Chapter 16

Mark followed them to the airport, not trusting Marlize one bit not to try to give him the slip. It was obvious she wasn't comfortable around him, which was how it should be, given she had hidden his children from him. God, that hurt. He had missed out on so much. First words. First steps. First everything's. He had decided sometime between last night and this morning that he wasn't missing another thing, which meant they needed to talk immediately.

Vince didn't know anything besides the fact that Marlize had left the island several months after Mark had left. He only found out about everything, including the abusive ex-husband, AFTER the fact. It didn't make Vince any less of an asshole, considering he had convinced Mark to wait until after he healed from his surgery before going to her.

While the kids sat down at the table, Mark had gently but firmly pulled Marlize aside, both staying near the table and keeping their voices down while talking. Marlize listened to Mark's demands about wanting to tell the twins about him and knew they had some time off before having to head to the next area for Smackdown!. "All right, how do you want to do this then? I'm staying at Aunt Linda's right now, so…"

"You and the twins can come home with me then."

Marlize mimed cleaning out her ear with her finger, wondering if she heard him correctly. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me, Marlize. I don't like repeating myself."

The airport was the last place to have this conversation, to hash it out, but Marlize had to admit, it was a better offer than inviting him to Linda's at this point. Mark probably wanted to strangle Vince by now and Marlize didn't need any trouble on her Aunt's doorstep. Her political career, I have to think about her for a change and she's done enough for me. I can't ask anything more from her. "Are you sure about this? We can always wait and…" He shook his head vehemently, his eyes telling her he'd been thinking long and hard about this since last night ever since finding out about the twins, about the fact he was a father. I don't have a choice. If I don't do what he wants, he'll take me to court and I'll lose my babies. Bradley will find us and I can't let that happen. "All right, we'll do it your way. I will need to see about changing our flights and everything, can you wait here with them while I do that?"

He cocked a brow at her answer, wondering if she were out of her mind asking him that. Mark wanted to both simultaneously strangle her and kiss her, but he wasn't out of HIS mind. Not yet anyway. She kept trying to drive him up a wall and it might happen! Not in front of his kids though, they'd never forgive him. It'd have to be done…Mark was distracted from his rather murderous thoughts when she went to go do all that, hearing Maren requesting he come back and join them.

"Where'd Mom take off to?"

"To see about the flights." To change them, but he wasn't sure how to mention that one, handing over children's menus.

"Finally, I am STARVING."

One brow slowly began climbing again, and kept going, as Aven began listing off everything he wanted. Mark leaned back in his chair, one arm hanging off the back of the boy's chair and began grinning.

Maren was watching them curiously. "You two look like each other. Not the ears, you have big ears."

Yeah, he knew.

Unfortunately, the tickets were nonrefundable and the flight to Dallas was completely booked. Mark had given her that information prior to her heading off to see about changing the tickets. Dallas, Texas. This was quite the pickle they were in and she wondered if Mark would mind them driving from Raleigh to Dallas. It would be an 18 hour drive, give or take, so they could pull over to get a hotel room or simply take turns driving until they arrived. A flight would be quicker, yes, but it would require them not to fly out until tomorrow at the earliest.

I'm going to have to see what he wants to do here. Marlize thanked the ticket lady she spoke with and headed back to the table, looking troubled. Mark instantly noticed it as she took a seat, watching her son start devouring his food, along with Maren. Growing kids, it made her smile despite the situation they were in. "So, how do you feel about renting a car and driving to Dallas instead of flying?" Marlize came right out and asked, not beating around the bush, and kept her voice down. "Or you can fly home today and we'll meet you tomorrow because that's the soonest we can book flights to Dallas. The flight you're on is completely booked."

"Is it now?" Mark wasn't sure if he trusted her. He had made that mistake before and now she had basically called him a liar and didn't trust him. He had no idea what the hell had gone wrong other than communication in 1999 was nowhere near what it was these days. A rental, he drummed his fingertips on the table, already knowing they were both missing their flights now because he had this stupid fear she would take his kids and disappear. Mark had a LOT of questions about them, wondering if she had videos or something, and finally picked up his mug of coffee.

"You guys want to drive or wait and fly?" That was directed at the kids.

"Where are we going?"

"Texas."

"Is it really as big as everyone says?"

"Yeah." That little girl was too damn cute for her own good, his eyes were crinkling as he smiled at her. "Bluest skies you've ever seen, little darlin', and some of the greenest grass…and if you go south, the most beautiful stretches of desert." Texas had it all, in his opinion.

The kids both looked excited, especially when Mark mentioned the horses he had and he lived on a large ranch. Marlize kept quiet, deciding to let him make the call because she didn't care either way. Driving or flying didn't matter to her as long as they didn't stay out in the open for a long period of time. If they were photographed with him, Bradley would no doubt find that online and he'd be able to locate her. Mark decided to drive, paying for the rental car and ignore Marlize when she offered to pay half for it, simply waving her off dismissively. The kids were little chatterboxes and Mark was getting to know them while Marlize just kept quiet, not really knowing what to say.

Was she really about to stay at Mark's ranch? No, I'm not going to allow that.

"Mom, are we staying at Mark's ranch then? I wanna see the horses, they sound so cool!" Aven was grinning, especially when Mark informed him he had a basketball court too. Mark had put it in shortly after moving into the ranch, his love for basketball still there just not as much as wrestling.

"We'll figure it out when we get there, buddy, okay?"

"Okay!"

Once they were all piled into the rental vehicle, about two hours later, Marlize finally took her cell phone out and started looking for hotel rooms, after texting Linda to let her know what was going on.

"Might as well put it away." Mark advised, having glimpsed the screen enough to know what she was doing and the little ones had already started dozing, that big breakfast along with the morning excitement catching up to them. Traveling was tiring on adults, so he could only imagine how it was for little children. "There's no point in wasting money when I got a big ass place out in the middle of nowhere." Meaning she would be safe there, not many people knew where he lived and Marlize had no connection to him anyway.

He'd bet money that the birth certificate said NA for father. Mark had to wonder how that worked since birth certificates, births in general, were considered public knowledge. Then again, he supposed one also had to know WHERE the person was to find that information anyway. And know they were pregnant.

"And I already called my cleaner, she's getting your rooms ready as we speak." Along with the fridge restocked ever since he noticed the appetite on his son.

Out in the middle of nowhere? Was that true? That didn't surprise her since Mark was a very private man and hadn't really liked talking about himself outside of his guilt over his friend's death. That had been the reason behind his anger and pain, why Vince had sent him to her island in the first place.

"You don't mind me staying there? I get the kids, but…" He shook his head and she closed the screen on her phone, glancing behind her to see the twins were out cold already. Maybe now was a good time to talk to him since they were asleep. "Don't get a lawyer, please. You can see them whenever you want and they can stay with you whenever you want them to. I'm not going to keep them from you and I'm not going to run away with them either. I don't want any child support either. We don't have to make this a legal issue because if you do this, it will be made very public and…I can't have that happen. We'll do things your way, you have my word." Hell, she'd even find a place in Dallas if he wanted her to, just so the kids would be closer to him when they were off the road. Marlize didn't realize she started crying until she felt the tears, reaching up to wipe them away and took a deep, shaky breath. No lawyers, please, Mark. Please don't do it.

"Why should I trust you?" There was no malice in it, however, just good old-fashioned weariness.

I'll never believe a thing you say to me again!

"How do I know you won't run again if you get scared?" Marlize would, the woman had been ballsy before, even with her terror.

She was a mother now, he knew very well, ballsy wasn't even the word for it anymore. Marlize would be dangerous if she felt she was cornered, trapped, by that ex-husband of hers. If that motherfucker was smart, he'd just stop while he was still breathing because nobody was going three for three with a damn gun and living; the odds were not on his side.

"I only ran to Aunt Linda's because that motherfucker found me. I had to leave the island because of my pregnancy and you know that. There was no medical facility or anything on that island and even then, I waited far longer than I should have because I was pregnant with twins." This wasn't just a regular pregnancy where she popped one baby out of her vagina and called it a day. She had to have an emergency c-section due to having twins and she had miraculously carried them to term. "I'm not going to run again, I'm tired of doing that. I'm tired of letting him control my life with fear. And now that you're in the picture, I won't take them away from their father. I would never do that to you." Marlize was just tired in general of everything regarding her ex-husband and wished he'd take the hint and leave her the hell alone already. "The reason I won't run again is I have nowhere else to run to, Mark. I'm out of options. Aunt Linda was my very last resort and that's why I work for the WWE now, so I can stay on the move and not be in the same place for too long. The kids are being homeschooled through the company and there's other kids for them to hang out with and play with too."

"That's not a life for those kids."

It was a HARD life, actually. He knew it was exciting and all, especially at that age, but Mark also knew it would wear on them eventually. It wore on them all. He knew for a fact Paul and Steph's kids would go off-road for months at a time due to it, needing that stability of having proper roots.

"Or you." If that moron actually came a third time, she'd kill him properly if Mark wasn't there himself to do it. Nobody got three chances and lived. "Gotta ask though, given Linda is in politics, and you're apparently going to arenas, how'd you expect that to work? TMZ stalks the shit out of the wrestlers."

It was NOTHING to find clips of them at airports and other places, being asked a million questions by some jackass hoping to sell a story. Mark imagined if anyone wanted to do some digging, the connection was there and he was noticing that those blue eyes ran on Linda's side of the family. Stephanie had them too, only a few shades darker.

"What'd he want, when he found you?"

"What do you think?" Marlize scoffed, staring out the window to watch the scenery fly by and closed her eyes, recalling the moment she opened the door, like an idiot, and found him standing there with his gun in hand. The same gun she had shot him with the first time. "Held me at gunpoint, ordered me to come back to him and when I didn't, he got violent. I had a few broken ribs from being kicked and my face was all messed up on this side." She touched the left side of her face, remembering how mortified Linda was to see it beneath the caked on makeup she had on. "He threatened to kill the kids." Her voice was barely above a whisper now, a lump forming in Marlize's throat and she had to swallow it down. "Said if I didn't do what he wanted, he would kill them in front of me and then kill me. So, as soon as his back was turned, thinking I was down and out after the beating, I grabbed his gun and shot him and ran like hell." Marlize had bags packed for her and the kids, just in case it ever happened, and went straight to the school to pull them out, while on the phone with her Aunt Linda, who had booked their flights straight to Connecticut. "If he finds me again, there's no doubt in my mind he'll kill me this time. He won't hesitate, so I have to keep on the move and WWE can provide that for me. The kids will be fine being homeschooled and they're already used to the traveling, mostly."

Mark lapsed into silence for a very long time. Miles flew by and those kids kept sleeping, which was good because around the two hour mark, he was ready to say what he had decided upon. "If you can't use Linda for protection anymore, then there's another option, Marlize." She wasn't going to like it at all. In fact, she'd probably argue with him about it, try to run off, make him pull over so she could grab the kids and bail, something, anything.

"Yeah, what?" There was doubt in her tone.

Gripping the steering wheel just a little tighter, Mark took a deep breath, glancing up in the rearview mirror just to doublecheck that the twins were asleep. He would just keep his voice low and pray they didn't wake up because he doubted they'd be able to be quiet. It'd be a ruckus over what he was about to say. "You can put my name on their birth certificates for one," That would protect Aven and Maren legally because, if anything happened to her, they'd go to their father, their ACTUAL father, which was him. She didn't react badly to that one, he bet Marlize assumed he was already going to ask for that. Which, he would've. "And, you can also," He glanced at her, then back to the road. "You can marry me."