Fight Like A Mitchell Read online

  Table of Contents

  FIGHT LIKE A MITCHELL

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  FIGHT LIKE A MITCHELL

  By: Jennifer Foor

  A Mitchell Family Series Novel

  Told by:

  Lots of Mitchell’s and Healy’s

  Copying this title is a crime.

  Don’t be a thief

  A Mitchell-Healy novella

  Copyright © 2017 Jennifer Foor

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a written act of fiction. Any places, characters, or similarities are purely coincidence. If certain places or characters are referenced it is for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. This book is not allowed to be offered for sale, discounted, or free on any sites by anyone other than JENNIFER FOOR. To reiterate: This book may ONLY be distributed by Jennifer Foor, the owner and Author of this series.

  DOWNLOADING EPUB COPIES IS A FRADULENT ACT.

  Mitchell Family Tree

  Chapter 1

  SAVE THE DATE

  Colt

  I’ve always considered myself a man with patience, but when it comes to my kids being late, I can’t help the frustration I’m overcome with. My wife Savanna is better at it. She’s too consumed with the grandkids to pay me any mind. By this point in our marriage, she probably just knows when to ignore me to keep the peace.

  Noah and Shalan are the only of the kids to have arrived thus far. Their kids are being angels, because Grandma is feeding them sweets and doting over those cute smiles.

  Looking to my son, I huff a sigh of annoyance. “How much longer? I was ready for bed an hour ago. We’ve got to be up before daylight if we want those chickens going out on time.”

  “You’ll be fine, old man. It’s just a bit longer. Chris said as soon as Ethan gets home she’s stopping by and grabbing Addy and Cole, then they’ll be here. Chill, Dad. I’m sure everyone can wait a few more minutes,” Noah tells me, though it does nothing for my mood.

  Getting the family together, the whole entire crew, it’s getting to be impossible. With this being important to my wife, I’m high strung about being prompt from the get-go.

  “It’s almost ten. Why must we do this so late? This would be better in the middle of day,” I grumble in a low voice.

  “Quit bitching, Dad. We’ll make it quick. We’re only organizing the dates of the event with everyone to make sure it’ll work. Since there’s so many of us this needs to be done. Take a chill pill. Sit back and have some bourbon before you get your tighty-whities knotted up.”

  An irritated scowl erupts over my face as I cast my gaze on my only son. He’s a know-it-all. Always has been. Always will. If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll go sit beside his little wife and shut his trap.

  Noah pulls two glasses from the liquor cabinet and pours us both a stiff shot. He takes his down quickly, while I savor mine a while.

  The sound of the front wooden screen door captures our attention. Noah turns and raises his brow, as if to say he told me so. I cross my arms over my chest and lean back in my office chair, waiting for the room to fill up.

  The sounds of chatter lets me know my gang has finally got their butts here.

  Savanna is the first to step inside. She’s holding our youngest grandson in her arms with a bottle in the opposite hand. “He’s teething. I can’t get him back to sleep with all this noise. I’m going to take him upstairs. Just fill me in when you’re all done.”

  Placing my hands firmly on the mat that sits evenly on my desk top, I sigh. “Woman, this is all for your behalf.”

  She smiles, that smile I seem to crave. It’s the kind of smile that settles me after a hard day. Her beauty never ceases to amaze me. Savanna is, and will always be, my everything. The fact that she battled cancer only makes life more precious to us. We don’t take things for granted. “I’m aware of what everyone is doing. I’m sure it will be similar to last year.”

  “Darlin’, can’t you let Shalan have the boy back so you can be here? When Ty gets on this call he’s going to wonder where you are. It’s too late to hear his shit. I’m beat.”

  She faces the small child. “Grandpa is being a grumpy pants, isn’t he? It’s past his bedtime too.” His chubby cheek squishes when she presses her lips against it. “Come on. Let’s go give you to Mommy.”

  After a few seconds I hear a cranky baby as he’s handed over to his mother. Savanna has a way with children. It’s like she puts them under a contentment spell when she’s holding them. They instantly calm and are soothed by her sweet voice. I envy her for that. Sometimes I find it hard to be gentle with them, especially the boys. We play rough. That’s how I was raised. It’s how I raised my son. All this mumbo jumbo about bullies wasn’t heard of when I was coming up. If we had a problem we took care of it. End of story. Now children are babied. They don’t learn from mistakes like we did. I got the belt. Lucky for my kids, they had a mother who was too soft to allow the same punishments we were given as children.

  The room begins to fill up with my kids, and their significant others. Addison and Cole look like they’re up to no good, while Christian and Ethan are hand in hand and glaring at one another as if they have something better they’d like to be doing. I know that look. It belongs in the bedroom, not my cramped office. “You two are already expecting. Get those looks off your faces and come over here so we can get this done.” They both smile as Ethan leans forward and kisses my daughter on her forehead. If I didn’t like that boy so much it might bother me, but he’s a good man, a hard worker, and he’ll be a great father. I’ve known him since he was wee little. I treat him like he’s mine, but he doesn’t take much shit from me, unlike Cole. That little ass kisser never gives up. He’s relentless with buttering me up, and for the most part, it works. I’ve grown to love the kid. He makes Addison happy, and that’s all I can ask for.

  She comes over to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Sorry we were late. I tried to make something new for dinner and now Cole has diarrhea.”

  “TMI, Addy. Damn!” Noah shakes his head.

  Savanna is more understanding. “We have some Imodium in the bathroom. Colt has a sensitive stomach when something is spicy.”

  “Okay, enough of this. Why does every conversation in this family have to either turn to shit or be about it?”

  “Everyone poops, Dad,” Chris announces.

  “Again, keep your shit to yourselves, literally. In five seconds I’m closing this damn machine and going upstairs. So far this is nothing but a waste of time. I don’t even know why I have to be here. You women seem to have it under control.”

  Noah comes over and stands beside me. “Okay, let’s be serious. Dad’s having a tantrum. We all know how he gets when he goes to bed after eight.” His joke ends with a snicker before he’s staring at the computer screen with the Skype menu displayed. “Do you remember how to pull up the site?”

  “Do I look like an imbecile?”

  He leans over my shoulder and stares at the computer screen. “What about adding people to the chat? Did you set the gro
up up yet? Did you save it from last time?”

  I scoot my chair out, running over one of his boots in the process. He scatters backward and curses as I come to stand in front of him. “Since you doubt me, you do it.”

  He playfully shoves me the rest of way so that he’s able to sit in my chair. “Finally!”

  Shaking my head, I smirk. Chip off the old block.

  I’m standing behind my son until I see all the small video screens start to pop up. There’s nine in total. Ty and Miranda are in the top left corner. Jax and Amber are top center. Bella and Rusty are the left center. Jake and Reese are the center. Conner and Amy end that row. The bottom row are their children. Cassie and Logan are on their own. While Cammie, Wes, Josh, and Tamsyn are in one together. The final square is Callie is Cob. We’re not including any of the great-grandparents in the planning. They can bake and do their part to share the news around town without over exhausting themselves like they often try to do. That being said, it feels like my office is crammed to the max. As everyone begins to greet each other, I shake my head. “And why didn’t you all do this from your own houses?”

  Addison slides her arm into mine and sort of hugs it. “That’s simple, Dad. We knew you wouldn’t do it without us. If we weren’t coming over, you’d be in bed by now. We all know how you roll, Pops.”

  “How I roll, huh? Yeah, I should’ve known too.”

  “Grandpa can’t hang anymore,” Ty says, after hearing the kids getting on me. “Don’t you know the best things happen after dark?”

  Even in the small screen I can see Miranda giving him a shove. “Leave Colt alone. You’d be in bed too.”

  Ty cackles and claps his hands together. “Whatever. Let’s get this show on the road. It’s my understanding that Shalan and Amber are going to handle the entertainment side after the walk. Let’s leave that to them.”

  Addison points to the screen where Jax is sitting. Amber has gotten up and left the room for some reason. She covers her mouth and begins laughing loudly. Until the group of us really focus, we can’t tell what the fuss is over.

  Noah is the first to say something. “Boy, what kind of weird shit you got going on that television of yours? Is that an ape? Oh my God is that a female orgy with a freaking baboon?”

  Jax spins around and checks out the television. He’s grinning when he brings his attention back to us. Everyone gets quiet, and in the background we can actually hear moaning. The screen is too small to show the color of his face changing, but as he jumps up and runs to shut it off, we can tell he’s pretty embarrassed, which says a lot with him. “It’s SKINEMAX. Playmate of the Apes,” he comes back with. “I was trying to get Amber in the mood. It was go time until you all interrupted.”

  “You were trying to turn on your wife with naked women and apes?” Bella asks with a giggle. “You’re so sick in the head.”

  “I’ve been saying that for years,” Reese adds. Since she dated my nephew for a time, it’s even more hilarious coming from her.

  “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little SKINEMAX to put you to bed. They have plots now,” Ty defends. “I like the stories.”

  Rolling my eyes, I look around the room and see that none of my crew has anything to say about it. “Keep that information, like the rest of the shit you all do, to yourselves. Now, can we get back to the event, or are we here to talk about Jax’s bedroom antics.”

  “You can’t handle what we do in the bedroom, Uncle Colt.” Jax wiggles all his fingers in front of the camera. Amber comes to sit next to him and we witness him going after her like he’s going to demonstrate. “These are my magic hands. Amber loves it when I…”

  I lean my body toward the computer and do a couple clicks. The screen shuts off his box. Noah gives me a smirk. “Impressive. I didn’t know you knew how to hang up with one person.”

  “No time for that nonsense. Do we have a date?”

  “Yes. It’s October 28th,” Shalan answers from the doorway. She’s still holding the baby, rocking him to sleep. “We figured if we did it that weekend we could also have some costume contests and more fun activities for the children. We could do hayrides and some pony rides too.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Christian concurs. “Face painting would be cool too. Cole is good at that.”

  Ethan clears his throat. “How would you know? You two sit around on weekends and paint each other’s faces?”

  “No. We’ll he’s great with a sharpie and he does tattoos for a living. You should see what he drew on my abdomen when we first met.” Her face turns the color of a bright morning rose. “Sorry Daddy. Didn’t mean to take it there.”

  Clenching my jaw, I remind myself they’re all adults now. I would have liked both of my little girls to save sex until after marriage, but that’s just too much to ask these days, not that it worked much for me either.

  I back away from the desk and start pushing the females in the room in front of the screen. Noah gets up and lets Shalan sit down. Savanna, Addy and Chris get behind her. I look toward Noah, then Ethan and Cole, and the four of us make a beeline out of the office.

  We’re out on the porch in the dark, the gabbing of the women can still be heard in the quiet of the night that surrounds us. Still, it’s more peaceful out of that room. “I know you’re mom wanted us all involved, but we don’t need to be in there right now. They can just give us the details when it’s done.”

  “I bet Uncle Ty is still on the chat,” Noah suggests.

  “Josh too,” Ethan adds. “He’s so pussy whipped there’s no way he was allowed to leave.”

  I can agree with my son-in-law. This family affair isn’t going to go well if us men are in charge. It’s a job for the women to handle. I’ll admit when I have no business making plans, and this is one of those times. “If Conner left after we did, then Josh probably followed. I reckon they’re doing the same thing we are. Just waiting for all this to be done so he can get some shut eye.”

  Noah pats me on the shoulder. “Go on upstairs, Pop. I’ll make sure everyone clears out as soon as they’re done.”

  After shaking my son’s hand with gratitude, I do as he suggests and head up to my room. The door creaks as I enter, and when the lights flicker on, I’m met with a bed full of grandchildren. A heavy sigh escapes me. “Guess Grandpa isn’t getting rest anytime time soon. Make room. I’m coming in and telling you a story.”

  At the end of the day, when the lights go out and it’s time to thank God for everything you have, I’m thankful for my life, my wife, and my children, but these grandkids have me wrapped around their little fingers.

  We’re nestled on the bed together, with my arms wrapped around them. My hat remains on my head, tipped down, and I think about what I want to say. “Once upon a time there were four cousins.”

  “We heard this one already, Grandpa,” Noah’s son Spence says.

  “Well now, maybe it’s a different story this time around. This one you’ll like.”

  I end up telling four stories before I hear Savanna coming up the stairs. In the dim lit doorway I see their parents entering the room to grab them, who’ve all finally fallen asleep. It’s cold when I feel their warm bodies leaving the spaces beside me.

  Savanna leans over and kisses me. “Sorry we took so long. Go on to bed. I’ll see them out.”

  “You sure? I’m awake.”

  “I’m sure. If anyone needs their beauty sleep it’s you, Colt Mitchell. Keep it up and I’ll force you to watch that ape movie your nephew had on.”

  We both get a kick out of her words. “You win. Goodnight, Darlin’.”

  I don’t go right to sleep like she suggested. Instead I get up and change out of my clothes and then stand in the doorway listening to my family say their goodbyes for the night. We all live on the ranch now. It’s not like they have to travel far distances. Hearing my children make responsible adult decisions, and seeing the respect they have for their mother makes me so damn proud. I smile to myself in the darkness of room, a
ppreciating that even when exhausted, I know we’ve done good.

  Chapter 2

  A little R&R or not!

  Savanna

  Colt holds my hand as he drives. It’s the little things that seem to make my heart still patter. He knows when to put on the charm and remind me of all the reasons I fell in love with him. In a way, I’m just as giddy as I was the first time we kissed. He’s been there through it all, by my side with strength and compassion.

  Over twenty years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Not a day goes by where I don’t think about that exact day, the moment I looked into my doctor’s eyes and knew the news without having to hear her say it. Back then, Colt and I were trying to manage kids, the ranch, and our own relationship. We were young and naïve. We fought over things that weren’t important. Back then I shut him out, forsaking him of my own struggles so that he could focus on his son. Noah needed him, and as much as I did to, I knew there were others who’d step in and be the shoulder for me to cry on.

  Sometimes I’ve regretted those decisions, but on other instances I’m grateful. There’s nothing like the relationships I’ve developed because of this family. Colt is my rock. Just like I knew he would, he stepped in when things got hard. He did what he had to, even if at times it broke his heart. I don’t know where I’d be without that man, but I also don’t know where I’d be without Ty and Miranda. They’ve been there since the beginning. As many times as I’d like to have rang Ty’s neck, he’s one of my oldest and best friends. I love him dearly. He’d do anything to protect me, and nothing is greater than knowing and seeing him grow into the man and father he’s become. He’s a devoted husband, and the closest thing Colt will ever have to a brother. The bond the four of us share, or make that six when I include Conner and Amy, is unbreakable. With the power of hope, faith and lots of prayers, I was able to beat the fight, yet so many have not. It’s been my deepest sorrow to know what this disease can take from a family. I’ve spent the past twenty years doing everything I can to raise awareness and funds for the cause. The fact that our family has joined in with me is undeniably gratifying, not to mention a testament of their devotion to all of us. We’re influential people, but we’re even more than that when we’re a joined congregation.