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Cynthia chose Denny's as the place she wanted to eat luch since it was the first restaurant they came upon and it was informal, the perfect place to share conversation. She saw in the first five minutes just how much of a gentleman Mark was...opening the truck door for her, holding the door to the restaurant for her, waiting until she was seated before seating himself, waiting until after she had placed her order before giving his order. This reminded Cynthia of a time when basically every man was curtious and polite, much like the fifties were. Conversation was light as each dined in their food, but it was enough for Cynthia to see how Rain could have become so taken by Mark...why ANY woman would want to be with Mark. By the time they walked out of Denny's, Mark was more relaxed and talking more easily with Rain's mother, and even stopped at a park on the way home so they could continue their talk and take advantage of the weather, which was quite warm for November. They walked around for a while, Cynthia's arm resting in the bend of Mark's arm, watching children playing with each other and people playing catch with their dogs before Cynthia spoke.
"Well Mark, here's where I'm going to ask some tough questions I need to hear the answers to. If I ask something too personal, just say so, alright?"
"Alright." Mark saw an empty park bench ahead and walked towards it so they could sit down.
"This is probably a question most parents reserve for when you ask for their daughter's hand in marriage, but I want to know what your intentions are for Rain. I guess I'm asking if you're only looking for a casual relationship with her, wanting nothing serious, or are you wanting a relationship where you and Rain will eventually become comitted to only each other?"
Mark took a deep breath. ~She doesn't miss around, does she? She goes straight to the big questions~. "I'm already comitted to being with your daughter in a serious relationship...I'm not just looking for a quick, meaningless relationship. In the short time Rain has allowed me to get to know who she really is, I know I don't want to be with anybody else but her. Now, I don't know how far Rain wants our relationship to go, but what she wants is the most important thing right now."
"And if she finds that she doesn't feel the same as you?"
"Then I'll just have to live with that, but it won't make me turn away from her. If friendship is all she's looking for from me, then that's what I'll give her, even though I'll have to admit it would be hard for me because I long for something more with her." Mark answered. "I have to say this despite the fact you know her better that I do, and maybe she's actually told you she only wants me as a friend, but from what I've seen over the last four months, from the conversations we've had, the time we've spent together and how close we've become, I don't think I'm wrong in saying that she wants more than friendship."
"I agree with you. She hasn't exactly said it outloud, but I can tell she's looking for something from you that no man has given her, perhaps with the exception of Micheal, and that's an honest, caring, trustful, and loving relationship." Cynthia replied. "I just know how my daughter can be sometimes. One minute you think you know what she wants and the next she lets her demons from the past dictate what she does and you're left wondering why she no longer wants to have anything to do with you." Cynthia stopped for a second. "Things have moved so quickly between you two and she's putting a lot of faith in you and your intentions for her, and I don't want to see her hurt by a man like that again."
"Cynthia, I would never intentionally or deliberately hurt Rain. I know you're probably thinking 'you should never say never', but if there's one thing I'm certain of and would swear to, it would be this. I want to show her love, give her love, and make her happy...giving her everything she deserves and more...not hurt her."
~He's already so dedicated to her. No man would be brave enough to say that to a parent's face unless they meant every word. I can tell by his words and his actions that he will love her with everything he is and everything he has. Thank you, whoever brought this man into my daughter's life~. "When you look at my daughter, what do you see?"
"A woman who never ceases to take my breath away, whether it be the the first time I've seen her that day or if I've seen her several times throughtout the day...everything disappears but her. I call her beautiful, but that's just because I can't find a word that even comes close to doing her justice. I don't knw of I could find a word that could describe eyes that hold you to the point you become lost and your heart stops, to describe a smile as warm as hers that can light up a room, making all your troubles disappear in an instant, to describe a face I could never tire of seeing." Mark looked away because he had said too much, embarrassed by his rambling. "I just see more than a disfigured face."
"The way you talk of my daughter is the way every man should talk of the woman he cares about. So don't be embarrassed by what you just said...and don't forget to tell her how you feel and what she means to you because it's exactly what she needs to hear." Cynthia remarked, moved by Mark's description of her daughter. "Hearing the words you've said today about Rain, with honesty and sincerity in your voice, I can see that you're the man she has always needed...and the man I’ve always prayed she would find. I may have had my doubts before, but our conversation has eased them. I just wish you had found my daughter sooner because she might have been spared a lot of pain and disappointment that another foolish man had caused her."
"It means more than I can say to hear you say that you approve of my being with Rain." Mark replied. "And maybe, with time, I'll help her to forget about those who have done her wrong in the past."
"You may not make her forget everything that has happened to her, but you might lessen the hold they've had on Rain." Rain's mother said. Seeing what time it was, Cynthia stood up, causing Mark to stand along with her. "We should be heading back to your house so I can make it back home before dark." Mark gave Cynthia a small nod of his head, offered his arm to her, and walked them towards the truck.
"Thank you for a pleasant afternoon, Mark. Maybe next time you and Rain could come to my house for lunch or dinner, I know my husband is very eager to meet you." Cynthia said. They had pulled into the driveway of Micheal's house and Mark was walking Cynthia to her car.
"That would be nice." Mark said. "Is Rain going to be upset with us because we've been talking without her knowledge of it?"
Cynthia shook her head no. "Rain won't be upset. She knows I was going to talk to you anyways because of the trip...or 'check you out' as she would say."
"There is one thing I've been wanting to ask you all afternoon, but I didn't know if I would be sticking my nose where it didn't belong."
"Why has Rain been acting so depressed lately?" Cynthia asked the question for him. Mark couldn't help the shocked expression that appeared because she knew his question. "This is always a hard time of the year for Rain, and she's really gonna need you to be there for her and to be understanding. Many things changed in my daughter's life at this time about fourteen years ago and they're hard for her to forget. She has a tendency to close herself off completely, even to me, her father, and Micheal. The only thing you can do is to be there waiting for her if she happens to reach out to you."
"I was thinking about going over there tonight to see if she was alright, but I didn't know if that would be the wrong thing to do." Mark explained.
"I think that would be the perfect thing to do. She may think it's better to suffer through this by herself and not bother anybody else with her problems, but she really doesn't need to be alone right now." Rain's mother said. "That's another reason why I'm glad she decided to go with you. Maybe it will take her mind off of the pain she's feeling."
"Then I'll make sure to keep her busy, and if I don't, I know my sister will." Mark said with a smile. "She doesn't like to see people unhappy or depressed."
"Just make sure you take care of her, Mark." Cynthia said as she seated herself in her car. "And goodnight."
"Goodnight." Mark said. He made sure Cynthia was on the road before he went inside, packed a change of clothes, and headed to Rain's.
Rain wasn't surprised when she opened the door and saw Mark standing there, an overnight bag hanging off his shoulder. He immediately noticed how red her eyes were, probably from a recent bout with tears.
"If you don't want me here..." he began, but Rain stopped him with a wave of her hand.
"No it's alright. I figured you would show up sooner or later." she then turned and left him there to close the door himself.
Mark followed the sound of violins into the living room where he found Rain leaning against a chair which was next to the fireplace, staring glssy-eyed into the fire, the only source of light in the room. Mark moved closer to Rain but she didn't turn to look at him, either becasue she didn't care or she didn't see him...the fire seemed to be holding all of her interests. Rain lifted a glass of wine to her lips and slowly sipped what was left before filling the glass again with a bottle that was sitting beside her. This was when Mark really became worried because he knew Rain didn't drink...she would sometimes have an occasional glass of wine with dinner but even that was few and far between...and for her to have a bottle beside her, which was over half empty, ready to refill her glass was VERY uncharacteristic. Mark sat down across from Rain, watching for a few minutes as she continued to drink and stare into space until the bottle was empty, before he spoke her name.
"Rain?" he said softly...but there was no response. "Rain?" he said again, louder, but as before, she gave him no response. Mark then reached his hand out and touched her cheek, the gesture finally causing her to look at him...a look of confusion on her face as she wondered why he was there and then realization as she remembered opening the door for him. Mark moved his hand from her cheek to her hair, moving it behind her ears so he could fully see her face. She gazed back at him with eyes which were full of sadness, sadness like he had never seen, and glistened with threatening tears. He took her hand in his, kissing each finger gently, and then moved to where he was sitting beside Rain. She felt a pair of arm envelop her and leaned her head onto Mark's shoulder, allowing him be her strength. Rain didn't know how long they had been sitting in front of the fireplace when she finally opened her eyes, but it must have been a while because the fire had died down. She looked up and saw Mark looking down at her, concern clearly evident in the feature of his face.
"Do you want to tell me what would make you drink an entire bottle of wine?" Mark asked in her ear.
"I'd do anything to forget." Rain answered. "The days seem to drag by, making me remember things I'd rather forget but can't. I just want to forget this time of the year, forget what happened, and it's ironic that I always turn to alcohol." Rain closed her eyes, replaying the horrific scene that happened fourteen years ago in her mind. "I lost three people I cared for because of someone's stupidity and pride." Rain felt the tears falling down her face. ~Fourteen years and somehow I still have tears left~.
"Don't." Mark said, placing a finger on her lips. "Don't talk about it...there's no need to at this time."
"Mark, could you stay with me tonight? I don't want you to go...I don't feel like being alone." Rain asked, showing Mark for the first time how vunerable she was.
"Anything you ask of me, I'll do." Mark whispered. He stood up and helped Rain to her feet, leading her to the couch and sitting back down again. After he placed a pillow in his lap, Rain stretched out on the couch and covered herself with a blanket that was draped over the back of the couch. Mark propped his feet up on the coffee table and began to slowly move his fingers through her hair, the repetitive nature of this lulling her to sleep in minutes. He stayed awake, looking for any signs of bad dreams or nightmares on Rain's face, but her face remained calm. Sometime in the middle of the night, Rain's hand wandered out from beneath the blanket, her fingers becoming intertwined with Mark's as she moved closer to his body. He heard her small sigh of content and placed a ghost of a kiss on her forehead...at least this night, the demons were kept at bay. Minutes later, Mark gave into sleep himself.
Rain awoke the next morning to a splitting headache that rivaled one of her migraines, and reminded her of why she didn't drink that often. To top it all off, she had only an hour to get rid of her headache and make herself presentable enough to last through a day of work. ~This is going to be an interesting day~. Rain slowly sat up and looked around her, wondering where Mark had gone. She was sure he had been there with her when she fell asleep, but that could have been the alcohol playing tricks with her mind. Coming to the conclusion he had probably gone home to get ready for work or was at work, Rain mentally gave herself a kick in the butt and started to stand, intent on taking a hot shower, but the wave of nausea put an end to that. Rain grabbed her head and groaned, thinking that calling in sick wasn't such a bad idea, but she knew Micheal would see straight throught that excuse.
"Looks like that bottle of wine came back and kicked your a\\$% this morning." Rain looked through her fingers and saw Mark walking towards her, already dressed for work, with a glass of water and some Advil which he handed to her. "Thought you could use these."
"You are a wonderful man!" Rain said as she popped the pills in her mouth and chased it with the water. Mark gave her a few minutes before he pulled her to her feet, with much resistance on her part.
"Now go on and get ready for work and I'll make you something to eat." Mark said.
"Please, if you have any compassion for me, don't mention the word 'food'." Rain moaned and covered her mouth.
"You'll feel better after you've had a shower...now a get to moving." Mark said and gently pushed her in the direction of the bathroom.
"Okay, DAD." Rain sneered and slowly walked away. Thirty minutes later, Rain walked into the kitchen feeling slightly better than what the cat dragged in. She ate half the oatmeal Mark had fixed for her and finished off the glass of white grape juice.
"Come on, I'll take you to work and then I'll pick you up later if you want." Mark said as Rain put on her coat.
"I'd like that very much." Rain replied.
Mark spent the remainder of the week at Rain's house per Rain's request because she found Mark's company to be comforting to her. His staying at her house didn't profoundly change how Rain dealt with what she was going through...out of the four nights he was with Rain, she spent three of them sitting alone in her bedroom or out on the porch with either Sasha or Ginger. The one thing Rain found was that having Mark with her at night allowed her to sleep better and feel more at ease...especially when she fell asleep wrapped in Mark's arms. The first night Mark had stayed with Rain after the 'wine incident', he figured he would sleep on the couch or in the guest room, knowing that sleeping together on the couch and sleeping together in the same bed were two entirely different things. So you could only imagine the shock Mark felt when he was getting ready to go to sleep in the guest room and Rain told him she didn't want him to stay there but to stay with her in her room. He thought he was gonna have to pick his jaw up off the ground when she said that...they had yet to share their first kiss because she had said she wanted to take that aspect of their relationship slowly, but yet she felt comfortable enough to ask him THAT. Mark couldn't even sleep a wink that first night, still surprised by the woman he was holding in his arms and wondering what she would do to surprise him next. By the end of the week, Mark had calmed down somewhat and was actually able to fall asleep with Rain in his arms in the same bed without staring at her all night...as if this was something they had been doing for a long time. As soon as Mark had gotten over this shock, he had something new to worry about...the day of the trip had arrived.
Micheal could only laugh and shake his head as he watched Rain throughtout the day, anything and everything was setting her off...her temper very short. If she dropped a tool, a string of four letter words was the result; if a person got in her way, she let them have it; if Micheal teased her, she punched him in the arm, gave him a certain finger, and stormed off. With one hour left until the shop closed, Rain had managed to alienate everybody she worked with...and everybody tried to avoid her like the plague, not wanting to be the latest victim of one of her tirades. Micheal was asked time and time again what was wrong with her...and if he could correct it, which made him laugh, but he did ease their nerves somewhat when he told them that it was a one time event due to an important trip she was taking that was causing her a lot of stress. Micheal could understand a little why Rain was so on edge, but knowing Mark's family as well as he did, he knew Rain had nothing to worry about and that the week-end would not be as bad as she was thinking. But trying to tell this to Rain was like talking to a brick wall, and he soon gave up, resigned to let her find out on her own what he and Mark already knew...that Mark's parents were going to like her right away. Rain looked at the clock and saw she had mere hours before she was to meet Mark's family, and though she had never really cared what people thought about her over the years, she really wanted to make a good first impression...it was the first time someone else's opinion meant so much to her. Rain looked around the shop and saw the looks her fellow employees were giving her. They probably couldn't wait for her to leave after how she had been acting, but that was the last thing on her mind, having more important things to worry about. As soon as the day was finished, Micheal was going to drive her home so she could take a quick shower and pick up her things, and then they were going to pick up Mark at Micheal's so that Micheal could drive them to the airport and they wouldn't have to worry about leaving a car in airport parking. Rain gathered up her coat and wallet and sat down in Micheal's office, her last customer had left about thirty minutes ago so all she had to do was wait for Micheal to lock up and then they would head to her house. As she was waiting, Rain mentally picked through the clothing that was hanging in her closet, trying to decide on what to wear for the plane ride. She wanted to look decent when she met Mark's parents, but she also knew she should wear something that was comfortable...who would want to ride on a plane in an outfit you couldn't wait to take off? Rain picked out several outfits that held promise but quickly dismissed them with a 'too dessy' or 'that's something you would wear around the house'. She finally thought of an outfit that didn't seem like a bad choice...a dark burgundy velvet button-up shirt she was going to wear tucked in, a pair of nice blue jeans, and a pair of tennis shoes...just when Micheal came into the office and told her he was ready to leave. ~Okay~ she thought, ~here we go~.
An hour and a half later, Rain was standing with Mark and Micheal in the airport, wearing the outfit she had picked out in her head with her naturally curly hair hanging loose around her face. Mark thought she looked wonderful, but it took a double team of him and Micheal saying that before she actually took them at their word and said thank you. When their flight was announced over the intercom as boarding, Mark gathered both of their overnight bags as Micheal gave Rain a big hig and whispered 'relax and have fun' in her ear. She waved at him one last time before disappearing into the plane and finding her seat. Rain closed her eyes as the plane took off...~There's no turning back now~.
"Rain...stop fidgiting so much." Mark said, standing by the rental car, as he watched her rub her hands together so vigorously, he was sure she was about to rub them raw. She did the same thing all during the flight...once he had taken away every magazine from her because she kept flipping the pages so loudly, the passengers began throwing unappreciative glances his way. She also drummed her nails on the arm rest and shook her leg all during the flight.
"If I don't do that then my hands do this when I stop," Rain said as she held her hands out in front of her, showing how much they were shaking. She looked like she was suffering from a severe case of caffine withdrawl. "Forget this...I'm going home. Even if I have to sleep in this airport all night, I'm buying a ticket and heading back home. This just isn't worth it." Rain started walking in the direction of the airport, but Mark grabbed her from behind and pulled her against him, preventing her from moving.
"Rain, just calm down." Mark said as he held her tight.
"Easy for you to say...you're not facing the scrutiny of the parents." she said , leaning against him.
"Hey I faced the same thing when your mother visited me."
"That was different."
"How was that different?"
"I don't know...it just was." Rain let out a shaky breath. "How did I talk myself into this?"
"Look at me." Mark said, turning her around so she faced him. Rain slowly lifted her head to meet his eyes. "My parents aren't going to be that horrible to meet...it's not like you're gonna be in front of a firing squad or anything like that. Just relax, be yourself, and everything will be fine."
"Sure, everything will be fine. If I just make it through tonight without falling over dead from stress or because my heart gives out on me, then everything will be fine." Rain said and laughed nervously.
Mark opened the door for her so she could get inside and then opened the driver's side door for himself. Before he put the car in gear, Mark took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "You'll be alright."
Rain wanted to run when Mark rang the doorbell to his parent's house, but Mark’s arm around her waist prevented that from occurring, so all she could do was just wait and see what happened. It didn't take that long before the door opened and an older woman appeared on the other side. Rain immediately saw where Mark's red hair and green eyes came from when she saw his mother, although her hair was a brighter shade of red. Once they were inside the house, Mark introduced his mother, Catherine, and father, James, who joined them when he heard the door close, to Rain. Rain felt her nerves loose their edge and the stress disappear when Mark's mother gave her genuinely warm, friendly smile...telling her how nice it was to finally meet her, a similar greeing was given by his father. Rain expressed the same sentiment, just happy that his parents seemed to like her and weren't disappointed in her...or the appearance of her face. Mark's mother showed her the guest room she would be staying in during their visit, which was just across the hall from Mark's bedroom. She then gave Mark and Rain a few minutes to settle into their rooms and relax after their plane ride, telling them she had fixed a little something to eat since she knew they had hopped on a plane right after work. Mark took that time to show her around the house, leaving his room for last. Rain laughed as she stepped into Mark's room and back into his childhood, seeing posters all over the walls of motorcycles, primarily, and of classic cars. There were also a few model cars and motorcycles on desks and dresser drawers, pictures of Mark with friends, some she recognized were with Micheal, and the inevitable posters of barely clad women...she embarrassed him when she saw those, teasing him until he turned a bright shade of red. After his embarrassment had died down, and he had punished Rain's teasing with a nice round of tickling, Mark and Rain made their way to the kitchen to eat what Mark's mother had fixed them. They had just finished eating when Mark's sister blew into the door, rushing over to where Rain was so Mark could introduce her, and then engulfing Rain in a hug instead of shaking the hand Rain had extended, thinking it too inpersonal. Mark could only sit back and watch as his sister, Samantha, grabbed Rain's hand and led her to the den to talk, closely followed by his mother. Knowing his sister as he did, Mark knew he wouldn't be seeing Rain until much later that evening.