Chapter 20

Over the next few days, Marlize busied herself with unpacking her and the twins' belongings. They had each picked out a room and Maren very kindly asked her father if he would paint her room pink. She didn't like the white walls very much and wanted her room to resemble the one she had in Hawaii. Of course, Mark couldn't deny her anything and had gone out to buy buckets of pink paint, which is what he was currently doing.

He even asked Aven if he wanted his room painted and Aven shook his head, not minding the white walls in his room. However, he was currently going through a box of his belongings, setting things up where he wanted since he had shelving in his room, and was making it his own. He even had his Superman bedspread he loved and his mother had gotten for him for Christmas. Same with Maren, she had her Disney Princess bedspread too, pillows and all.

Marlize found their photo albums, thanking god she still had these memories and would glance down at her engagement ring every so often. She and Mark had barely spoken since the truck and vans came that day, after she tried convincing him not to let them take over his home and he'd been adamant about it. Since they were engaged, and the twins understood what that meant, sleeping in separate rooms wasn't an option, so Mark and Marlize were sharing a bed together in that beautiful room she had woken up in.

Today, it was raining outside, so it was the perfect day to do this, even though she'd been working on it for a few days now and they would have to go back on the road tomorrow for Smackdown!. They still hadn't talked about what to do regarding her job or the kids schooling, and Marlize was not bringing it up. If Mark truly wanted her to stay home with the kids and have them go to a regular school, he would have to speak up and tell her since she wasn't a mind reader. Hell, Mark hadn't even told her when he wanted to either plan their wedding or go to the courthouse to make things official, figuring he'd want to do that immediately.

That was because Linda was planning the wedding. In fact, Stephanie would be coming out for a 'girl's day' starting in a week or so, where they'd be riding around in a tinted SUV and rushed into private boutiques in Dallas for a dress fitting. Linda was adamant about Marlize laying low until the wedding, which wouldn't be a quiet affair. She was adding that political layer of protection for her niece, refusing to let that scumbag ex-husband get any upper hand. Married to Mark, Marlize could use a gun again, hopefully not ON Mark, but…in the event she had to shoot another man, she wouldn't have to worry about going to prison. Texas had a LOT of gun laws, all of them very pro-gun, pro-defense; Mark hadn't been lying when he had said there were several layers of protection to marrying him.

As for schooling, Mark hadn't given it much thought just yet since the kids were settled and he was getting there slowly. His daughter had decided she wanted Disney Princess wall decals for her room. He was spending a LOT of time at the Home Depot and Lowe's these days.

"Gotta wait until the paint dries, little darlin'." His daughter had him wrapped around her finger already, it was a sad truth. His son also did, they had been playing basketball every night after supper ever since they moved in with him. "Then I'll put them up."

"So…I can open them?"

"Only if you want to ruin them."

Marlize wasn't privy to any of this information because Linda knew what would happen. She would fight it. She would fight everything coming her way and find a way out of it. Even if she gave her word and felt like she had no other alternative, she would be against an actual wedding. As if blackmailing her into marrying him was bad enough, Mark was now enlisting her family to help him have a proper ceremony. It wasn't just for Marlize's sake either, it was for the twins as well. They deserved to see their mother be wedded to their father and they didn't need to know it was out of blackmail instead of love.

Since Texas was still warm even in the month of October, Marlize wore a simple nightshirt and shorts to bed, her damp hair hanging loosely about her shoulders and looked up when Mark entered the room. He looked exhausted and she knew it was due to all the demands from their little girl wanting her room perfect, which Daddy was more than willing to do. Since it was pouring rain outside still, there was no basketball playing that night and Aven was currently in his room playing video games. Something he enjoyed doing whenever he couldn't go outside to play.

"I have something for you. Or rather…something for you to see, if you want."

"What is it?"

"They're photo albums, baby pictures of the kids and stuff. Figured you'd want to see them since they were retrieved. Whenever you want, doesn't have to be tonight." A simple nod from him was all she got and Marlize set the photo albums at the end of the bed on the cedar chest, all of her clothes and whatnot put away in her dresser and the walk-in closet.

Mark gave her an entire side, putting what he had on that side in storage out in one of the many sheds he had on the property. Honestly, Mark considered showing her the adjacent room that attached to his bedroom, which consisted of walking through the master bathroom and there it was, complete with a latching door and everything else. However…he was glad he hadn't because that first morning, the twins had come barreling into the room to wake 'Mommy' and 'Daddy' vigorously, and he knew they'd have questions if their parents weren't sharing a bed, much less a room.

He had showered in a different bathroom, not about to bring pink paint into theirs and was wearing a tank top and a pair of sweat pants to sleep in, having foregone his normal nude sleeping attire. Or lack thereof due to the fact he didn't need her getting any ideas about cutting off his dick. Mark might not get to use it again properly since they were going to be in an essentially loveless, sexless marriage, but that did not mean he wasn't above using his hand on occasion.

"I'll take them now, darlin'." Mark had scoured pink paint out of his hair, still trying to figure out how that had happened.

That would've been Maren playing a prank on her father, simply swiping it in his hair and had giggled, though Mark had no idea what she's done. She could be devious when the situation called for it, just like Aven. Kids were evil creatures sometimes.

"They're on the cedar chest, help yourself."

Marlize knew they would have to have sex at least once to consummate the marriage, to make it official, and wasn't looking forward to that. She'd get through it, hoping Mark didn't prolong it or drag it out too much like he was wont to do. That was how he had been on the island anyway, but times had changed and it'd been quite a few years since they were together intimately. Maybe Mark wasn't even interested in sex anymore these days, now that she thought about it.

Why am I even thinking about this? Granted, it'd been a long time for her too and Marlize was pretty positive she had thick cobwebs down below from the lack of sex, too scared to have a relationship of any kind for fear of Bradley finding her. "You haven't mentioned when we're getting married and I figured you'd want to do it as soon as possible." You know, since you don't fucking trust me. "Did you want me to call the courthouse and set it up to get our marriage license, so it's done and over with or what?"

"Nah, already made arrangements."

Mark had retrieved the albums and lay them out on his side of the bed. It was a custom-made bed, with a sturdy mattress, so she didn't even have to be near him in their bed. He snorted at the thought, moving to help himself to a glass of whiskey from his corner cabinet. Mark liked a drink every now and then, nothing like he had before in the past, or like on the Island when he had lived on nicotine, coffee and beers. Those days were long behind him.

"Tomorrow around noon, be ready, okay?" Marlize rarely spoke to him unless she needed to, or the kids were around, he figured she'd be glad it wasn't happening just like that. Settling on the bed, he took a slow sip from his drink, beginning to flip through the albums. "After we're married, we'll sort out the schooling. Did you want to keep them in…uh, whatever you had them in?" He had kind of interrupted all of that, hadn't he?

"Aren't we going back on the road tomorrow?"

Mark shook his head, letting her know that he didn't have to be on the show and he had taken the house shows off too. This was more important, getting everything situated and nailed down with her and the kids. Why did that suddenly make her heart flutter? Butterflies were erupting in her stomach and she eyeballed the whiskey, chewing her bottom lip. Would one drink hurt her?

"I already told you I'll do whatever you want, Mark. You said they're not stable on the road, remember?" They needed stability, security, and safety in their lives, which was why they were here in the first place. "I believe your words were 'the road is no place for kids' or something like that? Maybe I'm mistaken?"

Marlize hadn't drank a drop of alcohol in so long because she was a single parent and was scared the kids would need her during the night. Not to mention she didn't want to be inebriated in case Bradley found her and the kids. Marlize was standing by the window staring out of it, into the pouring rain and wrapped her arms around herself, hating how trapped she felt.

"You're bound and determined to make everything a damn fight, Marlize, you know that?"

If she had made SMART decisions, she wouldn't be in this mess. She could have reached out to Vince or Linda to get a hold of him and she'd of been married to him BEFORE those kids were cut out of her. Instead, she had assumed the worst and was now holding her stupid grudge against him.

"And it ain't, not really. We'll figure it out, I'll figure it out." He had been trying, he really had, to give her the opportunity to make decisions with him. Lord knew she didn't need any more fuel for her hatred. Mark downed the rest of his whiskey and got out of the bed, the album tucked beneath his arm as he stared down at her intently. "This could be a real good thing, Marlize, we were fucking happy once. If you would just pull your scared head out of your stupid ass, we could be again." He shook his head, holding up his glass bearing hand when her mouth opened. "Save it, I'm not doing this tonight. I'll be in my office."

At every turn, she threw something in his face, even when he was trying to extend an olive branch. That would both piss him off and hurt him on some weird level, and he'd do something she hated. Like blackmail her into this marriage. What the HELL did she think he was getting out of this? Sure as hell not a loving wife, a life partner; he was getting someone who hated him who also happened to be the gun welding, flight risk mother of his children who despised him. This wasn't exactly his idea of a good time either.

It was NECESSARY.

No, they were doing this tonight since he thought she was trying to turn this into a fight. That wasn't what Marlize was trying to do! "It's easy for you to say, you don't have someone hunting you down wanting you AND your children dead! You don't have to live with that constant anxiety and fear on a daily basis like I do! I get it, okay? I fucking get why we have to do this, but…I didn't appreciate what you said about the kids not being stable. I'm a damn good mother and I've done the best I can, so sorry I'm not a damn millionaire like you, who can give them everything their hearts desire!" That was a bitter pill to swallow because she knew it was true and folded her arms in front of her chest, looking away from him. "I know this is necessary and contrary to what you may think, I don't hate you for it." Even though you're blackmailing me into this, I know it's for my own good as well as the kids. "If I make a decision you don't agree with, we'll end up doing things your way in the end anyway, so that's why I said what I said. But I also refuse to pretend I'm happy about this arrangement since this marriage isn't based on anything except convenience. And we didn't have a damn thing on that island except a bunch of broken promises and a whirlwind romance that wound up with me knocked up. ALONE." Sometimes the truth really hurt and Marlize moved away from him, deciding she would be having a drink tonight.

It was needed.

"Once again, darlin', you're just proving my point." Mark snorted, already walking out the door to go to his office. "Making everything a fucking swinging match; it's not about who wins with you or anything else, it's just you having to hit the fucking hardest," And she did it too, without thought, Marlize just lashed out and nailed someone right where it hurt. He began chuckling, in the hallway now. "Should have ripped him a new asshole verbally, you wouldn't have missed." He was walking down the hall now, figuring he'd just sleep on the leather couch in his office so he'd wake up with his balls intact. "Fuck…" Mark groaned once in there, easing himself down and sighed.

Good mother, he hadn't questioned that and he decided right then and there he wasn't bothering anymore. He'd just be the hard ass who didn't care about her, that's the picture she had painted anyway, so he'd just give it to her. It'd be easier for her, and for him.

"Never misses…" Mark laughed softly, mostly at himself, a hand covering his heart while the other went back to flipping through the album.

He wasn't the only one suffering from a broken, mangled heart.

Marlize gritted her teeth, tears already sliding down her cheeks while he continued laughing at her. Until that laughter disappeared and she was in the bedroom alone, wiping the tears away angrily. He would never understand or see her ways of things, only what HE saw. It didn't matter that he had abandoned her on that island for months, only for her to be forced to leave because of her pregnancy.

The pregnancy he caused!

Didn't he understand that reaching out to Linda and Vince while she was pregnant would've been too risky with Bradley out there hunting her? It was risky enough leaving the island, especially after what happened to Dirk's ferry boat. Downing a shot of whiskey and then another, Marlize stopped after the third tumbler and collapsed on the bed, passing out almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. She was officially a lightweight since she'd been dry for the past six months when it came to alcohol.