Loving Her (Mitchell Family #9)(59)

After a couple minutes, when I realized that she wasn’t going to discuss it anymore, I climbed under the covers and decided to try to get some sleep.

I wish it would have been easy to close my eyes and pretend that everything was going to go as planned. After talking to my wife, I was more convinced that this plan of mine could go as badly as all the other things we’d tried before it.

If Izzy wanted to separate herself from me, I was going to give her the space she wanted. I was going to send her as far away as I could and hope and pray that it would bring her back to me. I had to try this, because if I had to spend one more day of her hating me and doing everything she could to hurt me, I was going to lose my mind.

For hours I lay awake, just staring at the ceiling. The more I thought about things, the more anxious I’d become. Now my wife was furious with me, so much so that she’d gone to bed and refused to talk it out, after we’d promised never to go to bed angry. We were supposed to be having a romantic getaway, and instead we were ending it like two people that didn’t want to be near each other.

I was afraid of this, afraid of losing my wife because I let my own selfish emotions get in the way. We should have been working together to solve things, but I found myself pulling away from everyone.

I looked over at my sleeping wife and ran my fingers through her blonde hair. She meant so much to me, my whole family did. I didn’t want to be estranged from any of them. My boys needed their father and my wife needed her husband. I just wished that my daughter needed her daddy, the way I needed her.





Chapter 32


Miranda


I wasn’t just angry that Ty had called Colt and Van. I was hurt that he’d not included me in his plan.

The next morning I woke up, anxious to get on the road and get home. I didn’t want to piddle around at the beach when I knew what awaited us.

Ty was quiet, offering to drive, but saying nothing as we loaded up the car and got on our way. I hated that we were fighting when it was more obvious than ever that we needed to stick together. Bella was determined to form a wedge between us, and we were letting it happen, without even realizing that it was.

Even if I didn’t agree with Ty’s idea, I felt obligated to see it through, because I would have done anything to make things go back to the way they were before.

I cuddled up next to him as he drove, and finally after about an hour, I’d made my decision. “Are you sure Colt and Van are okay with all this?”

He clenched his jaw. “They said they’d do anything to help us.”

“She’s expectin’ to be punished when she gets home, so I guess we can tell her then.”

“At first she’s probably going to act happy about it. I’ve tried to prepare myself for that.”

He was right. She’d want to be with Noah and be away from us. It could only be expected. “I know, but I trust you, Ty. If you think this could bring her back to us, I’m willin’ to try it.”

He reached over and grabbed my hand, but kept his eyes on the road. “Thank you, baby. I felt like shit last night over it. The last thing I wanted to do was upset you. I don’t want to fight, not with you or our daughter.”

How was it that we were going through such drama? What had we done to deserve it? I thought we’d been through enough when Bella had gotten sick. I figured that our problems were over when she’d started getting better. Now, we had another catastrophe on our hands. “I don’t want to fight either, especially considerin’ that I’m goin’ to be a mess until she’s back home with us.”

He squeezed my hand and looked over at me for a second. “We’ll get through this.”

“I hope so.” It hurt to think about how all of this had happened and how we’d gotten so desperate to find a resolution. I would have been able to wait until she stopped being mad at me, but Ty was so broken up over Bella. He couldn’t stand feeling lost any longer. If there was even the slightest chance that she’d love him again, he had to go through with it.

We arrived home a couple hours later. I could tell he was exhausted, and he’d admitted that he hadn’t gotten much sleep. My mother and John had called to say that they would be another hour, so Ty went to lie down.

I sat in my living room, looking around at the pictures on the walls. Ty and Bella were so happy in all of them. In each family photo she was either on his lap or holding his hand. It broke my heart to think about that bond being broken, and I knew he was suffering more than I could ever imagine.

Ty had told me how Colt wanted him to drive Bella to Kentucky. It made sense, considering that she’d have to speak to him at some point during that long ride.

My problem was him having to ride home upset and alone. It made me nervous, and my heart hurt for him at being able to put himself in that kind of situation.

When my boys came running through the door, I was more than happy to see them. While they both hugged me and started talking about all the fun they’d had, Bella headed straight to her room. I looked at my mother and John, and they both shook their heads and looked at one another. “Why don’t you take your stuff to your room?”

I watched them running back to their rooms. My mother approached me. “She hasn’t said much this morning. I think she feels bad about worrying me last night.”

I looked down at the floor, finding it hard to tell my mother what we were thinking of doing with Bella. “Mom, I think you might want to sit down.”