Folding Hearts (33 page)

I met my mother in the kitchen and started pulling a cup of coffee.

“Are Ty and Bella still asleep?”

I turned
around
with the guiltiest smile on my face. “Guess you heard him come in?”

She ignored me. “Are you hungry?”

“
No. I feel sick
. Did you ever hear from Conner?”

I felt arms wrap around me and almost spilled my hot coffee. “Morning.”

Little footsteps followed behind Ty and a very grumpy little girl emerged. She got one look at Ty hugging me and smacked him in the leg. “No Daddy.”

My mother put her hand over her mouth and started to giggle. “Somebody is jealous.”

Of course Ty had to make it worse. He started kissing me all over my face. “I love mommy. Oh, mommy gives good kisses. I love her so much.”

My daughter literally sat down on the kitchen floor and started crying her eyes out. After we all got a good laugh at her, Ty reached down and grabbed her. “Daddy was just teasing you. Mommy is a terrible kisser.”

I smacked him on his butt and started laughing. “Don’t tell her that.”

“Give daddy kisses Iz, I have to go get ready.”

“Izzy bye bye.” She held her hands up.

He crouched down in front of her. “Today you and mommy are going to be princesses. Do
you want to be a princess for D
addy?”

Her face got all pouty. “No!”

He let out a laugh. “Please be a good girl. Ge
t dressed and you can come see D
addy.”

It took Bella twenty minutes before she stopped screaming for her father. I was half tempted to send her dress with him and let him get the child ready. She finally calmed down when she saw her dress. It was fancy which meant it was a real princess dress.

My aunt had agreed to go pick up Ty’s parents since he still didn’t know they were coming. Van showed up and started taking a million pictures of me and Bella.
At first Bella like
d
it, but it got old really fast.

We hadn’t invited anyone else but Ty’s parents, so there were no guest coming. The minister told my aunt that he could only come at lunch time. At quarter of we all started to head to the barn.

When I climbed
off of
that golf c
art and saw my brother standing
there in a tux, I started to ball. 

“Stop cryin’. You’ll mess up your face and I will never hear the end of it.”

Van led Bella in front of me and music started from somewhere inside of the barn.

“What are you doin’ here?” I said as I put my arm under my brothers.

“Ask your husband.”

I
didn’t
know what Ty had said to my brother, but h
ere he was, walking
me down the aisle. Bella was in front of me the whole time. All she had to do was see her father and she went running. I tried not to cry, but I just couldn’t help it. My brother was a hard head, but I loved him and he was the only person in my life to understand what we went through when we lost our father.

Thank goodness for waterproof makeup and tan skin. I didn’t wear foundation and the mascara I put on didn’t even come off during my showers, so I knew that was
intact
. When I got up to that makeshift
altar
and saw Ty standing there,
more handsome than
I had ever seen, with tears in his eyes, I freaking lost it.

Chapter 30

Tyler

I knew that this
little service was all for show, but it felt so real. Especially when I walked into the church and saw my parents there. I had no idea they even knew this was happening.  Colt had called the tuxedo place and arranged for us to get our wedding attire early, so all of us guys were all decked out. It was weird seeing Van walk up that isle first. Her eyes were fixed on Colt’s and I couldn’t have been more happy for them.

They had spent the entire afternoon helping me decorate enough for our small group of family. Flowers covered either side of the aisle and there were balloons everywhere. I have no idea how my aunt did it, but there was even a two tier cake sitting on a table.  It was all so surreal.

I know Miranda would have liked Izzy to walk slow and drop pretty little petals with every step, but she saw me and came running. Her little head full of blonde curls was bobbing up and down causing me to laugh as she ran.
She looked so pretty in her little dress, especially when she jumped right into my arms. “There is my princess”

She pointed to the barn doors. “Mommy.”

Nothing could have prepared me for when I first saw her walking in. A huge lump formed in my throat as I watched her taking each step toward me.
I had never in my life
seen anything more beautiful
than Miranda
in her wedding dress, with a bouquet of flowers
and her arm wrapped around
Conner’s.
I never cared about weddings or dresses, but damn she could have been on the cover of Bridal Magazine. Her head was completely full of curls and her makeup looked beautiful, even with all the tears
she had
in her eyes. I don’t
know what
kind of shit she had on her lips, but they were super shiny and it was hard not to just reach over and start kissing her.

Conner gave me a friendly nod as he kissed his sister and walked to his seat. Finding him last night was hard enough, but then in the middle of our talk, Miranda started texting. She thought I was in bed, but I was actually sitting out back of her house, begging her brother to get over himself and let us be happy. After spending the better part of the day pouting, he was in a calmer mood. I was still a little apprehensive until I saw him walking in the church with Miranda. He had finally come to terms with everything, well the best that Conner could do at least.

I would have liked to take both of her hands into mine, but with Izzy in my arms, I was only able to hold one. I tried to look up into her eyes, but I felt the burning in my eyes and knew the tears were coming. I stroked Miranda’s fingers and took deep breaths.  For some reason I felt like we weren’t married yet, like this was the real thing.

“Mommy no cwy.” Izzy reached over and tried to wipe her mother’s face. We both started laughing.

I clenched my jaw and looked at Miranda. Her smile was so perfect. I mouthed the words ‘I love you’ while the reverend was speaking. I honestly have no idea what he was saying. I was too captivated by my wife. Never in my life had I wanted to fall to the ground and cry, but the more I stood there in front of everyone t
hat we loved, the more in awe
I became.

Our ceremony wasn’t like a normal wedding. Since we were already married we only had to repeat our promises. We already had our rings on our fingers. I don’t know what came over me, but right before he was about to declare us, I interrupted him by turning to face our family. “I just need to say something real quick.”

I whispered to Izzy. “Can you stand up for a second? Daddy will buy you fries.”

Yes, I had to bribe her…It was necessary.

“I know everyone is here to see
me
and Miranda promise ourselves to each other again, but I think there is someone else who is just as important.”
I let Izzy down, got on my knees and grabbed both of her hands into mine. She was swinging her body back and forth, giving me a huge smile.
Tears were rolling down my eyes so fast that I couldn’t even see. I could hear Miranda sniffling and knew she was a wreck. I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths again.
“Isabella Mitchell, I promise to love you and cherish you. I will protect you and never ever leave
you. I promise to be the best D
addy that any little girl has ever had.” I could barely speak. “Daddy loves you so much Izzy. Can I have a kiss?”

She leaned in and kissed me. I hugged her close to my body until I felt like I could stand up and face Miranda. I held on to one of Izzy’s hands and grabbed Miranda’s as I came to face her. She was crying so hard that I had to pull her against my chest. The poor reverend was just standing back behind us. Finally
,
when it was obvious she couldn’t calm down he took over.

“I now
re
pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. and little Miss Mitchell. Whenever they are ready, they can kiss.”

I started laughing and looked out at our family. I don’t
think there was a dry
eye in the room. Including Brina, which I didn’t invi
te, but Miranda insisted o
n being nice.

I turned to Miranda who was still a big ole mess. “Can I please have my kiss now?”

Her lips met mine immediately. Every time we pulled away we just kept coming back for one more kiss. “I love you so much baby.”

“I love you too.”

Colt put his hand on my shoulder and then pulled me into a hug. Surprisingly
,
Izzy got down and started running around. Everyone came up to us at once and there was just a huge crowd of our family standing around us.

My aunt had some restaurant drop off a shit load of food for all of us
,
so we just all stood around hanging out. It was actually pretty cool that we were all sort of already family. There were no introductions needed. Colt got us s
ome music going and everyone
seemed so happy.

Izzy clung to my leg and I was walking while dragging her around. She didn’t understand that daddy had metal in his leg. It was nothing that some Tylenol and a few beers couldn’t fix.

I was so happy to see my parents there. Miranda pulled us over toward them and when Izzy saw my mom, she went running.  “I can’t believe you guys are here.”

“Miranda
wanted to surprise you,
”
m
y father answered.

I turned to look at my wife who had a big smile across her face. “Surprise!”

She kissed me and never stopped smiling. I know because I could feel her teeth touching my
lips. “You are fucking perfect,
” I whispered in her ear.

“So are you.”

It was funny. I think we gave everyone hugs and kisses while still holding each other’s hands. I couldn’t let go of her.

Van came running toward us. “Picture time! We need pictures.”

For the next thirty minutes Van had Brina taking every possible wedding pose known in the history of wedding poses. I could tell that she had studied t
he
magazines
until they fell apart in her hands.

Soon after the pictu
res, I started to realize that m
ine and Miranda’s night was turning into a dress rehearsal for Van. She was running around, ordering us to cut cakes and open cards and finally dance.

When the music started and I had Miranda in my arms, I stopped letting Van and her little bossy self bother me. I was captivated by the most spectacular sight in the entire world. I stroked her cheek. “Y
ou are the most beautiful thing
that I have ever seen in my life.”

She giggled. “I bet you tell that to all of your wives.”

“I hate to break this to you but you are the only one.”I reached down and kissed Miranda softly on the lips and talked while I continued to kiss her. “There. Will. Never. Be. Anyone.But.You.”

“What you said to Bella was the single most beautiful thing I have ever heard in my entire life. I don’t know how you got through it. It was so perfect Ty. I don’t know where I would be if you weren’t in the car that day. I have wondered that every single day since
she
was born.”

I ran my hands up and down her back, finally leaving them on each of her ass cheeks.
I pulled her closer into my embraced as we swayed around to the music. Other people were dancing, but Miranda and I were in our own little bubble. “I can’t even imagine my life without you both. Fate has to be real Miranda. I wasn’t even supposed to be in Kentucky. I will never forget being in the back of that car, holding you on my lap and watching Izzy taking her first breath. From the moment I saw her, I fell in love. I remember chasing after the ambulance. I felt like I had to be there with you.”

“Aren’t you glad you were?”

“It was one of the happiest days of my life. I think about it every time I look at her. When she lays with me I look at her skin and her little fingers and how fragile she was when she first came home from the hospital. I remember the first time she smiled at me. It was so awesome.”

Miranda started laughing. “I think I know when your most favorite memory was.”

I chuckled. “Yeah. The day she called me daddy.
My heart just melted hearing that. It still does. Miranda
,
I
don’t
care how many children we have, she will always be blood to me. Nothing will ever change that. She is mine in every single way. If you find some rich man and end up leaving me, I will
still never stop being her father
. I would rather die than live without either of you, but I couldn’t
bear
to
not be
her daddy.”