Married in Vegas (The Townsends Book 3)

by Angie Campbell

  “Yes,” the younger girl answered, giving her sister such a fierce look, she resembled a bull dog. “I had a pretty good idea to start with, that Mr. Martin would just kick me out.”

  “Great,” Jenny said dripping sarcasm as she guided her sister back to sit down on the bed. “And you haven’t talked to mom yet, have you?”

  “No,” she said, chewing on a thumbnail with a nervous look.

  “They push us to go to college to help us leave the nest,” she sighed, sitting down beside her. “It’s to help us make our own decisions. Trust me, Mom and dad usually know what we’re going to end up doing, no matter what it is.” She shook her head and added, “Of course, they hope we’ll get at least two years of college under our belt before we really force those decisions. You should have finished the semester, and then talked to them about it with a clear head.”

  “You want to talk about things you should do with a clear head. Well, you shouldn’t have gotten drunk and then married,” Hannah said calling Jenny on her own recent actions.

  “Stop it. We’re not on me right now.”

  She jumped and turned to face her older sister with her hands on her hips. “So, why haven’t you two ever went out?”

  “We need to talk about you,” Jenny said, sounding frustrated.

  “I’m not saying another word, until you answer,” Hannah said, taking on the bull dog look again.

  “Fine. If you must know, I was always telling him no when he would ask me out,” Jenny said, really not wanting to tell her sister this, but figuring it was going to come out sooner or later anyway.

  Her little sister raised an eyebrow at her, crossing her arms in front of her. “How many times did he ask you out?” she asked, giving her a suspicious look.

  She let out a long breath and closed her eyes. “At least once a week for the last four years. That is, until last September, when he just started kissing me silly.”

  Hannah just stared at her in amazement. “How is it I didn’t know about this? I would almost bet he got you drunk on purpose.”

  “Because no one younger than Mindi knew, and I got myself drunk. We were supposed to be eating dinner. I barely touched my food, and I don’t’ remember how much wine I drank.”

  “The whole family knows how you have always felt about him. How could you have turned him down that many times?” Hannah asked, her eyes bugging out of her head as the number of times Jenny had to have turned him down really finally started to sink in.

  “I was too terrified to say yes.” And with a bit more honesty, she added, “I’m still terrified, even now.”

  “Okay, but he didn’t have to ask you to marry him while you were drunk. On second thought, he was drunk, as well,” she said, deciding to give Mark a break.

  “I asked him to marry me,” Jenny said, biting her lip.

  “What?” Hannah asked, fighting back a laugh.

  “You heard me. Now, that’s enough about me. What are you going to tell mom and dad?”

  “The truth,” Hannah said, giving her sister a dirty look. “Did you think I was going to lie?”

  Jenny just shook her head. “You better tell them tonight.”

  She huffed in response. “Yeah, sure thing.”

  When Jenny got back downstairs, it was to find Mark sitting on the couch with her youngest sister on his lap. The little girl seemed to be completely enthralled by him. Jenny suspected it might be his sheer size. He was probably the biggest thing she had ever seen, except for James. And Mark was actually taller than James, just not quite as wide”

  Emily was just sitting there staring up at him with a look of wonder on her face. “I see she still does not know what to think of you.”

  “No. I don’t think she does,” Mark said with a grin.

  “Well, at times, I don’t know what to think of you either.”

  “What do you mean? Because I know my size doesn’t intimidate you,” he said, giving her a puzzled look.

  “Well, no, your size doesn’t scare me. Not in the least.”

  Emily had started to squirm, and Mark sit her down on the floor, so she could run out of the room, leaving the two of them alone for the moment. “Then what do you find so baffling?”

  “It’s just that we were drunk when we got married. Most guys would have used that as a reason to get a divorce. They wouldn’t have chosen to try and make it work.”

  “Jenny, you know how I feel about you. Why would you think I wouldn’t want to try and stay together? Regardless of how we ended up married, I am in love with you.”

  Jenny’s breath caught in her throat, and she just stood there staring at him. She couldn’t find the voice to speak. Even if she could, she wouldn’t have been able to find the words. She was caught in his gaze and couldn’t turn her head. She felt like there was fire in her veins.

  Just then the silence was broken by a loud thumping sound. Jenny turned back to look up the hall to see two of her younger brothers rolling around on the floor. She looked back at her enormous husband. “I may need your help. We’re going to have to break up a fight.”

  Mark jumped up off the couch and darted around her. He had both of the boys pulled apart, standing between them before Jamie had made it back downstairs.

  When Jamie reached the landing, she grabbed an ear on both of her two misbehaving sons and pulled them along to the kitchen. “Okay, sit down, both of you.” Mark and Jenny had followed quietly behind them, and just stood there looking on.

  Jamie looked first at Michael, giving him a chance to tell the truth before asking Hunter, who she knew would tell the truth. “What were you two fighting about?”

  “He took the game controller, and wouldn’t give it back,” Michael said, only telling the part that made Hunter sound bad.

  “He had...”

  “Hang on, Hunter. I’ll get to you.” She looked back over at Michael, “What did you do then?”

  “I took it back,” he said, not quite meeting her eyes.

  “There it is. You’re lying. Why can’t you ever just tell me something without lying?” she questioned, throwing her hands up in the air. Now, she turned back to her other son. “Okay, Hunter. What’s your version?”

  “He had lost his game, and it was my turn, but he wouldn’t let me have the controller.” He dropped his head, staring at the floor. “So, I took the controller instead of getting you.”

  “Okay. What else?” Jamie said, feeling a little bit more patient with Hunter than Michael. Hunter continued to stare at the floor. He didn’t want to tell on his brother, but his mom would know he was lying. “Hunter, tell me. Is that all he did, take the controller back?”

  “Mom, I don’t want to be a tattle-tale.”

  “You’re not being a tattle-tale if I ask you point blank what happened.”

  Hunter let out a sigh and looked his mom in the eye, “He punched me in the gut. Then tried to run from me. That’s why we ended up in the hall floor.”

  “Okay, you’re grounded for a month for doing something you knew would result in a fight, and then chasing after him when he ran from the room.”

  She turned back to Michael and looked him in the eyes. “You’re grounded for a month for starting the fight, and two months for lying to me.”

  “He gets a month and I get two,” he screeched in outrage. “That’s not fair.”

  “You misunderstand,” she answered with a pinched look. “You get three months. Do you want to make it four?”

  “That’s not fair. He was fighting also,” Michael said, his voice rising another full octave.

  “Okay, four months it is, then. He wasn’t trying to lie to me, and he was trying not to get you in worse trouble,” she stressed, praying just once her stubborn son would see past the nose on his own face.

  “Dang it.” Michael stormed off through the kitchen door. They could still hear him grumbling on his way back down the hall.

  “Sorry, Mom.” Hunter turned, and left the kitchen, following his brother.

&n
bsp; “Do you figure he will ever realize it’s the lying that keeps getting him in so much trouble?” Jamie asked, truly feeling perplexed.

  “I don’t know. I hope so,” Jenny answered. “Out of the two, who’s been the hardest to raise. Hannah or Michael?” She asked her mother this, because she knew Hannah had been driving her mother crazy for years.

  Jamie turned and looked at her oldest daughter with a sigh. “I honestly don’t know, but Hannah has never been one to tell lies. I think she considered it a waste of her time.” Jenny just nodded her head, knowing that was exactly what Hannah thought.

  ******

  They made it to Mark’s mom and dad’s house by five thirty. Mark had told her that his parents always started dinner by six, and she had wanted to be early enough to help. At least a little bit. That was something her family was really big on. Working together to prepare meals. It was something her mother had started when Phillip and Zane had still been in the single digits. She said she felt like it helped keep them all close knit. There was so many of them, they had to take turns in the kitchen with her, but it had always been one of her favorite things about growing up in her family.

  She was also looking forward to spending some time with Mark’s mom. She had been around her several times but had never had the opportunity to get to know her really well. Mrs. Harris had always seemed like the quiet and gentle type. Jenny’s own mom was a lot of things, but quiet didn’t usually come into it.

  So, when they got there, and she gave Jenny a big hug, while at the same time starting in on her son about having enough respect for her to do things the right way, Jenny was more than a little surprised. She was starting to feel really irritated at everybody. It seemed like everywhere they went, someone was jumping his case, and the next thing she knew, she found herself defending him. Very loudly.

  They had only been sitting down at the table eating for about five minutes, and his mom was still going on about how terrible she thought what he had done was. All of the sudden she found herself standing up and almost screaming at the top of her lungs. “Okay, that’s enough. Everyone keeps blaming him for everything. I’m the one who asked him to marry me. This is not entirely his fault. And another thing. I feel like everyone is trying to make him feel guilty. Well, if I’m okay with it, everybody else can just be okay with it, as well. I don’t want him to start to feel so guilty, that he ends up regretting marrying me.”

  When she was done, and looked around at everyone sitting at the table, it was to find Mr. Harris and Abby’s jaws had both dropped open, and Mark wearing a look of awed surprise on his face. Mrs. Harris looked like she was trying to hide a sly grin. Jenny realized the older lady had known exactly what she had been doing and was now quite pleased with herself.

  “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for,” she said, turning bright pink and sitting back down.

  “What? Are you saying you didn’t mean it?” Mark’s mom was proving to be rather relentless.

  Jenny shook her head, staring down at her plate. “No, I meant it. I just shouldn’t have gotten so loud.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with being passionate about something.” She paused, seemingly for dramatic effect. “Or someone. Especially if that person is your husband. You have nothing to apologize for.” Mrs. Harris had known for a lot longer than Mark realized, how he felt about Jenny, and had figured out early on that Jenny felt the same way. She had also realized it was going to take some drastic measures for Mark to get her to marry him. She didn’t know what had caused it, but she knew Jenny was just really terrified of getting hurt. She really wasn’t upset about the way they had gotten married. She had just needed Jenny to think she was. She knew the Townsend’s were all very protective of those they loved. Even when they were still having a hard time admitting that love.

  Jenny felt like she had been played. Like Mark’s mom had been trying to prove something, and she had played right into her hands. On the other hand, it had given her a lot to think about.

  “Mom, would you back off, please?” Mark sounded almost desperate. Jenny could see the pleading in his eyes.

  “Okay, I’ll let it go,” she said holding her hands up. “I don’t want to cause you any trouble.”

  Chapter 7

  Saturday, July 13

  Mark, along with the Townsends and a few other friends, had been working on rebuilding the Jones families house. John and Elaine Jones’ house had burned down back in January when the chimney had caught fire. Their children, Izzy and Zach, had been trapped in the house for a short time. Thankfully, Mark and Zane had managed to get them out in time, but the house had been a total loss. The group was all pitching in to do the labor for free, so the couple could afford to rebuild while renting a different place in town.

  It was getting close to noon and Jenny, her sister Lisa, and Elaine had brought sandwiches and chips over to eat, with lemonade and sweet tea to drink. They were now sitting everything out on a picnic table Carl and Phillip had brought over for just these occasions while they were all working on the house. Jenny sighed and shook her head. “I wish we had a couple of chocolate cakes to go with this. All this hard work, the guys deserve at least a small treat.”

  “Go look in Mom and Dad’s truck,” Lisa chuckled. “Do you really think Dad would let us off the hook without chocolate cake?”

  “Of course not,” Jenny said, throwing her hands up in the air. “How many times have we heard him say, ‘You can’t have a picnic without chocolate cake!’?”

  “More times than I can count. Come on, I’ll help you get them,” Lisa added, turning toward where all the vehicles were parked.

  It only took a minute or two and they were back with the two homemade cakes, with chocolate ganache icing. Non-alcoholic, of course. They didn’t need anyone getting drunk while operating power tools.

  Elaine watched the other women sit the desserts down on the table and smiled. “You know, you all have really saved our family a lot of heartache and frustration. Not to mention the money. And goodness me, Jenny that’s a whole lot of man. Apparently, he’s more than just a stuffy business owner, as well.”

  “Trust me, I know,” Jenny said with a big grin of her own, thinking about the way Mark had been pampering her since they got back from Vegas.

  The older lady raised an eyebrow and gave her an inquisitive smile. “Oh, and why is that?”

  “He woke me up with breakfast in bed two days ago. It was for our one-week anniversary. It was just scrambled eggs and toast with orange juice, but for Mark that’s an accomplishment. His mom never taught him and Abby how to cook. She was too busy learning herself.”

  Elaine gave her a surprised look. “I didn’t know she didn’t know how to cook when her and Joe got married.”

  “Well, she didn’t, and neither did Joe. That may be why Abby and Mark spent so much time at our house growing up. I think Mom came out of the womb with a wooden spoon in one hand and a ladle in the other.”

  The older woman chuckled and shook her head at the image her words made. “It’s amazing Mark and Abby survived.”

  She just nodded in agreement. “This morning, before I got out of bed, he ran a bath for me,” she said, with a far off look on her face. “He does little stuff like that for me all the time.”

  The other woman chuckled. “Someone’s getting spoiled.”

  “Yeah, I know. He’s amazing,” Jenny said with a far off look on her face.

  “Yeah, and he’s sexy too. How is it, that you three Townsend girls ended up with three of the sexiest and most successful men in Sapphire Springs?” she asked, turning to watch Mark and Luke as they worked on the roof, laying down shingles. “The only other men that can compare is your own brothers. Well, there are a few others and I know one of them is already pretty much permanently attached to your sister Teresa.”

  “Just lucky, I guess, and stop looking at my husband like that, please,” Jenny said with a laugh.

  “Okay, but you know, you really don’t have anything to
worry about. That man doesn’t see any woman but you. Even if I was ten years younger, and not still totally in love with my own husband, I would never have had a chance.”

  “And just so you know, gross. My brothers, really?” she asked, giving an exaggerated shiver.

  “Oh, come on. You know they’re hot and all the young ladies around your age are drooling over them.”

  “I know,” Jenny shrugged. “But I don’t have to admit it, do I?”

  Elaine shrugged, as if thinking about it. “I guess not,” she smirked.

  “Besides, some of those women really aren’t very lady like, if you know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, I’ve seen some of that, also,” she replied, raising her eyebrows.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Jenny added, watching her husband as he worked on the roof. “I’ve got the best one in the bunch.”

  “No, you don’t,” Lisa jumped in, tossing a dishcloth at her sister. “I got the best one.”

  “Okay, you two,” Elaine laughed, waving her hands in front of her. “You’re both allowed to think yours is the best. That one over there,” she added, pointing at Mark. “He’s been in love with you for a long while. You two should have been married four or five years ago.”

  Jenny sighed, dropping her eyes to the table. “That’s my fault. Not his. We would have been married at least three years ago if it had been up to him.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She just shook her head. “Sorry, it’s not something I talk about with just anyone.”

  “Okay, I’ll let it go. I don’t want to pry.” She looked back up at the roof, where Mark and Luke were working on the shingles. “Man, they work fast. They’ve almost got this side done. I wonder if James and Zane have as much done on the other side?”

  Mindi, who had just walked up, told her, “It’s probably pretty close. I was just over there about fifteen minutes ago, and they weren’t far behind this then.” Just then she got a really strange look on her face. “What’s he doing?”

  Jenny turned around in time to watch her husband, who had been sitting with his legs dangling off the edge of the roof, drop off it without using the ladder. She felt a split second of panic, just before his work boots hit the ground. “God, is he crazy?” she growled.