When Marina returned home, things weren’t quite the same. Everyone knew that she was James Royce’s daughter and treated her differently. She expected it, but it was hard to face. Her father was thrilled for everyone to know who his daughter was. He was proud of her. He was also thrilled that she had met Donnie’s boys and seemed so crazy about them. He asked for Donnie’s phone number. Marina gave it to him reluctantly. He told her he needed it in case she was with Donnie somewhere and there was an emergency and her phone wasn’t working. She knew he was lying. But she figured her dad had a right to be able to contact Donnie if he wanted to. She got Donnie’s permission first. Of course, then Donnie was just as freaked out about it as she was.
Donnie and Marina made plans to see each other again in three weeks for a five day vacation in the mountains. Donnie loved the beach, but he had found out that Marina adored the mountains. They had lots of fun on twitter telling everyone they were going on vacation. Marina assured the fans that she would make Donnie visit with them at least once a day. Donnie promised pictures from the trip.
They ended up going to the Royce home in Knoxville, TN. Marina admitted that it was her favorite place in the world. They ventured to Cade’s Cove near Gatlinburg and acted like total tourists. They even got in a few games of Putt-Putt….until Donnie convince her to try playing golf with him. She wasn’t crazy about it, but she played along. He took some pretty great pictures of her in the backyard at the main house. She was sitting on the swing waiting on Donnie to join her to go for a walk. He called her name and she smiled when she saw him. He got a picture of that smile and sent it to her dad on his phone. Her dad had sent him a text message just to provide his number to Donnie in case of any emergency with Marina. Her dad immediately replied with a request for a picture of the two of them together.

“Your dad wants a picture of us together,” he told her. He sat on the other swing and she got in his lap and he took a picture with his phone. Then they did a video and sent it as a bubble tweet for Donnie’s fans. They walked and sat on a bench by the lake and talked.
“So my Dad kinda freaks you out?”
“Not him, but the way he knows you so well…that freaks me out.”
“What are you talking about?”
Donnie sat up and leaned towards her. “He knew when we had slept together.” She looked puzzled. “The night I met him in Memphis, when you left the table, he said he was glad that we had sex because he knew that meant you were serious about me.”
She laughed. “Oh my God Donnie! I’m so sorry.”
“I was kinda embarrased as hell. I mean, I had been enjoying dinner and getting to talk to your dad. He’s cool. But all I wanted to do was get you back to your place and get you in bed again. It was all I could think about. It was like he caught me with you or something.”
She was laughing at him. When she finally stopped she explained because he looked kinda hurt. “Donnie, my Dad is a consummate liar. He knew I wouldn’t give him a straight answer, so he tricked you into telling him that we had been together.”
“Why would he do that?”
“He doesn’t give a shit if I sleep with you or a hundred other guys. He wanted to see how you would react to him. If you had denied it, you’d be on his shit-list. But you reacted appropriately I guess…he loves you.” She leaned over and kissed him. “But not the way I do.”
“Thank God for that!” He asked if there were any fish in the lake. Soon they had gotten into the garage and found everything they needed to fish for a little while. Donnie was amused. Marina could deal with all manner of blood and gore, but putting a grasshopper on a hook was too much for her.
“I can put worms on there. But grasshoppers feel weird.”
“And worms don’t feel weird?” He shook his head. “Women are strange.”
“And that’s why men love us.” She smiled. They had noticed the clouds coming up but the sudden downpour still caught them off guard. They ran with their fishing gear to the garage. Once they put everything away they made another mad dash for the house. Donnie had lots of fun peeling her wet clothes off of her. She took a picture of Donnie with her cell phone. He was in jeans and a wet white t-shirt sitting on her bed. She tweeted it and said “Not sure whether to attack him for looking so hot, or fuss at him for getting my bed wet.”
Donnie’s fans went crazy. They loved that she was sharing him with all of them. He found it fascinating that she was oblivious to the fans that would say mean things back to her. There were a handful of them that she tweeted with often and he loved it. They were all random. He was pretty sure she was unaware of the website that had sprang up in support of their relationship.

Marina surprised him the next day with his boys coming for a visit. They let the boys choose what they were going to do while there were there. They spent the day at the house playing games and appearing very much like a family. It was then that Donnie realized both his boys called Marina by the same nickname her father did; Mari. He laughed that people were gonna be calling them ‘Donnie & Mari’ and snickering about it. But he knew he never wanted to be without her.
He had gone to take a shower while Mari and the boys played some music. Xavier was in awe of her skills on the guitar and she was trying to teach Elijah to play the keyboard. When he came down from the shower, he heard something he had never heard. Mari was singing along to Xavier’s guitar playing. They were doing Sugarland’s “Stay” and Mari sounded pretty amazing. They had their backs to the door. He just stood there in awe of this woman who had charmed him and his boys…and even his ex-wife. He had never been able to get her to sing in front of him. And she said she couldn’t sing. When the song was finished, he cleared his throat.
Marina jumped. “How long have you been there?”
“Long enough to know that you lied to me.”
“About what?”
“You said you can’t sing. I remember it vividly. And you never sing when I ask you to.”
“I can’t sing. I hate the way my voice sounds.”
“Dad, I made her do it. I wanted to hear her sing and she said she only would if I could play a certain song by the time we saw each other again. I worked really hard and learned it. So she had to do it.” Xavier didn’t want him to be upset. But he couldn’t figure out why she hated the sound of her own voice.
Elijah joined in. “Yeah Dad, don’t be mad at Mari, okay?”
Donnie picked him up. “I’m not mad. I just want to hear her sing some more.”
“Not tonight. This show is over,” she said.

“Why don’t you play them your ‘Dad’s Song’ before we all go to bed?” Donnie suggested.
Marina smiled at him. “I love playing that one. You knew I wouldn’t say no to that.” He grinned at her. He hadn’t been able to get it out of his head. She played it for him and the boys and it gave Donnie an idea.
“Hey, have you ever recorded that song for your dad?” he asked her.
“No, it’s always just been something we do when I visit him. Why?”
“Well, I was thinking that maybe you could record it and give it to him as a gift. It would be kinda the perfect gift for the man who literally has everything.”
She thought about it for a few minutes. “Is that something you can do for me? I don’t want anyone outside the family having it.”
“Danny has a studio at his place that we could use. If you are willing to let Danny hear you play, that is? But you and Danny are still pretty close, right?” He knew they were. They texted at least every other day.
After another few minutes, she agreed. “It would make a perfect gift for him. I don’t know why it never occurred to us to record it.”