Thank you guys for your love and comments I love reading your reviews and thoughts on this story. Its a fun one to write out. Here you will get a little bit more insight on Sam and his life as well as meet his daughter. Enjoy and Review and stay blessed!

Also sorry about that I am not sure why 9 posted again. But here goes 10!

"Mercy!"

Savannah screamed happily as she chased a fluffy lamb. From the moment Mercedes met the little girl, she had wanted to scoop the little girl up and hug her tightly, but not wanting to overdo it she just smiled warmly at her as she bent down to the girl.

"Are you having fun sweet girl?"

"I am!" she squealed. "Daddy said they have animals that I can ride too."

"That's right, after you finish feeding the lamb we can go to the pony rides."

Savannah giggled happily wrapping her arms around Mercedes neck. Sam had gone to get more animal feed and returned with the biggest smile on his face seeing Mercedes and his daughter together.

"And how are my girls are we ready to feed more animals?"

"Yes!" Savannah said holding out her hands. As Sam bent down to the girls and held out his hand allowing the lamb to come and eat out of his hand. Mercedes knew this little girl was full of love and life, Sam said she never really knew her mother, and yet that little girl was full of love and life and everything in between.

"Mercy look its eating daddy's hand!"

Mercedes laughed. "I don't think it's trying to eat daddy's hand, just the food."

"He's cute."

Mercedes looked at Sam and smiled. "Yes, he really is."

Savannah ran away from Sam and Mercedes chasing after the lamb that lost interest in Sam the moment the food was gone. Sam wrapped his arms around Mercedes waist pulling her to him.

"Are you having fun?" he asked as he kissed the top of her head.

"I am, this is a great day."
She said leaning into him. They walked closer to Savannah while she ran up to the lamb but ran away scared when it showed her attention.

"She is amazing Sam, such a happy and loving girl."

"You are amazing. Thank you for being here today."

"I wouldn't have missed it."

Sam kissed her cheek. "Okay Princess let's get you a pony ride."

"Pony!" Savannah happily raised her arms to Sam, so he could pick her up, but the moment he held her she reached over for Mercedes. Taking the little girl over to the Pony rides, she didn't even know the amount of pictures she took of Sam and Savannah and the three of them.

After the Pony rides, Mercedes carried the little girl over to the cotton candy booth, she bounced in Mercedes hand as she was handed a small pink cotton candy.

"Mercy! Mercy! Look merryround!"

Mercedes smiled at Sam. "I think she wants to ride the Merry Go Round."

Sam nodded. "I think we have time for that."

Sam led the girls to the ride and Savannah ran to an gazelle. "Daddy I wanna ride this!"

Sam picked her up and she handed him her cotton candy. "Mercy." She said turning to Mercedes. Mercedes smiled moving to hold the girl as the ride started. She screammed happily and Sam smiled as he watched Mercedes giggle and laugh with his daughter.

The day was just about perfect and as Mercedes glanced back at the little girl, who was sleeping peacefully in her car seat, she reached her hand over to Sam's hand as they enjoyed the ride to what she thought was her house but was surprised when Sam took her to his, the house couldn't even be called such because it was massive. The house was all glass, stark and unrelieved whiteness. With crisp edges and sharp harsh angles, it looked more like a museum then a house.

As Sam carried Savannah into the house, Mercedes followed behind him, wrapping her arms around herself as she entered the foyer, the house just felt off. It chilled her being there for some reason. The inside was just as uninviting at the outside.

"Mrs. Thornton must be in the kitchen. Can you wait here so that I can put Savannah to bed, I will be right back."

Sam walked out the room and Mercedes glanced around the cold interior wondering if Sam knew how uninviting his home really was. She was lost in thought when she heard the sound of hard heels clicking the white marble floors. Turning she was met with a tall overpowering woman, she was much older than Mercedes, looked to be in her 60s, her long white hair was pulled back into a almost too tight bun. Her face dropped as if she had never been happy a day in her life. She stared at Mercedes unimpressed.

"Hello, I am Mercedes Jones."

Mercedes small smile faded as the older woman turned from her. "I am Mrs. Thornton, dinner will be served in 15 minutes. Follow me."

Mercedes sighed following the housekeeper and wasn't shocked to see that the rest of the house was just as cold and modernistic as the foyer. It was all done in white, gray and black, with hints of silver but there was no touch of color. The house didn't look or feel like Sam at all.

Mrs. Thornton stopped in the living room and sighed. "You can wait here." She said sternly as she walked away without a second glance to Mercedes. Sitting on the all white sofa, Mercedes exhaled looking out to the huge glass front windows. Outside looked like lush well cared for grounds, it looked as if it was a golf course. She picked up on of the books that sat on the glass and chrome coffee table and thumbed through it. The book was full of black and white photos and she assumed it was placed there to match the decor.

Sam walked into the room smiling warmly at her. "I was looking for you."

She nodded. "Mrs. Thornton escorted me here...she said dinner would be ready in a few minutes."

Sam smiled. "I am glad you are here. Savannah has taken to you, she wanted to know if the pretty lady would be here when she woke up."

Mercedes blushed. "She is such a delightful child. So happy. I love being around her."

Sam beamed at her comment as a throat cleared and Mrs. Thornton announced that dinner was served in a stiff manor.

Sam pulled Mercedes close. "Don't let her scare you, she is always like that when I have guest."

She nodded walking with him to the dining room, but stopped when she was struck by a haunting picture of a woman dominating the dining room wall. She was beautiful, Mercedes could admit that. It was an oil painting and the painter had seemed to capture an air of delicacy, of sadness and fragility about the woman. She could tell it was done from a black and white photo, but nonetheless it striking. She could tell the woman's hair was dark, maybe brown, her features were as chiseled and as delicate as the rest of her. Sam saw Mercedes staring at the picture and sighed beside her. "That is a picture of my wife, or late wife Marley. She had it commissioned shortly before her death."

Mrs. Thornton was setting the steaming platters on the table. "Marley is a suck a beautiful and wonderful woman." She gave a meaningful glance to Mercedes. "No woman could ever compare with her, this is her house."

Mercedes looked at the older woman, what an odd thing to say, she thought. It was Sam's house too, wasn't it? And why was Mrs. Thornton talking about Marley in the present tense?

"Marley had the house built and decorated to her specifications." Sam said quietly. "She loved this house, but unfortunately, she only had a few years to enjoy it."

"Marley will always enjoy this house, in spite of everything." Mrs. Thornton said flatly.
Sam looked at her. "That's enough." he said and there was a moment or two of silence. Sam looked at Mrs. Thornton. "Won't you join us?"

She scoffed shaking her head no. "No thank you I will have my meal in the kitchen as I always do." She turned her nose up to Mercedes and walked out of the room, allowing the doors to swing to and fro after her.

"I have invited her to eat with me often and every time she said she prefers to eat in the kitchen. One time I joined her in there and I thought she was gonna have a heart attack,"

Mercedes nodded. "Has she worked for you long?"

"For Five years, since Marley and I married. She was with Marley's family for years though, she practically raised Marley from an Infant."

"I see." mercedes said.

"When I suggest adding more household help, like beyond the cleaning woman who comes in for the heavy work, she gets offended. And yet I can see why, she does excellent work." He said moving to the table.

"I noticed, I mean this house is immaculate."

"I'll give you the grand tour later, but lets eat dinner before it gets cold. Mrs. Thornton is a great cook."

Sam sounded as if he was trying to convince himself of that. But Mercedes had to agree, the woman was an excellent cook as she tasted the wonderful looking meal of road duck with walnut dressing and asparagus skillfully garnished with lemon. Mercedes had to stifle a moan of satisfaction after she ate, thinking that maybe the woman had a few good points to her.

When Mrs. Thornton came out of the kitchen to clear the table, Mercedes stood to help, but that earned her a forbidden look that made her sit right back down into the chair.

"Women who eat too much go even fatter as they get older." She said gathering the rest of the plates.

Mercedes glared at her in disbelief about to speak up when Sam sighed lazily. "You know I love a women with meat on her bones." He said and winked at Mercedes as he helped her out of the chair.

"Lets go take the tour of the house darlin;" he said as Mrs. Thornton gave them a look of disgust at their closeness. As soon as they were out of earshot Sam sighed. "Don't let her get to you, she is getting older and can't control herself much."

Mercedes didn't say anything just smiled softly at him. She found it very strange that the older woman had such anger it seemed towards hre. She was thrilled she didn't have to live with the woman. The tour of the house was met with more of the same, that is until she reached Savannah's room. It was done in bright colors of Pink, yellow and lavender. The room was filled with stuffed animals and dolls and other toys that made you feel right at home.

Savannah was wide awake sitting in her large collection of animals talking to them as she was playing pretend. But the moment she saw Sam she squealed with delight.

"Pick me up daddy! Can we eat cause i'm hungry." She said as she leaned over to Mercedes for a kiss. Kissing the small girl's head full of curls, Mercedes followed Sam and Savannah to the kitchen, which was thankfully empty.

"Can I have a PB and J?Please?"

Savannah asked and Sam shook his head. "You know Mrs. Thornton doesn't like you having Peanut Butter and Jelly for dinner."

Savannah frowned. "But its good!"

Mercedes looked at Sam who looked at her. "She's got you there SAm, it is good."

Sam walked to the cabinet in defeat as he made Savannah a sandwich. The three talked about their day as the little girl ate and Sam stood as she yawned.

"Okay what time is it?"

Savannah clapped her hands together. "Its bathtime!"

Sam and Mercedes worked together giving Savannah a bath and managed not to get wet in the process.

"Mercy can you read to me?"

Mercedes didn't even hesitate when the girl made the request, she enjoyed reading to the little girl from her collection of Mother Goose, making the different noises and sounds that the little girl loved. After she was finished both of them gave the girl a kiss goodnight and Sam tucked her in.

As they exited the room, Sam smiled. "Come to my man cave."

He said leading her down the hall. Mercedes was surprised when she entered the Man Cave but shouldn't be, like Savannah's room, this room screamed the Sam she had come to know. The man had every game system known to man on his walls, with a 60 inch 4k TV mounted. The carpeted room, was filled with shelves of comics and posters of old and new Marvel and DC characters. To the left of the room lay a fireplace which housed large, soft floor cushions, and she sat on one as he finished making the fire, then joined her.

"Sam, this room and Savannah's its so different from the house."

He nodded. "These are the only two rooms that I did, and as you can see this is my favorite room so Savannah and I spend most of our time in here."

He pointed to a pile of toys and blocks in the corner. "I decorated Savannah's room because Marley wasn't up to it at the time."

Mercedes nodded. "Was she very sick?"

Sam looked at her raising an eyebrow. "She wasn't sick at all."

Mercedes had a few unasked questions at his comment but left them alone because she didn't want to ruin the moment. Sam laid on his back as she rested on his chest. This moment, was the first time she felt at ease with him, felt like they were perfect for each other.

Her hand traced the outline of his chest for a moment and he picked it up, bringing it to his lips kissing the palm of her hand. She smiled looking up to him as his lips closed around the tips of her fingers. Suddenly he looked up and alarm was read all over his face. A strangled hiss left his lips as he stood to his feet and ran out the door, leaving Mercedes to wonder what the hell just happened.