Folding Hearts (21 page)

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“When you first came here I thought he was getting in over his head, but after I saw him with the two of you, I realized he was already start
ing to fall in love
. You are good for him Miranda, you and Bella.”

Love? He couldn’t love me….

I had been here for three days and already been accepted by his parents. Ty made it clear that we were a couple.  I felt his arms wrapping around me before I could answer his mother. “You ready to head over. I need to go to bed so I can get up for work tomorrow.”

Ty let go of my
waist
to grab Bella and after he had walked away, I reached over and hugged his mother. “I w
on’t break his heart, I promise,
” I whispered.

She gave me a smile and grabbed my hands. “Do you want to go into town tomorrow? I have to grab some groceries and a few other things.”

“That would be great. I will see what we need over there and make my own list.”

We said our goodbyes and finally headed back to the carriage house.

Surprisingly, Bella stayed asleep while we carried her and laid her down in the porta crib. Since Ty would clearly be sleeping in his bed with me, she needed to b
e comfortable herself. I
wasn’t
really sure if I should take off my clothes or sleep in underwear, or put on a big shirt, so I sat on the edge of the bed and waited to see what Ty was wearing. He stripped out of everything except his boxers and climbed into bed. “What’s wrong?”

“I guess I am not used to sleepin’ next to someone who just wants to sleep.”

Maybe that sounded weird.

“I really hate that you have never been appreciated by a boyfriend before. Get into something comfortable and climb in here next to me. “ He patted the bed beside him.

I stripped down to my underwear, while he watched and smiled, and climbed in beside him. He pulled me in closer and kissed the top of my head. “A real man makes his woman feel wanted and always keeps her safe. Close your eyes baby.”

I closed my eyes but I couldn’t go to s
leep right away. I kept thinking
how at some point I
would be expected
to go home. I had basically
committed
myself to a relationship with Ty, one that I wanted more than anything, but I had no idea how it was ever going to work. At
some
point
my brother was going
to find out and he was goin
g
to kill him.

Then I started thinking
about
Ty’s mother and how sh
e thought he was already falling
for me
.  Ty had never acted like this before with Van, I knew that for a fact. I just couldn’t get why he wanted me, when nobody else ever had.

His gentle snores reminded me that I was in his arms, and for the time bein
g
, he was mine. I didn’t know how long I could keep hi
m, but I would do anything to stay
this happy. I didn’t care what anyone else thought of him, he was perfect to me.

Chapter 20

Tyler

I hated when my alarm went off indicating that I had to get up and get ready for work, especially since I had the most beautiful girl in the world sleeping in my arms.
It was a good thing that she was such a heavy sleeper. I managed to get up and put on my entire uniform without waking her or Izzy. After using the bathroom to do everything else, I snuck over to my parents for a cup of coffee. The coffee at the auto shop was worse than my mothers and I never felt like stopping anywhere else.

The morning drug on forever and all I kept thinking about was my amazing weekend with Miranda. Looking back, I know that the timing had never been right for us before, but it still made me sad that we had wasted so much time already. Izzy was getting so big and I wished that I had been there more.

I caught myself daydreaming more than once and my boss was really getting on me to finish up an air conditioning job before the day was out. The customer had already waited an extra three days for the part to come in. I kept myself occupied on the task at hand until it was time for everyone to break for lunch. As I was walking out to the parking lot, I saw three familiar faces heading in my direction.

My mother, Miranda and Izzy smiled as I met them halfway in the parking lot. “What are you guys doing here?”

“I had to run into town and o
ffered to bring Miranda with me,” s
he explained.

Miranda held out a brown bag. “Your mom said that you really like this place so I got you lunch while we were there.”

“Ty up!” Izzy held out her arms for me. I hated grabbing her in my dirty uniform, even though Miranda said it was okay. After giving her a fry, my mother finagled her out of my arms and walked her around.

I leaned over and kissed Miranda. “Thank you for lunch.”

She nudged me in the arm. “
Thank you for wanting me.”

“Just to be clear, I think I have always wanted you, sexually of course. Curious at
least,
” I added.

“You know I don’t mean like that.”

“I know and please don’t thank me. This,” I pointed from her to me, “
i
s what I wanted. This is right.”

“It feels so natural, almost like we have been t
ogether for a long time already,
” She agreed.

“I think all those late night phone calls helped us.
We don’t have to go through that getting to know each other phase.
” I took my sub out and started eating it. Miranda wrapped her arms into mine and put her head on my shoulder.

“That is true. I even knew what buttons to push when we got freaky. That was a plus.”

She leaned in to kiss me. “Definitely a plus.”

“Your mom really loves you.”
She changed the subject.

“Yeah, she obviously really loves you too. She never liked Van. You should have seen when everything went to shit. She kept telling me how she had told me all along Van was the wrong girl. The fact that she likes you amazes me.” I didn’t want to tell her that at first my dear mother had told me to stay clear of Miranda. That only lasted until they met Izzy.

“She helped me shop for you today. I am going to start making dinner during the week for us at the carriage house.  She told me everything you like and don’t like so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

She had no idea how depressing my life was before she walked back into it. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.

“I hope you can cook
good
,
” I teased.

“I hope you like everything well done.” She seemed pleased with her comeback.

I looked over and saw my mother putting Izzy in her
car seat
. Miranda must have noticed too because we both stood up. “I guess I will see you tonight?”

“Dinner will be ready for you.”

“I feel like an old man.”

“Am I an old lady?”

“I’ve seen you naked and you have no wrinkles
…
.
like none anywhere,
” I joked.
“You going to give me a kiss so all these dick heads I work with can stop staring at my girl?”

Miranda wrapped her arms around me and slapped me with a very long, very tongue involved kiss that left nothing for the imagination. I heard whistling as our kiss broke and waited until they pulled away before walking back into the shop.

“Where’d you find that?” My boss asked.

“None of your damn business.”

“Touchy! This
one must be good in the sack,” h
e implied.

You have no idea
…..

“Her name is Miranda. She is my girlfriend and I would appreciate it if you kept your thoughts to yourself.”

“Hey guys, it looks like Ty here has fi
nally found himself a keeper,” h
e called out.

“It’s about time.
Is he pussy whipped already?
” Someone yelled from the back.

I rolled my eyes and went back to my station, ignoring them for the rest of the day.

When I got off work it was starting to get dark. Pulling up to the farm and seeing the lights on at the carriage house
really made me feel content.  Walking in the door was even better. Izzy came running up to me grabbing on my legs while Miranda was busy getting the table set for the dinner she had ready. I still felt like I was in some kind of dream. A week ago I was coming home to an empty house. I didn’t have a girlfriend and honestly I didn’t know if I even wanted one, but from the moment Miranda walked in my door everything changed.

“Ty up.” Izzy dangled between
my legs. I pulled her up and gave her a big kiss on the cheek.

“Hey cutie. What did you and Mommy make for dinner. It smells so good.”

“
We made you peach and thyme glazed pork chops with rice and broccoli.” Miranda smiled like she had accomplished something tremendous.

I walked over and grabbed her for a hug. “I would have been fine with hot dogs and beans.”

She kissed me slowly. “We can have that tomorrow.
”

“Or next wee
k, cause you will still be here,
” I kissed her ag
ain. “
o
r
the week after..”

That is exactly what happened
too. After three weeks had passed,
we were happier than ever. During the week I would work and come home to the girls. We spent the weekends going places or just hanging out with my parents. Miranda fit in like she belonged with us and the longer we were together, the more sure I became.
In a few short weeks everything about my life had changed and I never wanted it to go back to the way it was.

Van had called to talk to both of us several times, but we decided to keep our relationship a secret, to avoid the time bomb that would go off when our Kentucky family found out about us.  She knew we were friends and that we hung out and that is where we left every conversation.  Miranda’s mother had been keeping tabs on Tucker’s release. It hadn’t happened as early as they first assumed, but he had been out for a couple weeks before they heard anything from him. The phone calls to Miranda’s old phone started up and
with those
calls came the threats. The voice was muffled and the number was always blocked, but it was clear who was doing it. As much as her family hated it they knew she was safe staying at the farm.

Miranda and I had been trying to figure out how to keep her there for a longer period of time. At some point the verbal threats weren’t going to be enough to keep her with me, so she had to either tell them we were together or find a different reason that she needed to stay. With the help of my mother, she found a salon in town that was looking for someone to fill in while their regular shampoo girl/receptionist was on maternity leave. It was just temporary but would give us two months without the family breathing down our necks. I had to give it to my mother. Not only did she keep our secret, but she welcomed Miranda and Izzy into our family, sometimes too much.

Even my father stepped in and suggested that we clean out the back of the carriage house, which was for storage and still had wooden garage doors on it, and finish it off to give Izzy her own room.
His argument was that it increased the value of the property, but their desperate attempts to
secure my happiness made me appreciate them. Who better than them to know how pathetic my life had become before the girls came into it.

Miranda’s mother didn’t take the news of her daughter wanting to stay here, but with her ex being such a threat, it worked to our benefit.
They still video chatted and talked at least a few times a week.

My mo
ther was all too happy to be
able to watch Izzy three days a week while Miranda worked. The salon was on the same block as my shop so not only did we ride to work together,
but
I got to have lunch with the hottest girl in the world every single day
she worked
. The guys at the shop finally stopped giving her a hard time. Once they got
used
to seeing her all the time, they knew how serious we were.

Because things had become so serious, I had decided that I was going to give Miranda a romantic night out
. Even with a little one running around, we got to spend time together, but it
wasn’t
like we could run around naked having wild sex all night. Most of our alone time consisted of hot showers while Izzy napped or waiting until she fell asleep so we could quietly have sex.

It was a Friday
and our official one month anniversary. My parents were taking Izzy for the night and Miranda and I had reservations at a little restaurant an hour away. She wore a red dress similar to the one she had worn months ago on the night that should have been ours. Of course she looked gorgeous and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She had curled every strand of her long blonde hair in fancy ringlets. Her makeup was perfect and she
smelled like heaven. I even
wore a pair of dress pants and a black v-neck shirt. While Miranda was getting into the car, I ran back into the house and set up her surprise for when we returned. My father was going to set
the rest of the
things up once we were gone.