“Karen, you need to calm down. I’m going to have to take this phone to the station. For now, I will post someone outside of the ranch keepin’ an eye on anything suspicious. I know you will be havin’ a lot of guests this weekend. Now, as far as these threats, since we don’t have a number and nobody has seen Tucker Chase around, I can’t really do much.”
She shook her head. “This is why I had to send her away in the first place John. It has to be him. Did you read the message?”
I was curious. “Can I see the phone?”
Ty stood over my shoulder as I pulled up the messages.
I know u r back bitch. This is just the beginning.
It took everything I had not to throw the phone across the driveway. This fire was intentional. Miranda’s ex was responsible. I knew it wasn’t her fault, but because of her involvement with him, my girlfriend had to suffer. I wasn’t okay with that.
“This guy is threatening my wife and child. There has to be something else you can do.” Ty was beyond angry. He was literally shaking while talking.
“Son, I understand your concerns. I can bring Mr. Chase in for questioning,” he offered.
“No!” I held my hand up for Ty to shut up and listen. “If they do that it will piss him off more. I think we have all lost enough here. You and Miranda need to stay inside. Don’t go anywhere alone and don’t let Bella out of your site.”
“Like that would ever happen,” Ty said sarcastically.
He never let her out of his sight; in fact he was attached to her hip for the most part.
“I think Colt is right. We need to just be careful. The inspector will be here later and maybe we will know more. We have to have proof before we can pick this guy up and keep him. If you want to put this kid away, we need to do it by the book.” The sheriff kept looking at my aunt. It was obvious they had something going on. Good for them and good for us. That meant he was going to bust his ass to get this shit handled.
Miranda walked toward us. She had on one of Ty’s college sweatshirts and it hung down to her knees. “What’s goin’ on?”
“They think it was Tucker. That son of a bitch sent more messages this morning. Do you believe this shit? We need to think about taking Izzy home baby. I can’t have your lives being in danger.”
I understood how Ty felt and if it was my family being threatened, I would want to leave town too, but them leaving would hurt Savanna even more. I didn’t know how to selfishly ask them to stay just so that Savanna would be able to cope with what had already happened. This was too serious to take lightly. They were in danger; it was more obvious now than ever.
“If you need to leave, we will understand.” I was disappointed, but I needed them to be safe.
Ty wrapped his arms around Miranda and kissed her head. “We can talk about it later.”
My aunt Karen started walking to the police car with the sheriff. I turned to look at Ty and Miranda. It was clear that she’d been crying. Her eyes were blood red.
“I’m so sorry Colt. You have no idea how sorry I am. I don’t even know what to say. This is all my fault.” Ty comforted his wife and offered me an apologetic smile. For once he really didn’t have anything to do with this.
“Don’t blame yourself Miranda. None of us expected this.”
Maybe we all did, but she couldn’t have known this would happen.
“He would have never done this if I hadn’t dated him,” she cried.
I approached both of my cousins and grabbed Miranda’s hand while Ty stood behind her. “If you didn’t date him you wouldn’t have Bella or Ty. Don’t be so hard on yourself. He made the choices, not you.”
“Savanna is going to hate me. Everything is ruined,” she cried.
“She won’t. She knows this isn’t your fault.” Actually, she will probably blame you forever. I hated that she would, but I knew her and she will need someone to blame.
I couldn’t say that to her. Miranda and Ty had worked so hard to change their lives. Everyone has skeletons in their closet, how could she have known something like this could result in their relationship. He didn’t even want to be with her in the first place.
“I hope you’re right Colt. I know how much she wanted your wedding to be perfect. She didn’t deserve this.” Miranda pulled out of Ty’s arms and started walking back to the house. She held her head down and continued to cry.
Ty turned to me and patted my shoulder. “Let me know if you need anything. I have to go try and calm her down. She’s a mess right now.”
I gestured toward the house. “Yeah, go ahead. I need to get back to my house too and check on Savanna. She ain’t taking this good at all.”