Loving Her (Mitchell Family #9)(16)
Author: Jennifer Foor

“Does she believe you?”

“I hope so. I mean, I am her mother, and I told her the woman was confused. I told her I never knew anyone by that name. I wish I never did.”

“Don’t say that. Izzy wouldn’t be here, and we’d never have this life or our twins. Everything happens for a reason.” I appreciated that he was trying to be positive.

“Ty’s right,” Van added. “We’ve all got so much to be happy about. It sucks that the woman mentioned him, but as long as Bella thinks nothing of it, everything will be fine. Come on, we’re here to spend time together. Let’s stop feeling so depressed and have some fun.”

“Van’s right. I’m freaking out over nothing. Iz has no reason to doubt who I am to her. I’ve been with her for as long as she can remember. She chose me to be her dad, right?”

“Right,” I agreed.

Ty finally smiled and we headed back to the front where everyone else congregated.

He walked over and hugged Bella and I watched her smiling at his affections. It was all I needed to put my mind at ease. My family was the most important thing to me, and I felt like I wanted to hunt down that woman and beat her senseless for upsetting Ty.

Chapter 11

Tyler

After the whole fiasco happened, I kept to myself for the rest of the afternoon, with the exception of helping Colt bury Sam. We waited until just before dinner and let the kids put in everything they’d made for her.

Noah was especially emotional, but he did his best to try to hide it from all of us. Even my in-laws and Colt’s mother came to support Noah and the rest of the heartbroken children.

The dog funeral was pretty cute. Each child put something in the hole and then we stood around. Noah stepped forward, with tears in his eyes. Christian walked up and clung to her brother’s side. He took a deep breath and sat a shoe box down on top of the body. “This is for you, girl.” He was crying harder. “I put your favorite ball inside and some of those army men you loved to chew on. Mom packed a sandwich bag full of your favorite treats and I wrote you a letter about all of our secret missions we had in the woods. Thanks for being my best friend for all these years. Nobody knows this, but I remember the first day I showed up here at the ranch. I was so scared that night and you never left my side. You’ve slept in bed with me every night since then.” My nephew took a second to calm down, but was unsuccessful. “I’m goin’ to miss you so much, girl. Have fun in Heaven. I’ll see you there one day.”

I looked over at Van, who was crying and holding Addy. Colt stood behind them with his head down. He’d grown up understanding that pets were just pets, but I think we all knew that Sam had been so much more to him than that.

I grabbed Miranda’s hand and watched my boys standing there with their sister.

For a few moments everyone was quiet.

“Alright, everyone go on inside. Uncle Ty and I will take care of the rest.”

As the crowd of family did as Colt requested, Noah stayed behind. “Dad, you mind if I stay and do it? I think Sam would want me to help.”

Cold motioned for Noah to use the bobcat. We both stood there and watched his strong son pushing the dirt with the big machine. Inside of the little box he was crying, saying goodbye the only way he knew how.

I patted Colt on the back. “You alright, cuz?”

“Yeah. Thanks for the puppy. After seein’ this, I think it was one of the best ideas you’ve ever had.”

“I don’t think Noah’s going to forget about Sam anytime soon. She was an awesome dog.”

“That she was.”

We helped Noah finish and returned the bobcat to the barn before we headed back inside.

Izzy was waiting for Noah to return. As soon as we walked in the door, she followed him upstairs to his room. Since there’d been no mention of what had taken place earlier, I felt that things were going to go on as if it never happened.

The house was full of voices, laughter and commotion. As big as it was, there was never enough room for the kids to run around and act crazy all at the same time.

Christian was tough, but the twins ganged up on her every chance they got. This visit was no exception.

I heard screaming right after we’d gotten up from dinner. My legs couldn’t get up the stairs fast enough. In the playroom, I found Jax and Jake standing over Addy and Christian. They’d pulled all of the heads off of their Barbie’s. Christian was hysterical, holding two parts up for me to see. “Look what they did? I hate them. I hate them so much!”

Van came running up and put her hand over her mouth. She looked at me and I started laughing. I didn’t mean it, but it was just too funny.

“Get your little butts out of this playroom right now!” She pointed toward the door and watched the twins run out.

I grabbed one of the Barbie’s and started putting the heads back on, one at a time. “Sorry girls.”

“They’re stupid! We’re not playing with them anymore.”

“Yeah, anymore,” Addy repeated her sister.

I looked up at my nieces and watched Van kneel down and start helping to fix the dolls. “They are stupid, but they’re your family. I know you don’t like them right now, but one day you’ll be friends. I promise.”

“Yeah, right. I don’t want to be friends with those stinky boys.” Christian scrunched up her face like the boys were repulsive.

Van started laughing. “You know, Mommy and Uncle Ty knew each other as kids. I used to think he was stinky too.”

“You did?” They seemed shocked as both girls looked from me to Van.

“Yeah, she hated me. She said I was a turd, like every single day. I tried to share my cookies with her and everything.”

She nudged me and laughed. “He also called me a boy and so did your daddy.”

The girls started to giggle. “They did?”

“Yes. Then one day everything changed. Now I love them both and Uncle Ty is right. One day you will all be friends. It’s how family is.” Van handed Christian the last Barbie and we both stood up as they began to play again.

Once outside of the playroom, she stopped me. “How are you doing?”

“It’s been a shitty day.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you, Ty. You have to know how much Bella loves you.”

“You know what it’s like, wishing that you could be that one thing to them that you can’t ever be. My blood will never run through her veins and as many times as I try to think it doesn’t matter, something always reminds me of how much it does. How much longer can I live with this lie, Van? Will it be when she gets sick again? When she’s a teenager? When she’s an adult? Don’t you think that the longer the lie lasts the worse the repercussions will be?”