Chapter 19

"Yeah, it's fine."

Marlize honestly thought the sooner they told the twins, the better, and since they were so young, hopefully, it wouldn't be a huge deal to them. That was wrong to think, but it was all she could hope for and it looked like they were settling in incredibly well already. She looked around at the beautiful property before her, the landscaping, the circular driveway with the fountain in the middle of it that was pouring fresh water out. The dogs had actually ran over to drink from it and her eyes moved to her children – their children. Marlize could already see how happy they were, tossing a frisbee back and forth, gaining that fresh air they normally didn't have.

Damn it, he really does have a nice house and it is secluded out here. Safe.

"Mom!"

"Mommy!"

She waved at them with a small smile, catching Maren when she ran over to hug her and then Aven followed, listening as they rambled on about how much they liked it here and how HUGE this place was. She laughed, agreeing with them and that diamond ring on her finger glinted, catching Maren's eye instantly.

"Mommy, that's a really pretty ring."

Aven noticed it too, but didn't say anything since he didn't realize what it meant and looked up at Mark. "Thanks for bringing us here, Mark. Your house is awesome!"

Now was the time to tell them and Marlize held each of their hands in her own, praying and hoping the twins didn't hate her. "Guys, there's a reason why Mark wanted to bring us here." They could deal with the engagement news later, but this was more important and she looked over at him, seeing he was indifferent on when they told the twins. "Aven, Maren, Mark isn't just a coworker of Mommy's or a friend. He's your father."

"No, he's not, we don't have a Daddy."

Mark wanted to slap himself in the face, exhaling through his nose. They would have had a Daddy from day one if people could get their priorities straight. That was neither here nor there right now and he just smiled instead. "I'm your Dad, Maren."

The two just looked back and forth between the adults, finally looking at each other. Aven reached out to tug his twin's hair. "Our hair is red, his isn't."

That made her smile through tears and she reached out to caress her son's cheek gently. "I'm going to assume that your father dyes his hair and his hair is naturally red, just like yours."

Maren wasn't sure what to think about this, now really nervous and her eyes conveyed that. "But…you told us…"

"I know, baby, I know what I said and I'm so sorry I lied to you guys. We were so far away from your Dad, you see, and…" This was really hard to tell six year olds, but she was trying, nevertheless, owing it to them. "Look, the important thing is that you know now. And he is your father. You guys look a lot like him, you know?"

"W-We do?" Maren whispered, touching her cheek and then looked at her twin brother, who did the same thing. Then, she turned those deep pale blues onto Mark and stepped up to him, tilting her head. "So, you're our Dad?" He nodded, not reaching out to touch her, but she could sense the truth coming from the giant. "Are you okay with…with us? Being our Dad?"

Maren was going to shatter her and Marlize was pretty sure Mark was on the verge of tears himself, or he was damn close to it. "Of course he is, he loves you guys so much already. And he brought us here because, well…" Was now the time to drop another bomb on them? There's no choice, I have to do this or else I'll lose my babies. "We're getting married. That's why we're here and that's why Mommy has this pretty ring on her finger now."

"He has to say it, not you, you lied. Lies are bad, remember? It means you can't be trusted." Aven reminded her, something he had been told when he was busted stealing a pack of candy from a classmate in school.

Mark found that to be very smart, actually, glad Aven knew that, but it also sucked because now he knew his mother lied to them. If he was a little older, he may have had questions such as 'how can you love us or want to be our Dad if you weren't there?', that WOULD make him cry. "I do want to be your Dad, Aven." Christ, he was choking up.

Marlize lowered her eyes from her son and daughter, not able to contradict or argue his point at all. This six year old boy had just schooled her and she felt helpless, hating that Aven no longer trusted her. It wasn't as if she could go through the entire history between her and Mark, or tell them that their father had made promises he couldn't keep. Mark had abandoned her, left her alone to raise two babies and now he was blackmailing her into marrying him. The anger was starting to well up inside of her, but Marlize had to swallow it all down and wiped a stray tear from her eye, then another, trying like hell not to cry in front of her children.

This is all because of you, Bradley. If you'd just left me alone and stopped chasing me, we'd be happy in Hawaii right now instead of here. "I'm sorry I lied to you guys, Aven. Mommy will never do it again, I promise, okay? You're right, lying is very bad and I won't do it again." Not unless I absolutely have to and there's no other choice.

Was she planning on telling them the truth or a lie eventually? Sooner rather than later they were going to ask why he hadn't been around, and Mark knew his truth and what he would tell them. He had tried and, by the time he had managed to get there, after months of agonizing recovery and rehabilitation, she was already gone. Mark had tried going through Vince, who was still going to get a fist to the face also sooner rather than later out of sheer spite. He would also tell them about him and Marlize, their brief, intense time where they…had sex.

Maybe leave that part out, moron.

"So can we call you Dad?"

"Yes," It came out more choked then the last words he had said, tears finally appearing in his eyes. Damn it.

"Aww Dad, don't cry! It's okay." Maren's sweet little voice murmured, taking a chance to wrap her arms around his neck as far as her little arms would go, and Aven joined in seconds later.

That was all Marlize could handle seeing and she looked away to let the tears flow down her cheeks, making sure her hair covered the side so the twins couldn't see them. That was one thing Marlize tried not to do was cry in front of her children, never wanting to show that weakness. She was their mother, she had to be strong as their rock and now…now they had another rock in their life with their father. If the twins did ever ask about why he hadn't been around, Marlize couldn't tell the truth and she knew it, knowing she'd have to come up with something on the fly. Hopefully, they never did. They were only six, so she didn't see that happening…until Aven decided to prove her wrong, yet again.

"So, why weren't you around? Where've you been all this time?"

DAMN IT! Why was her boy so smart? Marlize knew Aven was asking Mark that question and decided to let him take the reins because he wouldn't like what came out of her mouth. She was sure of it. Best to let Daddy handle this one. "I'm going to get something to drink while you chat with the twins, Daddy." That was a direct shot at him and she didn't care, making it sound loving in a very condescending way that the twins didn't pick up on. Hades trotted after her and she smiled at the dog, stopping to lean down to pet him again before continuing on to locate the kitchen of this place.

What a bitch! I hope it's not hereditary. Or else his twins were going to make someone very miserable in a relationship. Mark moved to sit on the grass with them and told them everything he could that was PG anyway. How he had met their mother, how they had grown to care about each other and tried to help each other through their hurts, refusing to tell them about Jared.

"If you loved her, why didn't you come back?"

"Or why didn't she go with you when you left?"

Sometimes, Mark wished he still smoked, he mused, as he reached for his chewing tobacco instead. Inhaling deeply, he launched into THAT story, with a lot of edits because they did not need to hear the more violent parts of that whole being bound and sedated thing. Or him knocking out his best friend's tooth. While Mark was speaking to the twins, huge delivery vans, along with a truck, came pulling up and stopped in the circular driveway, cutting the conversation Mark had been having with his children abruptly.

"I'll go get Mom." Aven offered, watching his Dad nod and took off running into the house, yelling for her. "MOM! Something's here!"

Marlize had just sat down to eat some toast with a cup of coffee when she heard her son yelling, immediately rushing to him, her heart thundering in her chest. Was it Bradley? That would always be her first thought, first assumption, at least until she became more comfortable here. This was their home now and she had to accept that sooner rather than later.

"Jesus Aven, where's the fire, honey?"

"Mom, there's a HUGE truck outside along with vans! Mark – I mean Dad, told me to come get you!" Aven had corrected himself, knowing that would take time to change his mindset.

"What?" Mark, what the hell did you do now? She followed Aven outside and froze at the movers already unloading the truck, immediately recognizing what it was. "Oh my god…" Now the tears were flowing freely and she moved, along with Aven, out of their way as they began carrying everything inside. Everything was here. Everything she thought she left behind in Hawaii was here! All of their memories! "How did you…?"

"Linda." Mark had gotten the call from his future Aunt-in-law, smirking at that one, and explained to Marlize that the woman had everything sent to Connecticut from Hawaii once her and the twins had moved in.

This was before she started at WWE and Linda had kept it secret, wanting to wait until Marlize and the twins had their own place before telling her about it. Now that she was with Mark in Dallas and moving in with him, Linda figured it was time to send everything there and surprise her niece. Maybe Marlize would feel more comfortable now that she knew she hadn't lost everything after running away from Hawaii to get away from her psychotic ex-husband.

All Marlize could do was watch in awe and wiped her tears away, feeling Mark stand beside her with his hand on her shoulder to let her know everything would be all right. Would it though? This was all too much to take at once and Marlize felt very overwhelmed. Although, this also meant she had the twins baby pictures and everything that Mark could look through, to see what he had missed because of miscommunication and her fear.

"Straight in, to the right of the stairs." Mark made sure the movers knew exactly where they were going.

All her belongings would go into that empty room he had directed; he had been planning on turning it into who even knew anymore and never got around to it. Now it was a storage room for her and the twins things while she sorted through it and decided where she wanted to put it. Mark figured she'd want to have stuff out here and he didn't blame her. It would make it more comfortable. He remembered the island cabin, it had been so… bland, nothing personal in it at all. It hadn't even seemed like someone lived there really, more like a resort type deal or something. Nice and all, but impersonal.

This had taken some serious coordination with Linda as she had gotten to work, after talking to Marlize, arranging all of this, including some basics for the kids until he could take them shopping in a day or two. She had wanted to go buck wild there too, he had stopped that one. Mark had explained he wanted THEM to design and decorate their rooms, make it their space. He figured that would go a long way in making them feel more comfortable here.

"You okay, darlin'?" He pulled a bandana from his pocket, offering it to her when those tears didn't stop.

"No, yes, I don't know…" Marlize was trying to get over the initial shock that she hadn't had to lose everything she'd built in Hawaii over the past six years. "I can't believe it's all here. I thought I lost everything when I fled Hawaii and went to Aunt Linda's…" She spoke quietly, taking the bandana to dab her eyes and could tell the kids were chomping at the bit to go through everything to find their belongings.

Toys, electronics, personal items, clothes, shoes, everything was here. It felt…strange taking over this place with her children and Marlize had to keep reminding herself this was their home now. Home. She'd had a home in Hawaii, a true one, and she missed it a lot since it was right on the ocean.

Those days are over and I have to get over it. "Thank you for…bringing all of this here for us. The kids will really appreciate it. Mark, are you absolutely sure this is what you want to do? I don't…I don't want to take over your house and that's what's going to happen with the three of us living here. And I'm not saying that because that's what I plan to do, I just know that's what's going to happen in the long run. You don't have to do this…"

"Already made up my mind." Alongside hers and she wasn't getting out of it anytime soon because he didn't trust her one bit.

Not when she managed to sneak in insults in front of their kids while appearing so sweet, the woman hated him. He guessed he couldn't blame her; she didn't know the full story and since she wouldn't believe him, he wasn't bothering to tell her. Mark was just doing what needed to be done from here on out. Marlize was stuck with him for several long years, at least until the twins were 18, then she could run far away from him.

"Besides, this house is huge and there's a lot of room for everything, and you can change whatever you want. Make it yours, Marlize." Mark wanted her and the kids to make this their home.

Something in him lurched at that because he really DID want it, more than anything, and he began the process of squishing it all down since Marlize wanted nothing to do with him.