Folding Hearts (25 page)

“How long have you been asleep?” I asked.

“What time is it?”

“Six.”

“Shit! Over an ho
ur. I guess we were comfortable,” h
e admitted.

“Do you want me to order a pizza?” I asked.

He stood up and stretched, before leaning over and kissing me on the lips. “No baby. I will make something.”

I caught Van rolling her eyes. “Do you want any help?”

Ty shrugged and kept walking t
oward the kitchen. I sat down on
the c
h
a
i
r next to her as Ty pulled out some bacon and started cooking it. “BLT’s good? I had a lot to eat last night and I am still feeling really full.”

It took everything I had not to laugh at his comment. I know what he meant and it
wasn’t
the food he was talking about. The comment was for me, but Van got it too.

“You’re sick!” She blurted out.

“You’re a prude,” h
e retorted.

She turned to face me. “How can you be in love with this guy?”

“He’s is perfect to me.
How can I not?
”

“Well you must give really good head to have him be so faithful and honest. That is all I can think of.” Van looked from me to Ty waiting for a response.

Ty leaned over the counter and looked directly at Van. “She give
s
the best head that I have ever had. In fact, last night on our way home from dinner
, she gave me the best blow job in the history of blow jobs. You know what else she is good at?”

He was taunting her now. I just sat there, speechless.

“I am afraid to ask,
”
s
he noted.

“Everything. Just close your eyes and think of the kinkiest shit possible and she is good at it. She can also put her legs behind her head. It’s fucking awesome.”

I was laughing so hard that I was crying and Ty loved that he had finally shut her up. He winked at
me
again before attending to his food
preparation
.

A messy haired Bella came walking out into the living room looking around. “Ty?”

“I’m over here sweetie.”

My heart melted every time she would look for him. With one arm he scooped her
up
and accepted her booger faced kisses. She started
to point
toward Van when she got over her Ty obsession.

“Hey little girl. Can Aunt Van get a hug and kiss?”

Bella shook her head and hid in Ty’s chest. “No!”

Of course Ty had to rub it in. “Can Ty get a kiss?”

Without hesitation she puckered her lips and kissed Ty.

“You brainwashed her, dickhead,
” Van said while laughing.

“I didn’t have to brainwash either of them. They love me all by themselves. And I love them too.”

Van looked around the place. I knew she had been here a million times. Even though I knew that they weren’t ever getting back together, it still made me jealous. I hated the reminder of who he had been with.

Ty fina
lly finished making our plates and
we all sat down and watched movies. I caught Van a few times just watching the three of us interacting with each other.
She seemed especially interested in the attention that Ty gave to me and Bella. He was constantly stroking my arm or kissing my hand and head. Bella jumped all around on our laps and he welcomed her in as well.

When the movie finally ended Van said she had to go. We both stood up and walked her out to her car. Bella leaned down and finally gave her a kiss, making her smile a little more.

“I don’t know what to say about you guys. I mean, it’s clear that this isn’t about sex, but I just don’t get how the two of you have changed so much for each other.”

I
t
didn’t matter what she thought. I was trying to be rude about it, but this was clearly between Ty and I.

“Are you going to tell Colt?” I asked.

“No. I told you before that I don’t want to get involved. If they ask I will tell them that you and Bella were here alone. You two can be the
bearer
of bad news. After my wedding of course.”

As Van climbed into her car, Ty slapped me on the ass. “Now let’s get inside and have hot sex all night long.”

She rolled her eyes and rolled up her window. I think she actually floor
ed
it when she pulled away from us.

“Way to scare off our company,
” I joked.

“She was being a prude. How much bullshit did she give you today?” He asked.

I shrugged. He really didn’t need to know, it would only hurt his feelings. “You know how they talk. I didn’t listen to them.”

“I think I need a lot of kisses for reassurance. No actually, I think I need some naked time.”

Bella started jumping in between us. We
separated
and started chasing her around the room. “The naked time will have to wait until after someone goes to sleep.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Well we can chalk that promise up and stick it in the jar of IOU’s. Ty was nice enough to give Bella a bath while I cleaned up the rest of the house. It wasn’t really that messy so I finished in less than ten minutes. I laid on the couch just listening to the two of them playing in the bathroom. He better have put towels down because with the amount of splashing that was going on, we might have a flood. I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, I was being carried to the bed.

Just like every Sunday, we woke up and started getting ready for church. Ty was in a really good mood, considering he didn’t get his naked time. He woke me up with kisses and coffee before getting Bella dressed in a new outfit he insisted on buying her. She was wearing a little sailor dress and little matching shoes with
anchors
on the toes. He got her two matching bows for either side of her hair and made his best attempts to style it himself.

“Hey baby, what do you think? Did I do good?”

“Aww, she looks so cute.” She did too.

“I was thinking we should all get sailor
suits and wear them next Sunday,
”
h
e said sarcastically.

I was
standing
in front of the bathroom mirror, trying to apply eye liner and
busted
into a laughing fit. The eye liner smudged all over my eye lid. “There is no way I am doing that.”

“Oh come on, it will be fun.”

“It sounds like a terrible eighties picture.” I was now removing my makeup to start over again.
He didn’t understand that I wanted to look my best for him all the time. I never wanted to give him a reason to look anywhere else.

“Why are you putting that stuff on your face? You look beautiful without it.” Ty came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

“You’re just tryin’ to get me to hurry up.” Although, his statement gave me butterflies.

“I fed Izzy and we are ready when you are.”

“Okay. Be out in a second.”

When I walked into the living
room, Ty and Bella were sitting
in front of the T.V. They were watching some little baby show
where giant animals were dancing
around. Bella was dancing all around to the music, while Ty recorded her on one of our phones.

A little girl came on the screen next with a man that was reading to her. It was clearly her dad and he was tucking her in for bed. The little girl snuggled up to her daddy telling him that she loved him. Bella just stood there staring at the television.  I kept watching her realizing how close she was getting to turning two. We still had a few months, but time was flying by.  She was paying more attention to things, like she was to this particular show.

She freaked out when Ty came up and turned the show off. “No Ty!”

“I’m sorry Iz, we have to go to bye bye.”

She looked at him curiously. “Bye bye?”

“Yep, your mommy is finally done her primping.” I stuck my nose up at him.

We finally got packed in the car and were on our way to church. Things got super quiet in the car for some reason or another and out of the back seat I heard my daughter saying something that made my stomach drop. “Daddy. Daddy. Daddy.”

Three times right in a row.

I thought Ty was going to roll us into a ditch. He looked from me to the rear view mirror. “Did she just?”

I held my hand over my mouth. “Yeah.”

“Do you think she knows what it means?”

I looked back at Bella who still kept repeating it. “Daddy. Daddy.” This time she was pointing. Right at Ty.

I knew he saw her in that mirror. I was speechless as I watched his shocked face. We were pulling up at church but just sat in the car instead of jumping right out. Ty turned around and looked at Bella, sitting in her car seat, pointing at him. “Daddy.”

I had no idea how she could pick that up from watching a show, but she knew exactly what it meant and she thought Ty was her daddy. There was no denying it. Ty reached back and touched Bella’s foot. Tears rolled down his eyes. I didn’t know how to react. I was still in shock from hearing it myself. If I ever wondered if he was serious about being with both of us, his actions were giving me the answer.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He laid his head against the seat to the car and wiped his eyes. “
She called me D
addy.”

“Daddy.” Of course she said it again.

“She thinks you are.” I rubbed his arm while he just kept looking at her.

“I love her so much.”

“She loves you too Ty. You know she does. Even as a tiny baby she loved you. Remember how you would sing to her through video chats?”

He laughed. “You weren’t supposed to be listening.”

I smirked. “She was an infant. I couldn’t leave her alone. It was sweet.”

“I want to be her daddy.” My heart dropped out of my stomach. Now I was the one crying. I had applied my make-up twice and it was now running down my face.

“Really?”

“Isn’t it obvious Miranda? I want it more than anything. I want her to always be able to count on me, no matter what happens.” He ran his fingers over my tears and wiped them from my cheeks.

I opened my mouth to say something , but someone started knocking on the window. It was Van and her mother. “You guys going to get out of the car? I want to sit with you.”

I looked to Ty. “What if Bella says it in front of her?”

“She already hates me, so I really don’t give a shit. It’s between us, not her.” He climbed out of the car and immediately reached for Bella, while I straightened my face, again.

Bella was in rare form in church and even Ty’s parents couldn’t occupy her. They were sitting in the pew in front of us and she kept wanting to climb back and forth, disrupting everyone around us. Thank goodness we were in church so people were more forgiving. Van and her mother sat next to us
and Ty ma
de it a point
to never let
go of
my hand during service. Even as we stood to sing, he would wrap one arm around my waist. I could feel the
ir eyes on us. As we got seated
in between songs, the room got quiet. Bella was in front of us climbing on the pew. The
n she
held out her arms to Ty and said it, in front of the whole congregation. “Daddy.”

Her little fingers were moving for him to grab her and that is exactly what he did. I couldn’t look over at Van and her mother, in fact I couldn’t even look at Ty’s parents, who had turned around with the
happiest look on their faces. I knew Ty was
ecstatic
. Bella had chose him. It was as if she
knew all along he would be her daddy
.

It was beautiful.

Chapter 24

Tyler

There are moment
s
in life where you just know you will never forget.
That day when Izzy called me ‘D
addy’ in front of the entire church congregation was one of those moments. She chose me on her own. I didn’t even have to ask her mother first. Izzy knew that I was her daddy and that I loved her more than anything.

Van and her mother let out a
simultaneous
gasp when they heard it. It’s funny how things happen at the precise moment when you don’t want them to. I myself didn’t care that they heard it, but Miranda looked mortified that it happened in front of so many people. She had been judged her whole life and tried to stay out of the spot light. She had no idea that her beauty made that impossible.

So I had this plan where I was going to ask Miranda to marry me with Izzy holding a sign asking if I could be her daddy, but since she was already calling me it, my plan went to shit. I ended up having more time to get a new plan, because the ring wasn’t ready in two weeks. It actually took five.