“Honey, that is all so easy to say now, but what happens if the two of you don’t work out? What happens if your child needs medical attention and they require the father’s information?”

  “I will cross that bridge if it ever happens. Mom, I want my daughter to have a good life. Rusty’s already lost one child. Even if something happened between us, he’d never give up another child. That’s why I know it’s the right decision. If Tate gets to have a second chance at happiness, why can’t Rusty?”

  My mom reached over and placed her hand over mine. “Oh, Bella, he can. You both can.” We hugged each other for a few minutes, both crying at this point. My mother just wanted me to be happy, and even though I thought I was before, I knew this time it was going to happen. “Who else knows about this?”

  “Jake and Jax. That’s all.”

  “This secret stays between our immediate family. You don’t need to share it with anyone else.”

  “What about Daddy?”

  “I’ll explain it to him. There’s no need for you to get this upset again. It’s not healthy for the baby. He’ll be fine, Bella. Your father loves you no matter what.”

  “I really am sorry, Mom. I thought I loved him.”

  She wiped the tears away from my face as I spoke, like she’d done whenever I cried as a child. “Until you fell in love for real, right?”

  “Yes. Is that how you felt with Dad?”

  “Yeah, sweetie. It’s how I felt with your father. When I fell in love with him I knew the difference right away. It made me hate Tucker even more, because he’d been such a waste of my time. I’m just thankful that I had you. If that man did one good thing in his short life, it was giving me you. You’re perfect in every way, honey. Your daughter is goin’ to be lucky to have a mom like you.”

  My mom drove us home early that day. She took my dad into their bedroom and gave him the news, while I sat in the kitchen freaking out. I heard the door open and turned to see him smiling at me. He walked right over to the table and sat down beside me. “No more secrets, kiddo. Life is too short to do it all alone.”

  “I didn’t want you to be disappointed in me.” That burn was forming in my throat again. “I want you to always be proud of me.”

  He cupped my face with his hands. “Isabella Mitchell, I am proud of you. We all make mistakes. You know that.”

  “So you don’t hate me?”

  “Of course not. I don’t hate Rusty either. In fact, I’m kinda liking him even more now. It takes a real man to step up and take responsibility for a child that isn’t his. I mean, guys like that should be considered superheroes, or maybe even Greek Gods.”

  My mom and I started to laugh. “Dad, really?”

  He put his hands up. “What? I’m just saying, we’re pretty freaking cool. They always say that women marry their fathers. I thought it was meant to be incestuous, until now. I mean, what was the chance that you’d go out and find a younger version of me?”

  I shoved his playfully. “Dad. You’re ridiculous. I’ll be sure to tell Rusty how you feel.”

  “I’ll tell him myself. He’s a good man, Iz. He’s got problems, but so does everyone. All that matters is if he makes you happy.”

  “He does.”

  “Then go be happy. Stop coming here unannounced. It’s bad for my health.”

  With my dad’s sense of humor in full effect, I knew that I’d finally found peace. Tate was married, with a child on the way. I wasn’t keeping him from anything that he didn’t already have with his wife. If anything, I was protecting him from a truth he didn’t want to know about.

  Then there was Rusty.

  He claimed that I’d given him his life back, but in reality he’d taught me that love went beyond what I’d always assumed. He was going to be a good father, and a partner.

  All I had to do now was figure out how to combine his old life with our new one. I didn’t care what I had to do. I’d make it happen, for our future.

  Chapter 36

  Rusty

  After one night, I was already on my way out of Indiana. It was going to take me a long time, but I was

  determined to get to Isabella. She’d left me so that I could take care of things that I’d left unsettled, but the truth was that there was nothing more important in my life than being with her. I couldn’t afford to lose her over something from my past. My mother was going to have to learn to accept what she couldn’t change. The resemblance was only skin deep. What was inside of Isabella was nothing like any woman I’d ever met. She was heard-headed, always had to be right, caring, loyal, and above all the woman that I wanted to spend my future with.

  It took me eleven and a half hours to get to North Carolina, and another hour after I’d called Noah and got the address of the farm. Beat, and ready to honestly sleep for another twelve hours, I pulled into the driveway and parked where I saw her parents SUV. She’d told me which house was hers on the farm, and I’d seen a ton of pictures, so I knew which house to walk up to. I knocked twice before one of the twins came to the door. He saw me and leaned on it. “Which one am I?”

  “Is this a trick question? I’ve been driving for twelve hours, man. Can’t you give me a break?”

  He opened the door and let me all the way inside. “Bella, there’s some dude here to see you.”

  “Jax?” I guessed. He chuckled. “Close, but nope, I’m Jake.”

  “Quit messing with him, Jax,” Tyler Mitchell yelled as he walked into the room. He stuck out his hand. “Rusty. Did you just come all the way from Indiana?”

  “Yes.” I was a little upset with myself for not asking their permission to visit their daughter. She’s clearly been upset when he picked her up from the airport, and here I was beating down the door to get to her. I was lucky this guy didn’t jack me up and force me to be on my way.

  “So you heard that her mother and I know the truth?”

  I was stunned. Had she been so upset that she’d gotten to her parent’s farm and told them the truth? Did they know I wasn’t the father? “About what?”

  I heard her voice before I knew she’d entered the room. “Everything.”

  I put my hands in my pockets and clenched my jaw, trying to remain calm when I felt like the whole world was about to come crumbling down again. I’d driven so far to see her, to prove to her that my love was unconditional. After one fight she’d turned around and told them the truth. I didn’t understand how all of my efforts had turned to shit. “Why?”

  She walked toward me, breaking the distance between us. When her arms wrapped around my waist I felt confused. Clearly her parents knew that I’d lied. They lose all respect for me, and probably help her come to some kind of agreement with her ex. Was this hug her way of saying she was sorry? Was this going to lead to her telling me we were through?

  “I saw Tate today, Rusty.” The mere mention of his name made my heart wrench. This was the one person who could singlehandedly ruin my life. He could rip her away from me without a single consideration for what I was willing to do for her.

  I cut her off. “Where? Why? I thought we talked about this.” It didn’t matter that her dad was standing there with us. I needed to know what had happened. I was determined to find out if I’d caused this. Was I the reason that she’d run to North Carolina and told everyone the truth?

  “How about we go talk about this outside?” This wasn’t going to be good. She grabbed my hand and pulled me outside, where we

  walked further to a large red barn. Inside it was finished off, for entertainment purposes. She sat down on a couch and I plopped down beside her. “I still can’t believe you came all of the way here. Did somethin’ bad happen in Indiana?”

  “No.” I was antsy. “Everything is fine. Iz, I just came all this way to be with you. You’re scaring the shit out of me. What’s going on? Did you tell Tate about the baby to spite me?”

  “Absolutely not. I didn’t tell Tate nothin’. We ran into each other in a store. It wasn’t difficult for him to assume I was pregnant. I look like one of the cattle in the pastures. In fact, if I dressed in black and white you wouldn’t even be able to tell us apart.”

  “Don’t say that. You’re beautiful.” “I don’t feel beautiful.” My heart couldn’t take much more. I silently prayed that this was all a nightmare; that I wasn’t about to lose two people that I loved for the second time in my life. “I promise that you are. So then what happened?” I couldn’t let her change the subject, not when our future was riding on what had transpired.

  She shrugged and looked down. I felt like she was trying to find the words to break my heart with as little pain as possible. She didn’t know I was already breaking apart inside.

  “Then his wife walked up to us.” My eyes shot up to meet hers. “His wife? I’m confused.” “Let me help you out with that,” she offered. “Tate isn’t the

  depressed soul he was a couple of months ago. It seems that he and Jenn have gotten back together. The main reason being that she’s pregnant with his child.”

  In a matter of seconds everything had changed. “He’s having two children at the same time?”

  She shook her head. “No, Rusty. He’s having one child.” She grabbed my hand and put it on her belly. “This little girl is yours.”

  I can’t say that hearing that didn’t get me choked up. I wanted nothing more than to be a father to the child she was carrying. I’d made it my life’s mission to make it work. Just when I thought that all hope was lost, she was sitting across from me reassuring me that it was really going to happen. “So, he doesn’t know?”

  Iz shook her head. “No. I lied about my due date so he couldn’t even inquire. Tate has a wife and a child on the way. Finding out the truth would just ruin his life again. Jenn would never be able to look past it. Besides, our daughter deserves to grow up in a stable environment, with two parents that love each other. Don’t you think?”

  I ran my fingers through her wavy blonde hair. “Yeah. I do.”

  “My parents know the truth now, Rusty. They’ve promised not to tell the rest of the family.”

  “Are they pissed at me?”

  “No. contrary to what you might have thought, my dad now considers you his hero. It’s no secret that he’s not my biological father, but he’d never admit that to anyone else. The moment I told him what you were willin’ to do for us, he was sold on you bein’ a part of my life.”

  I pulled her against my chest and held her there as I spoke. “I was afraid I’d lost you. I can’t imagine spending a single day without you, Iz. That’s why I had to drive out here to find you. Indiana holds my past, and I get that you wanted me to have some kind of closure, but the truth is that I let go of it a long time ago, before you and I were even a thought. I explained to my parents that my future was in Kentucky, and I was staying there. While driving here I thought about what was best for our daughter. I’m going to see about getting back into the medical field. I’m sure there’s plenty of livestock that needs to be attended to. The Mitchell ranch alone pays the current vet a ton of money each year. I think if I got my license current, I’d be able to offer your family a more cost efficient plan than they’re paying. Maybe we could even open an animal hospital locally. With your business degree and my medical expertise, we could have our own family business. It’s going to take some time to see it all through, but don’t you think it will -.”

  She cut me off before I could finish. Her lips pressed against mine, and I was lost in the moment. Not only had I not lost Isabella, but I’d somehow gained the respect of her father. It was a win-win situation for both of us.

  We sat there on that couch for the longest time.

  Her parents were waiting when we headed back to the house. The look on their faces let me know immediately that they approved of me stepping up. Her dad approached me first. He held out his hand. “I may have a man crush on your right now.”

  “I’m going to pretend that’s not as weird as it sounds,” we both laughed as we shook. “I appreciate the gesture all the same. For a second I thought she was kicking me to the curb.”

  “We wouldn’t have let her do that.” He patted me on the back. “We’d just kick her to the curb and adopt you.” He winked at his daughter when he said it.

  From that moment I knew that everything was going to work out.

  That night after everyone else was asleep, Isabella snuck us out to the old barn. Instead of taking us into the party area, she lead us back to a private quarters. A small cot was folded up on one side, and a couch was on the other. She pushed me backwards until I was forced to sit down on the sofa. She then climbed on top of me and leaned in to kiss me. Her belly pressed on my chest, but it didn’t offend me. I knew that inside of her was something beautiful; something that was going to change our lives forever. Our fingers intertwined on both hands. The peaceful quiet of being in the closed barn reminded me that we were totally alone. She rocked her body back and forth, letting me know what she wanted from me. I pulled away from her lips, letting mine linger there still so close. “I love you.”

  “I know, Rusty. I’m going to thank God every day for bringin’ you into my life.”

  “I should be the one thanking him. Just when I was ready to give up I found you.”

  “Are you goin’ to make love to me, or sit here givin’ me more reasons to be crazy bout you?” She pulled her hands away from mine and ran them up my chest. “I’ll accept both, but prefer to have you naked.”

  I picked her up and laid her down on the couch, so that I was hovering over her body. My hand coursed over her belly as I leaned down to kiss it gently. “My girl,” I whispered. Then I stood up and lifted my shirt over my head. “I think I’m going to do both, Iz.” I began removing my jeans. “I’m going to give you reasons to want me, while I’m making sweet love to you.”

  From the smile on her face I could tell that had been the correct answer.

  There was no telling what our future had in store for us, but I’d been given a second chance, and I was going to live every day like it was a treasure.

  Epilogue – 1 Year Later

  Isabella

  “Jax, please don’t break that mirror. We drove all the way to Indiana to get it. I’d hate to see it damaged after

  we got it all the way here.” My brother steadied his hold and helped me get it into our mimi and poppy’s front door. I still couldn’t believe that we were moving into the original farmhouse in North Carolina.

  A lot had changed in the past year. Aside from planning the biggest wedding that my family was ever going to see, for my cousin Noah, and his fiancée Shalan, Rusty had started practicing medicine again. We were content in Kentucky until my parents offered us an opportunity that we couldn’t refuse. My grandparents were getting older, and barely used the upstairs of their house, except for storage. With a little work, my dad and uncle Conner had remodeled the entire second floor, giving us plenty of space to move in. For the most part my grandparents used four rooms that were located downstairs. My mom and dad had started making all the meals when my mimi had fallen asleep one night and almost burned down the house.

  When my parents asked us to move back it wasn’t just so that I could babysit my grandparents. It was so they could all see our daughter Sarah more.

  Sarah Mitchell Tillman was born on a cold winter’s night, during a full moon. The airports were closed, and it was impossible to drive from North Carolina to Kentucky. After they’d missed her first six days of life, my mom and dad were determined to be around for everything else that happened in her first eighteen years of life.

  Aside from being amazingly supportive to me, my dad had given Rusty back something he’s been working hard to get. He had the front of a part of our property commercially zoned. In six months he and my uncle had gotten all of the permits, and started the construction of a state of the art Veterinary hospital.

  The Tillman/Mitchell Medical Hospital was opening it’s doors in two weeks, and we hadn’t even finished moving from Kentucky yet.

  We’d spent the past week in Indiana, introducing Sarah to Rusty’s parents. All it took was one glance and they were both in love. For the first time I felt like they were finally able to look past my appearance and see that I loved their son, and he felt the same about us.

  We returned from the trip with his late daughter Sydney’s bedroom suite. I was reluctant at first, but could see how much it meant to Rusty to give it to Sarah. We also brought pictures to keep in her room of her sister that was up in heaven keeping her safe.

  It was funny how things that would have once bothered me no longer did. Rusty hadn’t just proven to me that his love was real. He’d become close with my parents. He and my father hit it off early on, and even my brothers came around. Now, I had to fight with them to be alone with my boyfriend.

  Speaking of my dad...

  I turned to see him holding my daughter, then throwing her high into the air. My little nine month old was full of giggles, making me smile immediately. He wasn’t just happy to have me back home. The fact that he could spoil her every day had made both of my parents the happiest that I’d seen them in years. Not to mention the fact that they always wanted to babysit.

  Just as I was watching the two of them bonding, I noticed Noah coming down the dirt road pulling the last of our things on a long trailer. Shalan waved before climbing out of the passenger seat and making her way over to where my dad and Sarah were. I met her halfway and hugged her, before heading in the direction of my cousin. “It took you long enough.”

  “Shalan had to pee five times. I told her not to bring that jug of tea with us. I’m surprised she ain’t jigglin’ around.” I hugged my cousin mid-sentence.

  “Thanks for doin’ this, Noah. I know you’re probably happy I’m gone, aren’t ya?”

  He gave me a grumpy face. “Now, come on. You know I loved bein’ able to see my favorite cousin every day. It was only a matter of time before you came home to your daddy and momma. I just hope my sister doesn’t think she’s movin’ into that house now that it’s vacant.”