Risking Fate (Mitchell Family #4)(19)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Ty’s parents wanted us to all ride in their new SUV, but thankfully, Ty insisted we drive separately. It would have been too packed for us to be comfortable.

After four stops for pee breaks, we pulled into the ranch. Conner was the only one staying somewhere other than the main house, so we dropped him off at my mom’s first before unpacking our car.

While Ty carried everything up, Bella and I went into the living room to see Lucy and my aunt. Ty met us downstairs at the same time his parents walked into the room. The older adults began a full blown conversation, while Bella was itching to get to Noah. We saw ourselves out and headed toward Colt and Van’s house.

Chapter 8

Ty

Being in Kentucky was one of my favorite places. I loved being with my family. When the three of us walked in the door, Iz went flying past us and headed up the steps to find Noah. We heard him call her name and then a bunch of chattering upstairs.

Van’s mother was holding Christian when I went over to say hello. She gave Miranda a quick wave before giving her grandchild all of her attention.

We sat around the house for the rest of the evening catching up with everyone. It was nice being around the whole family and not having one single argument. My parents as well as my mother in law and John stayed up at the main house for dinner, while the rest of us ate at Colt’s place.

Van was so busy appeasing her parents that she had little time to sit down and relax. Colt was sitting around talking about hunting with her father. I think he really missed doing that with my uncle. He’d been hunting with his dad since we were too small to even hold a gun. It was always a tradition that, while the women hung around the house, all the men got up before daylight and went out into the woods. Miranda was kind of jealous this year. She was the only girl in the family who loved to hunt and since she had a big ole belly, I wouldn’t even let her think about going.

Izzy was still too little, but Colt planned on taking Noah, at least for a little while over the weekend. Once she heard about it, she started giving her mother and me a fit to let her go.

The next morning, the women got up and started making food for the celebration. The smell of home cooking filled my aunt’s giant house. I reached around the bed before opening my eyes and realizing Miranda was already downstairs. I could hear female voices laughing and carrying on.

I sat up in bed and started wiping my eyes. After checking my phone, and realizing it was only eight in the morning, I wanted to go back to sleep. My daughter came running in the room and jumped on the bed. “Daddy, Mommy told me to wake you up. Come on,”

She started pulling me out of bed. “Honey, Daddy is in his underwear. Let me get dressed and I will be down.”

She let go of my hand but stood there with her hands on her hips. She looked so much like her mother. I loved her big blue eyes and that beautiful blonde hair. When she refused to take her eyes off of me, I pointed to my jeans. “Hand me those, Iz.”

She reached down and grabbed my jeans. I slid my legs around the bed, making sure nothing was hanging out of my boxers, then pulled the jeans up. “Do you need me to get your shirt?”

“No. Daddy can get it himself. Did your mother tell you to stalk me until I came down?”

She giggled. “Yes.”

I laughed. “Did you brush your teeth yet?”

She ran into the bathroom in front of me. I opened our zip lock bag and pulled out each of our toothbrushes. She held hers out and let me apply the toothpaste. We started brushing right away and I couldn’t help but laugh at her copying me. “Do you remember Daddy teaching you to brush your teeth?”

She wasn’t even two when I showed her, but it still was something that was special to me. She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. She waited for me to spit first and then spit out her toothpaste. As I rinsed off my toothbrush, she stuck hers under the water. I pushed hers out of the way and started smiling. “Daddy, no fair. Share the water.”

I leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “I couldn’t help it. You’re too pretty not to tease. You ready to go downstairs?”

She grabbed my hand and led the way.

I headed right to the coffee pot, trying to avoid contact with the gabbing group of women at the table. Van’s mother and my mother were sandwiching Christian between them, talking to her in baby talk. I sat my cup down in front of Miranda and kissed her on the head. “Morning, Baby.”

She looked up at me as I reached over and took the baby out of her seat. The two women threw me a dirty look. “What? She’s my God child. Get in line.”

Christian loved getting attention, in fact I was pretty sure she got held way too much, but who was I to talk? If I could have held Izzy constantly when she was a baby I would have. I loved holding her and spending time with her.

Van’s mother caught my attention. “Ty, I think you’re in the wrong line of work. It looks like you should have your own Daddy daycare center.”

All of the women in the room turned to look at me rocking Christian in my arms. “Little girls love me, I can’t help that.”

Colt came up behind me. “You sound like a pedophile. Give me my child before you get all creepy.”

I pulled away from him, not letting him take her from me. “Christian, tell your daddy he is wrong. Tell him uncle Ty would never hurt you.” She smiled at me talking to her.

I looked up at the room full of people. “Just because I love kids, doesn’t make me a pedophile.” I stuck out my bottom lip like they all hurt my feelings. After sitting Christian back down in her seat, I took my coffee and pouted my way out of the room.

Colt came in and sat next to me. He had Christian in his arms. She was cooing and drooling everywhere. “I was just kiddin’, Cuz.”

I threw the remote in the air and caught it, trying not to look him in the eye. “I’d never hurt a child.”

Maybe I was being defensive, but that wasn’t right.

“Man, you can dish out the jokes, but you can’t take em. Ty, you are the best father I have ever seen. The way you love your daughter is beautiful. After seeing you, it’s how I wanted to feel too. I envy you being a parent. Don’t get mad about my joke. Nobody in this house thinks that.”

He handed me Christian as a peace offering. Of course my mood changed immediately. Izzy came in the room with us and sat down so she could hold the baby. She was fascinated by her and I couldn’t wait for her to meet her two little brothers.

“You’re going to have two of those soon.”