Risking Fate (6 page)

It was hard not telling Izzy at first. Aside from slipping to the family during my confrontation with Conner, I kept my promise and stayed quiet. Izzy didn’t find out until Miranda was eight weeks along. Of course she expected that the baby was just going to pop out any day, so Miranda had to sit her down and explain as much as she could, so that our daughter would understand better.

After that day, we included her in everything. Miranda didn’t know it, but Izzy had picked out the name Jackson. I don’t know where she heard it and it really didn’t matter, I loved it from the beginning.
I had taken her to lunch one day while Miranda ran some errands in town. I liked the name Jacob, which was what Miranda had picked out for Iz, but I wanted to have something of my own. Of course
,
for days I couldn’t think of one name that really caught my attention. That day in the restaurant when Iz just came out with the name Jackson, I couldn’t help but tear up. That kid got me. She always had.

We ke
pt the name a secret as the highly anticipated
sonogram was coming up. Much to my surprise, we found out there were two little
boys, instead of just one. I can’t even explain the pure joy that overcame me that day. Words
cannot
describe how utterly speechless I was.

Miranda’s body stirred and she turned into my body, shoving her belly into mine, and causing my ass to hang over the edge of the bed. This was not uncommon here recently, in fact, on most nights, I would either climb over her or walk to the
other side of the bed and go back to sleep.

I tried to just start out on that side, but her body was like a magnet to mine, not that I ever complained. I loved being close to her, but I also loved to get at least a few hours of sleep so I could be able to do all the things I needed to do the next day.

I was too tired to get up and walk around the bed, so I pulled myself into her more and wrapped my arms tightly around her
waist
. I closed my eyes and felt at peace knowing I had the best life.

As I had expected, I woke up to banging at the door. The clock on my phone read six thirty. The door creaked open, before I could stand up and throw on some clothes. I pulled the covers over me and Miranda and smiled as the prettiest little blonde hair girl came walking into the room, ownin
g the place. “Daddy, me and Noah
want to eat breakfast, but Aunt Van says we have to wait. Can you make us breakfast?”

“How did you get here?”
They better have not taken
the golf cart
themselves.

“Noah drove us. Uncle Colt said we could.”

Colt is a dumbass!
Noah was only five.

Miranda stirred behind me and grabbed my arm. “Bella, let Daddy sleep a little while longer and we can all eat together.”

“But, Mommy, I am hungry now.” Even though Miranda couldn’t see it, Iz stuck out her pouty lip. I almost busted out laughing at how cute she was, and manipulative.

I patted Miranda on the leg. “Iz, you and Noah go wait downstairs. Let Daddy get up and get dressed and I will make you guys something.”

“Are you naked again Daddy? Why don’t you and Mommy wear pajamas to bed?”

Oh Christ! Here we go again.

Before I could answer, Iz turned around to Noah. “Does your Mommy and Daddy sleep naked too?”

Noah giggled and covered his mouth as he laughed. “I don’t know.”

“Both of you get downstairs
,
right now!” Miranda sat up and pointed toward the door. Her hair was standing in all directions and she looked like she was ready to shoot fire out of her ears.

I pulled her back down against my chest. “Good morning, Sunshine.”

“You suck! You know she is going to tell everyone we are naked.”

“Who cares, Baby?”

She pulled a pillow over her head and growled. She worried too much. We obviously were not the only couple on the planet to sleep naked. We didn’t do it all the time, mostly because Izzy liked to sneak into bed with us, but last
night
we knew she was at Colt’s house.

I sat up and wiped the sleep out of my eyes. “Just go back to bed. I will take care of the little trouble makers.”

Miranda wrapped her arms around my waist. “If you would just teach our daughter what the word ‘wait’ means, you could cuddle up and sleep with me.”

I leaned back and kissed her on the head. “I love that you hate sharing me.”

She knew I was teasing but threw a pillow at me anyway as I got
up to find some clothes. I bent
down to grab something out of the suitcase and heard her making a funny sound. When I turned around, she was leaning on her elbow eyeing up my naked body. Naturally, I woke up with an erection, and those eyes she was giving me, didn’t help matters. “You know we can’t. Calm down cougar, you can hunt me down later and pounce all over this shit.”

She rolled her eyes as I continued to laugh at my own comment. “Nevermind! I didn’t want any anyway.”

That made me laugh even louder. I threw on some boxers and jeans and walked over to the bed. “You are an awful liar.
Go back to sleep.”

I didn’t wait for her comeback as I headed down the stairs. Surprisingly
,
Lucy was already cooking breakfast. She put down the spatula and wrapped her arms around me. “I can’t believe you came to visit. I heard the news and I am so excited for you both.”

“Who told you?”

“Who do you think?” She cocked her eyebrow and looked toward where my daughter sat coloring.

I shook my head. “Should have known. She doesn’t keep good secrets.”

“Where’s my aunt? Is she still sleeping?”
I wanted to run upstairs and scare the shit out of her.

“She isn’t here.
Her and Karen are doing a fundraiser at church today. They will be back at dinner time.”

I grabbed a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter. “Damn, Miranda will be sad about that. She wanted to spend the day with her mom.”

“Savanna and I were going to stop by later. Miranda can ride with us. I am sure you men can handle the kids for a few hours.” Lucy was teasing me. I knew it without the wink she threw in my direction. They didn’t always approve of my actions, but my family never doubted my parental skills. They knew how seriously I took that shit.

“Yeah, I think I can handle these two trouble makers.” I grabbed my daughters messed up ponytail and shook it.

“Daddy, stop it! I am trying to color in the lines.” Izzy looked annoyed.

“Sorry, you need to fix that mop before Mommy sees it. Although, her hair looked like a monster was hiding in it this morning. Don’t tell her I told you that.”

“Too late! I heard it for myself.” Miranda walked into the kitchen and smacked my ass.

I pretended she hurt me and looked at Iz to get her sympathy. She started to giggle and I leaned over to kiss her. “Tell Mommy she is pretty.”

“Mommy, Daddy says to tell you that you look pretty.”

I threw my hands up in the air. “Thanks, Iz!”

She
giggled
some more, causing Noah to follow suit.

I saw Miranda heading for the coffee pot and dove in front of her. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Ty, just let me have one cup. It won’t hurt the babies. I’m so sleepy.” She was whining. “The doctor says some caffeine won’t hurt me. Just one cup.”

I poured her a small cup and filled it half of the way with coffee and half with milk. She rolled her eyes, but accepted what I was offering. She
curtsied
me
before taking the cup. “Thank you
,
Master Ty.”

I thought it was funny, but that made her more mad. She rolled her eyes and knocked her hip into my side as she walked by me. “Master likes watching you walk away.”

She shook her head and gave Lucy her attention, while I sat down with the kids. “So
,
what are you drawing?”

Noah slid his paper toward me. “This is me and Bella with Mickey Mouse.”

His stick figure characters were hilarious, especially the one with giant mouse ears. The best part was that the stick figures he drew had three legs, like the body continued a little too long. As I noticed it
,
coffee shot out of my nose and I began choking. Feeling kind of embarrassed, I acted like the coffee just went down the wrong hole, until my wife came over and took one look at the paper. She lightly smacked the back of my head. “Tyler Mitchell!”

“I’m sorry, Honey. I try to behave, but sometimes I just can’t help it
.
” I talked in a sad voice.

She sat down on my lap as our daughter pushed her paper toward us. Izzy didn’t have stick figures, but I could t
ell she was drawing people. O
ne of the bodies was
wearing something with
two dots next to one another
on the shirt
. “What did you draw, Sweetie?” Miranda asked.

“This is you and Daddy.”

Miranda pointed to the dots on the body. “What’s this? A fancy shirt?”

“No silly, it’s your boobies, cause you and Daddy sleep naked.” Two little kids filled the room with laughter while Miranda sat wide eyed on my lap. Lucy was over at the stove beside herself
, while I just sat there waiting to be slapped again. After a few seconds the air wouldn’t stay in my mouth any longer and I just burst into uncontrolled laughter.

Miranda got up and grabbed the little
girl’s
art work. “Isabella Mitchell, you do not draw people without clothes ever again. Do you understand me.”

Izzy put her head down and started to cry. “I’m sorry, Mommy.”

This was where Miranda and I
disagreed,
in fact
,
it was the only time we disagreed. I grabbed my dau
ghters hand and kissed it, as I
handed
her another piece of paper. While Miranda’s head was turned I
leaned in and whispered in Iz’s ear. “Mommy isn’t mad. She is just upset you told Lucy we were naked. You can’t tell people private stuff, okay Sweetie?”

She shook her head and I kissed it. When I sat back down I saw Miranda shaking her head at me. I shrugged my shoulders like I couldn’t help myself. She could punish me later and I was definitely looking forward to it.

To get the subject dropped for the time being, I assisted Lucy with breakfast. By the time Van and Colt showed up with the baby, everything was ready to eat. It felt weird sitting at my aunts without her being around. In fact
,
it seemed so quiet without Conner and the ladies.

Little
Christian was the cutest thing
ever. She was only a few
months old, but her little smile was just perfect. She loved hearing the kids talking and would turn  her little body toward where the sounds of them were coming from.

“
Did you hear the women
are leaving us with the kids for the day?” Colt laughed while taking another bite of his food.

“Yeah, Savanna informed me last night. I think we can manage. I have a whole roll of Duct tape in the garage.”

We both laughed
while
the girls sat there with their mouths open. Of course
,
the first thing that came to mind for me was the ABC party that brought Miranda and I together. I looked ove
r to where she sat and got a quick
reaction from her.
It made me smile just knowing she got me so well. I threw her a wink and mouthed the words ‘I love you’ toward her.

A gagging sound caught my attention. “Don’t do that while I am trying to eat.” Van gave me a disgusted look. I picked up a roll and threw it toward her, causing her to scream because she was
so
shocked I’d actually done something like that.

“I think the children are being better behaved than the adults this morning,” Lucy teased.

We all settled down and tried to set a better example for our kid
s, but even Lucy knew us adults
had caused commotion at the table since we were Izzy and Noah’s age.

Colt and I hung out and helped Lucy clean up breakfast while Van took everyone else to their house. The house got quiet without the kids there. On
ce we finished we met them at their place
. I should have been expecting retaliation from Van, but my dumbass forgot to keep my guard up. Colt walked into the house and I followed behind him. As I grabbed
the screen door, I felt something wet hitting the front of my body, followed by a loud machine coming on and then just an explosion of something white hitting me.

As I opened my eyes and tried to assess what the hell had just happened, I realized I was
completely
covered in flour. I
wiped
my eyes and looked at Van, who was hunched over laughing her ass off. “What the fuck?”