The Story of Tiffany

"I paid attention, usually. You said this was the color bedroom you wanted. How do you like the place?"

"I love it... but... "

"Tiff, move here. Stay here. If you don't want me here, I'll stay in my apartment. I just want you and them here, close by. I can't not say it for another second. I know it's too soon, too fast, and I don't care."

"C-can I think about it?"

He looked down. "Sure."

"Ok... I did and I will."

"What?"

"I did think about it... and I will. You have to give me some time, Mark. I am going to move, it takes time, but I will."

"What about me?"

"It's your house, of course you get to stay."

"You sure?"

"Pretty much. We have some time this week... how about we see how it goes."

They spent the rest of the week just hanging out, talking, laughing. After 10 days, he waited until after lunch. "Tiff... what are we? Where are we going? I... I need to know how you feel about me... But I gotta tell you first."

She nodded, holding the dish she was drying. She had a scared look on her face, and he could tell he had her worried. "Tiff... more than anything else, I love you. I always will. It... it doesn't matter about anything else, but I always want you to remember that." She started to cry. "What, Tiff?"

"You... don't want me anymore, do you?"

"Why do you say that?"

"This is how almost every conversation started when a guy dumped me."

"Tiff... hear me out. I don't want to dump you... Tiff, you haven't told me if you really want me to move in with you. I... kinda figured you don't, since you didn't say anything. It's ok, I'll stay here. If you're ever ready, let me know though. I want it all back, Tiff. I want us, I want Mark and Marie... If we ever can. Let me know when."

Tiffany stopped and stared at him. "Are you being serious?"

"I kinda thought that was obvious."

"Mark... how? After what I did? How?"

"I already forgave you... and you being here reminds me of everything I've missed. I don't want to miss anymore."

"Mark... do you want to take a nap?"

"Wha... that's a strange question right now!"

"Mark, when I was here, every time I suggested a nap, what did we do?"

"Uh... OH! Really?"

"I kinda hope you're in a hurry..."

"How about we go lay down?"

She nodded and took his hand, walking to the bedroom. "Mark, are you sure?"

"About what?"

"Us. I'm sure. I've wanted to do this since about five minutes after I got here, but... we can't just do this and stop again. I can't."

"I can't stop either... if we do this, you're kinda stuck with me."

She walked up close, pulling his head down to be nose-to-nose. "I kinda want to be stuck with you. I... I love you, Mark. I can't be without you anymore, ever again." She kissed him lightly, then with more passion. "Mark... you gotta go slow. It's been four years. I had babies, but... it's been a while."

She quickly shed her clothes and laid on the bed. He did too, then he crawled in beside her and kissed her. She rolled over. "Mark, normally I like foreplay, you know that. The last ten days have been foreplay... fuck me, Mark."

He climbed over her thigh and put himself at her pink entrance. "I love you Tiff." He put himself in, then leaned over her and began to slowly move inward, waiting until he hit his end. He pulled almost all the way out, then back in. She grabbed his ass and began to push and pull him, urging more speed. He began to fuck her with as much speed and power as he could, knowing that it wouldn't last long. He was almost there when she began a familiar moaning and she began to squeeze around him. He lost control and came. It was a flood, and when he pulled out it was a waterfall. She looked up at him, pulling him in for a kiss.

"Mark... Why did we wait?"

"I dunno, both of us are scared. Of us, of each other, of being hurt..."

"Mark... I wanna promise you something. I'll never ever ever do something like this again... If I have something important to talk about, I'll be blunt and clear. We can talk, explain things to each other, no more of this... bullshit. We can't do this ever again. It... was too much once, twice might kill me."

"Tiff... this is going to sound nuts. I want you to leave tomorrow."

"What!?"

"I want you to go get your stuff. Get back as soon as you can. If you want my help, I'll come to. I want this as soon as we can."

She smiled, relieved. "OK... on one condition."

"What?"

"We stay in bed until tomorrow."

"Deal... you have a deal."

The next day as she prepared to leave, she handed him her old phone. "Mark... look at the texts. Look in the draft folder, OK? Promise me you won't until tomorrow. I wasn't sure you should see these, but... now I am."

"Tell me there's no goodbye note in here first..."

"Mark... I'm coming back. It'll take me a few days, maybe a week. I'll call you every day, I promise. Please?"

"I do... I do this time. One day, we can talk about before... maybe when it isn't so raw. These last ten days have been... amazing. I wish every day could be like this, but unfortunately I have to work. I'll have everything ready for you and the kids when you get here, ok?"

"Gonna miss you Mark..." She gave him a kiss, then walked out to her car. He waved as she drove away.

He did a few things in the next few days he had off. He spent hours reading her texts. She'd replied every day and never sent them, but she had saved all of her drafts. He laughed and cried. She had told him about his children when they were born, small things as they grew. He still texted her every morning. When he went to work on Monday he was summoned to the boss's office. He had kind of expected it.

"Hey Mark, have a seat..." Mark sat and looked at Roger expectantly. "Mark, I wanna ask you a question. Did the time off you took have to do with Tiffany?"

"Yes sir, it did."

"Are you two getting back together?"

"I... I think so. I'm pretty sure."

"Mark... Just, if she does something bad again, I can't... you know?"

"I get it. I promise, this will be it. We... had a huge misunderstanding, and we've put it behind us."

"Mark... I'm asking this as Roger, your friend, not your boss, ok? Mark, are you sure? I don't know if you can take this if it happens again."

"Roger... I'm sure. As sure as I can be about anything."

"Good. Anything else you want to tell me?"

"Roger... I'm a dad. I have two kids! I... have to move to a house, and it has to be soon. Real soon. Like this week."

"Tell you what. The boys on the dock always want overtime... if you need moving help, let me know. We'll get it knocked out. Just ask."

"Thanks, Roger. I think I'll have a place later this week...and I might need some time to go sign paperwork... sorry."

"No worries, just no more weeks off. You're a good kid, smart kid... If I had a son, I'd hope he turned out like you."

She called every day. Usually it was just a talk, sometimes she would let the kids say hi. Once it was late at night, and the phone call turned spicier. She told him she would be there on Friday evening, and that Aunt Sophia was coming with her, driving her car. She would be driving a moving truck. He asked what furniture she needed, and he found the kids needed new beds. He had that problem fixed by Thursday afternoon, the day before she was due to arrive.

He was sitting in his new house that Thursday night, looking around. He had two children's rooms set up, one with princesses and the other with superheroes. He had a new king-sized bed in his room, and new living room furniture. The swing set was up in the back yard. He was waiting on her call, sipping a drink.

His phone rang, and he answered. "Hey Beautiful! Gonna be here tomorrow?"

"Don't 'Hey Beautiful' me... Where the fuck are you?"

"I'm home, you said you wouldn't be here until tomorrow!"

"Couldn't wait... drove all day, and you are not fucking home!"

"Wait five minutes.... I'll be there. I'll even drive the truck. Just turn it around so you can get out of the parking lot."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at the house. Sorry, I was going to meet you tomorrow."

"You got five minutes mister!"

He threw on a t-shirt and ran out the door, driving like a madman to his old apartment. He saw a 26-foot truck there with her white SUV behind it. He got out and ran up to the truck. "C'mon, I'll drive this, you drive my truck. Follow me, but when I start to back up stay out of the way. It'll make unloading easier."

She glared at him. "You moved and didn't tell me.... Don't think I'm happy."

He drove to his new house, backing into the driveway. The other vehicles pulled in beside him, and he got out. She looked up at the house. "You're kidding, right? You really did it? In a week?"

"Yep. Welcome home, babe."

They woke the kids up and everyone went in. Tiffany was looking around, noticing all the new things. "Mark... where are we going to put my stuff?"

"No worries... there will be room. Hey, Marie, come here for a minute!"

She walked over slowly, still waking up. She looked at her mother, who picked up little Mark and walked with them. He took her to her new room and opened the door. "Would you like to sleep in here?"

"Mama! Look! There's Elsa! There's Ariel! Wow, Mama, look!"

"I take it you like it..."

"I do!"

Tiffany looked at him. "When did you find time to do this?"

"I had help... there's more. We have to show Mark his room."

Mark oohed and aahed at his room too. He had bought a few toys as well, giving them something to do for a few minutes. Sophia came up to him. "Mark... I can't say I was 100% on board with this... but, watching you guys now, it feels... right."

"Thanks, Aunt Sophia. I only barely remember you from when I was a kid."

"Your mom was kind of hard to stay around... but I'm glad I met Tiffany, and now you. Does this place have a guest bedroom?"

"As a matter of fact, it does. Let me show you to your room tonight!" He took her to a bedroom beside Marie's. "It's a little sparse, but definitely enough to beat a motel. It has a small bath attached if you want a shower."

"I'm going to get a shower, but we have to eat soon too."

"I'm ordering pizza in a minute, any requests?"

"Hot and a lot!"

"I can do that!"

Mark took Tiffany's hand and led her to the back of the house. "The kitchen is to the right, our bedroom is to the left. Is there anything we have to unpack tonight?"

"If you can get everything out of the back of the car, that's all I need now. Get the pizza ordered first... and Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"Sorry I yelled earlier. I had thoughts that maybe you ran this time. I am tired, I was scared, and I was confused. You did good with this, Mark. You did really good."

"Thanks..." She gave him a quick kiss.

"We'll talk more later. Order that pizza, I'll go open the car."

He ordered the food and walked outside. As he was getting luggage out, she came out for a second load. "Mark, since we're alone... I... I wanna tell the kids. Soon."

"Tell them what?"

"Tell them to call you Daddy. Tell them who you are. I had a lot of time to think on the drive... I've kept them away too long already."

"Are you sure?"

"Very..."

They finished unloading, taking the kids luggage to their rooms. Sophia had taken her bag already, and the rest went to their bedroom.

"I feel so bad... I never should have left."

"Tiff, stop. We both played a part in that, and it turned out to be something stupid. So what. It's over. Let's just enjoy what we have now, ok?"

"Sure..."

"One last surprise... go look in the bathroom."

She went in and looked. He heard her shriek and then she came out. "A shower built for two, huh? Do you have plans for that thing?"

"As a matter of fact I do... but it depends on how tired you are."

"I am really tired now... but we'll see about tomorrow!"

The pizza arrived and everybody ate. Sophia and the kids went to bed. Mark and Tiffany were out on the couch in the living room, the TV on low. She snuggled into him and looked up. "Mark... what's that room over there?"

"The other bedroom."

"Who's that for?"

"Whoever's next."

"Huh?"

"I don't know if you're gonna have a boy or girl, but... whichever, that's the room."

"Why do you think I'm pregnant?"

"I don't know. I kinda thought you might be last time, but I didn't listen to my brain. This time, I'm following my instincts."

"You're impossible!"

"Yep."

"Dick."

"Yep."

"Asshole."

"Yep."

"Daddy."

"Hope so..."

"You are. We're telling them tomorrow. I was gonna wait, but... no. Sophia will be here, but she already knows."

"How did you find her?"

"Long story, Mark, and that's for another day. How about tonight we go to bed, get some rest, maybe an orgasm or two."

"I'm up for that!"

They went to bed. He laid down and she crawled on top of him. "So... this is our first night in our house. What do you think we should do?"

"Tiff.. how about I do something for you? Crawl up here a bit farther..."

He began to lick and suck, and her hips started wiggling on his face. Suddenly she levered herself up and turned around. "I wanna suck you while you do it!"

He kept going, and she started licking and sucking herself. He started to get close and tapped her head to let her know. She shook her head and kept going. When he started coming in her mouth, he felt her start coming as well. He lay back, breathing heavily, as she turned around slowly and came up to him.

"I wanted to do something special for you."

"You never have to do something you don't like..."

"It was surprisingly not bad. I might just keep doing that...assuming you liked that."

"Well, duh. You do what you want." He pulled her in, kissed her, and managed to line himself up in her. They moved slowly, enjoying the feeling of being together. When they both came, he stayed inside her as they drifted off.

The next morning, they were both woken up by screams. As they came out into the living room, Marie was fuming mad, pointing at her brother. "HE BOKE MY PINCESS!!!"

Mark looked over and found the doll she was mad about. Her brother had just pulled the head off, so he popped it back on and gave it back to her. "Marie, look. Good as new!"

She was still sniffling but took the doll. "Mawk is bad. He hurt Elsa!"

"Hey, it's ok. Look, she's fixed, no harm. How about we see what other dolls you have?" Marie took Mark's hand and they went into the bedroom.

Sophia was watching the whole thing. "He's gonna be good with them, isn't he?"

"Yeah... it'll be nice to have some help. I wish you could stay and babysit, it would probably make the transition a little easier for them."

"We'll talk about that... I have no reason to hurry back. I have to ask him, too."

Tiffany went to the kitchen to make breakfast. There was a couple of guys in the back yard finishing the fence. They only had a couple of sections to do. She noticed the swing set and called to her son. "Mark! Come here for a sec!"

"What, Mama?"

"Come here.." she picked him up. "Look out there, you guys have your own swing set!"

"Wow! Can I go play?"

"After breakfast. Go wash your hands and get your sister."

Everyone came into the kitchen as she started serving. Mark looked and laughed. "Corrupted them early! I'll bet it's their favorite too!"

"You bet! Can't be part of this group if you hate biscuits and syrup!"

Sophia looked at Mark and whispered, "I only eat some to make everyone happy. Wish I had some bacon and eggs!" Mark smiled at her, nodding.

After breakfast, Tiffany called them to the living room. "Kids... I have to tell you something. This is important, so pay attention. Remember how I told you that one day I'd take you to meet your daddy?"

"Yes Mama... can we go today?" Marie asked.

"Well, actually, we don't have to go. See Mark here? Do you like him?"

"He's nice... he gave me a pincess!"

"Yes he did. He bought this house for us to live in, and there is a swing set out back! He did all this because... Mark is Daddy. Mark is your daddy, kids."

"We have the same name! Can you take us out to the swing set?"

Mark smiled at his son. "If you both want to go... we all have to get dressed first though. After that, we have to unload the truck. I know, it isn't fun, but after that we can do something else fun!"

They dressed and played outside. Neither child seemed disturbed by the revelation of who he was. The young are pretty resilient. They slid down the slide and swung for a while, then Mark told them it was time to go in so they could start on the truck. He opened the garage and door so they could carry things in. Some of it, like the kid's old toddler beds, stayed out in the garage. They took a quick break for sandwiches at lunch and were done by 4 pm. He followed her out to return the truck, as they didn't have to pay an extra day if it was back by five. After she had dropped it off, she climbed in his truck, looked at him, and started crying.

"Tiff... what's wrong, Tiff?"

"Nothing... I think I just realized.... It's real. This thing we have, it's real too. Our kids... I think they love you already. I love the house, I don't know how you did it so fast, but... wow. All I had to do was come back, and I wasted so much time."

"Tiff... we've talked about that. I did all this for you, for them. You make me a better person, that's why it works. We make each other better. What happened, happened. Look forward, we have some time... you never know how much, so you make the most of every moment you have. I didn't know that until you left, maybe it had to happen."

"Mark... what am I going to do with you?"

"I suggest lots of sex... but I'm sure we can think of other things to do~

She slapped his shoulder, laughing. "Take me home, Mark. We've got some living to do."

That night, they talked to Aunt Sophia and she agreed to stay for a little while. It was left open-ended, for now. Mark promised to buy some better furniture for her room.

The next day was Sunday. Mark and the kids were playing in the back yard when Tiffany's phone rang. "Hello?"

"Tiffany, Sue. How are you doing?"

"Pretty good, I guess."

"Let me cut to the chase. I... I need an accountant. Yesterday. Are you coming here soon?"

"Actually, I'm here now..."

"Is it possible for you to start tomorrow?"

"Y'know, Sue... I really owe you. I wouldn't do this for anyone else, but for you I will. I'll be an hour or two late, I have a couple of things to do in the morning. I will be there by ten though."

"That would be great... welcome back, by the way."

"Thanks... I know I don't have any right to, but can I ask you a favor?"

"Uh... sure." Tiffany quickly explained what she wanted to do, telling her the timeframe and everything. Sue was surprised, but quickly agreed to help. "I may have to get Roger to help too... is that a problem?"

"Not if he can keep a secret. And Sue? Thank you... for everything."

"Tiffany... I was mad, I admit. I... I kinda needed to hear this from you though. We're ok, we're friends. Talk to you on Monday, Ok?

"Sure thing."

Mark went to work during the week, and Tiffany started working as well. She still got home before he did, making dinner some nights with Aunt Sophia doing it others. On Friday, Mark came home and sat at the table.

"Hey Mark, any plans for the weekend?"

"Nothing special, I'm sure we still have some shopping to do tomorrow. Why?"

"Don't make plans for Sunday."

"What do we have?"

"Just... just keep it open. I wanna take you out for a while."

"Sure."

Sunday morning, Sophia took the kids out to play at the park. Mark got up and got dressed quickly, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Tiffany looked at him. "Mark, dress up a bit. There's someplace decent to go." He changed into a dress shirt and slacks.

She took him out for a brunch, then looked over at him. "I know we said no more surprises... but I kinda have one."