Risking Fate (Mitchell Family #4)(71)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Then I felt sad for my aunt. She’d lost her husband so early in life. They’d been so close and then one day he was just gone. It was so tragic. My mother was her rock, so her new relationship left her alone. At least she had Lucy, who we all knew would never leave. Both of those women would grow old in that house.

I looked around my living room and was taken aback by how perfect it was. Pictures of our family covered the walls. The whole house was full of happy memories for us and I knew it was where I wanted to grow old with Ty. I’d always said I could never forgive him if he cheated, but I was starting to realize that my marriage was more important than one mistake. If the roles were reversed, Ty would have been devastated, but he would forgive me, because living without me was harder than living with my mistake.

I would forgive him and one day it wouldn’t hurt so much, I just wanted the time to heal in my own way. Since Colt was with the kids, I grabbed the baby monitor and ventured outside. Heather’s visit may have damaged my marriage, but she also brought something to save my family. That day I walked out, I had taken the paternity papers she gave me with me. When the car was totaled, the salvage company boxed up everything in the car and Colt picked it up and brought it to the hospital.

I hadn’t thought much about them, until I realized they may have gotten lost. They were rolled up and wedged between the seat. It was possible they were overlooked. I walked to the shed, making sure nobody saw me outside, and started flipping through the box. After pulling out two of Bella’s coats, two separate shoes and a checkbook, I spotted the rolled up piece of paper.

Conner’s voice scared the crap out of me. “What are you doin’?”

I shoved the papers into the waist of my pants and turned around to face him. “I was lookin’ for my checkbook. I wanted to make sure those guys didn’t take it. That stuff happens you know.” I pushed him out of the way and started walking back to the house. “Where did you go?”

He caught up to me and opened the door for me. “I was around. Were you lookin’ for me?”

“Not really. You just keep disappearing. I’m starting to wonder if you have something to hide.”

He shook his head and looked upset. “I’m not doin’ what you’re thinkin’.”

I grabbed him by the arm and made him look at me. “I didn’t mean that. I meant that it seems like you’re bein’ sneaky. You’re probably seeing some married chick or stripping for fast cash.”

I was totally joking, but when my brother smiled and started to walk away, I darted in front of him. Well, as fast as my sore body would let me. He just kept smiling. “It’s not as bad as you’re thinkin’.”

“What are you doin’ Conner?”

He put his hands on my shoulders and looked me right in the eye. “It’s nothin’ for you to worry about, I swear.”

“You’re not very convincing.”

“Don’t worry your pretty little self over it. You just focus on your family.”

He was up to something and I was going to get to the bottom of it. I hated secrets and I felt like everyone had them. My brother knew how to be sneaky and it didn’t help that he was very cocky. Thinking you are God’s greatest gift to women was bad enough. He wasn’t going to tell me, so all I could do was hope that it wasn’t something dangerous. He was my brother and I wanted him to always be safe.

Chapter 27

Ty

I was so sick of reliving the same day over and over. I had myself to blame, but I was f**king sick of it all. Every single day I was forced to explain myself. We no sooner got home and I was being asked about something that I just wanted to forget.

When Van and Miranda asked about those pictures, they may as well have hit me with a hammer. Van was being curious, but her talking about it, left it fresh in Miranda’s head again. I felt like I took one step forward and six steps back with making amends.

When I found out about Miranda, I left the pictures on the table. Conner took it upon himself to gather them up and put them in the woodstove. He didn’t tell me til we were getting ready to leave the hospital and I remembered where I’d left them.

He should have just burned them there and then, but instead he left them there for me to do.

Van followed me into the barn and I went rummaging into the stove looking for them. “Don’t you know where they are in there?”

“No, look don’t tell Miranda, but Conner put them in here.”

“What? You mean he knows?” She looked shocked.

“He’s who I called that night. He knew the plan the whole time and was kind of in on it with me. He’s the one who suggested I was drugged.”

She sighed. “Since he hasn’t beaten the shit out of you I should have guessed that. Wow, I never would think he’d want you doing anything like that.”

“Everyone is forgetting that this was always about Izzy. Conner knew it was the only way to secure her as my daughter and keep her away from that piece of shit old lady.”

“I didn’t forget.”

I found the pictures and handed them to her. I watched her reactions as she looked at each one of them. I was about to grab them out of her hand when she started going through them a third time, but she held one up in front of my face. “Look at this picture, Ty. Look in the background at the mirror.”

I took the picture and tried not to look at a naked Heather on top of me. In the mirror I could see someone standing there holding the camera. “Holy shit; there was someone else in the room. This person could prove I was drugged.”

“Or that everything was staged. You don’t even know you really had sex.”

She was right and I wanted to believe that even in an incoherent state, I would never do that to my wife. I needed to find this person, but the picture was too small to tell who it could have been. All I knew was that she had blonde hair. It was little to go on, since Heather’s friends all had blonde hair. Even if I did figure out who it was, none of them would be willing to screw her over.

“This might help Miranda believe me, but I doubt we can prove anything else with it. I should have just had a drug test. I just honestly wanted to bury it, Van. I didn’t want to ever talk about it again. I should have known Heather wouldn’t stop until I was miserable.”

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself and prove Miranda wrong. She’s crazy in love with you. What happened to the Ty who was sexy enough to get whatever he wanted? Maybe instead of dwelling on the negative, you should just try to make her want you again.”