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Faith had brought Noah down to the kitchen and she stepped into the hallway and seen Della at the door.
Thats when it hit her, that Della might be behind all this. She lifted her cell to call Justin about the fire, maybe now was a good time for a visit from him, maybe he could question Della.
"Mark I heard about the bar and I just wanted to check on you and make sure you were okay, believe it or not, I still care about you." Della said smiling.
Mark wasn't buying that for a second. "Look Della, we're done, you need to let go and move on."
Just then Faith came down the hallway. "Hello Della would you like some coffee?"
Mark and Della both looked shocked, but Della recovered quickly. "I would love some."
Della started toward the kitchen and Mark stopped Faith. "Why the hell did you do that?"
Faith smiled. "Justin is on his way about the fire,I thought maybe he would like to talk to Della."
Mark grinned, the girl was slick. "Yea I see your point, she's been acting weird anyway, could be she's behind all this."
They quickly followed Della into the kitchen where the kids just stared at her.
Mark poured her a coffee and she sat down. "Thank you Mark."
Mark finished his breakfast with Noah, while Della made smalltalk about her job. When the door bell rang, Faith jumped up to get it.
Della about swallowed her tongue when Justin walked in. She couldn't stand the man, she had a crush on him when she was a teenager but he had shot her down telling her she was too young for him, he was only twelve years older than her, she had never forgiven him.
Faith took the kids out back to play while Mark talked to Justin about the fire.
Della got up to leave and Justin looked at her. "Just sit your ass right there, I want to talk to you when I'm done here."
Della opened her mouth to protest, but shut it quickly after the look Justin sent her.
She sipped the now cold coffee as Mark and Justin talked, she was paranoid, she had covered her tracks well, but what if she had made a mistake. How long did one go to jail for breaking and entering, even though she used a key, she was sure it was still breaking and entering.
She looked up abruptly as Justin called her name. "I'll walk you out Della."
Della stood and Mark nodded at her as she passed him. Justin took a hold of her arm and walked her out to her car and he turned her around to face him. "Della, if find out you had anything to do with this, you're going to jail, I hope you understand that."
Della jerked her arm loose. "I didn't do shit." She spat at him.
Justin looked at her, she was beautiful always had been, her only problem was her parents had spoiled her rotten and never gave her any rules or structure in her life, Justin had known this woman his whole life, hell he had been her first crush, he remembered sixteen year old Della declaring her love for him, he had tried to be kind about it, telling her she was only sixteen, and they couldn't have a relationship while she was so young, of course she had blown up and threw a fit, cussing him out.
"Watch the mouth Della, There better be no more incidents, I'll come looking for you, I have good instincts and its tells me you're behind this, because you're pissed at Mark, get over it, he's not the man for you." Justin said.
Della was angry, how dare this man tell her what to do. "Go to hell Justin."
Justin grabbed her arm again. "I mean it Della, lay off of them, if you don't you'll regret it, you set a fire with two small children in the house, what if the fire had spread, I cant prove it, but I know you did, I'm putting you on notice, if anything else happens, I'm going to come see you and it wont be pleasant ."
Della glared at him. "Are you threatening me?"
Justin gave her a stern look. "I'm telling you, I will spank the daylights out of you if you don't leave them alone, something your daddy should have done a number and times and you wouldn't be the way you are now."
Della gasped and pulled away from him and got in her car, she couldn't believe what Justin had just said.
Her thoughts went to what he said as she drove off, when she had set the small fire, she hadn't actually meant to hurt anyone, she was just mad, she wouldn't hurt little kids, she didn't like kids, that didn't mean she would try to kill them, she needed to get to work and get this crap off her mind, Justin had made her feel guilty as hell. Like she would try to hurt anyone, she might be a bitch but she wasn't a murderer.
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Mark kissed Faith again and she giggled, he had her stopped at the door and didn't seem to want to let her go. "I have to go Mark, you'll get me in trouble with my boss."
Mark grabbed her again and kissed her. "I'm in good with your boss, he wont mind."
A burst of giggling erupted behind them and Faith smiled. "We have a audience."
They both turned to find the twins behind them laughing.
"Mark kiss mommy." Noah said finding this funny.
Faith smiled and bent down. "Come here you two and give me a kiss bye."
Both kids ran in her arms and hugged and kissed her. "I love you."
Noah hugged his mother again. "Love you."
Isabel kissed her mother's cheek and Faith got up and planted a small kiss on Mark's lips. "See you this afternoon."
"Okay Darlin." He said watching her leave. He had security arriving in a couple of hours, no way would he leave them here alone again, until whoever was doing this was caught.
"Come on kids, what do ya say we go swimming?" Mark asked looking down at the twins.
Both twins started jumping up and down in excitement and Mark grinned. How could he ever had resisted these two he thought.
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Faith stopped by to see Fern on her way to work and let her know that Mark would drop the kids off around three.
Fern had hugged her and asked if she was okay.
"Yea, I'm fine, a little shook up from everything, but Mark has hired some security men to be there at night, so I feel better about that."
Fern made them some tea and they sat down ta the kitchen table. "So you're staying at Mark's?"
Faith blushed. "Umm yea."
Fern laughed. "I'm so happy for you Faith, you deserve a good man and Mark is, I know he can be a little difficult at times, but he's one of the good guys."
"I know, I like Mark a lot." Faith said sipping the tea.
"Like?" Fern asked raising her eyebrows.
"Okay love, but I cant tell him that, he might freak out." Faith said.
Fern nodded. "Well you may be right, just let nature takes its course, he'll realize he loves you soon enough, after all he's come a long way in a short time."
Faith agreed. He was so different around the kids now, he had changed a lot.
"I have to get to work, thanks for the tea." Faith said.
Fern nodded and gave Faith a hug as she left.
Mark was progressing nicely, she didn't think anymore pushing was necessary, hopefully he would wake up to the fact that Faith and the kids were good for him and that he loved them.
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Faith was surprised to find Burton standing at the doors of the bar when she got there. "Hey Burton, what are you doing here?"
I just thought I would hang out with you this morning, maybe I can help you get set up done while you start lunch." He said smiling.
Faith unlocked the door and her and Burton walked in. She flipped on the lights and looked at Burton. "Mark asked you to keep an eye on me didn't he?" She said.
Burton shook his head. "No, I volunteered, cant have something happening to my favorite waitress and the girl who keeps me fed well."
Faith grinned and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "You're sweet Burton, full of it, but sweet."
Burton just smiled and followed her to the back.. "I'll start out here and you get lunch started, I'm starving."
Faith nodded and went in the kitchen and got to work.
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Mark dropped off the kids at Fern's and went in to chat for a minute. Fern took the kids outside to play and her and Mark sat on the deck. "So Burton told me him and Jacob are keeping a eye on Faith, I think thats a good idea."
"Yea, me too, Justin seems to think its Della behind all of this." Mark said.
"I wouldn't doubt it, she's jealous of Faith, speaking of which, how are things going between you two?"
Mark smiled. "Great."
Fern laughed. "Care to expand on the one word answers?"
Mark shrugged. "I like her."
Fern struggled not to laugh, obviously Mark needed to work on his communication skills. "And have you told her that you like her?"
Mark frowned. "Hell Fern, she knows I like her, otherwise her and the kids wouldn't be staying at my house would they?"
Fern looked at Mark. "Sometimes women like to hear the words Mark."
Mark smirked. "Believe me she knows how much I like her."
Fern did laugh then. "I wasn't talking about sex Mark, I was talking about feelings."
Mark stood."I have to get to work..I'm driving Faith to Izzy's doctor appointment tomorrow, and I'm keeping Noah with me, but they'll both be over the next day."
Fern nodded and watched him go say goodbye to the kids. The twins hugged him and kissed him and she smiled. Mark was coming around, he just had to get the "expressing his feelings" part down, but Fern was sure that he would, eventually.
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Mark walked into the bar to see things were in full swing today, the place was pretty crowded.
He walked over behind the bar. "Hey Faith can I see ya in the back a minute."
"Sure." she said and followed him to the back office. As soon as they were out of site, Mark dragged her in his arms and kissed her senseless.
Faith wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss till they were both gasping for air.
They finally lifted their heads and grinned at each other. "I need to count the till, so you can go to the bank."
Mark nodded and turned her in the direction of accounting. "Get to it woman." He said smacking her ass.
Faith just grinned and winked at him before she went and got the till for the day.
The evening passed quickly because it was so busy, she wanted to stay and help Mark, but he sent her on her way at six, with a long lingering kiss.
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Della sat in her office trying to figure out what to do. She had a few options, she like the first one best, leave Mark and Faith alone, and hope no one ever figured out what she had done.
Then again she could tell Justin what she did and throw herself on his mercy, hoping he wouldn't turn her in, because if he found out on his own she knew she was going to jail.
She could admit to herself she had went a little over board with what she did, she was just so angry at the time.
Della sighed, she wished she had never done that stupid crap, now she was stuck, if Justin found out she was sunk.
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Mark got out of his Expedition and went around the back to get Isabel out, while Faith got Noah.
With Isabel in his arms he walked around to Faith and Noah. They walked in Marrissa's office and the receptionist called out the doctor.
Marrissa smiled. "Hello Isabel."
The little girl smiled at her.
Marrissa said hello to faith and looked at Mark and Noah.
Faith introduced them. "This is my son Noah and this is Mark Callaway."
Marrissa shook Mark's hand and bent down to speak to Noah. "Hi Noah."
"Hey." The little boy said smiling at her.
"I'm going to take Noah to the park, I'll be back in a hour." Mark said bending down to kiss Faith.
Faith smiled and nodded.
Mark hugged Isabel. "I'll be back in a little while, we're going to the fair, when you're done, Izzy."
Isabel kissed Mark and he set her down.
Noah grabbed Mark's hand and they left.
Marrissa could see that Mark was more than a friend and that the children were relating to him as a father figure.
Marrissa bent down in front of Isabel. "Would you like to come play with me for a while?"
Isabel smiled and nodded.
Faith watched as Isabel took Marrissa's hand and went back in her office. She just hoped that soon her baby would be talking.
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Marrissa played with blocks with Isabel while she talked to the girl. "Isabel, do you know how to talk?"
Isabel dropped the block in her hand and looked up at Marrissa, no one had ever asked her that.
Isabel nodded slowly.
Marrissa smiled to encourage the girl. "Can you say something for me."
Isabel shook her head no. "Are you scared to talk?"
Isabel once again nodded.
Marrissa studied the girl, something was worrying her. "What will happen if you talk Isabel?"
Isabel sat there a minute and then got up and got the doll house family, this time she brought the father with her.
She held up the little boy. "Thats Noah right?"
Isabel nodded and held up the little girl. "Thats Isabel?"
Once again the little girl nodded. "Did Isabel ever talk?"
Isabel took the boy and girl and put them side by side. "You talked to Noah?"
Isabel nodded and picked up the daddy doll and threw him away.
Marrissa looked at the girl. "Daddy went away?"
Isabel nodded again and then threw away the little boy doll and the mother doll.
Marrissa sat back and looked at the girl, somehow she associated her father going away with her talking.
"Isabel, Noah and you mommy will not go away if you talk, your daddy had a accident, thats why he went to heaven."
Isabel just shook her head. Marrissa knew it was easy for a small child to associate a tragedy or something bad that happened with their own behavior or something they did, Isabel believed she made her daddy go away and was was afraid she would make her brother and mother go away too.
She knew she couldn't rush the girl, but she had to encourage her.
"Isabel, I want you to work on something for me, think of one word, and I want you to practice saying it in your head, just think about it and then I want you say it when you feel comfortable, and I promise nothing bad will happen, will you work on that for me?"
Isabel looked at Marrissa with wide eyes, she was unsure, but Marrissa was her friend, she knew she could trust her, she slowly nodded.
Marrissa smiled. "Thats wonderful, now lets go play, pick any toy you want."
Marrissa watched the girl go look through the toys, she had every confidence, she was going to make headway with the girl, she would just have to be patient.
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Faith sat with Marrissa as she told Faith what she thought the problem was. Faith was shocked as it had never occurred to her something like that could have affected Isabel.
"I want you to work on asking her questions that require more than her nodding yes or no, she may get frustrated, but sometimes frustration can work to a persons advantage. Just keep reassuring her nothing bad is going to happen if she talks, I believe Isabel wants to talk, shes just scared too." Marrissa said.
Faith nodded, she would do whatever it took to help Isabel, when she thought about the fear that had been locked up inside Isabel for so long it just made her want to cry, she was going to make sure her baby got better.