Ch33

The following morning I woke up to the sound of Mark's steady heartbeat in my ear. He had me laying on his chest with his arm wrapped around me. I smiled when I looked up and saw his peaceful sleeping face.

"Good morning," he said, startling me half to death.

I giggled while saying, "You scared the shit out of me."

He chuckled and opened his eyes, "Yeah I do that to a lot of people."

I sighed and then remembered my daughter's crying voice from the previous night. I went to sit up and Mark's arm tensed around me.

"Don't go anywhere." He said.

"I just want to check on Aalayah." I said.

He smirked and finally opened his eyes. "I called Bobby and asked him to take her last night. She's safe."

"Oh." I said before laying back down.

"You know he thought you didn't want to talk to him after you bailed on the wedding." He said. "I told him you were just super angry and needed some time to cope with it all."

"Thank you." I said as I wrapped my arm around his waist. "I was actually about to ask you if he was mad at me."

"No, that boy could never be mad at you. He cares about you too much." He explained.

I smiled, "That's nice to know. At least someone in my family does care."

"Your uncle cares too…he just has a hard time connecting with you because you remind him a lot of your mother. He and her never saw eye to eye as kids."

"How do you know all of this?" I asked.

"Well unlike you, I spent a lot of time with your family while you were M.I.A. They told me a lot about themselves that I thought you would want to know."

"Did you know my mom's secret?" I asked.

He shook his head, "No. But I had a deep feeling that Herald was your father."

"How?" I asked, suddenly becoming interested in this.

He closed his eyes and rubbed my arm that I had wrapped around his waist, "He was overly hurt by the accusation you made. Only a father would be that hurt if his daughter lied on him. He could have been sent to jail and would have never seen you again Carmen."

I looked down for a moment and then responded, "Well…I didn't know he was my father. Then again, it wasn't right for me to do at all."

We were silent for a moment giving each other time to let our words sink in.

"So what now?" I asked. "I don't want to see them again."

"You can't do that Carmen." He said. "As much as it hurts, you have to at least give your daughter the chance to be raised correctly. She deserves to know her family."

I sighed, "Yeah but what if they do to her, what they did to me? I can bear to see her upset with her own family."

"I know what you mean Carmen, but Sharon loves her granddaughter as much as she loves you. If she lied to you about your father she probably had a reason."

I closed my eyes not even realizing that I never stayed long enough to talk to her about it. "So…you want me to go back and talk to her?"

"Yes. Besides…I want your mom to be around once we get married." He said.

I giggled, "What are you talking about?"

He laughed, "Just what I said….I want your mom around once we get married."

"So you've got this all planned out I assume?"

"Yep." He said.

I sighed and rubbed his abs, "Do I have to talk to her today?"

"No, but I would like for you to do it as soon as possible….I want to move you into my house in Houston and then we'll focus on getting married."

I sat up and looked at him. "Mark…we just got together two days ago…how are even certain that I want to marry you?"

He shrugged, "I never said I was certain that you wanted to…I'm just certain that you'll be my wife."

"Whatever," I said before he tickled my side. I gasped and tried to get away from him but he was much faster than me. Within seconds he had me pinned on my back and was tickling the hell out of me. I hadn't laughed so much in such a long time. The feeling Mark gave me was definitely different from what any other guy had given me.

After tickling me, he bent down and kissed me softly on the lips. As he pulled away he whispered, "So Carmen, will you marry me?"

I looked into his eyes not believing he was really serious about this. As I moved my hands up to his shoulders, the sun revealed something sparkling on my left hand. I gasped when I saw the huge diamond ring on my finger.

"M-Mark…I-I-"

"Just answer the question Carmen." He said softly before kissing my forehead. "Will you?"

I bit my bottom lip and then cried, "Yes,"

He smiled, "Good, because I was just going to ask you every day until you said yes."

I laughed and hugged him tightly, knowing good and damn well that I was going to say yes eventually…especially after a night like the one before.