy quirks and how we were bound by blood and friendship.

Then I looked up at the night sky and thanked the Lord again for protecting her for me. We were on the road to recovery and I planned on sticking by her until it was over. No matter how long it took, or what we had to go through, she was never going to be doing it alone.