“Leave him out of it,” Yvette ordered.
Victor raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her before he suddenly lurched forward, squaring up to Mitchell.
Mitchell’s heart thumped. However, he was used to people reacting aggressively when he stopped them from hanging padlocks on the bridges and he was not going to let Victor intimidate him. He’d played a big part in bringing Yvette and her family back together again, and this angry man wasn’t going to taint that.
Mitchell got in Victor’s face. “I’m a friend of the family.”
“And I’m supposed to be impressed by that?”
“I don’t actually care what you think,” Mitchell said. “I’m here for Yvette and the Bradfields. You’re a thief and Yvette was so worried about what you’d do to her, she ran away from you. She was protecting her unborn baby. A baby with a heart defect. Does that make you feel like a proper man?”
A flicker in Victor’s eye told Mitchell he wasn’t used to being questioned. He grabbed the front of Mitchell’s shirt. “Don’t you ever speak to me like that again,” he hissed.
Mitchell jerked away and shoved the smaller man so he stumbled backward. Mitchell reared up to his full height. “Yvette wants to start afresh. She acknowledges you’re part of Connor’s life, but you are not going to see him if there is any risk to the baby, or to Yvette. You need to speak civilly to her and prove you’re worthy of them both.”
“I would never hurt my own child.”
“Really? From my perspective, you look exactly like the kind of man who would do that.”
Victor’s eyes bored into him, but Mitchell stood his ground. “Yvette did what anyone with proper values would do when she found out you were stealing,” he said.
Yvette inched forward. “I’ll take steps for you to see Connor through the official, proper channels and you need to go along with that, if you want to see him,” she said.
Victor smirked at them both in turn. “What if I’m not an official kind of guy?”
“Well then,” Mitchell said. “A couple of friends of mine have told me a few more things about you... Very interesting things.”
Victor’s eyebrow twitched up. “Who?” he growled. “What?”
“Never you mind.” Mitchell began to circle him, caging him in. He bent in close to Victor’s ear. “This is what I know about you...”
He reeled off all that Mason and Tony had passed on through Graham, about Victor’s other dodgy business dealings. They had uncovered several businesses he’d set up under a fake identity, where he had stolen funds from investors before disappearing. The information could easily land him with more months, even years in prison, if brought to light.
“If you ever do anything to jeopardize Yvette’s and Connor’s happiness, I will be onto you,” Mitchell threatened. His words made him feel stronger as he spoke them. “My friends will not let this go.”
Victor barked a laugh, but it sounded hoarse and unnerved. He picked up Penny again and gave her head a ruffle. “Hey, no need for that. I just care about my son. I’m a changed man since I got out of prison.”
Mitchell stared at him disbelievingly.
“It’s true.” Victor looked over at Yvette. “I’ve made bad choices. Had therapy for it, to understand myself better. I just want a second chance.”
“I saw the letter you sent to her...”
“If it’s any consolation, I’m sorry about that. It was a mistake. I’d found out I was a father through the grapevine, and I was angry at first. But now I can see why Yvette did what she did, and why she ran. She’s a decent person, and I’m not.” He smiled at her. “I don’t blame you for any of this, okay? I brought it all on myself. Can we just talk for a while?”
Yvette eventually nodded. “Okay. But I want Mitchell close by.”
“No problem. Anything you want. I apologize for how I spoke to you before.”
Mitchell paced up and down for twenty minutes. He watched, making his presence known, as Victor and Yvette talked together.
Eventually, Victor walked over to him. “Thanks for that,” he said gruffly and held out his hand. Mitchell reluctantly shook it. “I’ll wait until Yvette gets in touch, okay? No trouble from me. I just want to get to know my son. You have stuff on me and I know it.”
Mitchell jerked his head in acknowledgment. He watched as Victor and Penny walked away, and he returned to Yvette. “Are you okay?” he asked gently.
She nodded in reply before taking a deep breath. “I’ve done it. I’ve taken another step to returning to normal. I can look forward to everything being okay again. As much as it can be.”
“I’m here whenever you need me,” he said. “If you’re ready to go home, I’ll walk back with you.”
“You don’t need to. I can do it alone.”
“I want to make sure you’re back with your family safely.”
She smiled at him gratefully, and they started to move away from the bench. “I heard from Liza that people call you the Hero on the Bridge. And you really are,” she said.
Mitchell took a moment to let this sink in. He hadn’t felt truly worthy of the label before, but reaching out to others had helped lift some of his guilty burden about not being there for Anita.
As he walked into the shadow cast by a tree, Mitchell’s face felt briefly cool. But when he stepped out of the gray chilliness, he felt the heat of the day again, warming his cheeks. He smiled as he walked into the sunshine.
27
FAMILY
As Mitchell walked with Yvette through Upchester, he had a new bounce in his step, a pride in himself that he hadn’t felt for a long time. When he’d helped Yvette from the river, it had been a gut reaction, an impromptu act that he didn’t have time to consider. But this was different. It felt even bigger.
He and Poppy were a great team and they always would be, but it felt good to be a key part in helping the cogs of the Bradfields’ family life to start turning again.
Mitchell could already see that Yvette looked brighter, too. Her body seemed lighter and her steps more determined as they headed along the main road and past each of the bridges. She asked Mitchell about the opening ceremony for the new white bridge and if he was going to take Poppy along. She said she might try to take Connor, making even more effort to bring herself back into the outside world.
Their conversation together felt warm and natural, and Mitchell realized that he didn’t feel any attraction to her, other than the enjoyment of spending time with a friend.