Risking Fate (13 page)
He looked over the paperwork again. “According to the paperwork here, it states that there is no father listed on the birth certificate. Is this correct?”
I shook my head and waited for some good news.
“A sure fire way to make this whole thing disappear is for Tucker Chase not to have been the child’s biological father. Proving that would
give us means to have this whole ordeal dropped.”
I looked down and felt all hope leaving the room. This was going to go to court and even though that woman was the biggest piece of shit I had ever met, there was a chance that she could win.
“So if we prove that then all of this goes away? She can’t touch us?” Ty’s question really confused me. I looked to him and shook my head.
“Yes. Is there something I’m not understanding?” The lawyer looked as confused as I did.
Ty squeezed my hand and I trusted him, even though I had no idea what he was doing. “There’s a chance that I am the father. We never had the test done, since I just assumed responsibility anyway.
She’s always been mine. Are there any stipulations to where the test takes place? I mean, can I schedule
it for
when I get home?”
Was he insane? There was no way a test would say he fathered Bella.
“
I can get all this paperwork submitted and request we postpone any further action until you get everything scheduled.
I will give you the
office information so that the
hospital can fax over the results. Once we have them and if they are in your favor, we can submit to have your name changed on the birth certificate.
I have a big trial coming up, so it may take a few months if we reschedule.”
“That sounds great. We’re sorry to pull you aw
ay from your family on a weekend
. Something like this just couldn’t wait. Let’s just hope the paternity test comes out in my favor and we can make this all go away.”
Ty and I saw the lawyer out, before I drug him back into the office and waited for him to explain what the hell he was thinking.
He grabbed my hands but I pulled away from him. “What are you doin’?”
“Hear me out, Baby. I was up all night thinking about how to get out of this mess. When he said the only way to get that woman out of our lives was a paternity test, it hit me.”
I was so confused. “What hit you? I’m goin’ to hit you if you don’t explain to me what you’re thinkin’.”
He leaned against the desk and grabbed my hands. “Tell me you trust me, Miranda.”
“I do, but you’re startin’ to scare me.”
“What if I told you there is a way for me to get a paternity test altered? What if I can make it so that nobody can ever take her away from me?”
He was so intent. I just didn’t know what to say. “How? I don’t understand.”
“I know someone from college. His mother works at the hospital in the lab. He can hack into anything. During football, he changed the results of a few blood tests for a couple guys on the team. One of the tests was a paternity test.”
His confession made me feel very uneasy. “Please don’t tell me you have a child out there somewhere.”
He pulled me into his chest. “I have three kids and you’re the mother of every
one of them. I know this is a c
r
a
zy idea,
and that I can probably go to jail for something like this, but Miranda, I have to do something. I can
’t
just sit here and wait for my daughter
’
s future to be determined. I just can’t do it. I have to try this option and I need you to be okay with it. “
I didn’t want to tell him no, because saying that meant I didn’t
believe
his plan would work. I was so confused and caught off guard. “Maybe this will all just go away on
its
own. She obviously only did this because she saw Bella.”
He got down on his knees and wrapped his arms around my midsection. “Baby, I am begging you. Please. I have to try. Please just let me look into it at least. I need to do this. I can’t let her take my girl.”
“Ty, it’s illegal. You could go to jail. I can’t have twin babies and have their father locked up.”
His voice was almost a whisper. “Please.”
“You know this guy personally?”
“Technically yes. He is a
friend’s
brother.”
“And you think he can really do this and make it legit?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I at least need to find out. Miranda, if he can, we need to do it.”
I shook my head, even though I felt like it was a really bad idea, if it meant saving our family, I was willing to try anything. “Okay.”
He hugged me tighter. “If this works she will be out of our lives forever. I can put my name on that birth certificate and our family will never have to hear a word from that family again. It will be over Miranda. I promise you.”
God, I hoped he was right.
When we went out in the living room, practically the whole family was waiting for some kind of good news. I wasn’t sure what to say and Ty wasn’t acting like he wanted to let the family in on his illegal venture. We smiled and acted like the lawyer was going to look into a few different options. It settled everyone that neither Ty or myself were a crying mess.
Instead of staying until Sunday night, Ty and I went home early
Sunday after the church service
. My parents stayed and agreed to bring Bella and Conner home with them. Ty and I needed some time to deal with what was going on. As much as I
wanted
to take Bella home with us,
I knew we needed to get our emotions together so she didn’t have to worry a
bout why her mommy and daddy
were upset.
We didn’t
say
much on the ride home. Ty drove the whole way and I just cuddled up against his arm. I had the need to be as close to him as possible. Emotionally, this was taking a toll on us, even if we tried our hardest for it not to.
I thought that once we got home we could finally relax a little, but Ty was definitely not himself. After he carried our bags in, he went into our room and crashed face first onto our bed. I went in there to join him, but for the first time since we had been together, he seemed like he didn’t want my company.
Ty’s parents decided to stay an extra night, which gave us some time to cope with the bad news.
That night when I went to bed, I woke up a few hours later and Ty wasn’t in our room. I tiptoed through the house looking for him and when I found him
,
I didn’t even know how to react. He was laying in Bella’s bed, holding on to her stuffed animals and crying hysterically. For a few minutes I just stood there watching him. I didn’t know how to react. He was so broken and my mistakes had been the reason.
I wanted nothing more than to assure him that we would be okay, but I was so afraid that this was literally going to rip us apart. If this woman found some way to weasel her way into my
daughter’s
life, I was afraid Ty would never
recuperate
from something like that. She was his world and it tore my heart up
knowing
this was crushing him so badly.
I started to turn to go back into our bedroom, but I heard the bed moving and stopped. “Baby, is that you?” He sniffled and sat up, trying to see me in the dark.
“It’s me. I woke up and couldn’t find you.” I walked over to the bed and wiped his eyes. “God, Ty, I am so sorry this is happenin’. You’re never goin’ to los
e
her. I wouldn’t let that happen.”
He started crying against my body again. “I lov
e her so much
,
Miranda. Maybe I’
m just being a selfish asshole, but I don’t want to share her. She is my daughter. From the moment she came into this world she was always mine. It took me a little while to realize it, but she always knew it. She chose me and I chose her. Why is this happening? Why now?”
“Shhh,” The tears were pouring down my face. To see my tough husband such a mess was like losing him all together. He was so sad. There had never been a time where I doubted his love for Bella, but I
don’t think anyone else really understood the extent of his devotion to that child. Just the thought of having to share her, was crushing his heart. “We will get through this and Bella will never call anyone else her father. No matter what, Ty. You aren’t losing your daughter. You have to remember that.”
“That woman is evil. You and I both know she helped Tucker take Van. She was in on the plan that killed our
niece
or nephew. She doesn’t deserve to live or ever even look at our daughter. I’d rather die than to let that happen.”
“I can’t live without you, Ty. Please don’t talk about dying. Don’t ever say that. I have three kids that need you. I need you.”
He pressed his lips over mine and held them there. His hot breath covered my mouth. “I’m sorry. I just hate feeling this way. I don’t want to spend one day without her. I miss her already and she is coming home tomorrow.”
I sat up and turned on the light on Bella’s nightstand. “Ty, do you really think this guy can change those results? Do you think we can really do this and not get caught?”
He nodded his head. “I do, B
aby. I swear I do.”
“Then tomorrow start making calls. I will support whatever you have to do to protect our family. I can’t go another day seeing you like this. It’s too hard on both of us.”
He started kissing me all over my face. “Thank you, Baby, Thank you so much. I will do whatever I have to do. I
won’t
let that woman touch our daughter. I promise you.”
“
J
ust promise me one thing.”
“Anything Baby, anything.”
I started shaking even thinking
about saying it out
loud. “Promise me that I won’t lose you over this.”
“Oh God, no, Baby. You will never lose me. I would never ever leave you. My God
,
is that what you think? You
think if we had to share Izzy
with that woman, I would leave you and our kids? Jesus,
Miranda. I would never do that
. You are my world and you own my heart. There will never be anyone else in the world that
I’
d want to be wi
th
. Say you believe me.”
My heart was beating so fast. “I do Ty, I swear I do.”
We ended up falling asleep in Bella’s bed. It wasn’t the most comfortable
night’s
sleep, but we were both so emotional that it didn’t
matter. Ty held me so tight I almost felt like I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t want him to ever let me go. When the sun came up
,
he was still holding me tight against his body. Our tears had dried up, but our emotions were still at the highest level.
We did our best not to talk about it, on account of preparing ourselves for Bella’s arrival. We promised that we were going to protect her from all of this. If things ended up working out, she would never have to know what we went through.
Ty made a couple calls and left messages for someone to get him the
guy’s
number. We went about our day like our lives were hanging on that phone call. When Conner and Bella walked into the house, Ty seemed to brighten up. She made him smile for the first time in days and I felt myself relaxing, knowing she could make him feel better.
Ty
went back to work on Tuesday
and by Wednesday
he
was starting to panic again. I ended up not feeling well and staying home from work, so he took the car and took Bella to school before going into work. I got a call at five o’clock from Ty saying he was going to try and hunt down where the guy was staying. Something about it made me feel uneasy, but I had faith that my husband knew what he was doing. Ty’s
mom had gone out and picked Bella up from school for me and Conner took her out to ride the tractor to give me some time alone.
At eight o’clock Ty walked in the door. He gave me a big hug and was smiling. “He said he can do it. He said he can change the results for us.”
“Just like that?”
“It’s gonna cost a grand, but he said he would do it. I just need you to call and set up the appointment at the hospital.” He squeezed my hands. “We’re going to be okay, Baby. Bella is never going to have to know this ever happened.”
Relief washed over me. I couldn’t believe the guy had come through for us.
“I just need to pay for the test and pay the guy and he will take care of everything else. This nightmare will be over in the next few weeks and we can pretend it never happened. She’ll never be able to cause us problems again.”
Ty seemed confidant, but there was something about his tone that made me worry. I didn’t know what it was, but I promised that I would trust him. I knew he loved us and would never do anythin
g that he
thought would hurt us
. Maybe, just maybe, everything was going to be okay.