Risking Fate(107)

Since we got home from the hospital it seemed as if Conner was going out every night. He would never talk about what he was doing, but he never came home drunk or seemingly messed up at all. Sometimes he seemed like he was in bad mood though. He refused to tell me who he was with and what he was doing. He really liked to shoot pool, so I just assumed he was out at the local bar, playing billiards all night.

He and Ty played pool in the barn some nights and Ty said my brother was a real good shot. I guess that’s what happens when you’d played as long as he had. Since Conner seemed okay, I never worried too much about him. He was saving his money and even talking about buying a parcel of land from Ty’s dad to build a small house on. We had plenty of room for him on the farm itself, but he said he needed to start thinking about long term.

Our mother wasn’t too thrilled about his decision to stay here instead of going home to Kentucky. I guess she thought he would eventually move back home with her. I mean, it was the plan all along, until he moved here and realized he could start fresh.

Conner had been grabbing me the mail every day in hopes of my surprise to Ty being in there. When he came walking up the lane holding some envelopes, my heart started beating out of my chest. I met him outside instead of letting him walk in, even though I knew he was going to come in anyway.

“I wasn’t bein’ nosey, but there is an envelope from the lawyers office in there.”

I flipped through them until I saw the largest of the envelopes with the Kentucky address on it. “Oh God, it’s here.”

I stared at the envelope and tears filled my eyes. Conner pulled me into his arms. “Why are you cryin’, Darlin’? This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

It was what I wanted. In fact, it was all I ever wanted, but I knew someone who wanted it even more. “You don’t understand, Conner. Everything that Ty did for this to happen, everything we went through, he thinks it was for nothin’. He risked our marriage and we went through Hell over it. This envelope means it wasn’t for nothin’, Conner. I hate what he did, but this changes everything. It was never about sex or him wantin’ someone else, it was all for her, it was always for her.”

“Of course it was. Did you actually think he would have gone to that girl, if it wasn’t about his daughter? You know I never wanted you to be with Ty, but that man loves you. I knew from the beginning that he couldn’t have wanted to cheat on you.”

I looked up at my brother and sat down the envelope. “What do you mean, you knew from the beginning?”

He smacked himself in the side of the head. “Ah, shit, Miranda. I didn’t want you knowin’ that I knew. He didn’t want to go there at all, you know that. When he asked me to hit him that night, I demanded an explanation. I had no idea that you two were plannin’ somethin’ so stupid, but I understood how important it was for you to protect Bella from that stupid bitch.” Conner looked down and shook his head. “I told him to do whatever he had to do to save his daughter, but he said he couldn’t do that. He said she made him sick. So, when he called me later that night freakin’ out, I helped him get calmed down. Miranda, he didn’t remember anything and from the very beginning, I knew he was drugged. Do you really think Ty would come to me if he’d just voluntarily cheated on my sister. He knew I’d kill him. Look, I’m sorry for lyin’ to you, but he was set up and I knew if you knew the truth, you would leave him and break up your family.”

I pushed my brother clear across the room and when he came back at me with open arms, I smacked him in his face. “How could you keep that from me? How could you do that, Conner?”

“Because I knew how much it would hurt you and how much it was tearing him apart. I did it for your marriage.”

I pointed to the door. “Get out of my house! Just get the hell away from me.”

I knew that my brother knew, but I didn’t know he was a part of it from the beginning. All that time, he knew Ty’s secret and never said one word to me. I couldn’t believe he would keep something like that from me. Without even thinking, I called Ty at work. Ever since he’d gone back, his phone stayed in his pocket.

Hey, Baby, is everything okay?

No, it’s not!

Are the kids alright? Are you okay? Do you need me to come home?

Yeah, Ty, I really do. The kids are fine and physically I’m fine too.

What’s……hold on…your brother is calling me now. What the hell is going on?

Maybe you should just let him explain. Then when you get home, you can explain to me why you protected him.