No one listened to the man and the officers quickly hauled him out of the room. Mark felt like a fifty pound weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Chris would be going back to prison for parole violation and probably have a few more years added on, depending on the age of those girls he’d violated.

He was disgusted with himself for letting him into his home. He normally was a great judge of character. He must’ve been more distracted than he thought. Now that Emily and Trevor lived there and his nieces and nephews came over so much, he was going to have to start having background searches done on all his employees. There was no way he wanted any more men like that one to slip through and be so close to those he loved.

“Thank you Chad, you found the man much quicker than I would have thought possible. It may have taken me a long time,” Mark said to his friend.

“You know there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you,” Chad told him.

“You owe me nothing but I do appreciate you coming,” Mark said sincerely.

“Well we’ll just have to disagree on the owing thing,” Chad told him, then slapped Mark on the back.

“You most certainly are a stubborn man,” Mark responded.

“Look who is talking. Are you the kettle today or the pot?” he said with a smile.

“Yeah, yeah,” Mark mumbled and then rolled his eyes.

“I have to get back, you know?” Chad said, reluctantly.

“I know. How much longer are you going to be gone?” Mark wanted to know.

“I’m not sure.” They talked a while longer and then Chad left just as quickly as he had come.

“Now that everything is safe, the rest of us are going to get back to our lives too,” Lucas said, when the family returned.

“I appreciate all of you dropping everything and being here for us,” Mark said.

“Of course, Brother,” Lucas told him.

The family quickly packed up and was gone before Emily knew it. She was sad to see them all leave. She really had grown fond of Amy and Jessica and the children running through the halls.

Emily and Mark quickly got back into their old routine. She offered to move back to her room, although she really didn’t want to. He’d told her in no uncertain terms he didn’t want her leaving his bedroom. She was relieved.

Trevor was thriving and the time was passing by pleasantly. One day, while Mark was out giving Trevor a riding lesson, a knock sounded at the door. Edward was doing some shopping so Emily went to answer.

A man was standing there in a uniform with a clipboard that Emily didn’t think anything about. “Are you Emily Jackson?” the man asked her pleasantly.

“Yes, how can I help you?” she asked him, still not concerned.

“I have a special delivery for you, can you sign here?” he asked.

“Sure,” she responded and signed the paper, thinking it was something Mark had ordered.

“Thank you, you’ve been officially served,” the man stated and quickly walked away.

Emily looked down at the papers the man had handed her. Her ex in-laws had found her and were serving her with new custody papers. They listed her as being in contempt of court and if she didn’t show up in California by the following Monday, which was less than a week away, she would be arrested and Trevor would be taken from her.

Emily immediately began to panic. She didn’t want to go to that courthouse, where the judge was in the pockets of her very wealthy ex in-laws. She knew beyond any doubt they would win.

She started doing some calculations and made the decision she would have to go on the run again. She had saved most of her income and had enough to get settled somewhere else and survive for several months but it would run out and if she didn’t find a job quickly, then her son and her would be homeless.

She didn’t want to leave Mark. She already loved him so much and Trevor was thriving. He would be so upset to move away. She saw how much he’d bonded with Mark. She couldn’t believe she had allowed herself to become so attached, when she knew all along the living situation was going to be a temporary one.

She was sitting at the kitchen table, silently crying when Mark and Trevor walked through the door. They were laughing and talking about how funny the new horses were while learning to walk around. One of the puppies, which was now huge, was trailing at Trevor’s feet. The sight of them made fresh tears fall.

She turned away and wiped her face, not wanting to upset her son. She hated she was going to have to pull him away from the ranch and the entire family. Was she a terrible mother to do it to him? It was the only way to keep them together, she reasoned with herself.

Mark immediately could tell something was wrong and sent Trevor upstairs to clean up and change for dinner. Once he was safely out of ear shot Mark sat down and waited for Emily to tell him what was wrong.

“They found me,” she simply said.

“Who did?” Mark asked her with confusion. She realized at that point she hadn’t told him anything about her custody issues.

“It’s kind of a long story,” she said to him.

“Well there’s no time like the present to start then,” Mark reassured her. Emily took a deep breath and then began the story.

Mark never said one word as she explained her terrible marriage and the controlling husband she’d been with. His eyes turned to slits as she talked about her ex in-laws and how they had tried to take her son from her. When she finished with the part about the Judge being in their pocket, he simply nodded like he understood.

“I didn’t have any other choice but to get away from there. I had to keep Trevor with me. I know they can provide him with everything money can buy but they would never give him love. They only want him because they lost their only son and are trying to look like the loving and concerned grandparents. They’ve barely acknowledged his existence before, though. They are nothing at all like your family Mark,” she finished.

“I’m sorry you’ve been through all of that Emily,” Mark said, as he took her hand in his. “I wish you would’ve shared with me sooner, so I could’ve been there for you. We could’ve already had this dealt with as well,” he continued.

“Mark I can’t beat these people. They know where we are now. I have no choice but to leave,” she said, on a little sob, as new tears started running down her flushed cheeks.

Mark said nothing for several minutes, as her tears continued to fall. He sat next to her, rubbing her back, as she got the last of her emotions under control. He then lifted her chin up so she was looking him in the eyes.

“Emily do you want to leave?” he asked her. He needed to know how she felt. He was going to help her no matter what the answer was but he needed to know she wanted to be there with him.

“Of course I don’t want to leave. Trevor is so happy here and I love you. I just can’t lose my son,” she said, exasperated.

In the heat of her passion and frustration she hadn’t noticed she’d told him she loved him for the first time. Mark let it wash over him and felt his heart growing. They were going to be okay.

“Emily you don’t have to leave. I want you and Trevor here. We are going to get married and have the custody hearing moved up here, where the judge can’t be bought. First we will try and get the Jackson’s to settle but if they want to fight, we will fight them. If Trevor’s grandparents want to fight you, they are going to have to go through me,” he said to her.

Emily stared at him with a mixture of horror and hope. He’d just proposed, or more like, demanded marriage and promised to keep her and her son together. She didn’t know what to say to him.

“Mark I can’t ask you to do that,” she finally responded.

“Emily, I love Trevor already as if he were my son. My family loves him too and we protect our own. I also can’t imagine waking up each day without you. I want you here and I won’t let these people pull us apart.” He said.

He wasn’t quite ready to actually express his love. He knew he couldn’t imagine his life without her but if he told her he loved her and she rejected him, it would kill him. He couldn’t go there.

“Emily, I‘d never planned on marrying before. Then I watched as both my brothers got married and had children and I realized it wasn’t such a bad thing. We could be really good together if you’ll just give it a chance. If things don’t work out for some reason, it’s not like you would have to be stuck with me forever,” he said with a shrug like it was no big deal.

It hurt her more than he would ever know to have him talk about them ending like it was nothing but he was right. If them marrying would keep her with him longer and keep Trevor safe, she had nothing to lose. She loved him and he said he cared about her, so maybe that would turn into love someday.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked him, giving him a last chance to back out.

“More sure than anything,” Mark said and gave her one of his sexy smiles. He leaned over and kissed her with a desire that took her breath away and left her wanting so much more.

“I have a lot of phone calls to make to get things started. We will wed on Saturday. Are you okay having it here at the ranch, or do you want a church wedding?” he asked.

“I would love to have it here. It doesn’t have to be anything formal,” she said reluctantly. She had always dreamed of her wedding day, with all the bells and whistles but this wasn’t your typical wedding and she couldn’t expect to plan anything extravagant in only a couple of days.

Mark actually laughed out loud at her statement. “I’m sorry to tell you Emily but the second I call my father this wedding is no longer a small thing. He would never let that happen. Be prepared for one huge extravaganza,” he said. He then left her to make his calls.

Emily was a bit disappointed. She knew what he said but there was no way possible a huge wedding could be planned in only a couple of days. She didn’t necessarily want it to be huge; she just would like it to be magical.

She shook her head at her own selfishness. She shouldn’t be disappointed she wasn’t going to get her dream wedding, when she was getting her dream man. She smiled, as she thought about being Mark’s wife. Even if he was talking about it as a temporary thing, she was still going to be his wife.

Emily barely made it through dinner before she headed up to their bedroom to lie down. She was exhausted and just wanted to sleep for a while. She was out before her head even fully hit the pillow.

The next morning Emily awoke to find Mark already gone. That was unusual, as he almost always woke her up by kissing her softly all over her body. She was sure he just had a lot to get done that day.

She took her time taking a shower and getting dressed. She knew she was going to have to make a lot of plans in order to at least have some flowers and cake at her wedding. She didn’t have anyone to invite, so she didn’t need invitations, or party favors but she would ask Jessica and Amy to stand with her.

She wouldn’t have them go overboard with fancy dresses. She herself was going to most likely wear a simple church dress. There was just no time to find her perfect fairytale dress. Mark most likely wouldn’t like that anyway.