Raging Love(9)

I wanted to stay in bed with her all day and pretend that the fire never happened, but with a guest list of over two hundred people due to arrive in just three days, there was a lot of work that needed to be done. I had to figure out where we could move the site of the wedding to and how we could make it look remotely like the barn had. We still had two old barns from the original farm, but they were filled with old equipment and one was all the way out by my aunt’s house. I was going to have to hire someone to come in to help move all of the shit out of it to see if it was even stable enough to house all of those people.

My mother and Aunt Karen could take charge of the decorations and everything else we had to replace; while Conner, Ty and I did all that we could to make everything else work.

While Savanna slept off her liquor binge, Sam and I headed out to look around the ranch. There had to be a way to make all of this happen and give Savanna the wedding she deserved. I needed her to look back and think that our wedding was one of the most beautiful moments of her life.

I found Ty leaning over the kitchen counter talking to Miranda. Bella was running around the island as usual, swinging something in her hands.

“Hey guys.”

“Hey Cuz. So what’s the plan? What can we do to help?” Ty asked.

Bella came up and hugged my leg. I picked her up and realized she was holding a pickle. It had been chewed to hell and apparently dropped on the floor a few times. “Do you have a pickle?” I teased.

She shook her head ‘yes’. “Daddy gib me.”

“He did? Well it looks like a good tastin’ pickle.”

Of course she pushed it up toward my mouth. “Bite.”

I sat her down before I could have a dirty pickle shoved in my mouth. She started running around like I disappeared into thin air.

I leaned over the opposite side of the kitchen island. “I was thinkin’ that we should look around the two old barns and figure out which one we could get cleaned out faster. I can hire some people to come haul out all the stuff while we run into town and get the new speaker wire and lighting. If we start on this today, we might be able to surprise Savanna and make it happen.”

“Count me in. I can do whatever you need.” Ty handed Bella a new pickle and took the old one. “Eat this one instead baby.”

“Mommy yook.” She held up the pickle to show Miranda.

“I see it. I bet it tastes good.” Miranda pretended to take a bite. I knew for a fact that she hated pickles. We used to hold her down and make her drink pickle juice

As Miranda bent down to give Bella attention, I watched Ty watching them intently. He wasn’t looking at his wife because she was bent over; it was more like he was admiring her being a mother. He focused on them interacting, and seemed so content with himself. I still couldn’t get over the way he loved them, but the longer I spent with them, it was obvious it was real.

He turned and noticed that I was watching him and smiled, letting out an air filled laugh. “Baby, I’m going to walk out with Colt. Be back in a sec.”

“K!”

Ty followed me outside and we hopped on the golf cart. “I still can’t get over it man.” I confessed.

“Well, it’s real. You all can think whatever you want. Nothing will change the way I feel about them. I have never in my life been more happy as when I’m with the two of them. When I go to work, I think about them all day. I can’t wait to get home at night and see them and tuck Izzy into bed.”

“She really seems to love you, but I guess she always did, even when she was a baby.”

We pulled up at the barn near my Aunt Karen’s house. The door had broken hinges and hung crooked. I sighed as we jumped off and started walking toward it.

“I can’t remember a time where I didn’t love Izzy. I don’t give a damn what the blood tests say, she is mine Colt. Being a dad is the most satisfying feeling. In fact, when she called me Daddy for the first time, I actually cried. There ain’t much to make me cry, but damn she gets to me like no other ever has.”

“Savanna and I are tryin’ to get pregnant. We’ve only been tryin’ for a couple of months. I can’t wait for it to happen.” We both pulled a side of the barn door and walked it open. Aside from the hayloft being full of old hay, and probably a few critters, the first floor wasn’t that bad. There was a bunch of metal pieces from the tractors, a few tires and even some old barrels. It wouldn’t take much time at all to get it cleaned out. Of course, it was very filthy. Twenty years of cobwebs and dirt filled every inch of the inside of the barn.

“So what do you think? You think we can make this work in three days?” Ty asked.