Author's Note: If you can see this then I assume you are reading the chapters. I appreciate everyone's interest. Feel free to review with criticisms, opinions, and random thoughts about this story. I enjoy hearing what other people think. Sundiata-Where are you, girl?? I miss your faithful reviews. Write soon and let me know what you think I am doing right or wrong. Spunky-hyper-girl- Thanks for the review. I am glad you enjoy this story and the others. Don't kill me for this chapter, lol. Charlie will be okay. : ) But let me know what you think and keep reading!!

My head pounded, my heart thumped, my stomach flopped and my knees buckled as I slowly climbed the stairs to the apartment. I had never been so frightened in my life. It was five in the morning, January 1, 1979.

I turned my key in the lock and reluctantly walked inside. The shades were drawn and it was dark inside. I headed towards the bathroom as the living light suddenly flickered on and scared the hell out of me. I jumped and there was Charlie sitting on the couch.

"Hey", was all I could think to say.

"Where were you?" he asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Out...um, I had stuff I needed to do. Charlie, I..."

"I wondered what was up after that mysterious phone call yesterday. You said it was no one, then you took off like a bat out of hell."

"Charlie, I can explain..."

"I waited for you. I waited for you to come back so we could make our flight. You do remember we had a plane to catch, Mary-Courtney? Yeah the plane that was taking us to Vegas to get married. The plane and the elopement you were oh so excited about say two hours before you disappeared."

"Charlie..."

"So when you didn't show up, I figured what I thought was the worst. Car accident...you got mugged...someone kidnapped you...you were laying in a ditch somewhere hurt needing someone to help you maybe. So I was worried sick. I figured whatever it was that made you bail on our elopement was pretty serious. I went out looking for you. I called the police...all the hospitals."

"Charlie, I wasn't in an accident and I wasn't kidnapped or mugged", I said in a low, shaky voice.

"You weren't? Because as bad as it sounds, I was hoping you would say you were. Because at least that is a valid excuse. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me something, that you were abducted by aliens...something."

His voice was beginning to rise, alternating between an emotion filled shriek and a low, growling anger.

"Charlie...Charlie, I'm sorry", I began to sob.

"Where were you, Mary-Courtney? That's all I want to know. Where did you go? Huh? Where the fuck has my fiancée been for the last fifteen or so hours?"

Tears streamed down my face and I could barely get the words out.

"I...I was with Ronnie", I squeaked.

Charlie stood up and damn near put his fist through the wall. I had never seen him so angry.

"Dammitt, Mary-Courtney, what is going on? You've got to tell me something and it better be the truth. What the hell is going on with this you and this guy?"

"I don't know", I cried.

"Don't know? You don't know? Don't give me that bullshit! You owe me the truth!"

"He called on the phone yesterday. He was in town for one night on business and he asked me to meet him. It sounded like it was important..."

"And marrying me wasn't?"

"Of course it was. It is Charlie. But you don't understand the bond I have with Ronnie and Rev and Gerry and all those guys. He needed me and I had to be there. I just wanted to see him for a little while, make sure he was okay. I swear I didn't mean to stay that long."

"Well what did he want? What was so goddamn important that it made you ditch me on our wedding day?"

"He just wanted to see me. He wanted to talk. He's been going through a rough time lately...his girlfriend is dying of leukemia and he's been taking care of her. It's hard on him. I know you don't understand but I had to be there for him."

"Damn right I don't understand. See Mary-Courtney, they have this new little invention out called the telephone. Don't know if you've heard about it."

"Charlie, please. Calm down. Please stop yelling at me. You're scaring me."

"Now I can't yell? You think I don't have a right to be upset?"

"Yes but..."

"But what? I love you, I give you everything, I take care of you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you and here I am thinking you're happy and that you feel the same way and that everything is fine. Then on the very day we plan to elope, you run out on me to be with your ex-boyfriend all night without so much as a word or phone call! I'm worried sick thinking your ass might be wrapped around a tree somewhere! I guess it was worse than that. Instead you were in some hotel fucking Ronnie Bass! Okay, I don't have the right to be pissed off. I guess I'm the asshole!"

"It's not like that, Charlie", I sniffled. "Baby, I know you're mad and you should be. Okay? I was wrong and I'm sorry but I swear to you, I swear to God, nothing happened. I did not cheat on you. I didn't sleep with Ronnie."

"What the hell were you guys doing all night? Playing Canasta? Eating pancakes? What? Oh let me guess, you were just talking, right?"

"Yes."

"Whatever! How could you do this to me? I do everything for you and you repay me by treating me like a fool."

"I'm sorry", I whispered as I reached out to him.

He recoiled in disgust at my very touch.

"Do not touch me, Mary-Courtney! I don't even want to look at you right now, much less have you touch me."

"Charlie, I'm sorry."

"Are you in love with him?"

"Charlie, I..."

"No! I don't want to hear your crying and your lying and your pathetic excuses. All I want to hear is an answer to my question. Are you in love with Ronnie Bass?"

"I don't know", I finally screamed.

"I can't do this with you anymore, Mary-Courtney. Right now I hate you. You disgust me. I don't trust you. I am literally mad enough to kill someone right now. But even after all that, after all the shit you put me through, I still love you. Now I need to know where your head and where your heart are."

"I don't know what to say, Charlie. I am so ashamed. I am so sorry that I hurt you. I don't want you to hate me but you have every right to. I know you have questions and you want answers and you deserve answers but I can't give them to you right now because I don't know what's going on. I don't know why I went to Ronnie tonight. I don't know why I stayed on all night. I guess I never got over our relationship. I thought I had but I guess I didn't. When I'm with you Charlie I am happy and our life together is great and I want to be with you. You may not believe it but I really do love you. I do. And I don't want you to get hurt in all this and I don't want to make a fool out of you but...I can't explain things with Ronnie."

"Mary-Courtney, you know, I really don't get you sometimes. I really don't. I don't want to hear how hard this is for you because trust me, it's a thousand times worse for me. Believe that. I just need to know where you stand. It's time to make a choice. I can't keep doing this with you. Either you love me or you love him. Either it's going to be me or Ronnie Bass. You can't have both, Mary-Courtney."

"I know."

"So what's it gonna be? Right here, right now...choose."

"Charlie, I do love you. You're such a good man and I do want to be with you but...but yes, a part of me still has strong feelings for Ronnie. I guess I can't deny that any longer. And I don't know what to do. It's confusing and it's hard on everybody involved. So many people are getting hurt and that's the last thing I ever wanted. I wish I could tell you something else, I wish I could tell you what you want to hear but all I can do is give you the truth. Maybe I haven't handled this the best way and if you want to leave then who could blame you but..."

"But what? Am I supposed to wait around until you decide? Am I supposed to convince you why you should be with me instead of him?"

"No..."

"Because I love you and I want to be with you...even after all this shit you're putting me through, I can still say that with zero doubts. Can you?"

"No", I muttered to him the truth for the first time.

He nodded his head and stood.

"I need to get out of here for a while."

"Charlie, wait. No. Please don't leave like this. Let's talk."

"About what? I think you said all you needed to say."

"Where will you go?"

My question made him laugh out loud. It was a sinister, haughty laugh.

"How dare you ask me that? You have some nerve. Where I go is no longer any of your concern."

"Charlie, please..."

"Now it's your turn, Mary-Courtney. You get to wait and wonder and worry and cry. You get to guess whether or not I'm coming back."

"Charlie, please. We can't just leave things like this. We need to talk...work this out somehow. Please. Just don't...don't walk away. Don't do this to me."

"You did this to yourself" he sneered as the door closed behind him.

And with that he was gone, leaving me a sobbing wreck on the floor. I was alone with my thoughts and the feelings of being utterly torn...the feeling of being in love with two men. My life was in shambles. The more I tried to fix it, the worse it became, the more mistakes I made, the more the decisions became harder and the more people got hard. Everything was screwed up and Charlie had one aspect right...it was all my fault!