Mr Spencer (Mr. 2)

I will not be held responsible for their fears.

Because I have none.

He is my soul mate. He is the man I’ve been waiting for, and I won’t cower to their demands. Not for anything.

I crawl up the driveway and park outside the front of my house. I have no idea what I’m going to take, but I just know I had to come home to make it final.

* * *

Three hours later and I’m sitting on the grass of the manicured garden in the family graveyard of my father’s estate. I stare at the tombstone.

I’m with my mother and a feeling of deep sadness fills me. I wish she could meet Spencer. I wish she were here to see how happy he makes me.

I’ve packed all of my things and loaded them into the back of the cars. I know my father is home, but he hasn’t been down to see me. He knows.

“He’s got blonde hair, Mum, and blue eyes,” I whisper through a lump in my throat. “He’s tall and handsome, and if you could see the way he looks at me, you would understand.” Tears roll down my face. “I love him.”

I just want to hear her voice, just one more time.

I want her to tell me that’s it’s okay—that she understands why I’m doing this.

But she can’t. She never will.

She’s gone.

Sometimes the pain of her not being here is too much.

It’s like I have to fight for my next breath.

How am I supposed to live without her?

I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I jump in fright. “Are you all right, darling?” my father asks.

I stand, and I wrap my arms around him. “Not really,” I whisper against his shoulder. “I miss her, Dad.”

“I miss her, too.”

“I need her to tell me that this is okay.” I lift my chin and his eyes search mine. “Because I’m moving in with him, Dad. I love him and I’m not waiting.”

His face falls. “But you said—”

“I know what I said,” I cut him off. “But I’ve thought about it.”

“He talked you out of it, you mean.”

“No.” I shake my head. “Not at all. He doesn’t even know I’m here. It’s time for me to grow up and make my own decisions, Dad.”

His eyes fall to the ground.

“I love Spencer. In time, you will come to love Spencer, too, because he’s a wonderful man.”

“Charlotte,” he whispers. “I can’t support this relationship.”

“Then you won’t see me.”

His face falls. “Don’t say that.”

“Remember when you fell in love with Mum and the whole world was against you… but you knew it was right?”