Blinding Trust (Mitchell Family, #7)(15)

She covered her face and I could hear sniffling. “I get it. You’re a good man, Colt. I just can’t imagine coming here and the pregnant woman at your door not being your cousin. I can’t imagine a life without you in it.”

“You don’t ever have to, because you’re right where you belong, darlin’. I didn’t say I would ever love Krista. She came from nothin’ and if I wanted my child to be taken good care of, it would have been under my roof.”

She still wouldn’t turn to look at me. “It doesn’t bother you that things could have turned out so differently?”

“If your askin’ if I would have showed up for your and Ty’s wedding, I’m not goin’ to answer that.” I wasn’t that guy that runs in and breaks it up, even if it was what I wanted to do. “I’d never get over you, Savanna. Losin’ you would kill me.”

She finally turned to face me with a face full of tears. I brushed them away as she spoke. “You’re saying that after being with me for over ten years. You don’t know what it would have been like back then. Having a baby with someone changes people.”

“I know what I know. You were always the one. Thinking about you bein’ with Ty still makes my blood boil.”

“Well, I feel like I’ve been kicked in the stomach when I hear you say that you would have just been with Krista.”

Why did she even ask if she knew what path I would have chosen. Women were so difficult. “Oh, so it was alright for me to go to sleep in that carriage house while you were showering with my cousin?” It was a low blow and I knew that my frustration had caused our disagreement to escalate. She stood up and started walking away from me. I tried to grab her arm. “Wait!”

Savanna turned and pointed at my face. “How dare you! You knew how hard it was for me. I wasn’t showering with Ty. He came into the bathroom. Why are we even rehashing this, Colt. It was years ago!”

“You started this!”

“Screw you!” She threw her little temper tantrum while walking away.

I followed her and grabbed her from behind. “We shouldn’t be fightin’. Everything turned out the way it should have.”

Just as Savanna finally started to relax her shoulders, we both caught a glimpse of Noah standing on the stairs. His eyes were wide open and he had tears in them. “You wished my mother dead!” He ran up the stairs and we heard his door slam shut.

Savanna followed me up the stairs to Noah’s bedroom. He’d locked the door, so I knocked to get him to open it. “Open the door, son. We need to talk about this.”

Silence.

“Noah, I’m not kiddin’. If I have to break down this door, you’re goin’ to be sorry.”

I heard footsteps and then the door knob jiggling. He didn’t open it. When I pushed the door ajar, I saw him jumping back on his bed, face first. “Are you goin’ to talk to us?”

“I heard you, Dad. I heard you say it turned out right. You wished her dead! You wished my mom dead so you could be with her!” He pointed at Savanna and then threw himself back down on the bed.

The damage was done. Savanna walked out of the room and I was so mad at Noah that I couldn’t think about running to her. “You watch your mouth, boy! Savanna is your mother and you don’t…”

“SHE’S NOT MY MOTHER!”

His words hurt me and I knew she heard them too. I grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him off the bed to a sitting position. “Don’t you ever say that!”

“I hate her! She took my mother’s place. I wish she never even lived!”

My bare hand made contact with Noah’s mouth faster than I could realize what was happening. I’d never been so upset with him before. He covered his mouth and started crying.

When I stood up and got to his door, I turned back around and looked at my son, laying on his bed, bawling his eyes out. “You will stay in this room until you can apologize to your mother. Savanna may not have had you, but she is your mother in every way possible. What you just said to her, you can never take back. You remember that, Noah.” I started to walk down the hallway. “And you can forget about seein’ your uncle again. This is not happenin’ anymore!”

Savanna was in the bathroom, in a ball, in the corner. Her head was in between her knees and she was hysterical. I couldn’t imagine the pain of Noah’s words and how they had affected her. She didn’t deserve that; not after everything she’d done for that kid. In one sentence, he had ripped her whole world apart. Nothing was more important to my wife than being a mother. I knelt down beside her. “Darlin’, he didn’t mean what he said.”

She pulled her knees away. “Yes he did.”

“Oh hell, Savanna. He couldn’t live without you. None of us could. He’s just mad and he’s a kid, so taking it out on us is all he knows to do.”

“Please just leave me alone,” she cried.

“No!” I picked her up and carried her to our bed. Once I had her on it, she turned and put her face in the covers so I couldn’t see her. “He will apologize and everything is goin’ to be alright. I promise!”

She looked up at me, with makeup running down her face. “Did you see his face, Colt? I know Noah and I know when he’s serious. He meant what he said. He meant every word of it.” She cried harder. I watched her face scrunch up as the tears poured out.