The Mitchell Family Series BoxSet 1-4.5 (90 page)

Bella didn’t believe me. “Are you sad about something?”

“I’ll be fine. I just miss my mother, I think.” That was lame. I needed to be more creative. The questions were never going to end.

“Well, I already miss my Daddy. Why can’t he come with us? Who’s going to tuck me in?”

“Sweetie, Daddy couldn’t come this time. I will tuck you in. You’ll be fine.”

I heard her starting to cry and it was like I was being stabbed a million times. I pulled the car over again and turned to look at my daughter. “Bella, why are you crying?”

“I want my Daddy.” Of course, she wanted him. Whenever I got upset, he would take her and keep her mind off of things. This was her natural reaction.

I was too big to turn all the way around, so I reached my hand to touch her leg. “Bella, I promise that I will tuck you in and keep you safe. Everything will be okay.”
I was lying to my child. It was never going to be okay. She was not going to be okay with being so many hours away from the only father she ever knew.

She continued to cry in the backseat. “Please let me call him.”

“My phone is dead. We can call when we get there.” I lied. I didn’t know what to do. I hadn’t taken the time to figure out what to say or what I was doing, I just left.

What was the family going to say when they found out? What were they going to do to Ty?

They’d never forgive him for this.

His family would sever ties and never speak.

Why had he done this to us?

To our children?

How could he choose his dick over his family?

Why did Heather choose today to show up and ruin my life? Did she get off on making me suffer? Did Ty say he wanted her? Was this his plan to get rid of me?

I hate him!

Chapter 18

Ty

My day at work was busy as shit. As much as I wanted to call and check in on Miranda, I never even got to break for lunch. By the time I clocked out, I had ten minutes to get to Izzy’s school. As I hopped in my Jeep, I grabbed my phone and dialed Miranda.

It rang three times and went to voicemail, so I hung up and called again, only to get the same result. Since Miranda was all I could think about all day, I decided to leave her a special message. Sometimes she took weeks to listen to them, so she would really get a kick out of it.

Hey, baby, it’s me, your totally awesome, madly in love, husband. I was calling to hear your pretty voice and your southern twang, but got your voicemail instead. Miranda, I love you so much. I can’t even explain how happy you make me. You’ve given me more than I could have ever asked for. There isn’t a second out of the day, where I am not grateful for the life we have. I love you with all of my heart. I love the family we’ve made and look forward to our beautiful future together.

Can’t you just see it? Can’t you see us with gray hair, sitting at those late night football games. I’ll be the dad with one eye on my football playing sons, and the other on our daughter, who if she looks anything like you, I will need to carry a gun to fight off all of those horny teenage boys.

God, I am so glad I have you, baby. I’m almost to Izzy’s school, so I gotta go. I missed you today and I can’t wait to kiss those lips and see your pretty smile.

I love you.

I pulled into the school and found  a parking spot. In order to get the best spot, you had to arrive at the school forty minutes before it let out. I climbed out and leaned against the Jeep, waiting to see my pretty little girl spot me for the first time, and come running into my arms.

Izzy’s class was usually the first to exit, so when I saw some of her friends, but didn’t see her, I started to worry. After a few more classes came out and found their designated rides, I headed into the school. Her teacher was in her classroom and I knocked before I walked in.

“Mr. Mitchell. Did Bella forget something?”

“She never came out of the school.” I started to panic. Could someone have taken my daughter. I’d seen it happen on movies. Kidnappers loved schools.

“Your wife picked her up a little over an hour ago. I’m sorry, I thought you knew.” She looked at me like I was supposed to know, and that didn’t set right with me.

“Was she sick?”

“No. She was fine all day. Maybe she had a doctor appointment.” Her suggestions weren’t helping my conscious.

“Sorry to bother you.” I backed out of the room and headed toward my Jeep, all the while calling Miranda’s phone. This time the calls went straight to voicemail.

After trying my mother and not getting an answer, I really started to worry. When I finally pulled into the farm, Conner waved to me as I drove up to the house. I jumped out and headed in his direction. “Where are they? Is something wrong?”

Conner stopped what he was doing. “Miranda said she ran out to run an errand. What’s wrong with you?”

I shook my head and looked around the farm. Something was wrong. She wouldn’t have picked up Iz without telling me.  Avoiding Conner’s question, I went running into the house. Everything looked in order until I reached the bedrooms. The dresser drawers in my room were open and Miranda’s side was empty. I hauled ass into Izzy’s room, only to find the same thing. When I finally reached the twins room and saw that half of their things were missing, I pulled out my phone and started dialing Miranda. What the hell was going on?

Conner’s voice caught me off guard.

“What the fuck! Ty, you need to get in here.”

My eyes burned as I walked out into the living room. Conner was standing over the coffee table, but as he scooted out of the way, I saw something that I couldn’t believe. 

At least ten photos of me and Heather were spread out for me to see. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Clearly, they were of me, but I didn’t remember doing any of it. I crouched down on the floor and buried my hands into my face.

Conner sat behind me and was quiet at first. I guess he was speechless at the fucking mess I’d made of my life.  “She’s gone. She’s fucking gone.” I crushed one of the pictures up and threw it, before turning back to him.

Conner just stared at the table. “This was sitting on top of the pictures.” He handed me the folded piece of paper  and ran his hands through his hair.

I know he expected me to read it out loud, but there was no way in hell I could do that when I knew my life was over.

My hands were shaking and I could feel the burning in my eyes as I glanced over at the horrible photos.

Ty,

You were the one who really knew me. I gave you what I never gave anyone before and that was my whole heart. I promised to love you and be faithful to you for the rest of our lives. I thought you knew how much those words meant to me, how much you meant to me.

Instead, you snuck behind my back, for God only knows how long, carrying on a secret life with that whore, while I carried your babies and planned for our future. Did you ever love me, or was it always about Bella?

I’ll never forgive you for this. I will never forgive you for making me love you so much, only for you to hurt me like this. Did you think I wouldn’t find out? That you could live a secret life and then come home to me?

You were my world and all I wanted was to give you more children, but now I want nothing with you. I can’t even think about you, and I definitely can’t see you. Those pictures are forever burned into my mind. There’s no talking your way out of this. We’re done, Ty. Please leave me alone. Please give me time to get over this pain.

I know you love Bella and I promise that I will do everything I can to let you see the kids, all three of them, but I can’t do it right now. Stay away from Kentucky. Forget whatever it was you think you felt for me.

Marrying you was the worst decision of my life.

Miranda

I handed the paper to Conner and got up to start pacing around the room. Nothing could change this. My family was gone, just like that. I’d lost them forever, over something that I never wanted to happen. She would never forgive me, not after seeing those pictures.

I walked back to the table, and kneeled down in front of all of them. Tears poured out of my eyes and I felt Conner’s hand on my shoulder. “It’s goin’ to be alright. I’m goin’ to help you get her back Ty.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Have you seen these pictures? She’s gone, Man. She’s never going to forgive me. I don’t even forgive myself.”  The pictures made me sick, just looking at them. The last one I looked at had Heather sitting on my face.

I cringed.

Conner looked at the pictures and started pointing at certain ones.  “Look at these, Ty. There isn’t one picture where you’re touching her with your own hands. She is doing everything, in fact look at this one.” He held one up and between my burning tears, I saw that my eyes were hazed over in the picture. “I bet you a million dollars you never even had sex with this bitch.”

I shook my head and started dialing Miranda’s number again. Of course it went to voicemail. I threw it up against the wall. “Even if we could prove that, Miranda will never believe me. I lied to her. I kept it from her. How the hell did she even get these things?”

He grabbed my arm and made me look his way. “You need to calm down. I know my sister. She may be mad, hell she may even hate you right now, but she also loves you more than life itself. What you two have is somethin’ special. She can’t really think you’re this guy.” He held up the pictures.  “You don’t even have time to be this guy.”

“I fucked it all up, all over papers to be Izzy’s real father.  God, Conner, what am I going to do without them? What am I going to do?”

After I put my phone back together, I called Miranda’s phone over and over, with no answer. I left her several messages, without really talking about what was going on. I hated that she was driving so far, being so pregnant. I wanted this to all be a nightmare, but it was a reality.

The only woman that I ever truly loved more that life itself, hated my guts. I’d broken her heart into a million pieces and she was never going to give me another chance.

I ran to the door, before I even realized what was happening. “Ty wait! Where are you goin’?”

I threw my keys down on the countertop . “Drive me to the airport, Conner. If I leave in the next hour, I can beat her there.”

“She’s not goin’ to want to talk to you.”

“I don’t care. She needs to know the truth, even if she doesn’t want me anymore, she needs to know that I never wanted it to happen. I would never have done that to her or to our family. She’s all I want, she’s all I’ll ever want.”

“I get it Ty, but right now, she’s a mess. Hell, she couldn’t even tell me what she was plannin’. Just give her a few days. She’ll miss you and want to talk. Come on Ty, she was willing to trust Tucker again, she’ll forgive you. I will help you.”

I shook my head and rubbed my hands over my face. “I can’t just stand here waiting. I have to see her. I have to be close to her. I need to see my wife.”

“Fine, I’ll take you. When things get worse, don’t say I didn’t tell you so. I know my sister and she needs time.”

“She needs to know that those pictures were not my doing. I threw up when that bitch tried to kiss me. Do you really think I’d let her put her fucking pussy in my face? You’re a fucking guy, and I know that you wouldn’t do that shit to someone you hated. I’ve done that to two people in my life and you know both of them. That is the picture that broke your sister’s heart. She needs to know it ain’t real.”

Conner threw his hands in the air and walked out of the house. I ran into my bedroom and grabbed a change of clothes before meeting him in his truck. For most of the drive, we said nothing. We both continued to call Miranda’s phone with no answer. Eventually, her voicemail was full and we couldn’t even leave a message.

“I need to call Van.”

Conner turned to look at me. “You really think you want to talk to her about this? Isn’t Heather the one who Van caught you with? You really think she’ll believe you?”

I slammed my hands on the dashboard. “God Dammit! I don’t know what to fucking do. I messed up so bad. This isn’t just about losing my wife, I’m losing my whole family. Heather knew this would happen. She did this shit on purpose to ruin my life.”

Conner pulled over the truck and put it in park. He held his hands up. “Just hear me out. I know the shit is crazy right now, but neither one of you are goin’ to do any good to each other by hashing this out tonight. Let her get to Kentucky and calm down. Call Colt and Van if you need to, but just wait this out, Ty. I got a plan that might just save your marriage. I need you to calm down and trust me. Can you do that?”

I  shook my head and stepped out of the truck. I just needed air. I was paying the ultimate price for what happened, but I didn’t care so much for myself as I cared for Miranda. If the roles were reversed, I would want to lay down and die, hell, I wanted to do it, just imagining I could never be with my family again. They were my life and they were gone.

I climbed back in the truck and turned to Conner. “Just turn around. I don’t know what you have planned, but I will give you the night to figure it out. Even if I went to Kentucky, there’s nothing I could say to convince her to come back to me. I know she’s done. You can say she will forgive me, but she’ll never be able to trust me or look past it. I need to face the music. She’s gone. My family is broken because I’m the biggest fucking idiot on the planet.” I beat my head on the dash.

Conner got us back home, but refused to talk about his big plan. He handed me a bottle of whiskey and a glass, before getting a shower and heading out. I couldn’t get how he thought he could fix things. He didn’t even know Heather.

I drank half the bottle before I had the nerve to call Van. She was yet another person who would never look at me the same. Colt was going to be so disappointed. It was good that he’d threatened to kill me if I hurt Miranda. At least I wouldn’t have to feel this pain for very long.

While the phone started ringing and I waited for her to pick up, I looked around the walls at all of the pictures of my happy life. My wife was the most beautiful woman, but it hurt to look at her, knowing the pain she was feeling. I needed her so much. I wished she could know that she was my everything.

Hello?

Van, it’s me.

Hey, what’s up?

From the tone of her voice, I knew she hadn’t heard from Miranda yet.

I think there’s something you need to know.

Is this where you tell me that you’re madly in love with me and we should run off to an island together?
Oh God, she assumed I was home with Miranda and playing a joke on her.

No, this is serious.

Is Miranda okay? Is she in labor?

No, just stop talking for a minute. This is hard for me to put into words. I don’t know how to say this without having you hate me too.

What are you talking about Ty?

She left me, Van. She took Izzy and all of their things and she left me.

You are kidding right? Let me talk to her. You guys aren’t funny.