Isabella (The Mitchell/Healy Family #2)(58)
Author: Jennifer Foor

“I’ll explain it to him. There’s no need for you to get this upset again. It’s not healthy for the baby. He’ll be fine, Bella. Your father loves you no matter what.”

“I really am sorry, Mom. I thought I loved him.”

She wiped the tears away from my face as I spoke, like she’d done whenever I cried as a child. “Until you fell in love for real, right?”

“Yes. Is that how you felt with Dad?”

“Yeah, sweetie. It’s how I felt with your father. When I fell in love with him I knew the difference right away. It made me hate Tucker even more, because he’d been such a waste of my time. I’m just thankful that I had you. If that man did one good thing in his short life, it was giving me you. You’re perfect in every way, honey. Your daughter is goin’ to be lucky to have a mom like you.”

My mom drove us home early that day. She took my dad into their bedroom and gave him the news, while I sat in the kitchen freaking out. I heard the door open and turned to see him smiling at me. He walked right over to the table and sat down beside me. “No more secrets, kiddo. Life is too short to do it all alone.”

“I didn’t want you to be disappointed in me.” That burn was forming in my throat again. “I want you to always be proud of me.”

He cupped my face with his hands. “Isabella Mitchell, I am proud of you. We all make mistakes. You know that.”

“So you don’t hate me?”

“Of course not. I don’t hate Rusty either. In fact, I’m kinda liking him even more now. It takes a real man to step up and take responsibility for a child that isn’t his. I mean, guys like that should be considered superheroes, or maybe even Greek Gods.”

My mom and I started to laugh. “Dad, really?”

He put his hands up. “What? I’m just saying, we’re pretty freaking cool. They always say that women marry their fathers. I thought it was meant to be incestuous, until now. I mean, what was the chance that you’d go out and find a younger version of me?”

I shoved his playfully. “Dad. You’re ridiculous. I’ll be sure to tell Rusty how you feel.”

“I’ll tell him myself. He’s a good man, Iz. He’s got problems, but so does everyone. All that matters is if he makes you happy.”

“He does.”

“Then go be happy. Stop coming here unannounced. It’s bad for my health.”

With my dad’s sense of humor in full effect, I knew that I’d finally found peace. Tate was married, with a child on the way. I wasn’t keeping him from anything that he didn’t already have with his wife. If anything, I was protecting him from a truth he didn’t want to know about.

Then there was Rusty.

He claimed that I’d given him his life back, but in reality he’d taught me that love went beyond what I’d always assumed. He was going to be a good father, and a partner.

All I had to do now was figure out how to combine his old life with our new one. I didn’t care what I had to do. I’d make it happen, for our future.

Chapter 36

Rusty

After one night, I was already on my way out of Indiana. It was going to take me a long time, but I was determined to get to Isabella. She’d left me so that I could take care of things that I’d left unsettled, but the truth was that there was nothing more important in my life than being with her. I couldn’t afford to lose her over something from my past. My mother was going to have to learn to accept what she couldn’t change. The resemblance was only skin deep. What was inside of Isabella was nothing like any woman I’d ever met. She was heard-headed, always had to be right, caring, loyal, and above all the woman that I wanted to spend my future with.

It took me eleven and a half hours to get to North Carolina, and another hour after I’d called Noah and got the address of the farm. Beat, and ready to honestly sleep for another twelve hours, I pulled into the driveway and parked where I saw her parents SUV. She’d told me which house was hers on the farm, and I’d seen a ton of pictures, so I knew which house to walk up to. I knocked twice before one of the twins came to the door. He saw me and leaned on it. “Which one am I?”

“Is this a trick question? I’ve been driving for twelve hours, man. Can’t you give me a break?”

He opened the door and let me all the way inside. “Bella, there’s some dude here to see you.”

“Jax?” I guessed.

He chuckled. “Close, but nope, I’m Jake.”

“Quit messing with him, Jax,” Tyler Mitchell yelled as he walked into the room. He stuck out his hand. “Rusty. Did you just come all the way from Indiana?”

“Yes.” I was a little upset with myself for not asking their permission to visit their daughter. She’s clearly been upset when he picked her up from the airport, and here I was beating down the door to get to her. I was lucky this guy didn’t jack me up and force me to be on my way.

“So you heard that her mother and I know the truth?”

I was stunned. Had she been so upset that she’d gotten to her parent’s farm and told them the truth? Did they know I wasn’t the father? “About what?”

I heard her voice before I knew she’d entered the room. “Everything.”

I put my hands in my pockets and clenched my jaw, trying to remain calm when I felt like the whole world was about to come crumbling down again. I’d driven so far to see her, to prove to her that my love was unconditional. After one fight she’d turned around and told them the truth. I didn’t understand how all of my efforts had turned to shit. “Why?”

She walked toward me, breaking the distance between us. When her arms wrapped around my waist I felt confused. Clearly her parents knew that I’d lied. They lose all respect for me, and probably help her come to some kind of agreement with her ex. Was this hug her way of saying she was sorry? Was this going to lead to her telling me we were through?

“I saw Tate today, Rusty.” The mere mention of his name made my heart wrench. This was the one person who could singlehandedly ruin my life. He could rip her away from me without a single consideration for what I was willing to do for her.

I cut her off. “Where? Why? I thought we talked about this.” It didn’t matter that her dad was standing there with us. I needed to know what had happened. I was determined to find out if I’d caused this. Was I the reason that she’d run to North Carolina and told everyone the truth?