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Darned if he knehat Charlotte was thinking He had difficulty enough understanding woht Charlotte was different He’d thought--he’d assuer 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 so 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 hi everbeca as he raced desperately fro the time, he was nearly sed 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 fa 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
When he saw her car parked haphazardly along the side of the road, he nearly collapsed in relief A calmness took hold of him and his pulse slowed to an even, steady pace
He parked behind her and rushed out of his car The sound of the door closing must have been carried aith the wind, because she didn’t turn around or give any indication that she realized he was there
He paused for a few seconds, looking at her, his heart swelling with gratitude at finding her safe
Charlotte sat on a log, facing the water The sa he’d knelt in front of to ask her to ht and how ecstatic he’d been when she accepted his proposal He didn’t expect to feel that good again until they shared in the birth of a child
Charlotte’s shoulders were slu of the water The hipped her hair, which fleildly about, but she didn’t appear to notice She wasn’t wearing a sweater Sheoff his jacket
He watched her for anotherexactly what he’d say He’d had hours to prepare for this, hours to come up with the words to tell her howhad gone Now he found himself speechless
She didn’t see him until he was almost upon her When she happened to look up, he saw that her face, ravaged by tears, was as pale as h she couldn’t quite believe he was really there
"Jason?"
"Funnyhis jacket around her shoulders
"I…How did you find me?"
"It took some effort If you had any doubts, Charlotte, I wish you’d talked theain "There wasn’t any time…I tried, honestly I did, but you were always so busy and the time went so fast, and now…" The rest of her words faded into nothingness, her gaze avoiding his
"There’s ti beside her
Her eyes widened "I…can’t go through with it"
"Why not?" he asked cal sob "Please…I can’t I don’t love you…"
Jason tensed "I don’t believe that, Charlotte There’s so else"
"There is…I realize now that it’s your family I love I never had one ofyou for all the wrong reasons I…can’t go through with the wedding…I just can’t"
Jason felt as if someone had punched him Hard "My…faot carried away, thinking that if Ifa you when I didn’t love you"
A cold anger took hold of Jason An anger rooted in pain and disillusionment
"It’s too bad you didn’t think of that sooner, because all this soul-searching is a little too late" He grasped her arainst hihtened
"Jason, please…"
"Shut up, Charlotte Just shut up before I say so she was the only woone to her in love, a love so strong it had swept away his loneliness Charlotte was throwing it all back at hi hi out on him at the eleventh hour like this couldn’t be considered anything less Nothing she could’ve done would have hu at the altar
"I can’t be your wife…Don’t you understand?"
Her voice was so weak he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly Not that itshe could have said would’ve had any effect on him after her confession It didn’twith him, but he closed off his heart the same way he had his ears
When they reached his car, he opened the passenger door and deposited her inside He ran around to the driver’s side, not knowing if he could trust her to stay put He was mildly surprised that she didn’t try to escape