Coming To A Head

Charles ran inside the hotel and threw himself up against the front counter. "Excuse me. Excuse me!"

A tired woman came out from a doorway with a puzzled look on her face. "Yes."

"Did a young couple come in here earlier?" Charles rushed to explain. "A tall blonde man and a younger brown-haired girl."

"Oh." The women thought for a second. "I believe so. Yes, I did give them a room for the night. Now I remember the man looked very happy, but that girl looked so nervous."

"What room are they in?" Charles demanded in a voice he never normally used with women.

"Sir, I can't-" She begun to say in a flustered voice, finally noticing Charles' rifle in hand.

Charles did not want to waste anymore time. With every second that went by, Almanzo Wilder was getting closer and closer to his daughter. "That little girl is my daughter and she ran off with that man. Not let me stop them before they do something they might regret."

Seeing the man's rage boiling, the woman gave in. "Upstairs. Room 7. It's the last door on your right."

Charles did not even bother thanking the woman and immediately stormed up the staircase. He spotted the room that his daughter was apparently in. Charles stomped to the door, tightly gripped the handle and forcefully shoved his way in, breaking the lock.

He did not want to believe what he was seeing. Laura was sitting on the bed, on the verge of tears and Almanzo was strutting his way over to her.

"Pa?"

Charles threw down his rifle and launched himself straight towards Almanzo. He punched him hard in the face twice, knocking the younger man to the floor.

"Pa!"

The anger enraged father forcefully pushed his knee on Almanzo's chest and battered him with a barrage of punches to the face.

"Pa! Please!"

Almanzo tried to stop Charles' punches, but he was already too dazed to protect himself from the driven onslaught.

"Pa! Stop it! Almanzo!"

Charles halted.

He turned back to Laura, who did indeed had begun to cry, forcefully grabbed her by the arms and dragged her out of the room after picking up his rifle. Laura tried to push her way back to Almanzo, but it was no use. "You will not disobey me again!"

A loud slap echoed through the hallway and Laura yelped out in intense physical and emotional pain.

"I'm taking you home and you are never to see that bastard again. Do you understand me?"

Laura could not say anything. She was still in shock. Shocked that she let herself run off with Almanzo. Shocked that her pa would hit her as hard as he did. Shocked that this was her life now. Never in a million years would she have imagined her life to turn out like this. The love of her life half beaten on the floor, her father never more angry and upset with her, and her mind never more confused.

For a split second, she blamed Andy.

"Come on." Charles grabbed Laura.

"We can't just leave him here." Those were not the smartest words for Laura to say under her breath.

Charles shook his head and her. "I told you: you are never to see Almanzo Wilder again, Laura."

"But pa, I love him." Laura could barely keep herself together. "It was my idea to run off and get married. I went to Almanzo saying we could elope. I didn't want to lose him. I didn't want him to leave me and fall in love with somebody else. I didn't want to wait two years either, pa. I know you hate me know because a judge did marry us tonight."

"Half-pint, all I wanted was two more years with you so I could make sure I was giving you away to the right man and to spend as much time as I could with you before you started your own life. Why can't you see that?"

"Because Almanzo would leave me."

That did not sound like love to her. Love was unconditional and timeless and without ultimatums. That was the way she loved Almanzo, but did he have that same love for her. Of course he did. He had to of, or else he would not have asked Laura to marry him. So why force Laura to him married right away and go against her pa's wishes?

"Mr. Ingalls." A weak voice spoke from behind them. Almanzo was leaning against the doorframe, holding his face in obvious pain. "Please, just let me say one thing and I will leave you and your entire family alone for good."

"Mannly?"

Almanzo swallowed hard, tasting his blood and his pride before speaking. "I wanted to marry Laura sooner rather than later because I'm not getting any younger, but more importantly...I feared that within the two years you would force us to wait, Beth would grow to realize she did not want to marry me anymore. I wanted her to develop her life with me. I know that sounds selfish. I suppose it is on my part. But, what's happened here tonight does not change the fact that I still love your daughter."

Even though everything Almanzo said was genuine, Charles' new decision was set: he would not let Laura marry him, even if that meant severely damaging the great relationship he once had with Laura. Would things ever be the same again?

Charles dragged a crying Laura out of the hotel and over to the courthouse to make sure they could get the marriage nulled. After all the paperwork was ripped up, Charles brought Laura back to his wagon and drove her home. She did not get a chance to see Mannly.


Three Years Later

"Ma...I never imagined my life would turn out like this."

Caroline finished brushing back her daughter's hair. "Life is unpredictable. That's the only predictable thing about it."

"Do you think pa will smile walking me down the isle?"

"Of course he will."

"Hopefully he doesn't ripped up the papers like he did the last time I tried to marry." Both Laura and Caroline started giggling.

"Oh Laura. Your pa loves you. And he's very happy that you're marrying the right man after all."

"Really?"

Caroline nodded her head without hesitation. Suddenly, there was a knock on the bedroom door and it slowly opened. "Are you ready, Half-pint?"

"Pa, I am...now."