Chapter 19

Susan worked frantically around the kitchen as she put the finishing touches on the meal that she had prepared for Mark and Glen. When Glen had first called her and told her that he was bringing Mark home with him for a couple of days, Susan had immediately gone into work mode, wanting everything around the house to be perfect by the time they got there. She had spent the past two days cleaning the house from top to bottom and she had prepared a wonderful meal for them to eat when they got there. She knew Glen would go through the roof when he got home and saw how much work she had done, but right now she didn't care. She knew from their conversations that Mark was Glen's best friend and she wanted to make a good impression on him. She couldn't really explain why his opinion meant so much to her, but she wanted to do everything she could to make sure that he liked her.

As Glen and Mark pulled into the driveway, Glen turned and spoke to his friend.

"I know you've got your doubts about Susan, Mark. But please, just give her a fair chance. I know if you just get to know her a little bit, you'll change your mind about her."

"Maybe I will buddy." Mark replied skeptically, hoping that maybe Glen was right.

"You just make sure you behave yourself." Glen warned. "Don't forget that she's pregnant. She doesn't need to deal with a bunch of shit from you. Don't you dare do anything to upset her."

Mark nodded in agreement as the two of them approached the front door and stepped inside. Mark stopped when he entered the house and was greeted by a barrage of incredible smells that were wafting in from the kitchen.

"Something sure does smell good." Mark stated, as Glen turned and smiled at him.

At the sound of their voices, Susan came to greet them and Glen immediately went to her and hugged her, pulling her to his side as he walked back toward Mark.

"Mark, I'd like for you to meet Susan. Susan, this is Mark."

Susan smiled up at Mark warmly as she extended her hand to him.

"Hello Mark. It's nice to finally meet you. Glen's told me so much about you."

Mark involuntarily returned her smile, his cold exterior already fading. She certainly was a cute little thing. He thought she looked like a living doll, albeit a very pregnant one, but she was still incredibly beautiful. No wonder Glen was so crazy about her.

"Hello darlin'. Glen's told me a lot about you too." Mark replied as he took her small hand in his.

Susan looked up at him nervously for a moment, before Mark finally released her hand. He smiled again when he watched Glen reach out and wrap an arm around protectively around her waist. At the contact, Susan looked up at Glen briefly and smiled before turning her attention back to Mark.

"Well, I hope you guys are hungry. I've got dinner waiting on you. You better get in here and eat before it gets cold." she replied, stepping away from Glen and heading back to the kitchen.

Once she was gone, Glen turned and gave Mark a questioning glance, seeking his approval.

"Well?" he murmured quietly, so that Susan wouldn't hear him.

Mark nodded his head in silent approval, thinking that maybe his opinion of Susan had been wrong all along.

Happy with Mark's response, Glen turned and started to follow Susan to the kitchen before he stopped in his tracks. Looking around the rest of the house, he suddenly called out to her.

"Susan? Did you clean the house again?" he asked, noticing that everything seemed a lot cleaner than it did when he had left.

"Yes Glen. I cleaned the house." she yelled back, knowing that there was no way for her to deny it.

Glen responded by once again giving her a lecture about how much work she was doing and how she was still spending too much time on her feet. Susan merely smiled as she listened to him ramble on, knowing that he was only doing it because he cared so much about her. Once he was finally done fussing, she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek before sending him to the table. Mark smiled in amusement at how easily Susan dealt with Glen's overprotective nature. She certainly did seem to have him wrapped around her finger. He followed Glen to the table and the three of them sat down to share a nice quiet dinner.

The meal went fairly well and the three of them chatted about a few unimportant things before the conversation finally led back to their work. Susan listened intently, always eager to learn more about Glen's job. The more she learned about it, the more fascinated she became with it. But as the meal wore on, it didn't take long for the conversation to head in a more amusing direction. After Glen mistakenly told a couple of interesting stories about some of Mark's past experiences, Mark decided to tell a few stories of his own to get even with him. It wasn't long before the two of them were involved in a full blown competition, each of them trying to top the other's tales.

By the time the meal was over, Susan was laughing so hard, she could barely breathe. Between the women, the liquor, and the wild road trips, she wondered how the two of them had managed to survive on the road for so long.

Unable to handle any more, she finally excused herself from the table and headed to the kitchen to clean up the dishes. Still laughing at their antics, she began to wash the dishes, glad that Mark had decided to come and stay with them. This was the first time she had been around any of Glen's friends and she found that she was really enjoying herself. However, a few times during the dinner, she had looked up only to find Mark staring at her intently. At first, she hadn't really given it much thought, but as the meal had worn on, he had really started to unnerve her. The glare from his piercing green eyes sent chills down her spine. She couldn't help but wonder what he had been thinking about.

Susan was suddenly pulled from her thoughts as a pair of arms came from behind her and wrapped themselves around her waist, pulling her back against a warm chest. She leaned into Glen's body, as he lowered his head and gently nibbled on the back of her neck.

"Let me do that." he whispered, taking the dish out of her hand and placing it back in the water. "Why don't you go sit down and chat with Mark a while. I'll finish the dishes for you, then I'll come and give you a nice foot massage. I know you've missed those while I've been gone."

Susan turned and smiled up at him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him back for a moment before leaving the room.

Hesitantly, Susan approached the living room, noticing that Mark was already sitting down in one of the chairs watching television. He flashed her another look as she entered the room and she swallowed nervously before taking her usually seat on the couch. They sat in awkward silence for a few moments as they gazed at the television screen before Susan finally spoke up.

"So Mark. Did you two have any problems coming home today?" she asked, trying to start up a conversation.

"It wasn't too bad." he replied, turning to look at her. "The airport was kind of crowded but it's about the same anywhere you go."

"That's good." she replied softly, looking down at her lap as she twiddled her thumbs. She couldn't figure out for the life of her why being alone with Mark was making her so nervous.

Mark looked over at her and he smiled as he watched her. He could tell that he was making her nervous and he felt bad about it. After seeing how she interacted with Glen throughout dinner, he was really beginning to think that he had been wrong about her. She really did appear to care for Glen a lot, and it was very obvious that Glen cared about her. Maybe he really did need to take it easy on her. He didn't want her to be upset around him the whole time he was there.

After a few more minutes of silence, Glen entered the room and joined Susan on the couch and before long he and Mark were going at it again with their stories. Susan listened to them banter back and forth as Glen rubbed her tired feet. Despite all the talk and laughter, she soon found her eyes growing heavy. All the work from the past couple of days was starting to catch up to her and she fought to stay awake as she listened to them tease each other. Glen looked over and noticed how tired she was getting and he smiled as he looked back at Mark.

Glen excused himself while he helped Susan to bed. He carried her down the hall and put her in her bed, giving her a gentle kiss goodnight before leaving her alone. Then he anxiously headed back to the living room to rejoin Mark.

"So man. What do you think now?" Glen asked as he took his seat again.

"Well, I've got to give you some credit. She certainly seems nice enough. And you two seem to get along really well. Maybe I have been wrong about her." Mark admitted.

Glen clutched his chest in mock surprise at Mark's words.

"I don't believe it! The almighty Undertaker admitting that he was wrong! My God, the world must have come to an end!" he teased, causing Mark to turn and glare at him.

Glen laughed happily at Mark's change in attitude. He was glad that his best friend was finally starting to change his attitude about the woman in his life. The only thing he needed now was to convince Susan to let her inhibitions go and be with him completely. Once he could do that, Glen felt that his whole life would be perfect. Then, he would finally have everything that he had always dreamed of.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Susan awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking. Getting out of bed, she changed clothes and headed to the kitchen where she found Glen hard at work. Within minutes, Mark had joined them and the three of them sat down to a huge breakfast. Of course, the guys being who they were, it wasn't long until another friendly competition broke out between them. This time they were arguing over who could eat the most food at one sitting and Susan watched with amusement as they tried to eat each other under the table. This time she gave in and decided to join in the fun too.

"Oh come on guys. Surely you two can do better than that!" she teased, noticing that they were both starting to get full. "Let the pregnant lady show you how it's done!"

With that said, Susan piled her own plate with food and began to eat. Much to their surprise, Mark and Glen watched her finish off every bite.

"Hey! No fair! You're eatin' for two. That doesn't count!" Glen teased when she was finished.

"Two? With the way she's eatin' I'd say more like three or four." Mark added with a chuckle.

Susan laughed at both of them then shoved her empty plate in their direction.

"I don't know about you guys but I can't move. I think I'll just let you two take care of the dishes this morning." she teased, as she got up and headed to the couch.

Glen and Mark exchanged glances, then with a shrug of their shoulders, they proceeded to clean up the mess in the kitchen before joining her in the living room. Mark watched as Glen sat down beside of Susan and pulled her into his arms, rubbing her stomach as she rested against him. He had to admit…they both looked extremely happy. He just hoped that things would stay that way. He wasn't sure if Glen could withstand another disastrous relationship.

The three of them sat and chatted for a while before Glen remembered that he had promised to take Susan's car to the garage for her.

"Where are the keys to your car Susan?" he asked, turning to look at her.

"There in my purse." she replied, before leaving the room to go get them.

She retrieved the keys, then brought them back to Glen as he stood to leave.

"Mark, I'm going to run Susan's car into town and have it looked at. Do you mind staying here with her while I'm gone?" Glen asked, hoping that it would give the two of them time to get to know one another a little better.

"Not at all." Mark replied, looking from Glen to Susan. "Don't you worry about her none. She'll be in good hands with me."

Glen smiled at Mark and gave Susan a hug before he headed toward the door.

"Just make sure that you guys stay close to the phone, in case the car breaks down on me before I get to the garage. I really don't feel like going for a ten-mile hike today." he teased, before disappearing out the door.

Susan watched him get in her car and drive away before she closed the door back. Then turning around, she looked back toward the room where she knew Mark was sitting. She couldn't help but be a little nervous. After the way she had caught him staring at her last night, she wasn't real sure about being left alone with him for too long.

She finally gathered the courage to head back into the living room, stopping in her tracks when she saw Mark sitting on the couch waiting on her. He looked up and smiled at her when she entered the room, then patted the cushion beside of him as he urged her to sit down.

"Have a seat darlin'and get off of your feet. You know Glen will shoot us both if I don't make you sit down and rest while he's gone."

Susan hesitated for a moment before she slowly walked over and sat down beside of him.

"You know, I'm glad Glen went off and left us here alone for a little while. It'll give us a chance to get to know each other a little better." Mark began, as he turned to look at her.

Susan stared up at him in surprise for a moment, not exactly sure what his intentions were.

Seeing her concern, Mark chuckled at her softly.

"Relax darlin'. I'm not gonna bite your head off or anything. I'd just like to know a little more about you. That's all."

"What do you want to know?" she asked nervously, looking up at him again.

"I don't know. Just whatever you feel like tellin' me." Mark replied.

Susan hesitated again before she spoke again.

"Well, I'm afraid there's not much to tell really. I'm sure Glen's probably told you about how we met and about my situation with my husband. What else do you want to know?"

"Well, for starters, how about tellin' me how you wound up livin' in this town. Did you grow up here?" he asked, as he tried to get the conversation going.

"No. I moved here with my husband after we got married. I went to college a few miles down the road and I really fell in love with the place. So after we were married, I convinced David to move back here with me and I've been here ever since."

Mark nodded as he listened to her talk. He asked her a few more questions about her family and her job, noticing that the longer they talked, the more comfortable she became. Even though he had a pretty good feeling about her after watching her with Glen, he still wanted to talk to her about him to see if he could figure out what her true intentions were.

Once he felt that she was really starting to relax and open up to him, he began to slowly work Glen's name into the conversation. He got her to talk about the night that they had met in the bar and why she had left without talking to him the following morning. She told him about her problems with her husband, including his attack on her the day she had returned to her house. The more he talked with her the more confident Mark was that she really did care for Glen. She really seemed to genuinely appreciate everything that Glen had done to help her out these past few months. He was relieved to know that she really did seem to be the wonderful person that Glen thought she was. Maybe his friend wouldn't be hurt again after all.

As they continued their discussion, the conversation eventually led back to her pregnancy. Susan told him that even though she hadn't been happy about it at first, she was really grateful to Glen for sticking around like he had. She knew he could have easily walked away from his responsibilities and she would have never seen him again. Seeing that she had finally brought up the subject of Glen and the baby, Mark finally broke down and asked her the one question that he was dying to know the answer to.

"I know this is probably none of my business Susan, but I've got to ask you. What are you going to do once the baby is born? Are you going to stay here and let Glen help you raise the baby or are you gonna go your separate ways?"

Susan thought about it for a few moments before she answered him.

"I guess I really haven't thought about it. I know that sounds crazy but with everything that's gone on these past few months, I'm just trying to get by one day at a time. I guess it depends a lot on what Glen wants to do. If he doesn't want me here, then I guess I'll have no choice but to move on."

Mark grew quiet for a moment before he spoke to her again.

"Has Glen ever told you anything about his first marriage?" he asked.

"He told me a little bit about it. It seemed like he was really disappointed that things didn't work out with his ex-wife."

"He was more than just disappointed." Mark replied. "As long as I've known Glen, the one thing that he's always wanted more than anything was to have a family of his own. It was a big blow to him when things didn't work out with Maurissa. It took him a long time before he was able to get over what happened with her."

Mark hesitated for a moment before he continued.

"You've been good for him Susan. You managed to pull him out of the state of depression that he's been living in for the past couple of years. I don't know what happened between you two that first night but I do know that he almost went crazy all those months that he spent looking for you. And no matter what anyone tried to tell him, he was always positive that he would find you again. I know it must have been a huge shock to you for him to show up here on your doorstep, but I swear, when he found out that you were pregnant with his child, the man walked around for days with his head in the clouds. He's been happier these past few months than I've seen him in a long time. He's crazy about you Susan. He'd do anything to keep you here with him and to help you raise this baby. I just hope you realize how much he cares for you. I'd hate to see him get hurt again."

Susan smiled faintly as she looked up at Mark again.

"I would never intentionally do anything to hurt him Mark. He's been so wonderful these past few months…I don't know what I would've done without him. I also know how excited he is about this baby. He's made it very clear to me that he wants to be a part of this child's life. I care about him a lot Mark. I would never hurt him."

"I know that you care about him Susan. That's pretty obvious from watching you two together. But….do you love him?"

Susan looked up in surprise as Mark's question registered in her mind. But before she had a chance to reply, they were interrupted by the ringing of the phone.

Looking from the phone back to Mark, Susan smiled as she got up to answer it.

"It's probably Glen wanting us to come pick him up somewhere." she laughed as she crossed the room.

Mark smiled as he watched her pick up the phone and begin talking to whoever was on the other end.

"Hello."

"Yes this is Glen Jacob's residence. Can I ask who's calling?" Susan replied, not recognizing the voice on the other end. She flashed Mark a confused look as she waited for them to reply.

Mark picked up on the look she sent him but his confusion quickly turned to concern when he heard her yell into the phone.

"Oh my God! What happened? Is he alright?" she asked frantically, clutching her stomach as a wave of sickness hit her.

Within seconds, Mark was beside of her, trying to keep her calm as she continued to talk with the person on the other end.

"Okay. I'll be right there." he heard her say, before she slowly placed the phone back on the receiver.

"What is it, Susan? What's wrong?" Mark asked, noticing how pale her face had grown.

Susan turned to look up at him and Mark could already see the tears forming in her eyes.

"It's Glen. He's been in an accident. We have to get to the hospital." she replied softly, looking at Mark fearfully.

Mark stared down at her for a moment as her words sunk into his head.

"Okay. Let's go. I'll drive you." he stated, ushering her toward the door.