Loving Her (Mitchell Family #9)(11)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Twenty minutes later, after a shower, shave and a clean pair of clothes, I felt awake enough to join the chaos at the breakfast table. Miranda had made eggs and creamed chipped beef. I sat there staring at the boys, ripping apart bread and creating a tower on their plates. Knowing that they barely ate that much, it was obvious it would get wasted. “I think you both have enough bread.”

They looked at me and kept ripping more pieces anyway.

Miranda handed me a cup of coffee and noticed their plates. “Seriously? Cut it out you two. It’s too early for you to not listen. We’re here to visit, not to cause anyone grief. Do you understand? I will let Uncle Colt put you over his knee.”

They looked at each other and laughed at her.

“Hey, listen to your mother, or I’m going to put you over my knee after Colt’s done with ya. Got it?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Iz sitting quietly, eating her food, as if nothing crazy was going on around her. She smiled and I winked back at her, being thankful that one of the kids could act right at the table.

“Jax farted!”

Sometimes, though, it was hard not to laugh, especially considering that every meal consisted of some sort of conversation about poop or farts. “Do you want to not eat?”

“Jax, please go in the other room if you need to do that. This is the kind of thing that we don’t do in other people’s homes.” Miranda was constantly giving them life lessons, not that they paid her any mind. I wondered if they were even listening to her, because all of the sudden an extremely loud passing of gas noise filled the room. The boys were falling over in laughter. Even Izzy was laughing. I tried to keep composure, for as long as I could hold my breath, but finally it was too difficult.

As soon as I started laughing, Miranda left the room. I didn’t mean to contradict her correcting them, but they were a riot, and it wasn’t like I hadn’t done the same thing. They were just being boys.

Once she’d left, and they realized how mad they’d made her, they ate in silence. I sat there with them eating and enjoying the quiet.

Miranda came in when she was done eating her food and started rinsing off the plate. I got up and wrapped my arms around her as the boys went running outside. “Sorry I ruined your breakfast. I guess I’m cut off again.”

She turned, but refused to kiss me. “Do you understand that everyone probably thinks we’re the worst parents on the planet?”

I disagreed. “That’s not true. We love our kids and take good care of them. Sure we get a little crazy, but we aren’t bad parents.”

“We’re not like Van and Colt. Look at how well-behaved their kids act.”

“Miranda, we have twin boys. Nobody expects them to be little angels.”

“It’s embarrassin’!” she argued. “While you’re workin’, I have to drag their asses in public. Do you know the things they do in grocery stores? Jax took a banana and put it between his legs, making it look like a c**k while running up and down the aisles the last time we went. I can’t push a cart if I need to have a hand on both of their ears, Ty. The older they get, the more out of control it is. They stress me out and I want to scream. Being away from them this past month made them even worse. It’s like they were attention deprived and are lashing out, and you aren’t even payin’ attention.”

I think she was blowing it a little out of proportion, but I wasn’t about to admit that out loud. “My mom will keep the boys when you need a break. She loves it.”

“She does not. They wreck her house and exhaust her.”

“Baby, calm down.” I rubbed her shoulders. “They’re being boys. They’ll grow out of it.”

She raised her eyebrow. “Like you did?”

Okay, in my defense, I did know how to be gentlemen, if I needed to be. “That was mean.”

“Help me more with them, or you will seriously be cut off, Ty. I’m not kiddin’.”

With threats of not being able to touch my wife on the line, I knew I had to get serious.

She had me by the balls and there was no way out of it. I would comply, for the sanity of my wife and the livelihood of my family jewels.

Chapter 8

Miranda

I was on edge, as if I still hadn’t been able to relax since Bella got home. In the back of my mind I feared that something was going to fail again with her health. What if the doctors missed something and she was in danger with none of us suspecting anything? Maybe I was in some kind of self-defense mode, preparing for the possibility that something horrible could still happen to my precious little girl.

At any rate, I was being an all-around bitch, letting my emotions go crazy and taking them out on my family. The problem was that I didn’t know how to relax.

Being in Kentucky made things a little easier, perhaps that’s why Ty suggested we visited. He knew that being around my mom and the rest of the family would be something good for all of us.

After cleaning up breakfast with the help of Bella, I got changed and we all climbed into the spare golf cart. I assume that Colt had charged it, because it was working at top speed. Usually they forgot and we barely made it to his house before it died.

It was a nice five-minute ride to Colt and Van’s house, and Bella could hardly contain her excitement. She loved Noah so much, and they shared a special bond that nobody would ever take away from them. Since she’d been sick, they’d missed out on time together. I knew once we pulled up at the house she’d be out of sight until we were ready to leave.

We should have suspected that something was wrong when they hadn’t called or had come beating on the door first thing. As we pulled in, everything was quiet. Nobody was outside and the front door was closed. I knew every morning that door was opened to let the sunshine in. Colt always did his morning rounds and then came back for breakfast.

Ty looked at me, and I could tell that he was wondering the same thing. “It’s weird, huh? Too quiet.”

“Yeah,” I said as I looked around. Both vehicles were out back as well as two Gators, the gas powered ATV’s that Colt preferred to ride around the farm in. “I swear they said they’d be here. Van told me she was making dinner for us tonight. I texted her when we got here.”

“Something’s wrong.”

“I hope you’re wrong, Ty. My heart can’t take much more. It’s not even recovered yet from Bella being ill.”

He patted my leg. “We better go see what’s going on, before they bust in and make things ten times worse.”