Raging Love (24 page)

Maybe we were jumping the gun, decorating things so early, but we were just so excited. The doctors were saying that my pregnancy was normal and healthy, and that we had nothing to worry about.

The next couple of months flew by and I was almost to my third trimester. With the exception of Noah’s riding lesson
s
, in which I was not participating in the riding part, I
didn’t
do much at all. Lucy had little to do at the main house, so my mother in law had arranged that she take care of me and our house more.

We would end up chatting the day away, especially when Noah went out to work with the guys. Ever since our trip to Ty’s farm, he had been obsessed with chickens. We had both kinds of chickens at our ranch. We g
rew baby chickens for large poultry
companies and also raised chickens for eggs. Colt gave Noah the sole
responsibility
of taking care of the chicken coop. His daily
duties
were to collect the eggs, hose out the crap and make sure they
were all accounted for. You never knew when a fox was going to a have late night feast.

Colt got his little
‘
mini me
’
son a matching John Deere ball cap for when they worked together. It was the cutest thing.
Even his uncle Conner got in on the hat party. Of course
,
I took a million pictures and added to our family wall in the house.

Ty and Miranda
had decided to bring their other horse Thunder to live a
t our ranch, so Noah was
thrilled to be able
to play with his cousin Bella and to have another horse to ride. We invited them to stay at our place, but we knew they would be more comfortable at the main
house
. Miranda and Bella still had their rooms there and it gave
them
a little more
privacy
. Even after being married for over a year, the two of them hadn’t exactly settled down.
They fa
wned over each other every chanc
e they got.

We tried to visit with them every couple of months. It was important for us to keep the kids close.

Bella and Noah were instant
friends from the first moment they
met. I will never forget the first time they saw each other. Since Noah is eight months older than Bella, he made the first gesture. We had greeted them on the porch. Of course Noah stood behind his father, nervous about meeting
someone for the first time. Ty was carrying Bella in his arms and slowly sat her down in front of us. When she reached up to hug Colt, it took Noah about two seconds to walk around his father and see who was getting all of his attention. Colt knew what was going on, so he sat Bella down and the two of them just stared at each oth
er.
Noah still had a hold of a huge bit of Colt’s jeans.

He put his hand on his son’s head. “Noah, this is your cousin Bella.”

“What’s a cousin?” He asked.

Ty bent down and touched Noah’s chin. “It means that she is your family.”

“How long is she goin’ to stay here?”

“Only for the weekend, Kiddo,” Ty explained. He stood up laughing and shaking his head. “Like father like son. He looks so much like you, it’s unreal, dude.”

Before Colt could respond, we heard chatter from the kids. “Want to see my room?”

“Okay.” Bella took Noah’s hand and they disappeared in the house.

Of course, Ty had some obnoxious comments when they were out of sight. “Dude, have you taught him about the bird
s
and the bees yet? I don’t know if
I’m
okay with my daughter going into a little
boy’s
room yet.”

Miranda nudged him in the side. “Ty, shut up! It’s cute.”

For the whole weekend the two of them played like they had known each other their whole lives. In fact, we had to keep checking on them because they never came down for food or drinks.
They were
inseparable
.

After that first initial visit
,
us adults promised
that we would also try to get together
as much as we could. Ty and Miranda were the second most excited people to find out that Colt and I were expecting. Since they were hoping to get pregnant themselves, it made us having babies at the same time more exciting.

Family was the most important thing in my life and I had the best one out there.
I was so happy and had everything that I had ever wanted.
I couldn’t wait to
meet our
newest addition.

Chapter 19

Colt

If someone would have told me that through tragedy something good would come, I wouldn’t have
believed
them last year, but seeing my son and my wife proved that theory to be true. Savanna and Noah were my whole world and the fact that he loved
her so much, made my life feel complete
.

When we found out we were going to have another baby
all I could feel was relief. Savanna loved Noah like he was her own, but I knew that having a baby meant the world to her. To add to the excitement, Noah was just as excited. In fact, he couldn’t wait to meet his brother or sister, although he was really hoping for that brother.

I knew I was torturing both he and Savanna, but I wanted to be surprised. This
was our first birth and
it
needed
to be as exciting as possible.

With Ty and Miranda arriving any moment, Noah was running around the yard like a maniac. He had already planned out he and Bella’s whole weekend, starting with showing her how he could drive his own golf cart. Bella had just turned four and Noah was getting closer to five. He always took
control of their plans. Bella never seemed to care. The two of them could spend hours playing with rocks as long as they had each other.

Being that Bella needed to spend time with her grandmother while they
visited
, Aunt Karen had planned to take both kids to her house for the first night. Noah didn’t spend the night at places, other than my mother’s house, unless Bella was in town. He went wherever she went. So, while Aunt Karen had a fun night planned for the kids, Savanna and I had planned a night of cards.

Savanna couldn’t drink, due to her pregnancy, but she didn’t seem to care in the least. She had been the one to drive
to the liquor store and stock up the
fridge with what everyone liked. She had also spent the past two days cleaning everything in the house. I have no idea what made her do it. Lucy kept the
house
perfect and it wasn’t like she had to impress Ty or Miranda.

At any rate, my wife was pregnant and I tried to not argue with any of her decisions, even when they were ridiculous. Speaking of ridiculous, she was now on this kick about having our baby in a bathtub. She forced me to sit up with her one night and watch two women having babies in their tubs. After I saw the water turning a shade of red, I had to get up and walk in the other room. Not my wife though, she sat there eating popcorn like it was an
Emmy
winning flick.

Like all of her ideas lately,
I ignored her.
I knew it
would
be pushed aside by some new idea she got in her
head.

Ty and Miranda arrived at our house
a little after dinner. Bella had
unhooked herself from her seatbelt and was already flying out of the door when we walked outside. Clear ac
ross the field, I could see my s
on running toward us, waving his hands.

Savanna came out holding her growing baby bump and gave everyone a smile. Miranda climbed out of the car and gave me a big hug. “Hey Cuz.”

“Hey yourself,” she replied.

Just like every time, Ty went running up toward Savanna. He normally picked her up and spun her around, but as he got closer to her he stopped dead in his tracks. Savanna stood there looking at him. “What?”

“It’s just….well it’s your tits. I barely recognized you with those giant melons.” He immediately started laughing and held his arms out to her.

“I missed you too.” Savanna shook her head as she pulled away.

Ty grabbed her hands and stood back looking at her. “Seriously Van, you look great. Pregnancy looks good on you. The boobs do too.”

I walke
d
up and put my arm around Ty. “It never gets old with you does it?”

“Nope, never.”
He leaned in close to me. “Dude, they are huge. Don’t tell me you aren’t loving that shit.”

I cackled and cleared my voice. I said nothin
g, but the smile on my face says
it all. He was right, Savanna’s breasts were huge and I was loving every second if it.

Once Miranda and Savanna had giv
e
n
each other big hugs, T
y and I took the truck to drop T
hunder off to the pasture. There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to be happy to see Daisy again.

We got halfway down the lane and Ty was drumm
ing on his knees. He had a hu
ge smile on his face.

“What is up with you? I know for a fact your daughter was in the car on the way here, so what gives?” I asked.

“My wife says I can’t talk about it.”

I knew he was busting, so I decided to use reverse psychology on his ass. “Fine, I didn’t really want to know anyway.”

He immediately turned
to face me. “Dude, Miranda is
p
reggers
.
A miniature me is growing inside of her.
”

I shook my head at how he announced it. “I kinda figured. That is awesome Cuz. Savanna is goin’ to be so freakin’ excited.”

“We just took the test this morning, so it’s really early still. I just can’t wait dude. Izzy is going to go nuts when she finds out. I don’t think I can be like you guys and not find out what it is. I want to know right now and it had only been one day.”

I started laughing. “Yeah, Savanna isn’t too happy about waiting either. I didn’t do it to make them suffer. I want to experience the whole natural surprise.”

“Dude, fuck that! There is no way I can go nine months and not know.”

“To each his own Cuz. Have you talked to Conner today?”

“Miranda sent him a text message earlier. He said he might stop by later.”

“Might? What the hell does that idiot have to do that is more important than seein’ his family? Sometimes I wonder what that boy is thinkin’.”

Ty started coughing he was laughing so hard. “You should have seen when he came out to our place for that one week. He wanted to go out drinking every damn night. By the third night, I couldn’t even function. He parties way too much. I know I used to be bad about it too, but
he just drinks until he becomes
completely
belligerent
. It really pissed Miranda off. We didn’t want him acting like that in front of Izzy.”

“He works his ass off in the day, but we don’t see him much at night. He never complains and always shows up the next mornin’ to work. I don’t know what to do about him.”

“Have you thought about what we discussed last time we visited?”

“Yeah, I reckon’ we can look into it. You do know what has to happen if we proceed, right?” Ty and Miranda were inquiring about branching out the cattle business to his family farm. Things were going really good for them and they wanted a new venture that would be
profitable
. With my contacts, and Conner helping them get it all started, it was a great opportunity for both of us.

I tell ya, Ty really had his shoulders on right. Everyone was so upset about he and Miranda at first, but everything we thought we knew about that boy was dead wrong. He was one hell of a father, a devoted husband, and a pretty smart businessman. He managed their money and knew exactly what he needed to do to make sure th
ey never had to worry about anything
. It didn’t hurt that he and Miranda would eventually get the farm. He would never have to pay a stiff mortgage, not that I did either. We were both very fortunate.

“I guess we can talk about more when he is around. I don’t want to do it if he is all drunk though. He thinks he knows everything.”
Ty wasn’t lying. Conner was unmanageable when he was drunk. The man was sailing down a dangerous path and he really didn’t seem to give a shit what anyone thought about it. Having Savanna and Noah had taken my focus off of Conner and his
endeavors
. He was a grown damn man, for Christ sakes. He needed to grow the hell up and be responsible.

The moment Thunder went trotting in that corral, Daisy came right up to him. Atticus stayed in the corner of the pasture while the two lovebirds got reacquainted. Ty and I stood there laughing at the two of them for a couple minutes, before heading back to be with the girls.