When Joe seen how unsteady he was on his feet, he asked again, “Are you sure you don’t want help? I don’t think he’ll be able to stand in the shower.”
“Joe, please, let me do this. I’ll get in with him if I have to.” She was nearly pleading with him. “He’s done this because of my cowardly stupidity. I need to take care of him.”
Joe seemed to finally understand she needed to be left to take care of him on her own. “Okay, I’ll just be down the hall if you get in over your head. I need to call his mom and let her know what’s going on, anyway. She’s been frantic all morning because she hasn’t been able to get a hold of him since Friday night. We’re supposed to have him at the doctor’s office at three,” he added before he turned and walked out of the bathroom.
Jenny missed the look of extreme joy he had on his face. He knew he didn’t have anything to worry about now. His son was going to be just fine, and he was going to be a grandpa. He was going to have to keep that to himself though, until she had a chance to tell Mark.
Mark, however, was giving her a very confused look. “I must still be dreaming.” He reached out and brushed her cheek with his knuckles. When she blushed, he mumbled something about it being a very realistic feeling dream. When he tried to lean down and kiss her, he almost fell, and she had to steady him.
“Okay, please, hold still.” She had managed to unfasten his jeans without him noticing, but when she pushed them off his hips along with his briefs, she got his attention in no uncertain terms.
“Wow! What are you doing?”
“You’re getting in the shower.”
“Oh, yeah. You said you’d get in with me. You have to take your clothes off too.” When he reached for the front of her blouse, she smacked his hand away. “Okay, maybe I’m not dreaming. Because if I was dreaming, I’d get what I wanted.” His mouth turned down in a frown, his bottom lip popping out, making her think of a pouting five-year-old. He gave her a look of confusion and tried reaching for her again, nearly falling once again.
She reached out to steady him, blowing out a hard breath, trying to blow her hair out of her face when a chunk of it slid out of her clip and fell over her eyes. “Mark, you are not dreaming. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
He brushed his hand over her cheek, pushing the hair back for her. “I don’t know. From my point of view, this would make a pretty good start to a dream.”
She sighed, taking a step back. “Do you think you are steady enough to stand on your own for a few seconds?” He just shrugged, staring back at her. She shook her head and knelt down in front of him and was now trying to pull his feet out of his pant legs. “Would you step out of these, please.”
He looked down at her and almost fell. He had to sit down on the edge of the tub, and she was finally able to remove his jeans the rest of the way from his body. With that done she stood up and started taking her own clothes off. There was no way he was going to be able to stand in the shower on his own.
She weighed the prudence of leaving her underwear and bra on against not being sure she had clean ones to put on once she got out and decided to take those off, as well. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her completely naked before.
He gave a sharp intake of air, “Yeah, still dreaming.”
This time she didn’t argue with him, she just reached over, helped him stand back up, and walked him toward the door of the shower.
******
Fifteen minutes later Mark had finally sobered up enough to realize Jenny was really there and he wasn’t dreaming. She had made him take Tylenol for his headache, and they were now sitting at the kitchen table, where he was eating scrambled eggs and toast. She was afraid to give him anything heavier than that for fear he wouldn’t be able to hold it down. She wasn’t sure how anyone’s stomach would fair after a three-day bender. She couldn’t imagine it was in good shape.
She kept shoving water at him, as well. Which just caused him to give her a dirty look. Not that he wasn’t already giving her dirty looks. He kept demanding to know why she was there. And all she would say was to take care of him.
When it finally came time to take him to the doctor to get his ribs checked out, they started on another round of questions. He kept trying to demand she tell him what she was up to.
“Mark, I’m just trying to take care of you. And you’re making it very difficult. No, we’re not taking your truck. I’m driving.” She had to physically turn him and steer him back toward her car.
“I can go to the doctor by myself,” he huffed, scowling at her.
“No, I know what you’ll do. You’ll wait till I’ve gone back to work, and you’ll go back in there and go to bed. Well, I’m not leaving you, and you’re going to the doctor. And I’m going with you. So, deal with it.”
He just gave her another dirty look, thinking about telling her she was fired for playing hooky, and crawled in the front passenger seat of her little car. He was so tall, it was comical. She had to stifle a laugh. Unfortunately, he noticed, and it made him scowl at her harder, pushing him closer to telling her she was fired.
She didn’t care, he was just going to have to put up with her. If he didn’t want her, he shouldn’t have married her when her defenses were down. He knew what her sense of humor was like going in. He had known her practically all of her life and he was best friends with Zane. He had no case against her. And besides, she felt like he needed to be the vulnerable one for a while.
When they finally got in to see the doctor, he took x-rays of his ribs. They weren’t broken, just badly bruised, but Dr. Roberts looked concerned. “Mark, did you get in a fight?”
“Not that I remember. But like we said, I was drunk for three days.”
“Do you remember anything at all?”
“I remember going to the bar Friday night, and waking up this afternoon.” When he mentioned waking up, he gave Jenny another dirty look. If she hadn’t finally accepted how much he really loved her, it might have given her a complex. As it was, she just grinned at him. “Why do you think I got in a fight?”
“Your bruises are shaped like a fist. I can make out the knuckle imprints.”
Mark dropped his head like he was thinking, then his head snapped up. “Crap.” He looked back at Jenny, this time with concern on his face. “Mike Collins. Has he tried to talk to you since Friday?”
“He came by my parents’ house yesterday. Zane ran him off. Why?”
“He’s the one that gave me the bruises. I think I may have busted his nose all over his face in retaliation.”
“You’re the one that screwed up his face?” she asked, her jaw dropping open. “Why are you fighting with him?” she snapped after she finally recovered.
“He said something about you going to the extreme with sleeping your way to the top. And I might have told him you had left me. I’m not sure.”
“You’ve already left him?” Dr. Roberts sighed. “You’ve only been married, what, two or three months? Please, try harder than that. Marriage takes work.”
“I haven’t left him. I’m right here.” Her voice was shaking, but she kept on. “We just had a fight. The fight was my fault. He didn’t do anything wrong.”
Mark just sit there with his mouth hanging open. His ribs and his fight with Mike forgotten. When he finally found the voice to speak, he tried to ask her what she meant by that, but she ignored him.
When she spoke again, she addressed the doctor. “Is he in any danger with these bruises?”
“No, I don’t believe so. They’ve already started healing. The reason he bruised so bad was because of the alcohol in his system. He should be fine. I’d recommend lots of water though. He could have easily killed himself with alcohol poising.”
On that note, Jenny burst into tears. She was still crying by the time she and Mark had made it back out to the car. When she started around to the driver’s side, Mark intercepted her, and steered her back to the passenger side of the car and took her keys.
He had
to lean in and scoot the seat the rest of the way back before he could even get in. “You could have at least drove your old Roadrunner today. It may need restoration still, but I can at least get in it without feeling like I’m cramming myself into a suitcase,” he grumbled under his breath, but she heard him anyway. She once again found herself wanting to laugh when he crawled in her car. She was having trouble fastening her seat belt. She couldn’t seem to find the buckle with all the tears in her eyes. All she could think was that she had almost killed him, and he didn’t even know how much she truly loved him.
He finally took the seat belt out of her hands and fastened it himself. They rode back to the house in silence. He sat there and watched her for a minute as she got out and walked up the front steps. She had finally stopped crying so hard, but now she seemed like she was on auto pilot.
Okay, time to go in. He had to face this, whatever it was he was facing. He got out of the car and locked the doors and headed across the yard. Just as he was making it to the steps a little red sports car skidded into his driveway, looking like the guy thought he was sliding in from Indianapolis. He looked over in time to see Mike Collins getting out of the driver’s seat. Jenny must have heard the racket, because she came back outside to see what was going on.
Mike started toward him, but before he could reach him, Jenny had placed herself between them. She sounded furious, “What are you doing here, Mike?”
Mark was so surprised by the whole situation he just stood there for a few minutes, not doing anything. He could see he really had busted his nose all over his face. Both of his eyes were black, and his whole face looked kind of swollen.
“What?” the other man growled. “You force her to stay with you, and now you’re going to let her fight your fights for you, as well?”
“He didn’t force me to do anything. You need to leave.” Mark could see Mike getting madder by the second. He grabbed Jenny and shifted her behind him before the situation got any more out of hand.
“What do you want, Mike?” he practically growled back.
“I went over to see her at work. They said she had left to come and check on you. Then when I went to your dad’s store he said you were back together,” he spat, nearly spitting on him when saliva went flying out of his mouth.
Jenny was trying to get back in front of him and he had to keep shifting over in front of her. “Mike, this is none of your business.”
“What are you saying? He didn’t trick you into marrying him?”
“No, he did not trick me. We’ve already went over this, several times. I asked him to marry me. It’s not his fault I had to be drunk to admit how I felt about him. How many times do I have to repeat myself?” She was still trying to get around Mark, and he had to keep shifting to keep her back behind him. He was wishing he could see her beautiful face. She sounded more than a little outraged.
“What? You seriously are still expecting me to believe that?”
“You know. It really doesn’t matter what you believe. This is none of your business. You need to quit making a fool of yourself.”
“Mike, you need to get off my property,” Mark said, sounding far calmer than he really felt.
“You really do need to leave, Mike. I’m here of my own free will. And I don’t care if you believe me or not. I asked him to marry me. No tricks.”
“I’m not going to allow you to hold her against her will,” he said still refusing to believe what she was saying to him.
“Fine. Call the police. I’m sure they’ll send her brother, or maybe Jeff Campbell. If she wants to leave, she can leave with one of them.” Mark gave a loud snort. “I know she doesn’t want to leave with you.”
“I’m going to kill you.” Mike lunged at him, but Mark caught him mid lunge, right in the chest and threw him back toward his car.
“Mike, I’m not drunk now. You won’t get the better of me. You have two options. Call the police or leave now.”
Just then Mark heard sirens coming up the road. “Jenny, did you call your brother?”
“Yes. Well, I sent him a text.” She tried once again to get around her enormous husband. “Mark, let me by.”
“No. He’s not getting anywhere near you. As mad as he is, he might hurt you.” That seemed to make her think better of what she was trying to do. And she stepped back over behind him, using his body to shield her like he wanted. He had a momentary thought about how strange it was that she had listened to him so easily.
Just then Zane’s patrol car turned and pulled up beside Mike. He stopped the car and got out. “Okay, Sis, what’s going on?”
“Mark, will you please let me around you now? He’s not likely to try and hurt me with my brother standing here.”
“No, Zane can come back to you. I’m staying between you and this idiot. I don’t trust him, and I’m not taking any chances.”
Zane looked over at Mike and stared for a minute. “So, are you going to finally tell us who busted your face up?” Mike just gave him a disgusted look.
It was Mark who answered. “Apparently, I did the other night when I was drunk. He did start it, though.”
“How’s that?” Zane questioned. “You appear to be in pretty good shape.”
Mark just lifted his shirt up, so Zane could see his ribs.
“That’s all he did?”
“I just said he started it. I didn’t say I was in worse shape than him.”
“I don’t know. Those bruises are pretty bad,” he said after thinking about it for a minute. “And you were drunk?”
“Yes, I was having a really bad day. My wife had just left me.” There was that habit he had again, of saying the word wife in a very possessive tone.
“Yeah, I know about that.” Zane turned his attention back to Mike, “Were you drunk?”
“No,” Mike said, sounding like a petulant child.
“And you want to start something with him now? Are you suicidal?” Zane asked, working hard not to laugh in the guy’s face. “He’s not drunk. You do realize he could kill you, don’t you? What are you, six feet one or two, at best? A hundred and eighty to hundred and ninety pounds? You might be two hundred pounds, if you’re lucky. You’re by no means a small man,” he smirked, waving toward Mark. “He’s six feet nine and weighs somewhere between three hundred and three fifty. And all of it is muscle. And he feels like you are trying to take his wife from him.” Zane gave Mike a look that said that wasn’t even possible. “Would you like me to call your dad now, and have him start the funeral arrangements? Or do you want me to wait until after you are already dead?”
“What?” Mike asked, sounding shocked. “You’d let him kill me?”
“Well, I was just making a point, but it’s his property, and you’re making him feel threatened.” He shrugged and added as an afterthought, “Besides, you keep persisting with this campaign of yours, no matter what my sister tells you.”
“He won’t let your sister leave.”
On that note, Mark stretched his arms out wide to demonstrate he wasn’t holding on to her. “She can leave, if she wants. But I’m not asking her to.” He made a point to stress the second half of his statement. He felt Jenny’s arms come up around his waist and pull him to her. He could feel her face pressed into his shoulder. She was crying again. He could feel the tears soaking through his shirt. It took all his will power to stand, facing Mike. What he wanted to do was turn around and wrap her up in his arms and carry her back into the house. He wanted to pretend this craziness wasn’t going on.
Zane walked over behind Mark, knowing when he asked the question, what she was going to say. It seemed his sister had finally accepted that she needed Mark. “Sis, do you want to leave? Is Mark holding you against your will?” It was taking a lot of self-control for Zane not to laugh, and it was getting worse by the second.
At first, she just looked at him like he had lost his mind and tightened her hold on her husband. When Mark grunted, she let up on the pressure and pressed her face against hi
s shoulder again. “No.”
He rolled his eyes in exasperation with the whole situation when he could barely hear her. “Okay, Sis, you’re going to have to speak up, so that everybody here can hear you,” he said looking over at Mike.
She pulled her face a few inches away from Mark’s shoulders and practically screamed into the air, “No, I’m not being held against my will. I want to stay here with my husband,” she said the words like a declaration, and felt a shiver run through Mark’s body. She put her face back against him and waited for Mike to leave so she could finally talk to Mark in private.
Mike’s face fell. It looked like he was finally accepting defeat. He turned back to his car and climbed in without saying another word. He backed the car out of the drive and drove away, at a much more sedate speed, without looking back.
“Thanks, Zane. I thought I was going to have to beat the crap out of him.” Mark finally managed to relax. He pulled Jenny back around in front of him and hugged her close.
“You two okay now?” Zane asked, eyeing his sister.
“Yeah, I don’t think he’ll come back.”
“I’m not worried about Mike. I’m talking about you two. You two as one,” he said stressing the words as one”
“I don’t know,” Mark said, looking vulnerable for the first time. He looked down at his wife, who was still wrapped in his arms. “You’ll have to ask her.”
“Zane, I’m grateful for your help, but I need to talk to him in private.”
“Okay. That’s my cue to leave. I’ll see you later. Oh,” he turned back to add. “Before I leave, since you’ll probably be here, I need to pass a message along. Mom and dad wanted everybody to come over tonight for dinner. I’m sure they would be glad to see Mark with you.”
They stood there and watched as Zane got back in his car and pulled off. She pulled out of his arms and walked toward the house. When she reached the front door, she turned and waited for him to catch up to her. When he reached her, it took all his strength not to reach down and pick her up. She reached over to take his hand and pull him the rest of the way into the house.
Married in Vegas (The Townsends Book 3) Page 22
