Loving Her (Mitchell Family #9)(57)

I was standing there, naked, shaking, hoping and praying that my child was okay, that she hadn’t been abducted, or worse.

I was so frantic that Ty came in, still on the phone with my mom, grabbing me and trying to get me to sit down. Instead I paced around the room, knowing we were too damn far away to do anything.

I dialed Bella’s number again and she picked up. Ty put the phone down and listened to me, talking to our daughter.

“Bella, it’s mom. Where are you? Are you okay?”





She wouldn’t answer.

“Bella, you answer me, right now.”

“What, mom?”

“Where are you? Grandma is frantic.”

“I don’t want to talk to her about it anymore, Mom. Tell her to stop. I’m not going back there until she promises to stop.”

“Stop what, baby? What is grandma doin’?” I was crying so badly that I could barely speak.

“Tell her to stop tryin’ to talk to me about daddy. She doesn’t understand. Nobody understands. It will never be the same. Nobody knows how I feel. You both lied to me. It’s all lies.”

“You’re so wrong, sweetie. Where are you, Bella? You can’t run off like this. A stranger could have grabbed you. I’ll tell her not to talk about daddy, but please, go back to grandma. I need to know you’re safe.”

A few seconds later I could hear my mother on the other phone. “I see her. I see her coming around the corner. We’ve got her.”

I was more relieved than angry, finally able to breathe knowing she was safe. “We’re goin’ to come and get them.”

“That’s not necessary. I’ll take her inside and make her sleep with me. We’ll be home tomorrow. I’m sorry I had to call you. She wouldn’t answer when I tried her phone. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Mom, it’s fine. She’s not her usual self right now. It’s not your fault.”

“You two stay there and get some rest. We’ll leave first thing in the morning and meet you at home.”

Ty and I both hung up the phones and looked at each other. Enough was enough. We couldn’t go through more of this. It was tearing us apart and this time we felt like something terrible had happened.

He wrapped his arms around me and wouldn’t let go. I’d heard of children being defiant, especially at her age, but this was out of hand and ridiculous. It wasn’t like we told her Ty wasn’t her dad and he didn’t love her. It was the exact opposite.

“What are we goin’ to do?”

He kissed me on the top of my head. “Whatever it takes, baby. We’ll do whatever it takes.”

I was afraid of what that answer meant, but was still too shaken up to consider our options. For now, our daughter was safe and that was all that mattered. Everything else was going to have to wait until morning.





Chapter 31


Tyler


I couldn’t take it anymore, and I sure as hell couldn’t get any rest knowing that things had gotten to this point. The problem was that I didn’t know what else to do. It had been weeks, and nothing had changed. Izzy hated me, and she wasn’t giving me any inclination that it was ever going to change. I waited until Miranda went to sleep to make the call. I knew it would change everything and piss her off, but I was out of options to fix my family.

This was a last resort, my last possible hope for getting back what we once had.

It was late and I was fully aware that they’d be in bed, but I dialed anyway.

Colt picked up after two rings. His voice was groggy. “Yeah?”

“Hey, it’s me. Look, I’m sorry to wake you up, but I need your help.”

“What’s wrong? Is everyone alright?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried to fight the emotions running through me. “Colt, everyone is fine but me. I can’t take this anymore, man. I’m losing her.”

“Who? Randa?”

“No. I’m losing Iz. She hates me, dude. She hates me so much that she almost ran away from Karen and John tonight. The kid is damaged from all of this, and she’s made it clear that she wants nothing to do with me.”

“She’ll come around. It takes time.” I wasn’t convinced that it was time she needed.

“It’s getting worse instead of better.”

“What do you want me and Savanna to do?” It felt good that he finally included her with things that had to do with me. It was about time.

“I think I have a resolution, but Miranda ain’t going to like it. In fact, I know she’s going to flip out. She may even leave me. At this point I don’t know what else to do.” I was starting to tear up, thinking of not only being without one of my girls, but both of them.

“It ain’t goin’ to come to that, Ty. This is just a bump in the road.”

“For however long it lasts, I know I can’t keep up with what we’ve been doing. That’s the reason for my call. I have a plan, a sort of last resort plan.”

“I think I know what it is. You want her to come here, don’t you?”

It broke my heart hearing him say it out loud. “I need to know if she really hates me or not. I need to know if separating us will help. I don’t know what else to do.”