Chapter 18

There it was.

Marlize shut her eyes at those words and couldn't deny them even if her life depended on it. "But he doesn't love me." She whispered, tears welling in her eyes behind the lids and gripped her hair in her fingers. "You're right, this isn't out of love. That's why I don't want a wedding. I already had that with Bradley and look how well that marriage turned out!"

"Oh Lize, sweetheart, I know this is hard for you, but I truly believe Mark is doing this because he wants to protect you and the twins. And something tells me he's not going to just go to the courthouse either."

Of course not! Of course he's going to want to make a damn spectacle out of this! "I have no choice, he's blackmailing me into this and he'll get a lawyer involved and everything if I don't do exactly what he wants. And he's demanding I marry him, so the kids and I have stability and protection." No love, whatsoever.

"Marlize…did you even talk to the man?" Linda demanded, a little sternly. "If he didn't love you, or care about you, he wouldn't bother with all this. I've known Mark a very long time; he doesn't do anything without reason, without caring, unless he's sedated. That's about the only way anyone ever managed to get him to do something he didn't want to do."

Some heads had gone through walls because of it from her understanding. Glenn Jacobs, for one, was lucky he still even had his head; that had been a whole new level of both brotherly love and equal rivalry. The pair had kissed and made up as it were, but Mark had been LIVID for whatever reason. Linda had never bothered to find out everything because she left the wrestling business mostly to Vince, unless he did something extremely stupid that required her to come in for damage control.

Of course she'd be on his side! Why wasn't Marlize surprised? "Uh huh, I gotta go, Auntie. Thanks for talking to me, they're coming back and the kids still don't know about Mark yet. We're telling them at the house whenever we get there."

"Oh okay, well take care and let me know what you decide to do about the wedding. And congratulations!"

Marlize didn't bother responding to that and wished her well before hanging up, the call ending just as Aven and Maren piled back into the car with bags full of snacks from the vending machines. "Mom, look what Mr. Deadman got us!"

"His name is Mark, Maren." Aven reminded gently with a smile, seeing his sister was warming up to the big guy, who was now pumping gas in the car.

"Oh, that was nice of him. Did you say thank you?"

"Yesssss." They both groaned it out, making her smile.

Mom mode activated, Marlize had to shelve all of her personal feelings for the moment and took the drinks Mark handed to her when he got back into the car. "I'll put them down here, so let me know when you want one, Mark. Same with a snack." He was kind enough to grab her something too as she cracked open the Cherry Pepsi and took a swig of it, not worried about her body image these days since she wasn't as big as she used to be.

Considering she was chasing around these little balls of energy, he was surprised she wasn't rail thin. Mark was glad he was a giant because it had made it easier to keep an eye on them when he had let them zoom off down the snack aisle without him.

"Annnnddddd," Once they were back on the road, Aven was grinning, so pleased with this while he munched on his potato chips. "Mark let us go down the aisle himself, he was in the other aisle." Mom never let them do that, she insisted they stay with her when out in public.

If Marlize hit him or something while he was driving, he would take that Cherry Pepsi and pour it over her head. She was staring at him and he glanced over at her. "What? I was right there, had my eyes on them." It was a tiny gas station, with one door, and they hadn't been 'alone' for more than a minute while he picked up stuff for the adults. He couldn't live on junk food alone, not at this age.

Marlize opened her mouth and immediately closed it, instead looking away from him to stare out the window. What was she supposed to say? What could she say to that? Mark was already bonding with the kids and she was worried they would hate her once they were told this was their father. They were only six years old, just turned that age, so she would not allow her TODDLERS, at the time, to run around a store by themselves! Marlize wanted to hit him, badly, but instead she just tore open a bag of chips and started munching on them, stress eating. That wasn't good, but there was nothing else she could do.

This big bastard thinks he's the cream of the crop! That he's god's gift to women and he's the best parent on planet earth! What a FUCKING JOKE!

"Mom, is everything okay?" Maren was very observant for her young age, raising a brow at how quiet their mother was.

"I'm fine sweetheart, just tired. Been a long day already." In more ways than one.

"Hmm, okay." Maren shrugged and went back to playing on her tablet, along with her brother, each of them having one, which were gifts from their mother for their sixth birthday.

Mark was the worst parent on the planet and he knew it. He was tempted to buy those little kids whatever the hell they wanted, let them do whatever they wanted, take them everywhere a kid could dream of. Tempted. Logic kicked in and reminded him that buying their love was a bad start to all of this and, in the end, it'd hurt everyone because they'd wind up spoiled and it would be on him.

"Take a nap, darlin'," He suggested, not about to let her drive. Marlize had lived on an island for years; he'd give her a boat, not a car. He smiled slightly at his own joke, not about to voice it out loud. "Do you still fish?" Why it came out was beyond him, but it had. Mark could remember their first night together, when he had arrived. She had caught a basket of fish and he cooked them, showing her how to do it properly with the tinfoil.

"Not lately." Fishing in Connecticut wasn't an option, not when there wasn't a body of water anywhere nearby.

"Mommy is great at fishing! She caught a mini shark before!"

Marlize smirked, remembering that memory vividly and it had honestly scared the hell out of her. "We didn't hurt him either, did we, kiddos?"

Aven shook his head. "Nope, we unhooked him and tossed him back into the ocean where he belonged."

That had been a one in a million catch and Marlize had been tempted to see what shark meat tasted like, but she had to think about her children at the time. "Are there fishing holes in Dallas?" She asked cordially, popping another chip in her mouth and watched Mark nod, listening as he explained about the lake that was on his huge property. "A lake? I wonder what kind of fish are in there…" Probably nothing good compared to the ocean.

"I don't like fish, yuck!" Maren made a face, sticking her tongue out.

"You like fish sticks, though."

"Well yeah, those are good!"

Aven made a face now, shaking his head. "I'd take actual fish over fish sticks any day."

"They do this a lot." Marlize pointed out, wanting Mark to understand this was normal for the twins with their bickering.

"Kids do, darlin', I got nieces and nephews." Mark responded quietly, more amused than anything. Nobody really thought of him as 'kid friendly' and he understood that. Didn't mean he wasn't, though. Kid friendly. Babies, on the other hand, weirded him out because of how tiny they were and how big he was. "The lake has panfish, not saltwater like the ocean."

"What's the difference?"

Kids were also curious little mongrels and Mark frowned while thinking about it. "I'm not really sure, Aven."

"Probably no salt."

He had been taking a sip of his water and it came out of his nose. "Fuck!"

"Mark said a bad word!"

"Oh Jesus!" Marlize watched him quickly take control of the wheel, her eyes wide. "Are you okay?" She didn't realize her hand had landed on his, that familiar warmth crawling up her arm much like it had back on the island. She pulled her hand away, realizing what she'd done and cleared her throat, handing over some napkins to blow his nose in.

"What did I say?"

"Beats me."

Marlize smirked at the twins, chuckling softly and leaned back to ruffle their hair affectionately. "Mom's gonna take a nap, you guys good?" They nodded with thumbs up and she made sure Mark was all right before deciding to take him up on his offer.

A nap sounded great right about now since she had barely slept the previous night, her eyes closing. Within minutes, Marlize was out cold, her head leaning gently against the window. There were other pitstops during the drive, with Marlize even taking over, so Mark could grab a few winks and she had the GPS up, so there was no getting lost.

If she did, Mark would never let her live it down and contrary to what he thought, she DID know how to drive. The kids were zonked out after several hours of being up, the car ride and vibration making them snooze on and off. When Mark took over the drive for the final five hours heading into Dallas, Marlize let him and was out almost as soon as the car started driving off again.

When Marlize woke up, she was in a king-sized bed in a giant room, study wood and flannels in a pale blue, almost the shade of her eyes. Her bag was resting on a cedar chest at the foot of her bed and the window was open, allowing a fresh breeze to come in. While she was waking up, the sounds of the kids laughing could be heard from outside, where they were running around with Mark's three rather large dogs, who had taken to the twins as if they were their playmates or something. He supposed they were, sitting on his porch steps and watching basically all five of his kids running around. Maren and Aven had a LOT of energy they needed to burn off, so he had let them come out while he got everything, including their mother, inside the house before coming out here to let his legs stretch.

"Mmm, where am I?" Marlize rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and slowly sat up, looking around the room for a few minutes while getting her bearings in order.

This wasn't a hotel room, it was far too nice to be and it didn't take Marlize long to realize where exactly she had slept for however many hours. This was Mark's bed. They were in Dallas and she was in his house! Scrambling off the bed, Marlize heard yelling and laughing out the window and placed a hand over her chest, seeing her kids running around with three VERY large dogs, her eyes widening.

"Oh my god…" Mark had dogs THAT big?!

That shouldn't have surprised her considering he was a giant himself and she once again looked around, not believing how breathtaking this room alone was. It smelled really nice too. Then her eyes noticed something else on her left hand, her left ring finger to be exact, and her eyes about fell out of her head. It was a huge diamond ring, princess cut, simple yet effective and captivating.

Must be my engagement ring, how quaint. Tempted to take it off, instead, Marlize went into the master bathroom to relieve her bladder, which was screaming at her, and then made her way down the hallway leading to the spiral staircase. "Jesus, this place is insane…"

This house was a product of love because he had loved helping to design and even build it when he had been at home during the construction. Everything had his personal touch, which contrary to public opinion, wasn't all black. Mark had left that phase behind him a long time ago. Just the décor anyway, he was still a vicious bastard; he was just a vicious, evil bastard without looking like Satan himself and had a little more of a colored wardrobe.

Mark was aware of Marlize finally emerging because his dogs had stopped playing a very interesting game of fetch to go up to her. "Sit." He ordered, watching the three drop their big asses down. "They're friendly, darlin'." Mark assured her, shifting until he could see her properly.

Unless they sensed danger, then they were a little on the aggressive side and, by little, he meant someone would be missing a limb.

"Okay." That was good to hear and she was relieved, immediately holding her hand out to the middle one that was pure black. "Well hello there, they're beautiful."

Marlize scratched behind the dog's ears for a minute before moving onto the others, being told that their names were Hades, Pain, and Panic. Was Mark a fan of Greek Mythology or something? That reminded her of the Disney movie Hercules and Hades of course from Greek Mythology. Interesting. Her eyes moved to where the children were playing in the yard as Pain and Panic took off after them, watching over them more than anything. Hades stayed, however, obeying his master's command and Marlize finally dropped down beside Mark, sliding a hand through her haphazard honey blonde mop.

They had bigger fish to fry, such as telling the children who Mark actually was. "So, when do you want to tell them? Not just about you, but this," Left hand was held up to show off the diamond ring on her finger. "As well."

"I don't know." Mark was scratching Hades head now, watching the kids thoughtfully. "Figured maybe we'd let them settle in first and take a couple days to get used to it here. But it's up to you." He had no idea how long it would take them to process the news or if they'd be all right or need time. She definitely would. "Ring fit okay?" He had measured her finger and placed an order online from his cell at a truck stop; his cleaning lady had appreciated the bonus on her paycheck to go get it and bring it here before they got home.