Blinding Trust (Mitchell Family, #7)(66)

Since Amy was breastfeeding, I opted to wait until she was back to decent. I waved from afar. “Where’s Conner?”

“They’re out at the barn working on some engine.” She whispered.

“I reckon I’ll just go look for them.” I walked out of the house and noticed that my kids had already found their cousins. They were out back playing in the fort Conner and Ty had built for them. The girls were on the swings, while Josh and Noah were up high looking through a scope. Noah was showing him something.



Conner and Ty were both on the ground out in front of the barn. They were covered in dirt and grease. “What the hell are you two doin’?”

“What does it look like, you old cocksucker?” Conner stood up and brushed off his pants.

Ty stayed on the ground. This was the first time I’d seen him since we’d fought in my front yard. We’d spoken, but it wasn’t the same as being in the same space. I nodded to him and he gave me a flip look and kept at what he was doing. “How’d she do on the ride?”

I should have known that the first words out of his mouth would be about my wife. “She’s good. I think she’s stiff, but it ain’t like she’d admit it.”

Finally Ty stood up and held out his hand to shake mine. “Are we good?”

I shook his hand. “Yeah, we’re good.”

Conner stood between us and put a hand on both of our shoulders. “Now that we got that settled, let’s go have a beer.”

We walked into the old barn, where we played pool and cards with the family. Ty pulled three beers out of the refrigerator. We all popped the tops and took a drink of the cold goodness. “Is she upset about the radiation?”

“I think she’s more anxious.” I leaned against the pool table. “I can’t blame her. We all just want to put this shit behind us. It’s been so hard.”

“She told me you hate being Mr. Mom.” Ty started laughing. “Do you wear an apron while you vacuum?”

Conner chimed in. “He only wears an apron. Can you see him with a feather duster?” They both started laughing at me.

I shook my head and took another swig of beer. “I just got here! Can’t you act right for ten minutes?”

They looked at each other and answered at the same time. “No!”

I just shook my head. There was no changing them and since they spent all of their time together, they even thought alike. It was disturbing.

We spent the next hour shooting the shit and talking about the new baby. Since neither of them could be serious for more than five minutes, I felt like I was babysitting, instead of hanging out.

In some ways I was jealous that the two of them had fun all of the time. I took my life and my family serious. I didn’t have time to fool around. Somehow, they managed to make it work.

In celebration of our visit, we barbequed at Conner’s house. After stuffing our faces with fried chicken, steaks and every kind of side item that the girls could think of, we sat around a campfire out back. The kids had long sticks for roasting marshmallows. I held Addy on my lap, while Christian and Noah managed their own sticks. Every one of those kids caught their marshmallow on fire except Christian. She took her time, browning it to a perfect hue. Jax and Jake took their first ones and caught them on fire just to be able to fling them in the field. Of course, where they fell was dry and soon caught fire. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Conner hadn’t sat bales of hay on the field edge. Once it reached one of the bales, we had a huge bonfire. While the women frantically counted the kids, we managed to wet the entire surrounding area. Ty and Conner got a great idea to keep the fire going. They threw wood on it and soon we were further away from the house with flames that were higher than the house.

Ty’s mother called to check on us. She told him they could see the flames from their house. My two dingbat cousins then let the kids come over to the new fire and roast more marshmallows. However, Jake and Jax were not allowed to have their own sticks. While pouting over it, they decided to start fighting with each other. Soon they were wrestling on the ground. Ty grabbed one of them by the back of their shirt, while Miranda ran up and grabbed the other one.

I looked over at my wife and saw her smiling back at me. If I knew one thing for sure, it was that she loved this family that we belonged to. She loved all of their crazy quirks and how we were bound by blood and friendship.

Then I looked up at the night sky and thanked the Lord again for protecting her for me. We were on the road to recovery and I planned on sticking by her until it was over. No matter how long it took, or what we had to go through, she was never going to be doing it alone.





Chapter 29


Savanna


I had been itching to get to North Carolina since before Amy went into labor. Colt had become so protective that he followed every rule by the book. If I had to be stuck in my house for one more day, I was going to have myself committed. I was recovering from the successful removal of a mass, not battling leprosy. Not that body parts actually fall off when you get it, but history does portray it that way.

Anyway, it was about time the doctor said I could finally travel.

Amy and Conner’s newest daughter was as pretty as sunshine. She looked just like her other two sisters. Poor Josh was outnumbered and I wouldn’t have recommended him hanging out with Jake and Jax. Those two were Hell on wheels. Ty and Miranda really had their hands full. After they set fire to a hay bale, they managed to catch a baby bunny and tie a piece of thread to it’s tail. How in the world did two five years olds come up with these ideas?