Your Mark on Me

Chapter 30: Romeo and Juliet

"Long time no see, Mrs. Preston. What brings you here?"

"I'm looking for Scarlett. She wasn't at home this morning. I'm worried, she's not one to go off without saying anything. When I called her boyfriend, he suggested she might be in this house?"

From the mixture of suspicion and uncertainty in Mom's tone I could tell that, when she knocked on that door, she was definitely not expecting to see "Mr. Crawford".

I made myself small on the sofa, not knowing whether I should hide, or get up and join them. Back when I used to come to his house almost every evening, I thought a few times about what to say if Mom ever found out. But now, after what had happened in the morning, it was a completely different story. I didn't even know what to explain. I wasn't sure if me and Mark were a thing, if he was still going to leave or not. We hadn't had a chance to talk about it.

"Yes, she's here", Mark finally admitted, after a brief, failed attempt at small chat. Mom pushed past him into the house. She was wearing her favourite flowery dress, but no make-up. Her hair was tied in a negligent ponytail, proof of the haste with which she had left the house in the morning. Her dark brown eyes took in the sparseness of the room, then stopped on me.

I became small under her heavy gaze, filled with questions to which she'd already guessed the answer, but still harbored hope that they weren't true.

"Scarlett? What is the meaning of this? Do you have any idea how worried I've been?"

I looked down. I was feeling awfully guilty, and it was showing in my eyes.

"What are you doing here with this man?"

Mark was standing a few steps behind her, not looking at either of us. I didn't understand why he wasn't intervening. I knew he could talk his way out of this, he was so good with words and with people, so why was he not saying anything? Why was he leaving it all to me?

"Mark?" I whimpered.

Mom turned around to face him, then glanced back at me, and back at him. Just by the way my eyes were fixing him expectantly, she figured out the truth.

Mark lifted his gaze deliberately slowly. I realised with stupefaction that the reason he was so quiet was that he hadn't made up his mind yet. He still didn't know what he wanted with me, with us.

He stretched out the words as if trying to buy time. "Mrs. Preston. Let's not jump to conclusions."

"No? Then does anyone care to explain to me what is going on here?"

Her accusatory gaze was fixing him, demanding answers. Mark held her gaze, too proud to let himself get outstared, but still unsure of what to respond. I felt so hurt and so disappointed in him. My lip was quivering and my hands were shaking when I spoke quietly, causing them both to turn towards me.

"Mom. Let's go home."

I must have looked really pained because Mom suddenly lost it and addressed him directly. "What did you do to her? Scarlett, did he hurt you?"

"Mom, please. He didn't do anything. I just can't be here anymore. Let's go home."

"No", Mark said suddenly. "You're not going anywhere until we sort this out." He gave a long sigh, then came next to me and grabbed my hand.

"Mrs. Preston. I know... I can imagine that it must be hard for you to hear this, but please, try to remain calm. Scarlett and I have known each other for about a year now and..."

Mom eyed us both incredulously. He waved a dismissive gesture as she attempted to speak. "No, nothing has been going on until... fairly recently. Now, I know it must be difficult for you to take it all in, but... I care about your daughter. And I do want to... we both want to try and make this work...somehow."