Page 117 of An Unexpected Love

“We didn’t know what to do,” Mandy wailed.

“About what?”

“This.” Carrie handed him an envelope with his name written across the front. He recognized the handwriting as Charlotte’s, but her usually smooth script was jerky and uneven.

Puzzled that she’d resort to writing a letter and having it delivered in the wee hours of the morning by two worried teenagers, he removed the single piece of paper.

He read it quickly.

Jason,

I’m sorryseems so inadequate, but I can’t go through with the wedding. Please, if you can, find it in your heart to forgive me.

She’d signed it with her name.

It was a joke. Not a very good one, but he’d laugh over it in a few minutes.

“Who put you two up to this?” he asked, using his sternest voice.

“No one!” Carrie sobbed. “It’s true. I got up to go to the bathroom and Mom’s bedroom light was on, soI went in to see what was wrong and she wasn’t there. She wasn’t anywhere.”

“The car’s gone, too,” Mandy added.

The words galvanized Jason into action. He shook the hair out of his face.

“What are we going to do?” Carrie asked, still crying softly.

“Wearen’t doing anything,” Jason answered firmly.

“But someone has to do something!”

“I’ll take care of it,” he assured them. “Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone, understand?”

“But…”

“Just do as I say. There isn’t time to argue. If I’m not back with Charlotte before the car comes to take her to the church, tell everyone she’s with me.”

“What are you going to do?” Mandy asked, her eyes following him as he trotted back to his bedroom. He turned back and grinned. “Do?” he repeated. “Find her, of course. She’s got a wedding to attend.”

Twelve

Jason couldn’t even guess where Charlotte was. He finished dressing, grabbed his car keys and took off, determined to find her.

He drove around for an hour, considering various possibilities. He tried to think like she would. If he were a bride running away from a wedding, where would he go? But that didn’t work; he’d never run away from anything in his life, certainly not a wedding.

Darned if he knew what Charlotte was thinking. He had difficulty enough understanding women under normal circumstances. Still, he’d thought Charlotte was different. He’d thought—he’d assumed, erroneously it seemed—that Charlotte was as eager for their wedding as he was. He was shocked that he’d been so blind to her doubts. She must be terrified to have run away like this. Terrified and alone.

He should’ve known something like this would happen. He’d backed her into a corner, pushed her into this wedding. He’d allowed his own needs, his own desires, to overrule hers.

As dawn streaked the horizon with lavender and pink, he found himself growing ever more concerned.

Where could she be?

His driving became increasingly reckless, his speed gaining as he raced desperately from one possible location to the next. Checking the time, he was nearly swallowed by panic.

There wasn’t much time left. They were both supposed to be at the church in a couple of hours. The thought of hurrying back to his family and having to announce that Charlotte had run away filled him with a sick kind of dread. He wouldn’t return, he decided, until he’d found her. Until he’d done whatever he could to calm her fears, to reassure her, convince her how much he loved her.

Jason wasn’t sure what led him to the beach where he’d proposed to her.

---