Folding Hearts (15 page)

“Yep. There is a whole pot in the house, as well as some waffles. I came over here to tell you. I can’t believe that you were still sleeping. Izzy could have walked out and rode off on the horse.”

“Your morning humor is not exactly entertainin
g. Thank you for taking
care of h
er. I will ha
ve to start closing
the bedroom door and make sure n
othing
is within her reach. She gets into everything now.”

The tiny little cereal that was just on Bella’s tray was all gone. Ty shook the can to get her attention. “You want more?” She held out her hand for him to give her more. He opened the can and hand
ed her a couple before picking
her up.  “Do you have another jacket I can put on her?”

I went back in the bedroom and grabbed her some clean clothes.
Ty put her clothes on while I went a
nd
brushed my teeth.
After getting her presentable we headed to the main farmhouse.

I looked around but noticed immediately t
hat there was nobody else in the house, that I could tell
. “Where is everyone?”

“Mom ran into town to do some church thing and my dad is around the farm somewhere. Coffee is fresh in the pot and how many waffles do you want?” He asked.

I sat down on a stool across the
counter from him. After running
my hands over my face a few times, I looked back up at him. “How in the hell are you so wide awake right now?”

He shrugged and turned to the coffee machine, where he poured me a big cup. He grabbed the milk and sugar and slid them over to me. “Here.  This will help you wake up. My mother makes it thick. I am just warning you.”

I s
hook my head and started p
ouring
the sugar bowl into
my cup while Ty pulled out a box of frozen waffles. He started laughing when I giggled. “I was wondering how you were going to make waffles. Now I see that you only need a toaster.”

“I can cook.  Stop complaining and tell me how many you want. Izzy is going to make you breakfast.” Ty handed Izzy a waffle and she put it to her mouth. It was frozen and the cold must have felt good because she kept
chewing
on it. He put one waffle in the toaster then showed her how to put hers in. She started banging her waffle on the top of the toaster. “Don’t beat it up. We want Mommy to be able to eat it.” He teased.

“So I get to eat the slobber waffle?”

He laughed and sat Izzy on
the counter while still holding
her. “I will eat the slobber waffle if you can’t handle it.”

“That is disgusting. If you knew the things she tried to put in her mouth, you wouldn’t
be sayin’
that.” That child put everything in her mouth. God only knows what she had eaten that I didn’t know about.

Just like he had said, Ty took out the waffles and took a giant bite out of the one Bella had chewed on. “It tastes great to me!”

“That is so gross.”

He made more until we b
oth had two each and we started
to eat. Bella sat on his lap and he fed her small bites of his fo
od. I think she was just suckin
g
off the syrup for the most part.

“Did you call home and tell them everything is fine here?” He asked.

“Yes. I did it last night. I left a message. Things weren’t exactly happy when I left. I didn’t want to go anywhere, but they pushed the decision on me.” I explained.

“Well I am glad y
ou came here.
Working so much sucks because I can’t come visit. Izzy is getting so big so fast. I can’t believe how good she is walking and saying words.”

“It amazes me how much you love her. I wish her father would have felt that way about her.” I started to tear up. Not because I missed Tucker, or even wanted him to change now, but because there were men out there that weren’t even blood related that would do anything for her. How pathetic was that?

“She definitely has my heart. Ever since she was born I have felt that way. I hope it doesn’t bother you. I mean, I never would have chosen to be there that day, but now that it has happened, I couldn’t imagine not being there.” He reached for his back pocket and pushed his wallet across the table. “Look inside of it.”

When I opened that wallet, I never imagined that it would be filled with pictures of my child. There were at least six pictures, all of Bella.
No hot models or pictures of him and Van like I would have thought.
“How long have y
ou been carryin’
these around?”

“Well, when she was born I wanted to have a picture when I told the story, then I just kept collecting them. Is it creepy?” He got a worried look on his face.

I looked at my daughter sitting
on his lap and thought about how, if things were different, I would love to be with someone like him. I was aware of his past, but for some reason it just didn’t matter to me.
He loved my daughter and made it clear we were just friends, so I had to settle for that.  “She is lucky to have an uncle like you. Thank you, for everything Ty. I really mean that.”

He smiled and looked down at Bella. “Who is ready to go pet some stinky animals?” He said in a baby voice. “Say ‘I am Mommy’.
” He raised Bella’s hand ca
using
her to giggle.

We cleaned up our mess and headed out for a day at the pet
ting zoo. Ty insisted on driving
since he knew where he was going. Since my one jacket had been damp from the rain the night before, he lent me one of his college hoodies. It was too big, but very warm in the crisp spring air.

I was surprised at how close the place was. Ty later admitted that he knew the people his whole life. When we first got there he gave so
m
e old man a wave before getting
Bella out of her car seat. I think that it wouldn’t have mattered if I even went. He carried her around and made a big deal about every animal they came up to. Bella was reluctant to touch most of them, but after Ty showed her it was okay she started to open up. By the third anim
al she was
squealing and getting
all excited every time she got to touch one of them.

After about an hour of touching every stink
y
animal she could get her hands on, Ty led us over to a few picnic tables. He told me to wait there fo
r him to return. He came running
back from the car moments later with a cooler in his hand.

“Where did you get that?” I asked.

“I put it in the car this morning before going into the carriage house. I packed all kinds of shit too, so you better be hungry.”

I shook my head and let Bella play in the grass while he got everything out. It
wasn’t
anything fancy, but he had m
anaged to pack the cooler full. “When did you have time to buy juice boxes?”

“Actually, they are mine. I still pack them in my lunch every day.”

I snickered. “How old are you?”

He stood up straight and put his hands on his hips. “I will have you know that those juice boxes supply me with half of my daily required vitamin C for the day.”

I rolled my eyes. “
Only you would say somethin’
like that.”

“Don’t you ever wonder where this perfectly sculpted body comes from? It is from eating Wheaties and drinking my juice boxes. I also like spinach out of the can, just like Popeye the sailorman.”

“Well
I got my big breasts from eatin’
lots of chicken,
” I joked.

With his index finger, he pointed toward my chest.
“Yeah, I can tell.”

I blushed and looked over at Bella. I hated that he noticed things about me, but only ever considered me a friend. When he said things l
ike that I felt my body starting
to tingle. Sometimes I just wanted to feel his touch, whether it was wrong or not.

We ate our food and enjoyed the sunshine for a while longer. I could tell that Bella was startin
g
to get tired because s
he had become cranky and nothing
settled her. After spending a good twenty minutes with a very friendly llama, that licked everything in sight,
and also seemed to know how to actually spit,
we took a slobber filled faced child back to Ty’s for a nap.

Luckily, she fell asleep before the car left the driveway. Ty couldn’t stop talkin
g
about how excited Bella was when she got to touch the animals.
I think he was the one who was more excited.  Since Bella was sound asleep when we pulled back up at his parent
’
s farm, Ty suggested we watch some television and relax
. I don’t think he realiz
ed how much a child can tire
someone out.

“That was draining!” He said as he plopped down on the couch after laying Bella down.

“Yeah, you have to get used to it. Thanks for taking us. She really seemed to have fun.”

He snickered. “Yeah, until she got spit on by a damn llama.”

We both began to laugh.

Ty stood up and pulled off his hoodie. As he was doing it, his t-shirt pulled up over his abs and back. God, his stomach was so firm. I turned away quickly when he turned to look at me. I got the impression that he knew I was checkin
g
him out when he shot me a half smile.

Instead of him calling me out on my wan
dering eyes, he started flipping
through the channel
s. I let out a big sigh thinking
I had gotten away with it.

That’s what I thought.

“So aren’t you hot in that sweatshirt?”
He asked, without taking
his eyes from the television.

I cringed just knowin
g
that he
had
caught me.  “No. I am just fine.” I lied.

Afte
r nearly an hour, I was sweating
my
ass off. Ty kept randomly making
conversation while I tried to prevent
the b
eads of sweat from dripping
dow
n my forehead. I don’t know why
I was so determined to act stubborn, but I didn’t want him to have the upper hand. Ty had been known
to be a womanizer. I had seen firsthand how women approached him. He knew he could pretty much get whoever he wanted. Hell, I wanted him too, even if I couldn’t have him. Opening that can would be just added disaster to my already chaotic life.

When
Bella woke up, she came walking
out of the bedroom with no pants on. “Bella, what happened to your pants honey?” I grabbed her and went looking for her pack of diapers. “Uncle Ty doesn’t want to see your hiney.”

I no sooner got Bella changed when m
y new cell phone started ringing
. “Ty, can you get that?”

I heard him talking on the phone as I approached, but he handed it to me
immediately and started shaking
his head. I didn’t understand but I grabbed it and sat down. Ty held his hands out for Bella and started swinging her around.

Hello?

Miranda, it’s me.
Conner

Hey. What’s up?

Look, I am not goin’ to beat around the bush. We got a few disturbin’ calls last night. They are all from a blocked number, even the texts.

Well, was it Tucker?

We don’t know. The voice was raspy
and deep
, like they were holdin’ somethin’ to disguise their voice.

You said you got texts too?

Yeah. They said ‘it is only a matter of time’. Another said that ‘you will pay’.

What does Mom say?

She is glad that you are stayin’ with Ty. I think it is a bad idea, but for the time bein’, I guess it is alright.
He best keeps his damn hands to himself.

Please don’t start with that Conner
. I did what you all said. Ty is keeping us safe, isn’t that what you want?

Of course it is. I just don’t want him tryin’ to get into your pants. Don’t you let him either. That ain’t why we sent you there.

I started gritting my teeth.
Thank you for keepin’ me posted about the phone calls. Goodnight Conner. Tell Mom I love her.

I hung up the phone before he could piss me off anymore

“He thinks I am going to deflower you.” Ty joked.

I rolled my eyes. “Ha ha! I think it is too late for me to be deflowered.”

“You know what I mean. I answered that damn phone and he started asking what I was doing near you. Was I not supposed to be around you?” He asked.

“Don’t listen to him. He thinks he can control my life. He threat
ens everyone I am close to,
” I admitted.