“Are you crazy?” Deep down she knew she wanted to say yes. She wanted to stay married to him, but she was still a little shell shocked by the way things had happened. “This isn’t giving me a choice.”
“Jenny, you asked me to marry you. I didn’t ask you. I was just too weak to say no.”
She stood there just staring at him. Even more parts of that night were starting to come back to her. She had already remembered asking him to marry her, but now she could remember asking him to take her to an instant wedding chapel, because he wouldn’t make love to her while she was drunk.
He looked at her for a few seconds, seeming to decide what to do. She never saw it coming. She was in his arms and kissing him back before she even knew she needed to try and resist. Her instincts took over, and she managed to bring her arms up around his neck. She grabbed the back of his hair afraid he would let her go if she didn’t hang on. That wasn’t enough. She needed more. She wanted to get her hands on his body without the clothes between them. Something she went through every time he kissed her.
She threw herself into the kiss, the whole time her fear telling her to stop. But the part that wanted him was getting stronger. She didn’t want to stop. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to make love with him.
Jenny brought her hands back down to the front of his shirt and started trying to unfasten the buttons. He lifted his head and she could hear herself gasping for air. “No, Angel. Slow down. Not the right place.” He sounded like he was having trouble breathing, as well.
She let go of him and stepped back. “Oh no.” She knew she wanted to be married to him, but she was still too freaked out. All she could think was, I was supposed to have a choice. “No, I’m not doing it.”
“Fine, then we can do it this way. You can file for a divorce, and I will fight you every step of the way, and we’ll end up staying married, anyway.” With his next words, the fire came back into his eyes. “But I can assure you, you won’t be drunk, and I won’t stop now.”
She knew exactly what he meant. He wasn’t going to wait for her to beg him now. Mindi had been right. He was definitely done waiting. “Why are you doing this?”
“You know how much I’ve always wanted you. You know I’m in love with you. I’ve never made a secret of that. I believe you feel the same way. You’re just too stubborn to admit it. Come on, Angel. Give it a chance. The hard part is over.”
“No, I can’t do this. I was supposed to have a choice.” She couldn’t stop going back to that, but it was the only defense she had, and she was still way too freaked out.
“Okay.” When he made to reach for her again, she backed up and ended up sitting on the ping pong table. Thankfully her dad had reinforced it, or it might have collapsed under her weight.
He cupped her face in his hands and slowly brought his mouth back down to meet hers. She stubbornly held her mouth closed, so he ran the tip of his tongue over the seam of her lips causing her to gasp. When he took advantage of her reaction she went under once again. When she came back to herself she was clinging to him like he was her life line.
“No, no, no,” she whispered, shaking her head. She pushed him away and jumped up off the table and darted around behind the couch.
She whimpered, knowing full well the couch wasn’t going to stop him for long. “Fine, what exactly do you mean by give it a chance and see if it will work?”
He grinned, already knowing what kind of reaction he was going to get when he answered her. “You have to live with me. We have to live like any normal, newly married couple.”
She gasped, shaking her head vigorously. “I can’t do that. My parents would be horrified.”
He grinned again. “No, they won’t. We’re going to tell them about being married.”
“I’m going to tell my parents I’m married to you knowing I may divorce you in three months? Not bloody likely.” She was still trying to hang on to the idea of a divorce, even though she knew she would never do it. The only reason she was upset at all, was she was supposed to have a choice. And for some reason he seemed to know she really wanted to be married to him. Like someone had told him. It made her wonder what Mindi and Lisa had been talking to him about.
“Okay, we can go back to the other way.” It was too late by the time she realized he had made it around the couch. This time he managed to trap her between him and the couch. He ran his hands through her hair and pulled her head back. When his lips touched her throat, she felt a shiver run through her. She clutched his shirt in her hands and closed her eyes, dropping her head back. It happened every time he touched her. She just wanted to give in.
When his mouth reached hers, she just moaned and wrapped her arms around his waist. She couldn’t fight it anymore. This was where she really wanted to be. And now she had the license to be there.
He seemed to sense the change in her response, and it caused his control to slip a little bit. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up tight against his body.
He couldn’t think anymore. He had been trying for so long to get her just to date him, and now they were married, and she was kissing him like he was the only thing in the world she wanted.
He was trying to remind himself she hadn’t actually asked him to make love to her, but it wasn’t really doing any good. He just wanted to touch her so bad, he was in agony. He had yanked her t-shirt out of the waistband of her jeans and had started to push it up her body when the game room door came open.
Zane stepped in the room, and in his usual tone asked, “So, are you two going to get married, now?”
Jenny’s head snapped around and she glared at her brother. “We are married. Now get out.”
Mark couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of him. When Jenny turned her glare on him, he just laughed harder. He seen it the moment it dawned on her that she had just ended any hope of not telling her family they were married. She had just told her loud-mouth brother they were married. And to get out.
“Wait a minute,” Zane said, shaking his head. “You two got married in Vegas? I’ve got to go tell Mom and Dad this.”
Mark stopped him before he managed to get back out the door. “Stop, Zane. Don’t you think that is our place? Not yours?”
Zane turned and looked at Mark. He had the feeling Mark was wanting to make this easier for Jenny, and he decided against trying to be too big a pain this time. “Okay, Mark. You’re right, but I think it’s time for a Kitchen Conference.”
He nodded his head in understanding. “Okay, Zane. Go tell everybody else to meet us in the kitchen. I think your sister may need a minute.”
He knew what kitchen conference meant. He had been present at a few of them over the years. It was a family meeting the Townsends had when there was something of importance to discuss and the whole family needed to be present. It just had been a while since the last one he had been part of the subject matter in. That had been at age sixteen, when he, Zane and Luke had about knocked the old garage down when they ran Phillip’s old truck into it. His mom and dad had been present for that one, as well. It wasn’t too long after that, they built a new one. A brick one to match the house. The three of them had lost all their allowance for the summer and had to pitch in with the building of the new one. Looking back now, he new for a fact, the amount of money that had been collected from all of their allowances wouldn’t have even come close to paying for all the building materials it took to build a four-bay garage.
Zane just nodded his head in agreement. “Alright, we’ll be waiting.”
******
By the time they had made it to the kitchen everybody was sitting there waiting. With the exception of Luke, Mindi, Lisa and James, everybody looked completely puzzled. Zane had apparently managed to keep things to himself. Lisa had already told the other three Jenny had gotten drunk at dinner and that Mark had done exactly what Luke said he would. He had stayed sober, so he would have more self-control.
Mark and Jenny had decided to just tell everybody after
she had gotten drunk and asked him to marry her, they had gotten married in Vegas before coming home. It wasn’t all of the truth, but it was the main parts.
Jamie waited till they had both taken their seats before starting. “Okay, so what’s this about?”
“We got married in Vegas.” Jenny was so nervous, she just blurted her answer out.
“What do you mean, you got married in Vegas?” Jamie asked, sounding a little irritated.
“We’re married,” Jenny replied, wrapping her arms around her middle in hopes of keeping the butterflies from flying back up her throat.
Mark cleared his throat, feeling a little nervous, as well. “She asked me to marry her, and I said yes,” he added with a cringe, simplifying things a great deal.
“After she asked you, couldn’t you have waited till you come home, and had a traditional wedding?” Jamie asked, looking over at Mark.
“She also asked me to take her to an instant wedding chapel. To be completely honest, I just didn’t have the will power to say no. I’m sorry. I’ve been feeling like a real jerk ever since yesterday morning,” Mark said, chancing a look at Carl.
“I can’t believe you two got married in Vegas,” Teresa chuckled. “Did you get married by an Elvis impersonator?”
“An Elvis impersonator?” Gabe said, his attention finally being snagged by the adult conversation that had been flying over his head for the last few minutes. He hadn’t been much interested in why his sister and Mark had come back from Vegas married and had been messing with a Rubik’s cube rather than listening. “You two got to see Elvis impersonators? That’s not fair.”
“I told you he would want to see the impersonators,” Jenny said, smiling at her little brother.
Mark chuckled and shook his head at him before answering the little boy’s question. “As a matter-of-fact, we did. He sang ‘Love Me Tender’ for us,” he said, chancing a glance at his wife. “Well, part of it, anyway.”
“So, what I thought was a dream was really our wedding?” Jenny asked, glaring at him.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t going to tell you that right then,” he said in full disclosure, praying she didn’t get too angry with him. He only had three months to work this out with her. He didn’t have a lot of time to waste on her being angry over something he couldn’t change now.
She shrugged her shoulders in resignation. “Well, considering everything, if I was going to pick something to be angry about, I wouldn’t start there.”
Carl wasn’t ready to talk. He just sat there with his arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t have a problem with having Mark as a son-in-law. He had always figured they would end up married if Jenny could ever get past the fear of being hurt. He was just unhappy about not being able to be there and walk his daughter down the aisle.
The look he had on his face was making Mark nervous, and he finally decided to just outright ask. “Carl, are you okay with this?”
“I’m okay with you being married. I just wish we could have been there,” Carl said, trying hard not to let his frustration come out too much in his voice. He didn’t want either one of them to get the idea he didn’t like Mark.
“I’m sorry, Dad. Please, don’t blame Mark,” Jenny said, reaching over and weaving her fingers through her husband’s. “It was my fault I had to get drunk to admit how I felt. I was drunk enough he had to tell me we were married. As a matter-of-fact, he just told me.”
“You mean, he didn’t tell you before you left Vegas?” Luke asked with a grin, thinking about the bet he had with his wife and James and Lisa.
She gave him a strange look, feeling certain he was up to something. “No, he didn’t. As a matter-of-fact, I found out about five minutes before Zane did.”
Jamie shook her head, looking at her second son with surprise. “You mean Zane already knew what this meeting was all about and didn’t give it away?”
“Yeah, I caught them kissing in the game room,” Zane answered with a chuckle for her. “She told me when I asked if they were going to finally get married.”
“Wow,” their mom smirked. “He usually can’t keep his mouth shut long enough for anyone else to do any talking of their own.”
“Hey,” he said, sticking his bottom lip out like he was hurt. “I can keep a secret when it’s important enough. Mark felt it was important that he and Jenny told everyone, themselves.”
Jamie patted him on the knee, saying, “You done really good, Son.” Then she gave herself away by snorting.
“I have a question. Did you actually… You know, while she was drunk?” Michael asked, waving his hands in the air. At a complete loss at how to ask without using the exact words, he ended up embarrassing himself.
“Mike, if you’re going to ask if they had sex, just ask if they had sex. Don’t act like a twelve-year-old girl,” Alex said, punching his brother in the arm, and causing Jenny to blush. Alex could be a real holy terror sometimes. Nothing phased him.
“Alright, you two, I don’t think that is any of your business,” Jamie said, giving them both a stern look. “What I want to know is, are you two going to stay married?”
“Yes,” they both said at the same time.
“Okay.” That made Jamie feel a little better. They had both answered without hesitation. She looked over at Jenny to ask, “Are you over your fears of marriage?”
“I’m just trying not to think about it,” Jenny said with a shiver. “It’s not that I don’t want to be married. I just don’t want to be hurt. Of course, it wasn’t what I had envisioned as the perfect wedding, if I was going to get married.”
“Okay,” Jamie said. She had a feeling Jenny and Mark still needed a lot of prayer to make it. She knew her daughter loved Mark, but she obviously still had a lot to work through.
Mark looked over where Luke and James sat. “You two seem to have a gift for moving someone in one day. Would you mind helping me move her stuff tomorrow after church?”
“No problem,” Luke said with a grin.
“Well, are we cool here?” Mark asked, sounding a little nervous. He still hadn’t decided how everyone was taking their news. Especially Carl.
“Yeah. I think we need to at least have a reception. There’s a lot of people who are going to be surprised by this,” Jamie said, looking over at Mark. “I’ll need to get together with your mom. I’m sure she’ll agree with me.”
“Mom, please don’t get carried away,” Jenny said, looking a little desperate.
Her mom just waved her off. “Nonsense, Jenny. There’s no such thing as getting carried away.”
******
Luke double checked the hallway to make sure there wasn’t anyone else coming to the game room yet. He, Mindi, James and Lisa had finally made it in there for a few moments alone to discuss their bet.
“Luke, stop doing that. We’re not spies,” Mindi hissed, then flushed scarlet when she realized she was acting just like he was.
“I don’t want Mark or Jenny to over hear us,” he said, finally coming the rest of the way in the room so he could close the door. “Or your mother, or anyone who would tell your mother. So, that pretty much means anyone else in the house.”
“Neither, Jenny or Mark, are likely to get upset over this bet,” James said with a shrug, thinking Luke was being a little over cautious.
Luke shook his head, eyeing the door once again. “Not normally, but right now, I’m afraid it might upset Jenny. She’s going to be a little over-sensitive until they get all of this worked out.”
Mindi sighed, rubbing her temples. “He’s got a point. She’s still terrified about being married. That is likely to make her a little over-sensitive. Maybe we should nix this bet.”
Luke shook his head at her. “I don’t think that’s necessary, as long as we keep it to ourselves until we know they’re going to be alright.”
She sighed again. “Okay, I’m going to trust you on this, but if my sister ends up hurt over this, you’re going to find yourself sleeping on the couch for a month.
”
Luke grimaced, giving a little shiver, but stuck with his earlier statement. “It’ll be fine. They’ll both end up laughing over it when we finally tell them.” The other three just nodded their heads in silent agreement.
“Well, I think it’s obvious how this bet is going,” Mindi grouched, eyeing her now grinning husband. So far, it looked like Luke really was going to win the whole thing. The only thing they didn’t know was if he had made love to her or not, and the much more obvious undetermined part, if they would manage to stay together.
“Okay, obviously, it’s looking like Luke is going to win this bet, but how long do we wait to decide they are going to stay together?” Mindi asked giving her gorgeous husband a sour look.
“Well, did any of us say they wouldn’t?” Lisa asked, giving Mindi a thoughtful look.
“No, we didn’t. I think we all want them to make it too much, to even suggest for a second they won’t,” Mindi said. “But anyway, that part of the bet is voided then.”
“Agreed,” the other three said together.
“So, how do we find out if they had sex?” Luke asked, smirking. “If your mom had let Michael and Alex go on just a little longer, we might know the answer to that already, as well.”
“That’s okay. If Mindi and I go with you and James tomorrow to help, we can see if she’ll tell us. We can help her pack stuff while you all are loading the trucks,” Lisa suggested with a smirk of her own.
“It’s a plan,” Luke said with a grin. Then on a much more serious note, he added, “Just remember not to let it slip about the bet tomorrow. We don’t want them finding out too soon. If Jenny ends up upset over this, it might make things more difficult for them while they’re trying to find their way together.”
The other three mumbled their agreement just as Mark walked in the game room with Jenny behind him. “Hey, what do you all say about watching a movie?” he asked, giving them a look that said he knew something was up.
Luke just smirked at him. “I’m up for it, if Mindi is.”
Married in Vegas (The Townsends Book 3) Page 5