General chaos erupted after Shelby’s shocking announcement. The mostly finished meal forgotten, everyone rose, milling around the room as if trying to decide what they should do in response to this unexpected announcement. Shelby tried texting questions to her sister but received no response.
“That just can’t be true,” Sarah insisted somewhat frantically. “How could she just elope?”
“You said you didn’t see her leave this morning,” Andrew said, going immediately into work mode. “So you don’t know if she took any of her things?”
“No,” Sarah admitted.
“I can go check,” Shelby volunteered, looking eager to have something specific to do. “I’ll be right back.”
Offering to accompany her, Maggie was right behind Shelby as she dashed out the door.
His expression grim, C.J. comforted his tearful wife while Sarah tended to Mimi, who’d gone uncharacteristically quiet with shock, and Bryan hovered near Pop, both looking worried about the impulsive youngest member of the family. Aaron moved closer to Andrew. “Should we try to do something?” he asked. “We could probably track her down.”
“And then what?” Andrew asked with a slight shrug. He understood why Aaron felt compelled to make the suggestion, but they had to be reasonable. “Lori’s twenty and Webber’s twenty-one. That’s a legal age to marry in every state. All they had to do was drive to Arkansas, where there’s no waiting period, and find a justice of the peace. It’s probable they had this planned ahead so they knew exactly what to do.”
“She took bags,” Shelby reported upon her return with Maggie. “Quite a few of her clothes and shoes are missing, along with toiletries and a few other things I noticed with a quick look around her room.”
“So she really did it,” Sarah said, sinking slowly into a chair. “She’s run off and gotten married.”
“To a barely employed musician with a juvenile record,” C.J. muttered angrily. “And she’s got another year of college to go. Does anyone believe she’ll finish now?”
Steven rose to balance on his crutches. “Okay, look, I know you’re disappointe
d, but this isn’t the end of the world. Lori’s an adult, and she’s going to have to make her own decisions. If this marriage works out, that’s great for her. If not, well, she’ll handle that, too.”
Andrew noted that Hannah nodded solemnly. “It won’t do any good to yell at her now,” she assured them. “She’ll just avoid coming around with him. Even if she suspects she made a mistake, she’ll need to try to make it work for a while just because she’ll have a hard time admitting she should have listened to her parents’ advice. My advice would be to try to get to know him, let Lori know you’re here for her if you need her—and keep Zach away from the resort finances, just in case,” she added with a hint of bitterness.
“No question about that,” C.J. muttered. He didn’t respond to the rest of her advice, but Andrew figured he’d heard it all and would consider it.
Perhaps needing to return to a semblance of normalcy, Linda began to clear the table. After a moment, the others pitched in to help. Several had tried to contact Lori, but their calls were not being answered for now.
A few minutes later, Hannah moved to Andrew’s side in the main living room. He’d been standing in front of a large front window that looked out into the clear summer evening, the view of the resort lights and the distant glimmer of the lake unimpeded by the open drapes.
“What do you see out there?” she asked.
He glanced down at her with a faint smile. “Peace.”
Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she chuckled softly. “As opposed to in here?”
Half turning away from the window, he glanced toward her family, who mingled through the kitchen and living room conducting low-voiced conversations, probably fretting about Lori. “They seem to have calmed down for the moment.”
Hannah sighed. “Yeah, and I’m about to stir them up again.”
He felt his left eyebrow rise. “You’re still going to tell them tonight? After all this?”
“You’re still leaving tomorrow, aren’t you?”
“I’m afraid so. I really have to.”
“Then we should tell them tonight, so you can prepare your own parents.”
“I’m still hoping you’ll go with me tomorrow for that.”
She shook her head, and her expression was hard to read. “I was considering it, but now I really can’t. Without Lori here to work and because we haven’t hired extra help yet, I’m going to be needed here.”
He told himself he understood. Tried to convince himself he wasn’t terribly disappointed. He would be back, he assured himself. Soon.
“And it’s not as if this is going to be a hugely dramatic announcement,” she continued in a low voice when he remained silent. “I mean, they already know I’m pregnant. They’ve surely figured out how I got that way. All I’ll be doing is filling in a name. I expect they’ll approve of the baby’s parentage.”