Page 24 of Black Mark's Heart

"And how did he take it?"

I took a deep breath. "He's not happy about it. He believes I should have gone to him and let everyone think it was his child instead."

Marshall pressed his lips tight together in anger.

"He would have married me, Dad, if I'd have let him," I tried to appease my father.

Marshall met my eyes. "He still can, Mora. There is no reason you can't marry him and let everyone, who doesn't already know otherwise, believe that baby is his." Dad stepped forward, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. "You and Dare were never seen together in public as anything more than colleagues. There are very few outside of this room who even knew you were involved, let alone married for a moment in time. You can still marry Jasper and have the life you planned."

I smiled and kissed my father's cheek. "No, Dad. Darius was the only man I could marry, and that's gone. That life was torn to pieces, but I've built a new one and I'm going to be happy. I've never needed a man in my life to make me happy, and that's not going to change now."

The front door buzzer sounded. I stepped past Marshall and pushed the button to let Jeremy and Cassandra in. When I turned around, Marshall was watching me with regret in his eyes.

"Don't look at me like that, Dad."

"I just don't want you to end up like me, Mora," Marshall worried.

I snickered, "Successful, rich, and utterly gorgeous?"

Marshall shook his head. "Lonely."

I tilted my head. "That is a choice you made, Dad. That's what life is. A series of choices that lead to outcomes. Sometimes those choices lead us to good places, and sometimes they lead us to bad places. Most of the time, they lead us to where we need to be." I pulled him into a hug. "I'm where I'm supposed to be, Dad. Accept that three people made choices and they've led us to this place." I stepped back and let out a sigh. "Actually, out of the three of us, I ended up the best off, didn't I?"

Marshall frowned. "How's that, Mora?"

I smiled, looking around. "You and Dare have your businesses, but, for the first time in my life, I'm not alone."

Marshall followed my eyes as they took in my growing group of close friends and family.

"Being with Dare brought most of these people into my life, and, despite Dare not being a part of it anymore, he's given me a family and a good support network." I smiled, happy I could finally see the positives of my heartache. I'd really needed Jasper to bleed out the hurt.

The apartment door burst open as Cody and Nick, Jeremy's boys, came running in and nearly tackled me.

"Mora!" They both yelled as I hugged them back before they broke from me and ran and crash-tackled Zander on the lounge.

"Argh!" Zander grunted and tickled them both. "Okay, okay." Zander laughed. "Want to play with my PlayStation?"

The boys cheered and ran full tilt into Zander's bedroom, diving on his bed. Zander winked at me and followed them in to turn it on for them.

"Have you started praying for a girl yet?" Jeremy asked, stepping in with Cassandra and shutting the door.

I smiled as Cassandra came forward to give me a hug, her slightly smaller belly on display under her singlet top. I looked at Jeremy over her shoulder. "Warren is here," I murmured so they both could hear.

"Oh." Jeremy and Cassandra instantly turned to look over the room. "Well, you might want to wait to open the house-warming present then," Jeremy cringed.

"Just pop it in the room and we can open it later," I smiled.

Jeremy nodded and walked up the hall to the nursery. Cassandra smiled at Marshall and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Marshall."

Dad put his hand over Cassandra's tummy. "How's the hopeful princess coming along?"

Cassandra glowed; there was no other word for it. "She's growing beautifully. Very passive. I could feel both boys moving around by now with those pregnancies. I haven't felt boo out of this one." Cassandra looked to me excited, then remembered the company and swallowed her question. She pouted. "I hate that we can't talk about this openly," she grumbled quietly. She gave Marshall a shove. "This is all your fault."

Dad blinked, surprised. "I'll go and sit down with the others and stop being a hindrance then."

"That is not what I meant, Marshall Blake, and you know it," Cassandra glowered. "You wear the hat. There must be a loophole."

"Cassandra," Marshall warned, his eyes glancing to me.

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