Risking Fate (Mitchell Family #4)(23)
Author: Jennifer Foor

“Ty, it’s illegal. You could go to jail. I can’t have twin babies and have their father locked up.”

His voice was almost a whisper. “Please.”

“You know this guy personally?”

“Technically yes. He is a friend’s brother.”

“And you think he can really do this and make it legit?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I at least need to find out. Miranda, if he can, we need to do it.”

I shook my head, even though I felt like it was a really bad idea, if it meant saving our family, I was willing to try anything. “Okay.”

He hugged me tighter. “If this works she will be out of our lives forever. I can put my name on that birth certificate and our family will never have to hear a word from that family again. It will be over Miranda. I promise you.”

God, I hoped he was right.

When we went out in the living room, practically the whole family was waiting for some kind of good news. I wasn’t sure what to say and Ty wasn’t acting like he wanted to let the family in on his illegal venture. We smiled and acted like the lawyer was going to look into a few different options. It settled everyone that neither Ty or myself were a crying mess.

Instead of staying until Sunday night, Ty and I went home early Sunday after the church service. My parents stayed and agreed to bring Bella and Conner home with them. Ty and I needed some time to deal with what was going on. As much as I wanted to take Bella home with us, I knew we needed to get our emotions together so she didn’t have to worry about why her mommy and daddy were upset.

We didn’t say much on the ride home. Ty drove the whole way and I just cuddled up against his arm. I had the need to be as close to him as possible. Emotionally, this was taking a toll on us, even if we tried our hardest for it not to.

I thought that once we got home we could finally relax a little, but Ty was definitely not himself. After he carried our bags in, he went into our room and crashed face first onto our bed. I went in there to join him, but for the first time since we had been together, he seemed like he didn’t want my company.

Ty’s parents decided to stay an extra night, which gave us some time to cope with the bad news. That night when I went to bed, I woke up a few hours later and Ty wasn’t in our room. I tiptoed through the house looking for him and when I found him, I didn’t even know how to react. He was laying in Bella’s bed, holding on to her stuffed animals and crying hysterically. For a few minutes I just stood there watching him. I didn’t know how to react. He was so broken and my mistakes had been the reason.

I wanted nothing more than to assure him that we would be okay, but I was so afraid that this was literally going to rip us apart. If this woman found some way to weasel her way into my daughter’s life, I was afraid Ty would never recuperate from something like that. She was his world and it tore my heart up knowing this was crushing him so badly.

I started to turn to go back into our bedroom, but I heard the bed moving and stopped. “Baby, is that you?” He sniffled and sat up, trying to see me in the dark.

“It’s me. I woke up and couldn’t find you.” I walked over to the bed and wiped his eyes. “God, Ty, I am so sorry this is happenin’. You’re never goin’ to lose her. I wouldn’t let that happen.”

He started crying against my body again. “I love her so much, Miranda. Maybe I’m just being a selfish ass**le, but I don’t want to share her. She is my daughter. From the moment she came into this world she was always mine. It took me a little while to realize it, but she always knew it. She chose me and I chose her. Why is this happening? Why now?”

“Shhh,” The tears were pouring down my face. To see my tough husband such a mess was like losing him all together. He was so sad. There had never been a time where I doubted his love for Bella, but I don’t think anyone else really understood the extent of his devotion to that child. Just the thought of having to share her, was crushing his heart. “We will get through this and Bella will never call anyone else her father. No matter what, Ty. You aren’t losing your daughter. You have to remember that.”

“That woman is evil. You and I both know she helped Tucker take Van. She was in on the plan that killed our niece or nephew. She doesn’t deserve to live or ever even look at our daughter. I’d rather die than to let that happen.”

“I can’t live without you, Ty. Please don’t talk about dying. Don’t ever say that. I have three kids that need you. I need you.”

He pressed his lips over mine and held them there. His hot breath covered my mouth. “I’m sorry. I just hate feeling this way. I don’t want to spend one day without her. I miss her already and she is coming home tomorrow.”

I sat up and turned on the light on Bella’s nightstand. “Ty, do you really think this guy can change those results? Do you think we can really do this and not get caught?”

He nodded his head. “I do, Baby. I swear I do.”

“Then tomorrow start making calls. I will support whatever you have to do to protect our family. I can’t go another day seeing you like this. It’s too hard on both of us.”

He started kissing me all over my face. “Thank you, Baby, Thank you so much. I will do whatever I have to do. I won’t let that woman touch our daughter. I promise you.”

“Just promise me one thing.”

“Anything Baby, anything.”

I started shaking even thinking about saying it out loud. “Promise me that I won’t lose you over this.”

“Oh God, no, Baby. You will never lose me. I would never ever leave you. My God, is that what you think? You think if we had to share Izzy with that woman, I would leave you and our kids? Jesus, Miranda. I would never do that. You are my world and you own my heart. There will never be anyone else in the world that I’d want to be with. Say you believe me.”

My heart was beating so fast. “I do Ty, I swear I do.”

We ended up falling asleep in Bella’s bed. It wasn’t the most comfortable night’s sleep, but we were both so emotional that it didn’t matter. Ty held me so tight I almost felt like I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t want him to ever let me go. When the sun came up, he was still holding me tight against his body. Our tears had dried up, but our emotions were still at the highest level.

We did our best not to talk about it, on account of preparing ourselves for Bella’s arrival. We promised that we were going to protect her from all of this. If things ended up working out, she would never have to know what we went through.