Folding Hearts (Mitchell Family #2)(4)
Author: Jennifer Foor

“What happened to your job?” He was working at a body shop outside of town.

“I quit. Ain’t nobody goin’ to tell me what I can and can’t do.”

I felt so angry. We had a child to think about. I was helping part time at the farm, but it wasn’t enough to start a life with. Why couldn’t he want to start our future together? “Now what are you goin’ to do? You can’t keep livin’ like you are right now.”

“Don’t worry about me. You just keep livin’ on that ranch with your rich family. I will figure somethin’ else out babes.”

“She is nine months old Tucker. I am startin’ to feel like we are never goin’ to be a family. She needs her daddy ya know.”

I could hear him sighing through the phone. “She don’t know any different. She is just a baby. Listen, I gotta head over to Charlie’s. He is havin’ people over later, so I will just call you tomorrow.”

“I want to go with you,” I stated.

“It’s just a bunch of guys. Just stay home and hang out with your daughter. I will call you tomorrow.”

My daughter? She was also his daughter….

“Fine, I love you.”

“Yeah, me too…bye.”

I hit end on the phone and set it on the table. There wasn’t a second to consider he had just blown me off, because I heard Bella crying and made my way to her room instead. When I saw her in her crib, just laying there, waiting for me to pick her up, all I could do was cry.

I had been so stupid to think that he would drop what he was doing to come hang out with me and our baby. In the past nine months he had spent the night less than ten times. I picked up my beautiful baby daughter and started comforting her to still her cries. “It’s okay baby. Momma’s got you now. I will never choose anything over you. I promise.”

She settled quickly and began her daily cooing and raspberry blowing, while it took me a little more time to calm myself down. I hated being a wreck around her.

After I changed her diaper, we headed into the family room to play. Ever since my uncle passed away suddenly, the house just seemed empty. Even with Van moving into Colt’s place and them having dinner at least three nights a week here, it just wasn’t the same. My aunt was an empty shell of a person. She tried to keep herself busy during the day, but nights were the hardest for her. Many times, when I got up in the middle of the night with Isabelle, I found her in my uncle’s study. She would just sit there in his chair and cry.

My mother had a house on the ranch too, but she and Conner were fine by themselves. I insisted that Bella and I stay here in the main house. We basically had an entire wing to ourselves since only my aunt and her housekeeper Lucy still lived here in this big mansion. Her daughter had just left to go to college, so it was just us girls left here. Because there was little cleaning to do in the house, Lucy spent her days in front of the television watching soap operas. During intense parts she would sometimes yell at the television, or come into the kitchen talking all about these characters as if they were real people. “Can you believe he cheated on her? I knew he was the father. She isn’t really dead ya know.”

I had heard it all.

Today was no different. I heard her arguing with the television again. Friday’s were the worst for her, because they always left with some major cliffhanger. She came walking into the kitchen shaking her head. “I just can’t believe he did that,” she said as she approached Bella. “How is my favorite baby today?”

“Say…..I am just fine Auntie Lucy,” I said in a baby voice. Bella smiled with a mouth full of pureed bananas.

“Have you heard from her father lately?” She started wiping off Bella’s face.

My family hated Tucker. My mother begged me to dump him, but he was the father of my child. I loved him and he loved me too. He just had his priorities all wrong. One day things would change and we would be a family.

“We talked this morning.”

“You don’t sound very happy about it missy,” she said sarcastically.

I gave her a quick fake smile. “I just wish he would grow up. I want us to be together.” I wiped off Bella’s mouth and turned around to face Lucy. “Hey, do you think you could babysit tonight for me? I want to surprise Tucker.”

“Sure. Not that I want you hangin’ with that riff raff, but I would love to spend quality time with this little cutie.” She said as she approached Bella and talked in a sweet voice.

“Thanks Lucy. I don’t know whether my mother would say yes considerin’ she wishes he would drop off the face of the earth. I just wish I could make him see what he is missin’.”

She patted my shoulder. “Sweetie, I think some men just never grow up. Your mom just wants more for you and Bella. That man is no good for you. Bella needs a daddy who wants to be around her, not one that can’t make the time to.”

I gave her a smile and started cleaning up the mess on the high chair. I had never planned to get pregnant and lose out on the college life. I didn’t want to spend my whole life on this ranch. I wanted more for me and my daughter. I just couldn’t do it alone.

I never expected to get pregnant with Bella when I did. I met Tucker at a party. He broke up a fight between two guys that were fighting over a girl. Everyone was pretty drunk and I was the sober person to clean up his bloodied nose. We hung out after that, taking shots and groping all over each other. That night he looked at me like nobody else ever had, and after a few hours, we ended up in the back of his pickup truck.

It was hard for me to date with my brother and Colt always threatening everyone that was interested. Those two were like the country songs about fathers waiting at home with a shotgun loaded up, ready to tear a guy a new ass.

Tucker wasn’t afraid of anyone, but I didn’t show him off at first anyway. Instead, I snuck out to meet him. I found out I was pregnant about a month later. I knew it was Tucker’s baby because I hadn’t been with anyone else in months. We had been having such a good time that I thought he was really into me. When I told him, he freaked out and begged me to get an abortion. After I refused, he didn’t speak to me for three months. When he did start coming back around again, he was distant.

He made wise cracks about my weight and the stretch marks that I had across my stomach. He refused to have sex with me during the rest of my pregnancy, even after my doctor confirmed it was perfectly healthy to do so.