The Mitchell Family Series BoxSet 1-4.5 (58 page)

I wrapped my arms around him and began to cry. “I did too, baby.”

I made Colt breakfast that morning and we drank coffee on the porch while swinging and looking out at the pasture. Sam was already running around chasing squirrels. I felt euphoric, like I had overcome the treacherous last bit of months. When my husband left for work, I got myself inside and started cleaning the house, and thinking about what we could have for dinner. I turned my favorite music up and danced around as I worked. I had a great life and I wanted to be happy again.

A knock at the door startled me. I turned down the music and headed toward it. All of our family would open the door and call out for me, and I knew it wasn’t locked. I opened the door to two people in business suits. A black SUV was sitting in our driveway. “Mrs. Mitchell?”

“Yes?”

I thought they were just there to go over something to close Tucker’s case.

“Can we come in Ma’am? Is your husband around?” A gentleman asked.

“He is out on the ranch somewhere. What is this about?” I asked.

They hadn’t come into the house yet and my vision of the second person, a woman, was obscured by the first guy standing in my way. “We really need you to get him to come home Ma’am. We can explain everything once he is here.”

Before I could turn to grab my phone, I saw Colt pulling up on the golf cart. He must have seen them coming in the Ranch’s main entrance. As he made it up the steps the man moved to the side, leaving me to be able to see the woman, who was holding the hand of a child. Colt walked past them, until he reached where I was standing. “Can I help you with something?”

“Mr. Mitchell? Hi, I’m Roger Nesbitt. I’m with the Department of Social Services. I’m sorry to just come by unannounced. We don’t get many of these kind of cases. Do you mind if we come in to explain?”

I was just staring at the little hand that was attached to the woman.

“Sure come on in.” Colt opened the door and let the man in.

As the man came through the door, the woman smiled. “Hi, I’m Sarah Forrester and this is Noah. Noah, can you say hi to the lady.” The little boy, who looked to be about three or four, came looking around the woman’s legs and I bent down to greet him, but what I saw in his eyes made me collapse.

I came to and noticed I was on the couch. Three adults surrounded my vision, while the little boy sat in the chair across from me. Ignoring the people talking to me, I got up and crawled over to where he sat. His hands were folded together and he was swinging his feet looking down at his pants. I kneeled in front of him and placed my hands over his knees, causing him to look up at me.

Those eyes…

Those beautiful green eyes that I knew so well…

Chapter 15

Colt

“Colt?” Savanna was kneeled down in front of the child. Her voice was weak and I could tell she was struggling. I knew what she saw because I saw it too. I was in too much shock to actually understand what the hell was going on though.

I reached down and grabbed her by the arms, lifting her to sit beside me. She gave me a worried look and I tried to smile, even though I had no idea what to say. I saw his eyes and there was only one person in my life that had those eyes. They couldn’t be looking for me if this had anything to do with Conner.

“Mr. Mitchell, we are very sorry to barge in like this, but last week there was a fatal accident on route ten. The driver and passenger of the vehicle died on impact, but the child survived. Since I can see the look on your face, excuse me for asking, but you do know Krista ah, last name –.”

Oh God, it’s true.

“Don’t bother lookin’ it up. I know her.” I needed him to stop talking for a minute. I grabbed Savanna’s shaking hand and squeezed it tight. “Yeah, she was my ex. We ended things almost four years ago.”
I was trying to do the calculations in my head.

“I’m sorry to tell you this but she and her fiancée were killed in the crash. We notified the next of kin, but the only person we had listed was her father. He just underwent a triple bypass and wasn’t able to care for the child.”

Just because I needed more confirmation than a pair of eyes, I had to ask. “What does all of this have to do with me?”

The gentleman seemed uneasy with my question. “Were you not aware that Ms. Nichols was ever pregnant?”

I ran my free hand through my hair. “I wasn’t. I never spoke to her after she moved out.”

“I’m very sorry we just showed up like this. I’m sure you can understand that this isn’t something we could discuss over the phone. Ms. Nichols listed you on the birth certificate as the father.”

Savanna’s hand went limp and I didn’t know what to say or do to make her feel better. I glanced over at the little boy who was still staring down at his legs. My heartbeat picked up and something forced me up off of that couch. I stood over where the little boy sat and when he refused to look up, I crouched down and patted him on the head. He looked right at me, with the same eyes as mine. I was so choked up that I couldn’t say anything. He kept staring at me and finally his little voice filled the room. “My mommy says that I look like you.”

I sat down in front of the little boy and just took him in. His perfect little fingers were still folded together across his lap. I couldn’t speak. There was no way this could be happening to me, no way I had a child and didn’t know about it.

Say something to the kid, you idiot…..

Savanna’s voice broke my train of thought. “What do we have to do next? Are there papers we need to sign? A paternity test?”

“Yes, all of the above Ma’am. We do require a paternity test if the father has no knowledge of the child, for legality purposes of course. The paperwork is standard. We have a list of his medical history as well as a psychological report from the hospital that treated him. It would be best if we took care of this as soon as possible. We would also need to know that you have room in your home for him, which obviously you do,” the gentleman explained.

I stood up and held my hand out for the little boy. “It’s very nice to meet you, Noah.”

He shook my hand and looked at my wedding ring. “Are you married to that pretty lady?” He pointed to Savanna. “My mommy was getting married before she had her accident.” His eyes got sad and he looked down at his lap again.

“Noah, would you like that pretty lady, whose name is Savanna, to give you a tour of the house?”

He smiled and looked at her as she approached. “Okay.”

Oh God! I needed to talk to my wife. How could I expect her to be okay with something like this?

She reached out her hand and he promptly took it, trusting her already. When I saw them getting to the top of the stairs, I turned to face the two agents. “After seein’ him with my own eyes, I would be a fool to deny that he is my child. I will take any test you need and sign all of the documents. I don’t know why she kept somethin’ like this from me. She knew I always wanted kids.”

The woman caught me off guard when she spoke. “When we visited with her father, he told us she didn’t think you wanted children with her. When she finally had decided to tell you, you were already engaged to be married to someone else. She thought telling you would ruin your happiness. By that time, she had met someone herself and they were raising him together.”

“But my name is on the birth certificate?”

“Yes Sir, it was the first documentation we pulled.”

“How old is he?”

“His birthday is January 4, he is three and a half years old.”

I started calculating everything in my head. “She was six months pregnant when she moved out? How could I have not known something like that?”

“Mr. Mitchell we have had cases where mothers delivered healthy babies full term and never knew they were with child.”

“Still, I should have been told. I missed out on so much of his life.”

The woman opened her brief case and pulled out a bunch of forms. “I need you to sign these and we can do an oral swab on both of you today, if that is still okay?”

“Of course. How long until we know the results?” I asked.

“A couple days. In the meantime, we can petition the court for temporary custody. In an emergency situation like this, the judge will usually speed things up. We could know something as early as tonight if we turn this in before noon today.”

“You can use my office. The computer and fax machine are in there.”

“That is a big help. Thank you, Sir.”

Savanna and Noah started walking down the steps. He never let go of her hand. Her face had no expression, but I couldn’t blame her. I had no idea what I was going to say to her.

Noah and Savanna stood in front of me. “Do you like the house?”

He shook his head. “It’s so big.”

“It is big, but only because we wanted to fill it with cute kids.”

He looked down at his feet. I grabbed his chin and lifted it up. “Would you like to live here and fill one of those rooms with lots of cool stuff?”

He said nothing, but as if it were slow motion, he let go of Savanna’s hand and plopped his body against mine, hugging me tight. I wrapped my arms around his little body and took in his scent.

I had a son.

This was my child.

I was a father.

The two agents looked from each other and then back to Noah and I. “We are going to go outside and make some calls. Is it okay if the child stays here?” The woman asked.

“Of course.”

When the agents went outside, I grabbed Noah and took him into the kitchen. Savanna always had some sort of ice-cream in the freezer. We sat him down on a high stool and leaned across from him watching him eat his ice cream sandwich. “Is it good?”

“Yes. I love ice cream. Mommy didn’t let me have it. She said it would make my teeth icky.” He looked sad again.

I reached over and touched his shoulder. “You miss your mommy don’t you? It’s okay if you do. My daddy died in an accident and I miss him every day.”

The child’s wet eyes looked right at me. “Did you cry a lot?”

I let out a cackle of air. “Yeah, I did. Savanna will tell you how bad it was for me. I didn’t want to ever talk about it because it made me so sad.”

“Yeah. Is she in heaven now?”

“Of course she is. She is probably looking down at you right now, being your guardian angel.” I noticed that Savanna was saying nothing, but I couldn’t step away from the boy to speak to her alone. She couldn’t expect me to turn my back on a child I never knew I had. I was his father, for Christ sakes.

“So, what is your favorite thing to do? What do you like?”

“I like trains and dinosaurs and airplanes and army men. Sometimes I play Legos, but Mommy stepped on one and she said it hurt like hell, so I don’t play them anymore.”

We both laughed when he said hell, but he had no inclination it wasn’t a proper word to use. I reached my arm over and pulled Savanna tight against my body. As Noah concentrated on his ice cream, I turned to face Savanna and leaned my forehead on hers. “Are you okay with this?”

She looked at the little boy and then back to me. “I knew he was yours from the moment I saw those eyes. How could I not want something that is a part of you? You really didn’t know about him did you?”

I pressed my lips against hers and held them there, until we heard Noah. “Ewww, you get cooties from that, ya know.”

We both started laughing. “No way, cooties? Well, I am never kissing again then,” I joked.

Noah started laughing.

I leaned over the counter again. “Noah, you are goin’ to be livin’ here with Savanna and I from now on.  We can decorate your room in anything you want. In fact, Savanna loves to redecorate.” I threw her a wink. “Does that sound okay with you?”

“You mean, I get one of those giant rooms?”

“Sure do!”

He looked sad. “I don’t like the dark very much.”

“We’ll get you a big fat night light.” Savanna interrupted.

“Do I have to call you Daddy?”

It caught me off guard. I had no idea what to say. After taking a deep breath and thinking about what would be the best thing to say, I sat down beside him. “Buddy, you can call me Colt for now, if that makes you feel better. I know we just met and this is all kind of new for both of us.”

“But, you are my dad, aren’t you? That lady said I was going to live with my dad.”

I laughed. “Yeah kid, I’m your dad. I didn’t know it until today, but there is no denying it. You look just like me kiddo. Wait until you meet my mother, she will go crazy over you.”

“Is she an old lady?” He asked.

I started laughing. “She isn’t that old. Would you like to meet her right now? She lives on the ranch too. In fact this whole ranch belongs to our family.”

“Even the big fat cows?”

Savanna was rolling. “Every single one.”

“What else is here?”

“Chickens. Lots of chickens. We grow our own vegetables. We have a few horses. There is a big pool at the main house where my mother lives.” The little boy seemed so interested.

“Can we go see it all?”

I looked over to Savanna and she nodded. She leaned over to talk to Noah. “I think that you and Colt should take a ride on the golf cart and explore everything right now. Would you like that Noah?”

“YEAH!” He hopped down off his stool and grabbed my hand. It was the coolest feeling. “Come on, let’s go.”

I turned around to face Savanna and couldn’t tell what she was thinking. As excited as I was that I had this beautiful little boy, I knew it wasn’t going to be all peaches and cream with Savanna. We had lost our child tragically and I would never want to replace that void with another child, but Noah was mine. Savanna still wanted her own children with me. We needed to be able to talk about this before I got in way over my head and lost her. She had been so fragile and was still in therapy. I was very afraid that this was going to break her. “Do you want to come with us?”

She shook her head and I could see the tears forming in her eyes. “No, you go ahead. You have so much time to make up for. Besides, the agents are still working on his case. I will just sit here in case they need anything.”

“I love you Savanna Mitchell. I hope you know that.” I couldn’t tell her I was sorry for all of this happening the way it was in front of the boy. He had lost the only family he ever knew. He needed to feel welcomed and loved. “And no, I had no idea I had a son. Darlin’, I swear to you that I had no idea.”

Noah grabbed on to me as we exited the house. He held my hand even after we climbed onto the golf cart. “So, where do you want to go first?”

He looked up at me. “I’ve never had a grandmother before. My friends at pre-school have grandmothers and they buy them cool things. Will my grandmother buy me things too?”

He was so innocent when he asked that I knew he wasn’t being selfish. He was too little to even understand that. “Trust me when I say, that you will probably get more gifts than you will ever even ask for. My mother is goin’ to spoil you.”

“Will she love me? My friend’s grandmothers love them.”

I stopped the golf cart and looked at him. “Noah, of course she will.”

“Will you love me?”

My heart broke for him. I squeezed his hand and kissed the top of his head. Tears started forming in my eyes as I stared at my mirror image. “Buddy, I think that I loved you as soon as I saw you. I knew you were mine from that moment.”

I have no idea what she was doing all the way out here, but Sam came running out of the woods. “Cool, a dog.”

“That’s Sam, she’s our dog.” Sam came up and jumped right on our laps, crushing poor little Noah. “Calm down girl. This is Noah.”

Noah started petting her while she licked all over his face. Small giggles were coming from his little body and I couldn’t help but love how perfect his laughter sounded to me. “I get to have a real dog?”