Loving Her (Mitchell Family #9)(23)
Author: Jennifer Foor

We stood there staring at each other as I tried to ponder on what to say. “We’ve brought her up to understand that lying is bad. How do you think she’s going to feel when she realizes that our whole relationship is built on one?”

“Hopefully, she will get why you did it. Look Ty, if you peel away the layers of the secret, it was all out of love. You weren’t bein’ selfish when you signed up to be her daddy.”

“I still remember the day she said it. We were sitting in a car waiting to go into church. Van was there visiting and I couldn’t believe it. I don’t care what medical tests say. I’m her father.”

He put his hand on my shoulder. “That you are, cuz. Keep tellin’ yourself that, no matter what happens. You’re goin’ to be alright. No matter what, she’s a part of this family and so are you. You will never be alone.”

“You probably think I’m being a pu**y.”

“Hell no! Tyler, you’re a lot braver than you give yourself credit for. I don’t know if I could have done what you did. People assume I’m this all around great guy, but I couldn’t have claimed a child that wasn’t mine. I’m selfish that way. If Savanna had a child with someone else, especially if it was yours, I’d never be able to see past it not being mine. I wanted my own kids.”

“You would have adopted.”

“That’s different. That child wouldn’t have belonged to Savanna and some other guy. When you look into Bella’s eyes, what do you see looking back at you?”

I thought about his question for a moment. “At first look, I see her mother. She looks exactly like her.”

“You know what I mean, Ty.”

Colt was right. From early on, especially when they first came to stay with me, I’d felt it and seen it for myself. I wasn’t just signing up to be her dad. There was this bond between us, like she’d picked me out herself. She was the one who called me daddy and it was her love all along that made me fall in love. “I see myself. When I look into her eyes, I see my daughter.”

He put his hand on my shoulder and looked right into my eyes. “That ain’t ever goin’ to change.”

Colt left me standing there, thinking about a lot of things, not that I hadn’t already had a bunch on my mind. Maybe I needed him to remind me of the big picture.

We finally headed in the house to say goodbye to all the grandparents and Lucy. Miranda and I had decided to get an early start on the drive home and it was easier to say goodbye now, instead of having to drive to each person’s house.

Karen, my mother-in-law, hugged me tightly. She whispered in my ear when she spoke so that nobody else could hear. “I don’t care what anyone says. You’re the best father that I could ever want for my grandchildren. I know I gave you a hard time, at first, but let’s be honest, you weren’t exactly in the best of ways. You’ve got nothing to worry about, Tyler. There’s no way you will ever lose that little girl. When everyone else in the world doubted your intentions, that baby knew you were the one. She’s always known. None of us could ever have the bond that you share with her.”

She grabbed both sides of my face and forced me to look her in the eye. It was emotional, hearing my mother-in-law being so positive to me. For so long, I’d always been the one they were watching, waiting to screw up. Through their doubt, I’d finally been noticed for doing something right. “Thanks, Mom. That means a lot.”

“I love you, kid. Even if I used to call you my nephew and my friends still don’t understand how you and my daughter aren’t really blood related.” She smiled, and I felt the burning in my eyes again. Just thinking back to those days seemed like forever ago. We’d all become so close, because time heals all wounds.

“I still would have slept with her if she was my cousin.” I winked at her, and she lightly slapped my chest.

“Some things never change.”

“I have people on their toes.”

She gave me one last hug and finally walked away, smiling. Clearly I was joking. If Miranda was my cousin, I never would have touched her. It was weird enough when we first got together, after calling each other family our whole lives.

The boys whined about going home and Bella wasn’t happy either. Miranda and I rounded them up anyway and headed back to the guest house.

Since we were still so hung up on ticks, I took the boys into the bathroom and looked them over before forcing them to get in the shower.

“I don’t need a shower, dad.” Jax hated getting washed. He acted like it was going to melt his skin.

“Get your ass in that water.”

“But I don’t want to. I didn’t even get dirty today.” The child had played outside in leaves and a forest all day long, but was claiming he hadn’t gotten dirty. He had marshmallow around his lips with accumulated dirt stuck to it.

Jake laughed and stood there, completely naked in the tub. He wasn’t sitting down, but at least he was in it. “Sit your butt down before you fall.”

“I won’t fall.” He danced around like a fool. Sure enough, two seconds later, he slipped and went under the water. When he came up, he looked so embarrassed. Jax was cracking up and pointing at him.

“Idiot!”

“Jax, quit stalling. Get in the tub. I’m not sitting here all night with you.”

“But—”

“But nothing.” I picked him up and stuck him in the tub behind his brother. Then I sat down on the closed toilet seat to monitor the two of them.

“Can we have bubbles?”

“No.”

“Can we have a little bubbles?” Jax repeated his brother’s question.

“I said no.”

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and started reading, seeing Jake out of the corner of my eye pouring something on his brother. As I turned, I noticed that it was an entire bottle on conditioner. Jax punched him in the gut and water began to splash out of the tub as they wrestled for the remainder of what was left in the bottle.

I reached in, getting soaked myself, and grabbed it. “Seriously? What is wrong with you two? You could be done getting washed by now, but instead you choose to act like punks.”

“What’s a punk?” Jax asked while his brother giggled.

“It’s you two. Get washed, because if I have to do it, you’ll be sorry.”

Jake handed his brother the soap after lathering some up on his hand for himself. I looked back at my phone and heard them laughing again. This time, Jax was peeing, in the direction of his brother. Jake stood up and grabbed his penis, ready to attack with his own stream of urine.