The Mitchell Family Series BoxSet 1-4.5 (81 page)

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 anything that he thought would hurt us. Maybe, just maybe, everything was going to be okay.

Chapter 10

Tyler

I promised myself that I would never lie to her; that I would never keep something from her that could hurt our marriage, and I had broken that promise.

There was only one way for me to protect my daughter and doing so meant I had to call someone I never wanted to see again. The first call was quick. She didn’t know my new number and I didn’t really want her to. She’d caused so many problems in my past, it killed me that she was my one link to solving this problem.

After the first message and she hadn’t called back, I left several more, probably sounding more desperate for a call back than I should have, but that is what I was. I was so desperate. I couldn’t imagine one more minute of thinking I could lose anything about my relationship with my little girl.

Finally, by Wednesday, I couldn’t take the waiting game any longer. I called Miranda and told her I was going to go to the person’s house to try and talk to them. I didn’t want to tell her who the person was. She would have told me not to do it. She would have changed her mind and I couldn’t bear hearing that. I had to go through with it. I was doing it for Izzy.

I sat out front of her place for a while just wondering what I was going to say. We’d obviously ended things on terrible terms and after I married Miranda and called Izzy my own, she stopped bothering me, but there I sat in front of Heather’s house, hoping she could help me save my daughter.

I had to conjure enough balls to actually walk to her front door and knock and part of me expected some kind of slap in the face when she did answer. She opened the door and rolled her eyes, but let me in anyway.

Oh shit! She looks pissed. This is a terrible idea.

“I didn’t return your calls on purpose, Ty.”

“I wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t important, Heather.” As I followed her up the stairs of her split level home, I felt nothing, no attraction to her at all, in fact I hated everything about her.

She wasn’t an ugly girl, she was quite the opposite, but I just had no interest in her. Not only had our relationship never been labeled, I actually hated her. She was a self centered little bitch who didn’t care who she hurt. 

My heart belonged to one person and there was not a single person out there that could ever make me feel different.

“Did the wife leave you? Let me guess…you cheated on her and had another illegitimate child?” Her sarcasm was already getting on my last nerve. I followed her to the kitchen and sat down at the breakfast bar while she got out two beers.

She slid mine across the counter and waited for me to respond. I held up my left hand and flashed her my ring. “Still married.”

“Did she kick you out? Wise up to your asshole ways?”
In my head I kept mocking her every word. “Did she kick you out? Wise up to your asshole ways?”

“No, actually we are expecting twins in a couple of months.”
Yeah, take that in bitch. My life is perfect.
I wasn’t going to let her think I was here for anything other than Izzy, but I wasn’t about to let her talk bad about my wife either. “Miranda and I are happy Heather. Nothing will ever change that. I’m here because I need your help and I wouldn’t have come if I wasn’t desperate.”

“What are you talking about? If you’re so happy, what could you possibly want my help with? Did she stop making your dick hard? Are you needing someone else to bring you back to life?”

Aw, hell no!

“No! Shut the fuck up about my marriage. My wife is amazing and I will never have trouble getting it up. Not that it’s any of your business. I am here about my daughter.”

She leaned over the counter and scrunched up her face. “Come again? Ty, I have no idea what you are blabbing about. I haven’t seen or heard from you in years and you come to my house to talk about your kid. Are you on crack?”

I put my hands up to my face and tried to calm down. I have no idea why being around this chick always made me feel like I wanted to punch her in the face. I’d never hit a girl, but damn I wanted to hit her. “She’s not really mine, Heather.”

“Did that bitch trap you only for you to find out she wasn’t yours later and now she is all knocked up with your real children?”
If she calls my wife a bitch again, I’m going to go bat shit crazy up in here.

“Jesus Christ, would you just shut up and hear me out. Please?” I stood up and started pacing around the room. “I’ve known Miranda my whole life. My cousin Colt is her cousin from his other side of the family. We grew up celebrating holidays and spending summers together as kids. We even used to tell everyone we were related, even though we weren’t.  She got involved with this piece of shit, who got her pregnant and abandoned her. When Van left me for my cousin Colt, I drove down to Kentucky with her and just by chance she and I helped deliver Miranda’s daughter, Isabella. From that moment I fell in love with that little girl.  The loser boyfriend came back into the picture and beat the shit out of Miranda, so she and Izzy came to stay with me.
She didn’t need to know the other details. I would have been here all night.
I think you can figure out the rest of the story.”

“So that night she was running from a crazy ex?” She was finally paying attention to what I was saying.

“You mean the night you were trying to seduce me with the idea of having a threesome? Yeah, that night. To make matters worse, I already had serious feelings for Miranda and you almost ruined everything by being there. She needed to feel safe and instead she thought I was a total douche.”

Another reason I hate you so much.

“Like I knew who she was? Besides, I wanted you for myself. Kid or no kid, I was there to have a good time. You seemed like you were changing your mind when she came in.”

“Because I never in a million years thought I had a chance with her. Listen, Heather, my life is different. I have a family that means everything to me. I am here because I have no other options. I wouldn’t be telling you all of this unless it was life or death for me. If you ever cared a rat’s ass about me, you will at least hear me out.”

Please just help me.

She sat back and threw her arms in the air. “Fine tell me.”

“I married Miranda because she showed me what loving someone was about. I never felt that way with Van or with anyone else in my life. I never imagined having a built in family, but once they moved in, I never wanted them to leave. Izzy means the world to me and I am the only father she has ever known. I gave her my name and thought it would be enough to make her mine forever. Her biological father died after he kidnapped Van and caused her to miscarry her first child.”

“Holy shit! I never liked her, but that is awful.”

“They have a beautiful little girl and a son, but yeah it sucked balls. Anyway, we thought we would never have to worry about me being Izzy’s dad. A few weeks ago we took a trip to Kentucky and ran into the father’s mother. She made a big deal about talking to Izzy, and at the time, we got out of the place we were at and thought nothing of it. Miranda got served with papers when we went back for a Christening. The woman, who has never spent one day with my daughter, is trying to sue us for visitation.”

She seemed to be listening to me, but still scrunched her face up as she listened. “I still don’t get what you need my help for. I don’t even know your wife. I mean, I know who she is. I see her at the salon sometimes. I don’t think she remembers me though.”

What the fuck? Was she stalking my wife? Did Miranda even know?

“The lawyer said the only way we could stop her from taking Izzy is if we could prove that I was her father.”

“But you’re not.”

“That’s why I’m here, Heather. I need Toby’s help. I need you to convince him to do what he did in college again.”

She cocked her eyebrow. “You came here for me to get my brother to help you? Ty, how could you think for one second that I would help you? Do you not understand that I was in love with you? You ripped my heart out.”

Not this again. I feel like ripping out my hair and screaming at this dumb bitch.

“I never gave you any impression that we could ever be more than friends, if we were ever even that. I’m not trying to be cold or hurt your feelings, Heather, but I have no other options here. If you ever loved me then please, Heather, please help me keep my daughter safe. I will pay you whatever you want, just help me. I wouldn’t have come if I wasn’t desperate. I can’t lose her.”

Please help me save my daughter, my perfect little princess.

“Toby doesn’t do that shit anymore. Our mom got him a job at the hospital. He is legit now. I think you need to leave Ty. I don’t know how you even have the nerve to come here and ask me for my help. I’m the last person that would want to help you.”

Don’t take no for an answer. Beg if you have to.

“I’ll give you five hundred dollars.”

“Just go Ty.” She led me back to the front of the house.

“A thousand.” She turned her head as she was opening her front door. Her eyes got wider.

“You would give me and my brother a grand to help you? All this for a child that isn’t even yours?”

“Please, Heather.”

She rolled her eyes and closed the front door. “Let me call him and see if he’s even willing to do something like that.”

I sat on the couch, for what seemed like hours and listened to her filling her brother in. When she finally hung up, I had given up all optimism on my plan working. She sat down in the chair across from me and folded her hands together. “He said he can do it. Since he works in the lab himself now, it will be even easier to manipulate the test.  He said it would be even better if you could get a male that is blood related to the child to donate a sample instead of you. Does anyone live close enough?”

“Her uncle lives with us.”

“Well, since they aren’t testing the mother, he will show up as sharing similar chromosomes to the child. My brother can manipulate everything else to say what it needs to say. He wants the thousand dollars upfront and he said he will set up the appointment that way he handles the paperwork himself.”

Oh my God…my idea was working.

I felt like I wanted to cry again, but not because I was sad, because I was getting a paternity test that was going to save my daughter and keep her with me forever.

“So that’s it?”

“I will text you what time you need to come in. Have the uncle go with you.” I didn’t care about her shortness. I was elated.

I don’t know why, but I stood up and hugged Heather. “I know I was an asshole to you for a really long time and I’m sorry for that. Thank you for this Heather. Thank you for saving my little girl.”

She pushed me away and walked me down to the front door. “Have the money ready and I will call you with a time to go in. Oh, and Ty….”

“Yeah?”

“You look good, maybe even hotter than I remember.” She threw me what I think was supposed to be a sexy smile.

It didn’t matter what she said. All I wanted to do was get to my wife. I practically ran out of there, just trying to get home to Miranda to tell her the news. It was already dark outside and I knew she was already starting to worry. I hadn’t called her at all.

My drive home was fast and when I got in the door, the first thing I did was hug Miranda and tell her it was going to be okay. I couldn’t tell her who was helping us, but to me, it didn’t matter. Izzy was the important factor and everything was going to work out.

I knew she wouldn’t approve, God she would have just gotten her pregnant self in a tizzy. We were already too worried, I couldn’t have her going into early labor over all of this.  I just wanted this whole ordeal to be done and over with.

Izzy came running out of her room. “Daddy, where did you go? You didn’t eat dinner with us.”

I picked her up and carried her to the kitchen. She was really getting to be heavy. “Did you save me something? Daddy is really hungry.”

She nodded her head. “It’s in the microwave.”

“Tell you what kiddo, why don’t you go get your pajamas and meet me in the bathroom. I’ll be there in a minute.”

She hugged me one more time before heading toward her bedroom. “Hurry up!”

I looked out into the living room to see Miranda curled up on the couch. She was reading one of her baby books, but it was sitting in her lap and she was intently looking right at me. A smile started on one corner of her lips. I flashed her a full one back. “Love you.”

“I love you too.”

I let my food cook in the microwave and walked over to my wife. Once I got down on my knees, I grabbed her hands in mine. “So much, Miranda. I love you so much.”

She removed one of her hands and ran it over my face. “Are you okay? You seem, I don’t know…weird?”

“This weeks just been rough on me. It’s all going to get better now, in fact it’s going to go away forever, baby. I promise.”

She ran her hands through my hair as I reached up to kiss her. The food was beeping and I could hear Izzy calling me from her bathroom.

Miranda started to get up. “I can get her bath goin’, babe.”

“No, no, I can do it. I will be right back. Just stay right where you are.” I ran back and saw my daughter standing bare ass naked with her hands on her hips.