10. Charlie's Treasure

Charlotte wasn't sure at first what woke her. Squinting at the clock without moving more than her eyes, she knew that it was still the very early hours of the morning. Again without moving her body, Charlotte took a deep, quiet breath and listened. There in the darkness, obscured only by the distance between the beds and the covers over her face, Charlotte could hear her grandmother crying. Not just little sniffles either—there were definite sobs of an ache that no time would ever soothe. It had been less than a year since Grandpa Patrick passed away so it didn't necessarily surprise her that her grandma was still mourning his loss, but it broke Charlotte's heart to hear her so miserable. She debated getting up, crawling in bed with her grandma and holding her, trying to provide some comfort, but decided against it, thinking that perhaps it would make it worse if she knew that she had woken her. Charlotte tugged an extra pillow into her arms and bit her lip to hold back tears of her own as she drifted back to sleep. She hoped in the deepest recesses of her being that her grandma was going to be all right.

In the morning, Charlotte made a beeline for the coffee machine in the lobby. Will raised an eyebrow when Charlotte looked at him and she lowered her eyes and shook her head.

"Don't ask," she muttered.

"Dad says that our equipment should be here this morning," Will said.

"Good," Charlotte said. "I really want to get going." Will repressed the urge to demand an explanation for Charlotte's mood, but decided against it for the moment as the other members of their party arrived. The first wave consisted of the parents and Grandma Emily, and the other was a mass of chatter and laughter. Will and Charlotte joined them as people got their breakfast and found places to sit in the nicely decorated café.

Charlotte slumped into a seat beside Meri and across from his sisters, Emily Anne and Maggie.

"Rough night?" Emily Anne asked, munching on lady-like bites of melon.

"You've got no idea," Charlotte mumbled.

"It can't be that bad. You only had to share with Grandma Em," Maggie said.

"Yeah. I guess it's not that bad when you put it that way," Charlotte said, faking a smile. She turned and looked around to see where the others were purely out of curiosity and noticed that Abe and Jane's heads were suspiciously close together.

"You know, if they're trying to hide it, they're doing a pretty poor job of it," Meri said, dunking forkfuls of pancake into a little dish of maple syrup. Charlotte chuckled and nodded. She finished her own breakfast and got up, deciding that she wanted to go check her email. When she was out of earshot, Emily Anne gave her brother a concerned look.

"What's gotten into her today?" Emily Anne asked softly.

"You heard her, she didn't sleep well," Meri said.

"There's more to it," Maggie said. "There's something else wrong."

"How do you know that?" Meri demanded.

"I don't know—a girl just knows these things about another girl," Maggie said, getting up to take care of her dishes and taking the other empty dishes with her out of habit.

From another table, Abigail watched Charlotte leave the room but said nothing until Meri got up to follow her.

"How long have they been an item?" she muttered, leaning into Ben's shoulder and gesturing with a nod.

"Who?" Jacqui said, turning in her chair.

"Meri's had a thing for Charlotte since preschool. I'm not surprised," Nadya said.

"Preschool?" Jacob said giving his wife a suspiciously raised eyebrow.

"What do you think has Charlie so spooked this morning," Abigail said.

"Want me to go check it out?" Ben offered, passing the coffee when his mother requested it.

"I don't know if we should interfere. Maybe she just needs to talk to him and not us," Abigail mused.

Meri didn't find Charlotte in the hotel's computer room or in the room she was sharing with Grandma Em. He turned and retraced his steps downstairs, finally finding her sitting on a lounger by the pool. He entered the enclosed pool area and slowly approached and then sat down beside her. She was deep in a book she was pretending to read and Meri slowly placed his hand on the book and lowered it so that he could face her properly.

"What's going on?" he asked simply. Charlotte lowered the book the rest of the way to her lap as Meri affectionately stroked her arm. She didn't look at him at first, but when she did, Meri had never seen such a profound sadness there before.

"I've just been thinking," Charlotte mumbled.

"About what?" Meri asked, the water glistening off his strawberry blonde hair and green eyes.

"I just…I don't know if this is going to work out, Meri…" she said. Meri sat stunned for a moment. Things had been going so well for them…*very* well as a matter of fact. He had been planning on dropping the "L" word before the trip was out and now this.

"What are you talking about? Did I do something wrong?" he asked, turning his body a little more to face her. There was a developing tremble in his hands from the shock of this statement and it took all of his concentration to keep it out of his voice.

"No!" Charlotte said, suddenly consoling. "No, Meri, you didn't do anything wrong…it's me. I just don't think I can do it." Meri turned to look at the pool, gathering his thoughts in vain—they were everywhere in his mind—before he looked at her again.

"Are you sure about this?" he said, finding it harder and harder to look at her. Charlotte bit her lip and nodded, tears gathering in her bright blue eyes. Meri had been clutching Charlotte's hand until this point, and now he gave it a desperate squeeze before he let it go, standing without a word and turning to leave the pool area without looking back. He needed to be alone and he needed it now. He was met unexpectedly at the door by Ben.

"Hi," Meri said, edging past him. Ben stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Ben asked. Meri shook his head and brushed Ben's hand away before raising his own in helplessness. "Ask Charlotte," Meri said, leaving Ben in a confused state of panic. What had just happened here? When Ben sat down to talk to Charlotte, the story he got was the last thing he expected out of his headstrong, brainy, beautiful daughter. He gave her a consoling hug and kissed her forehead before he stood and said he was going to leave her alone for a while. Charlotte nodded and stared out at the softly rippling water in the pool, miserable but somehow feeling as though she did what she had to do.

Ben returned to the café and rested a hand on his mother's shoulder, softly whispering into her ear. Emily reacted in dismayed surprise to this news and nodded when Ben asked if she would go and speak to Charlotte. Clearly upset, Emily set her napkin on the table and left the room, bound for the pool room.

"What's all that about?" Abigail asked as Ben sat down. Ben responded by stroking Abigail's cheek and softly kissing her. She smiled, but softly asked him what she did to earn that.

"After the conversation I just had, I felt the urge to remind my wife that I love her," Ben whispered, placing his next kiss on her ear.

* * *

"Charlotte?" Emily said, entering the pool area and crossing it to sit with her only granddaughter. "What's going on, sweetheart?" Charlotte scooted over so that Emily had more space on the lounger and Emily wound an arm around her shoulders as Charlotte leaned into her shoulder.

"It had to be done," Charlotte choked out. "I couldn't bear the thought…"

"The thought of what, honey?" Emily said.

"I…I don't want us to someday be like you and Grandpa," Charlotte wept. Emily thought she knew what Charlotte meant, but turned the tables all the same.

"You mean, you don't want to spend your life with the one man you really love?"

"I…didn't say…"

"You don't want to be able to get into arguments simply to make up again?" Emily continued. "You don't want to see yourselves with children and grandchildren that make you so proud you could burst?"

"I don't want to lose him, Grandma!" Charlotte sobbed. "I don't want to someday lose him and be lost and miserable without him!" Emily embraced Charlotte as she wept, suddenly ashamed that she'd allowed herself to cry so hard last night as she had thought of Patrick holding her close again. As she held Charlotte it suddenly dawned on her that the effect must not have been just on Charlotte; surely it must have made an impression on Will, too, and especially on Abe, who was so close to her to begin with. A resolve sprung in Emily and she gently brushed away her granddaughter's tears before her own. She then turned Charlotte to face her and took a breath before speaking.

"Now, you listen to me," Emily said gently. "Death is a part of our lives. We can't stop it from happening, Charlie, and we can't stop ourselves from getting our hearts broken when we lose someone we love, but you and Meri are still so young, sweetheart. There's nothing to be afraid of, Charlie."

"Meri's in the navy, grandma…he could be killed and I'd…" she pleaded.

"Your father's in the navy," Emily countered. "Nothing's happened to him that he couldn't handle."

"I'm being selfish," Charlotte whimpered. "I'm selfish and now look what I've done!" Emily finally started to smile. She had personal experience tied to that statement.

"I was selfish once. I made myself believe that my career was more important than my love for your grandfather. I left him—didn't speak to him for 32 years—and then when your father needed help finding the city of gold there your grandpa was again, just as handsome and charming as he'd always been. I fought it—like I fought everything—but I never really had fallen out of love with him. I'm sure you remember that we married again not long before you and Will were born and we never looked back. That's what I'm going to tell you now, Charlie. If you want to be with Meri, you be with him. You love that young man and don't you look back, not at your parents, not at me, not anyone. Do you understand me?" Emily said. Charlotte wrapped her arms around her grandmother and Emily held her tight for a while as they both finished crying. Emily stroked Charlotte's hair and kissed her forehead before she got up and said with a smile, "Well, I'm off. Would you like me to send Meri here to talk to you?" Charlotte shook her head.

"No. I'll go to him. I owe him that much," she said.

When Charlotte knocked on the door of the room Meri was sharing with his brother, Jamie, Will let her in. He was there with Jamie and Abe, trying to console Meri. Will gave her a pointed look but he didn't speak, too disappointed in his twin sister for words.

"Would you guys mind leaving us alone for a little while? I need to say something to Meri," Charlotte said gently. Without a word, the others left the room, Jamie's eyes red-rimmed as if he'd been crying with his big brother. Will wrapped his arm around Jamie's neck and pulled him into a manly squeeze as they wandered down the hall and Charlotte closed the door behind her.

When Charlotte sat down on the floor in front of where Meri sat on the edge of the bed, he didn't meet her eyes.

"I owe you an apology. I got scared of something I really didn't need to be afraid of and I thought that if I avoided the situation that I could keep from getting my heart broken," Charlotte began.

"How'd that work for you?" Meri asked sarcastically. Charlotte winced.

"I deserved that. What I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry and being without you even for that little space of time hurt me more than—" Whatever would have been left of her apology was drowned as Meri reached for her and cupped her face in his hands, pulling her to him to kiss her. Charlotte reacted accordingly, rising to her knees and leaning into the kiss, taking in Meri's enthusiastic reaction. They parted only to drag in much needed air before Meri stroked back Charlotte's long straight blonde hair and kissed her again as she stood and joined him on the bed where she leaned into his arms more properly.

"Do you think we should do something?" Jamie asked as the boys listened at the door.

"No," Will said. "They won't go that far—not yet."

"How do you know?" Jamie asked as he followed Will down the corridor. Abe chuckled as Will turned and walked backwards a few paces to look at the young teen properly.

"Hey—a twin brother knows these things!"

End Chapter