The Mitchell Family Series BoxSet 1-4.5 (61 page)

“I would never want to replace Noah, but I just want to be able to give you a child too. I want Noah to have a brother or sister one day. I dream about him talking to my belly. It’s beautiful, Colt.”

Her words were so sincere. I wished I could have told her without a doubt that we were going to have more children, but the truth was we just didn’t know.

“Let’s take our life day by day Savanna. Maybe if we don’t think about it so much good things will happen.”

We laid there together in front of the fire until I carried Savanna’s sleeping body to bed.

Since Savanna always was the one to take care of our family, I woke up early and made her breakfast. After we ate, we spent the morning in the Jacuzzi tub. We had connected on a deeper level than ever before and I felt so close to her.

We finally left the cabin to explore the lake. I rowed a tiny boat out to the middle of the lake and we had lunch out there all alone.  Savanna seemed so relaxed and I could tell she was really enjoying our time away. I couldn’t help but miss Noah. For months we had spent every single minute with him. It was hard to not look over my shoulder for him every once in a while.

“What are you thinking about?” She asked.

“I kinda miss Noah, I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m havin’ a great weekend bein’ here alone with my wife, but I can’t stop thinkin’ about him.”

She started laughing and shook her head.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s just funny, because I feel the same way. I feel lost without him.”

“Well, we can see him tomorrow. It isn’t like we are away for a whole week.” I explained.

“Or, we can go home tonight and surprise him.”

I wondered if she was joking until I saw the excitement in her eyes. “You seriously would rather go home than spend one more night alone with me?”

She climbed toward me, causing the boat to rock. “I would love to spend one more night with you, but I also wouldn’t mind going home to be with Noah.”

She climbed on my lap, giving me kisses slowly all over my face. “If you keep kissin’ me, I won’t be able to make a rational decision.”

As much as we missed Noah, Savanna and I decided to stay one more night at the cabin. We owed it to ourselves to enjoy our weekend away together. Although, when Sunday came we packed up the car and headed home. I guess we expected Noah to be all bent out of shape over us leaving. Instead, he was too preoccupied by a remote control plane my mother had purchased him. He and Conner were too busy flying it to even notice us pull up to see him.

Once he got the plane landed safely, he basically told us that Conner would bring him home when they were done, at a later time.

Savanna and I sadly got back into the car and drove to the house without Noah. It was great that he was spending time with his family, and that they all loved him so much, but I wasn’t sure I liked sharing him.

Conner finally brought Noah home after a couple of hours. He was only excited to see us for the first ten minutes and then he was off to watch television like we had never gone anywhere.

“Guess he didn’t miss us.” I reached around and hugged Savanna from behind.

“Guess not.”

We both laughed.

Chapter 18

Savanna

Our weekend away was wonderful and Colt and I seemed to both enjoy ourselves equally. We needed to get away, even though I missed Noah like crazy. That little guy had been exactly what I needed to turn my life around and get out of the depressed stupor I had been living under. Every single day with him made me so happy.

I loved being a mother. I always knew I would, but actually being one was just unexplainable. It didn’t hurt that Noah was the cutest kid ever. He looked so much like his daddy and I got such a kick out of watching them interact.

Colt didn’t dredge up the past very often. I know it hurt him to not know about Noah and experience everything in the first years that he missed out on, but he pushed past it. With Krista losing her life, we were Noah’s only parents and with that meant that we would experience his life in its entirety, where she only got the first three years. Some days it really made me sad that she couldn’t be in his life to see what a perfect son she had.

I didn’t know much about Krista, except for the fact that she came from nothing and she had a brother that was in some band now. Her father was a deadbeat and now lived in a nursing home. Apparently, her fiancée got them out of the trailer they were living in and offered them a much better future. Even though she never told Colt about Noah, the little boy knew about his father. Noah told Colt, more than once, that his mother always said one day he would meet him.

When Colt went to talk to her father at that nursing home, he explained that the longer Krista waited, the harder it got for her to do it. He explained that Krista’s fiancée had always wanted to adopt Noah, but since Colt was on the birth certificate, she wouldn’t be able to do it without his signature. I guess she knew that when Colt found out he had a child, there would be no way in hell he would sign him over.

I was always taught in church that everything happens for a reason. The past few years had proven that theory time and time again. Noah was my angel and I fell instantly in love with him. Being his mother was the easiest decision that I ever made. We couldn’t wait to make our family even bigger.

Colt and I had left me getting pregnant up to God. I never went back on the pill and just had hopes that one day we could add more babies to our perfect little family. Noah had started to ask if he could have a brother or sister as well.

It all started because we had put him into T-ball and he was very interested in the siblings of his teammates. One night after a game, we went out for dinner and he flat out asked us what we were waiting for. I started laughing, but Colt was the one to have to explain that babies didn’t exactly get dropped off by a flying bird.

Noah would still ask at least twice a week when his brother would be getting here. Yes, he only wanted a brother.

The day we found out was unexpected. Our hot weekend of lovemaking must have sealed the deal.

Six months after Noah walked into our life, we found ourselves standing over the little white stick again. Noah included.

While Colt and I looked away, our Son, stared at it. “It’s changing! Mom, I think you have a baby in your belly button.”

My belly button?

We peeked over to see two blue lines appear on the strip. “Oh my God! I’m pregnant.”

“So how long till it pops out?” Noah asked.

Colt and I couldn’t even celebrate before bursting into laughter. “Nine months, buddy. The baby has to grow first.”

“What? That is like five years from now. I will be all grown up,” he said in a serious tone.

“Sweetie, you are only four and nine months is less than a year. Your brother or sister will be here in less than a year.”

“Just a brother, Mommy. It has to be a brother.” Noah put his hand on his hips and spoke.

“We will love it no matter what. We have to help take care of Mommy though. Can you help do that Noah?” Colt asked.

“Heck yeah. I will make her peanut butter bread.” Noah announced.

Sounds delicious.

Noah stepped down from the step stool we bought him. He followed us into the bedroom. “Will Mommy get fat now?”

Ugh….Kids…

We are having a baby and he wants to know how fat I will get.

After laughing, I sat on the bed and tried to calm down my excitement. “I will get a big belly so the baby has room to grow.”

“Even if you get fat, I will love you.”

“Well, thank you Noah.”

“Can we name the baby, Scooter?”

“Probably not.” I laughed.

“How about Sasquatch? That would be so cool to tell my friends I had a brother named Sasquatch.”

“Noah, I think Mommy and I will name the baby a better name that suits our family.” Colt explained.

“Will it be bald? Bald people are scary.”

I fell back on the bed laughing. I couldn’t hold it in.

Colt tried to stay serious. I watched him clenching his jaw, trying to contain himself. “Bald people are not scary. Every person is different.”

The questions continued for the next few weeks.

We were probably wrong in some ways to include Noah in the early part of our pregnancy, but we never wanted him to feel left out. I got past my first trimester and was feeling good about carrying the baby to full term. Noah was a good little helper and when he gave me a hard time, Colt was always close enough to give me some space.

It was always important for Noah to know about his birth mother, Krista. I never knew her and therefore had nothing against her. What happened to her was so tragic and I hoped that she didn’t suffer. Noah never talked about the accident. The therapist he used to see said that he spoke about it once and didn’t remember much. He thought his mother was just sleeping. How much can a three year old understand?

At any rate, it was also very important to me and Colt that he be included in everything baby related. We decided, well Colt decided, he wanted the sex of the baby to be a surprise. Noah was not too thrilled. We took him to our sonograms and he kept trying to sweet talk the nurse into whispering it in his ear.

Of course, Colt’s mother insisted on buying him every kind of ‘big brother’ item she could find. He had about five shirts, including one in camouflage, two hats and even a sign for his room. We let him be involved in the decorating of the baby’s room too. He insisted that we move his playroom to the far end of the hall and give his new brother or sister the room closest to him, because he wanted to help with nighttime feedings. We knew it wasn’t going to happen, but he didn’t have to know all that.  So with Noah’s help, we picked out an Americana theme. With the help of Aunt Karen and my mother in law, we were able to decorate every inch of wall space with some kind of red white and blue item. We found a great crib bedding set and ordered all of the furniture.

Maybe we were jumping the gun, decorating things so early, but we were just so excited. The doctors were saying that my pregnancy was normal and healthy, and that we had nothing to worry about.

The next couple of months flew by and I was almost to my third trimester. With the exception of Noah’s riding lessons, in which I was not participating in the riding part, I didn’t do much at all. Lucy had little to do at the main house, so my mother in law had arranged that she take care of me and our house more.

We would end up chatting the day away, especially when Noah went out to work with the guys. Ever since our trip to Ty’s farm, he had been obsessed with chickens. We had both kinds of chickens at our ranch. We grew baby chickens for large poultry companies and also raised chickens for eggs. Colt gave Noah the sole responsibility of taking care of the chicken coop. His daily duties were to collect the eggs, hose out the crap and make sure they were all accounted for. You never knew when a fox was going to a have late night feast.

Colt got his little ‘mini me’ son a matching John Deere ball cap for when they worked together. It was the cutest thing. Even his uncle Conner got in on the hat party. Of course, I took a million pictures and added to our family wall in the house.

Ty and Miranda had decided to bring their other horse Thunder to live at our ranch, so Noah was thrilled to be able to play with his cousin Bella and to have another horse to ride. We invited them to stay at our place, but we knew they would be more comfortable at the main house. Miranda and Bella still had their rooms there and it gave them a little more privacy. Even after being married for over a year, the two of them hadn’t exactly settled down. They fawned over each other every chance they got.

We tried to visit with them every couple of months. It was important for us to keep the kids close.

Bella and Noah were instant friends from the first moment they met. I will never forget the first time they saw each other. Since Noah is eight months older than Bella, he made the first gesture. We had greeted them on the porch. Of course Noah stood behind his father, nervous about meeting someone for the first time. Ty was carrying Bella in his arms and slowly sat her down in front of us. When she reached up to hug Colt, it took Noah about two seconds to walk around his father and see who was getting all of his attention. Colt knew what was going on, so he sat Bella down and the two of them just stared at each other. Noah still had a hold of a huge bit of his father’s jeans.

He put his hand on his son’s head. “Noah, this is your cousin, Bella.”

“What’s a cousin?” He asked.

Ty bent down and touched Noah’s chin. “It means that she is your family.”

“How long is she goin’ to stay here?”

“Only for the weekend, kiddo,” Ty explained. He stood up laughing and shaking his head. “Like father, like son. He looks so much like you, it’s unreal, dude.”

Before Colt could respond, we heard chatter from the kids. “Want to see my room?”

“Okay.” Bella took Noah’s hand and they disappeared in the house.

Of course, Ty had some obnoxious comments when they were out of sight. “Dude, have you taught him about the birds and the bees yet? I don’t know if I’m okay with my daughter going into a little boy’s room yet.”

Miranda nudged him in the side. “Ty, shut up! It’s cute.”

For the whole weekend the two of them played like they had known each other their whole lives. In fact, we had to keep checking on them because they never came down for food or drinks. They were inseparable.

After that first initial visit, us adults promised that we would also try to get together as much as we could. Ty and Miranda were the second most excited people to find out that Colt and I were expecting. Since they were hoping to get pregnant themselves, it made us having babies at the same time more exciting.

Family was the most important thing in my life and I had the best one out there. I was so happy and had everything that I had ever wanted. I couldn’t wait to meet our newest addition.