Folding Hearts (30 page)

Before I could turn around and stop her, or say something to distract her. I heard her little voice get all excited. “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”

Shit shit shit!

From the shocked look on my face, my mother knew that I was hiding something, or someone. She pushed right past me and found Ty standing there
in my closet
, holding Bella, in his boxers.

“Hey Aunt Karen.”

“Oh Jesus Mary and Joseph.” She
covered her mouth with her hands and collapsed on the bed, looking from me to Ty.

“Mom, we can explain.”
I stood in front of her trying to block her direct view of Ty.

“You better start.”

Bella climbed down and walked over to my mother. As if things couldn’t get any harder, she turned and pointed to Ty. “My Daddy.”

Of course Ty burst into laughter. The fact that he couldn’t hide his excitement of Bella’s love for him didn’t make it easier for my mother to take.  “All night she kept asking for her daddy. Can one of you please explain why she thinks that Tyler is her father.”

“Mom, it’s kind of complicated.”

“You better start
un
complicating it
;  RIGHT NOW
!”

I sat down next to my mom and looked over at Bella holding her arms out for her daddy
again
. She showered him with kisses like we
weren’t
even in the room. “Ty and I are together.”

“What is that supposed to mean? You are practically family. I changed his diapers.” I have no idea why my mother threw that last bit in, and I chose to just ignore it.

“Aunt Karen, we have been living together since she came to stay with my parents. We are in love.”

She shook her head and wiped away her tears. “This is not happening.”

“Mom, please don’t be mad at me. I wanted to tell you, but Conner threatened Ty before about me. I knew if you found out you would make me come home.”

“You
’
r
e
damn right I would. This charade is over right now. You are moving home as soon as this wedding is over. This is not going to continue!” She threatened.

I saw Ty clenching his jaw. He was only going to take so much more. “We aren’t moving back Mom.”

She stood up and put her hands on her hips, as if it made her more powerful. “There is no discussing this. You
are coming home.”

“I’
m so sorry, but you can’t
make me d
o that.”

“There is no way I am going to let someone like Ty influence my daughter and
grandchild
.”

I walked over to Ty to almost shield him of my mother. “Ty loves us. He wants to be Bella’s daddy. You can’t tell me you haven’t ever noticed how close they are.”

“You two shacked up together is no environment for a little baby. Don’t make me file for custody of that child
Miranda
.”

I started crying immediately, even though I knew it would resort to this. “Don’t you dare threaten her with that shit!” I felt the vibration of Ty’s voice against my back.

“Get out of my daughter’s room. I will do what’s best for her.”

“What is best for Miranda is for her to be with her husband.” And there it was. The time bomb had exploded.

We should have kept our rings hidden in the car, but after our emotional reunion last night, we wore our rings to bed. My mother looked down at my hand and gasped in horror.

“You didn’t?”

“It’s one
hundred
percent legal too. We have the
judge’s
signature and everything,
” Ty said sarcastically. I elbowed him in the stomach for that one.

“There is no way I will let my granddaughter be raised by my own nephew.”

“Jesus Mom, we aren’t
even
related. Besides, you don’t have a choice in the matter.
”

She put her hand on
her face and started to cry. “How could
you
both do this?”

“Can you please think about my happiness for one second? Don’t you want your only daughter to be happy? Why can’t you just try to be happy for me? I love him Mom and he loves us. He has taken complete
responsibility
for Bella and loves her like she is
his
own flesh and blood. I couldn’t ask for a better father for her.”

“He is not her father. What are you going to do when her real father comes into the picture?”

I walked over and put my arm around my mother. “He isn’t going to. He has no claim to her anyway. I never added his name to the birth certificate like everyone thought. There is no father listed. That’s why it was so easy for Ty and I to petition to have her name changed.”
Oops. I probably shouldn’t have said that.

“You didn’t
?
This isn’t happening.
”

Ty got down on his knees and looked at my mom. “I’ve
done everything right
. I have a good job and we have a our own house.  My dad and I are putting an addition on it right now to give Bella her own bedroom and playroom. Miranda and Bella are on my health insurance plan and I make plenty to support us.  I would do anything for them. They are my whole world. I swear to you that I am telling you the truth.”

My mother
just stopped arguing
.
I don’t know why and I didn’t care.
“Looks like y
ou have covered all of your base
s. You have to understand if I need time to be able to accept this.
I didn’t send
my daughter away for her safety thinking she would run off and get married. It’s a bit too much, that’s all.
”

“Am I safe enough to
put my pants on now?” Ty asked with a smile.

My mother no
dded
.

We watched Ty carry
his clothes and go into the bathroom. Of course Bella followed behind him and he turned around and picked her up. My mother just watched them. She said nothing for at least five minutes. We could hear Ty talking to Bella in the bathroom. He was teaching her how to brush her teeth and they were singing some dumb song they heard on one of her shows she loved.

“
He is all she talked about last night. I honestly thought it was just a phase she was going through.
She really seems
to
love him doesn’t she?”

I let out a little cackle. “Sometimes I think she loves him more than she
loves
me. She really is his world Mom. I
t was impossible
t
o
not
fall in love with him. Just spend an hour with them and you will see what I see.”

“It’s just so sudden.”

“We have been getting to know each other for almost two years and even before that we knew each other as family. If you think of it that way it isn’t really too fast.
I’ve known Ty my whole life practically. Isn’t it better that he isn’t some stranger?
”

“Are you saying that you were involved before you moved?” She looked concerned about that.

“No. Ty and I never even kissed until I moved. He has never done anything but be a gentleman around me. He makes me feel safe.
He always has.
”

She put her hand on my leg just as Ty
and Bella
walked out of the bathroom.  Bella came running over toward us. “Mommy, Daddy bwush.”

She was trying to tell us that she brushed her teeth, not that daddy was a bush.

When my mother finally stood up and held her arms out for both of us,
neither me or Ty hesitated.
S
he had both of our faces close to hers
,
let out a sigh and smiled. “If I didn’t l
ove you both I would r
ing your necks right now. Ty
l
er Mitchell
,
you know better than to wed my daughter without asking. Her daddy would have hunted you down for that.”

“I
know. Sorry, I just couldn’
t
take the chance of losing them,” h
e admitted.

While I ran into the bathroom to change, I heard my mother
continue to
talk to Ty.

“I can’t promise you that everyone is going to be as calm as I am Ty.”

“I know.”

“My son is not going to be happy for the two of you. He talked about coming to get Miranda the moment she pulled out of the driveway. When he finds out that he was right about the two of you, I won’t be able to control him.”

“Aunt Karen it’s fine. I can handle it.
I wouldn’t expect anything less from him.”

“You have to stop calling me Aunt Karen. It is very inappropriate.”

“Okay Mom.”

“I can feel the gray hairs filling my scalp.”

After brushing my teeth I ran back out to my room. My mother was right, my brother was not going to be thrilled. Colt needed to get his ass to this house pronto.

“Is Colt here yet?”  I gave Ty a
warm smile, reminding him
that I loved him.

“Everyone is downstairs but the two of you. Of course I had n
o idea that you were in here together
.”

“Maybe Ty should just wait to come down. If they don’t know we were together then they don’t have to find out yet. I don’t want anyone to have black eyes for the wedding photos. Van would kill us.”

Ty laughed and shook his head. “Go ahead down. I will wait ten minutes and join you.”

In front of my mother, he smacked my ass as I was walking out of the door. I turned around and gave him a laugh before following
behind her.

She was right
. E
veryone was in the kitchen. Lucy had made a huge breakfast and food was all over the island. Everyone said hello and then got back
to
their previous conversations, not even paying a bit of attention to me. I shrugged and happily made myself a plate. Bella was walking around with a piece of sausage in her hand. She liked to run around the kitchen island because it never ended. So, with her sausage held up high, she was running around screaming at the top of her
lungs. Everyone stopped talking
because they
couldn’t
hear each other
through her screaming. That is
when Ty decided to walk in the room. Bella’s screams stopped but only for her to go running toward Ty. “Daddy! Daddy!”

He
picked up Bella and turned beet red. My brother dropped his fork and stood up straight. Ty held Bella with one arm and held his hand up for Conner to stop coming at him.
Of course on his hand was his damn wedding band
. To make things ten times worse,
I jumped in between them waving my hands in the air at my brother
. H
e reached over and grab
bed my arm, staring at
what was on my
own
finger. The room got silent. There were a few gasps, most likely from my aunt and Lucy, but everyone mainly just stared at me, Ty and Bella.

“No fucking way!” Conner said under his breath.

“Just calm down Conner,
” I begged.

“Don’t tell me to calm down.
I am going to fucking kill him,” h
e threatened.

Finally Colt stood up and came to stand next to Ty, while Van threw herself in front of Conner. “I don’t care what you a
ll
do after the wedding, but until then, nobody is fight
ing. I will not pay someone to P
hotoshop black eyes off
of
my groomsmen.”

My mother stood in the corner shaking her head. I felt so b
ad for her. She was really asto
nished that we had done something like this.

Conner finally backed away, knowing that if he took a step forward Colt was liable to kick his ass. He took his
plate
and threw it in the sink. “This is bullshit!”

Bella heard the word shit again, so on top of the animosity in the room, she started yelling ‘shit’
over and over
.

The rest of my family just stood there, waiting for us to come up with a good explanation as to why Ty and I were married in the first place.

Chapter 28

Ty

Even if I tried to picture the worst scenario of how it could have all played out in my head, it still didn’t compare to what Miranda and I had woke up to this morning.
It was important to me that everyone knew how serious we were about each other. This wasn’t some stunt.

Once Conner left the room and walked out back, everyone just stood there waiting for me or Miranda to say something. Obviously Colt hadn’t told Van about the marriage part. She looked like she was about to throw up. Her eyes were full of tears and she kept looking at Miranda’s hand.