Loving Her (Mitchell Family #9)(28)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Ty grabbed Bella by the arm before I could even react. He forced her to sit on the couch and held her arms at her sides. "Iz, I get that you’re mad, but don’t you ever say that to your mother again." She refused to look up at him, even when he grabbed her chin and moved it up. Bella’s defiance was only making me angrier. She didn’t understand how difficult this was for Ty. She had no idea what he was going through and her actions proved that she didn’t care. I had never seen her acting so vindictive and I didn’t like it one bit.

“Why should I make promises to two liars?” She kept at it, lashing out like I’d never seen her do before.

I smacked her on the cheek and felt the life run out of me. She grabbed her face and started to run off. Ty grabbed her by the shirt and me by the arm. “Please, stop it. I can’t have this happening between all of us. Look at us, Iz. Is this how you want it to be? You want to walk away from the two people that love you the most in the world? You want to sneak behind our backs and look into things that you have no business doing?”

“I just wanted to know the truth.” She was crying and I knew I was to blame for it. I’d never laid a hand on my daughter and I felt horrible about it.

“Bella, we would have told you the truth, when you were ready to hear it.”

“I was ready.”

“No!” Ty was adamant. “You weren’t. You don’t know half of the truth. Do you honestly think that a couple pictures can explain what really happened? You have no idea what you’re asking for, sweetie.”

“I read that he was in jail before. Is that what you’re talkin’ about?”

Apparently eleven year olds think they know everything and that they’re adults. In this case, Bella may as well have been her brother’s age. The more she pushed, the more frustrated me and Ty were becoming. “It’s way worse than that, Bella. There’s so much that I want to tell you.”

“So tell me.” She sniffled. Her pouty face made it hard to not sit down and tell her what an awful person Tucker was.

“I can’t.” I began to sob again, thinking back to him hitting me while I was pregnant, or hearing him say how much he wanted me to get rid of the baby. He may have been in one picture at the hospital, but after five minutes he was gone. Tucker was a cheater, liar, thief, woman beater and probably more. I hated that she knew about him. “This isn’t happenin’.”

Ty pulled me into his arms and held me tightly.

He must have pointed to the couch. “Sit your little ass down, right now.”

I opened my glossy eyes to see her following his directions. When our eyes met, all I saw was hate. She resented us. I knew it would happen, but I hated the way it made me feel. I wanted to be there when she was sad, but this time, it was all because of me.

“You keep thinking that we lied to you and you’re right. There were things we lied to you about. The thing is, there are so many truths as well. This man standing here with us brought you into this world. He held my hand and was there for me when I was in labor. He rode with me to the hospital and was the first man to ever hold you. I saw him fall in love with you that day, Bella.”

She put her head down so I couldn’t see her reaction.

“Tucker Chase was a bad man. He didn’t want a baby or to be with me. He hurt me when I was pregnant and didn’t even want to hold you when you were born.” I was pushing through my sobs to tell her as much as I could. “After you were born, he tried to abduct me in a parking lot, and your father was the person that helped save me.”

“So you had two boyfriends at once?”

“No.” I looked at Ty, who finally let go of me and went to sit next to her. “There was something happening between your mom and I, but we never acted on it. Your grandmom and Uncle Colt, and especially Uncle Conner, didn’t think I was good enough for your mom. So, even though the feelings were there, we didn’t become a couple until you two came to stay with me when you were one.”

I jumped in. “You’re dad here used to video chat with you. He’d sing to you and talk like a baby to make you laugh. He’s loved you every single day of your life, Bella. I thank God every single day for that.”

“Your mom’s right, Iz. I don’t give a damn who got her pregnant. You’ve always been mine and you always will be. There’s not a damn person in this world that could ever love you the way I do.” Ty sobbed heavily for a minute, losing his ability to keep talking. Bella looked shocked, seeing him so devastated. “Please, Iz, I’m begging you. Please don’t hate me.”

She looked down at the floor. “Can I go inside now?”

Ty’s body looked like it deflated. He sighed and shook his head. “Yeah, go ahead.”

I watched her walk out and sat down next to Ty. We both said nothing, staring at the old barn walls, but not really looking at them. All I could think about was comforting Ty and finding a way to put all of this behind us.

I wasn’t just afraid for them;, I didn’t want this to have an impact on our marriage. Ty couldn’t handle much more. We had two other children to care for, and his head needed to be in the game.

If this was what being an adolescent was like, I feared for the years to come, knowing we’d only just begun.

We held hands and I looked into his red, sad eyes. “I’m going to call her pediatrician tomorrow and see if she can refer us to a counselor. I think that the sooner we handle this the easier it will be to get past it.”

He squeezed my hand, leaned over and kissed the top of my head. “Thanks for being here. I wasn’t doing very good by myself.”

“I’m your wife. We’re in this together, Ty. No matter what happens, we have each other’s backs. This is a phase. She’s goin’ to act out and be ridiculously bitchy for a few weeks and then everything will be fine again.”

He laughed through his pain. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy. She basically just found out that she’s adopted. I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to love me the same way again.”

I looked right at him, giving him a serious look. “She will, Ty.”

He pulled me into a hug and held me tightly. I could feel his emotions pouring through him. “I love you so much, Miranda. I don’t regret any decision we ever made. I’ll do whatever it takes to make this right. You know I will.”

I did. I knew he would go to the ends of the earth for us to be happy. That’s why I loved him so much.