Owen and Charlotte went up to the Averys' table. Mr. Avery was chatting with his friends but there were two empty seats next to him. Neither Cristina nor Jackson was there.
"Mr. Avery, where is Cristina?" Owen asked, hoping she had just gone to the bathroom and had not disappeared with Jackson.
"Oh, the young lady said she was not feeling well, so Jackson drove her back to her cottage," Harper said. "Jackson should be back in a little bit."
Owen did not really care whether Jackson would be back. He was a little worried that Cristina was not feeling well. He and Charlotte headed back to the Hunts' table, where Owen went up to his mom.
"Mom, I am going to leave the reception for a bit," he said. "Apparently, Cristina is not feeling well and Jackson took her home. I am going to check on her."
"Okay, son. It is a good idea to check on her. Tell me how she is doing when you get back," Susannah said. Charlotte looked at her brother, sympathetically, as he left the tent. This was such a mess and she knew she was responsible. She wanted to apologize to Cristina. She had just made things so much worse for Owen. It was more than likely that Cristina would not be moving in with Owen at the farm and he was going to be alone, when Charlotte left to go back to her job and their mom moved into her new husband's home. She just hated the idea of him being alone.
Jackson had just dropped off Cristina at her cottage. After uttering her thanks, she went into the cottage, kicked off her shoes and went straight to her bedroom. She took off her dress and pulled on her pajamas and lay on her bed. It wasn't true that she wasn't feeling well. She was just feeling tired but she feigned illness as an excuse to be leave the reception. She knew Owen was going to come back, as she had seen Owen take Charlotte outside for a chat and he would find out about the conversation she and Charlotte had with each other.
She figured this would be a best time to make her exit as she knew he was going to come back. She didn't feel the need to have it out in front of everyone. So she asked Jackson to take her home, so she could get some peace and quiet in her darkened, cool room, far away from the Hunts and all of their pressures. Relieved to be away from it all, she closed her eyes.
On his way to Cristina's cottage, Owen noticed that Jackson's car was heading back to the reception. "Good," he said, aloud to himself. Jackson had not stayed with Cristina, much to Owen's relief.
He got there to Cristina's cottage and knocked on the door. She reluctantly opened her eyes. Who could it be? Every possible person in Huntsville was at the reception. She wondered if it was Meredith, who had forgotten her key. Why was it that Meredith could never remember that the spare key was in the sixth plant pot on the right? She sighed, as she reluctantly got out from under her covers. She was going to give Meredith a piece of her mind for making her get up from her nice, comfy bed.
She opened the door. "Meredith!" But it wasn't Meredith; it was Owen. "Owen? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at your mother's reception?" she said.
"Yes, I should be there but Mr. Avery told me you were not feeling well, so I came to check up on you," he said. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure," she said, as she let him into the cottage.
"Um, the truth is not that I wasn't feeling well, I was just feeling a little tired," Cristina said. "So I am pretty much fine. I just wanted to take a rest. So you don't have to worry about me. I am okay."
"But I do worry about you, Cristina," Owen said. "You're pregnant and I don't want anything to happen to you or the baby."
"Okay," she said. "That is nice of you to care but I can assure you that I am alright, so you can go back to the reception and have a great time."
"I won't," he said, softly.
"You won't what?" she responded.
"I won't have a great time because you are not there," he said. "And for your information, the reason I care for you is not because I am nice. I love you and that is why I care. Stop trying to push me away."
She sat down in an armchair and he sat down in the couch opposite her. He looked at her, "I know you have been trying to push me away all day. So don't try and deny it."
She said nothing because she knew it was true.
"I spoke to Charlotte and she told me what had transpired between the two of you," he said. "Now while Charlotte had my best interest at heart, she went about it the wrong way. She is very sorry and would like to apologize. In fact, if you had not gone home from the reception, she was going to apologize."
Still, Cristina said nothing. What about your role in the whole thing, she thought. Owen had opened his big mouth and told Charlotte everything.
He waited for some sort of reaction from her but none was forthcoming. So he continued, "I know you're not only mad at Charlotte, you are also mad at me for telling Charlotte about what had happened between the two of us, since you found out you were pregnant."
Cristina let out a breath but still, she was silent.
"I am very sorry about that," he said. "I needed someone to talk to about the situation. Charlotte has been my confidante since we were children. I know you are a very private person and that I stepped over the line when I told Charlotte about everything. I just didn't expect her to react that way and come to you like that."
Cristina looked at him. "Okay," she said.
"That's it?" he asked. "Okay what? Do you mean that you have forgiven me?" He knew with Cristina, it was not that simple.
"Okay, I have listened to your explanation," she said. "Thanks for the apology. You can leave if you want, now."
"No, I don't want to leave," he scoffed. "Gosh, Cristina, you make it so difficult. I am here, apologizing. I did wrong, I know that. Talk to me. Just don't send me on my way without much of a conversation about it."
"What do you want, Owen?" Cristina said, exasperated.
"I want you to say you forgive me. I want you to come back to the reception. I want us to be together. I want you to tell me that you are moving into the farm with me. Those are things that I want," he said.
"That last one – that's not going to happen," she said.
"What? Moving into the farm with me?" he asked. She nodded. "Yeah, I did promise you an answer today, didn't I? The answer, I guess, is no."
"Why?" he said, his voice broke as he said it.
"Why? Why? Because your family will never leave me alone. At least, here in the cottage, I have my own private little hideaway. If I am at the farm, I would never hear the end of it. I would be on their territory and there would be nowhere to hide. They keep pressuring me to do right by you. They visit me at work and tell me that I am self-centered and immature. You know what? That's fine. They can think whatever they want about me. It doesn't matter," she said. "I can stay here at the cottage and be as selfish as they think I am."
"I am sorry. My mother and sister think they are helping me. They want what is best for me and they know that you are best for me. They know that I love you very much," he said. "They want me to be happy and you make me happy. But it looks like I don't make you happy." He looked very desolate as he said it.
"You do make me happy, Owen," she said. "I just don't think I will fit in well with your family because I am obviously lacking in the qualities that they wish to see in your potential mate."
"What are you saying?" he said. "Are you trying to break up with me and using my family as an excuse for it?"
"It's not an excuse. You know the old saying that when you marry a guy, you marry his entire family," she said. "That's how I feel, right now. It is not just you. It's you, your mom, your sister, and to some extent, it is Dr. Webber, too. I do remember he was the one who spilled the beans about me being pregnant. It's not just about us, anymore."
Owen was at a loss for words. He could not believe that this was happening. He felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest. Finally, he found his voice.
"This is not how this day was supposed to go," he said. "This was supposed to be a happy day for the Hunts. My mom gets married and starts a new life. You were supposed to tell me that you were going to move into the farm with me so, we too, could start a new life. That is how it was supposed to go. This was supposed to be a happy day for me." He raked his hands through his hair in frustration.
She felt bad that she was hurting him. She knew that she loved him but she could not live with the constant interference of his family into their lives.
She offered him a small consolation. "If it makes you feel any better, I forgive you for telling Charlotte about us. I know you probably needed to talk to someone, like I do with Meredith. So, I forgive you."
"Thanks for that," he said. "At least, that is something." He looked up at her, with pleading eyes. "This can't end like this. Tell me what to do."
She got up and took his face in her hands. "You already know what you have to do. It's whether you are willing to do it. They are your family." He nodded. He did know what needed to be done.
"Okay," he said. He got up and opened the door. "You do know that I will be back. This is not over. We are not over." She understood. He was not going to give up on her. That was one of the things she loved about him. Yes, she did love him but she couldn't live a life where she was under constant scrutiny and pressure from the Hunt women. It was supposed to be about them as a couple. It was also about the new life they were going to bring into the world. Instinctively, she touched her bump. Feeling it brought her some measure of comfort as she went back to her bed.
He drove back to the reception, pondering what he was going to say to his family. He was ready to have the talk with them, only to find the place in an uproar. Everyone seemed to be buzzing.
He went straight to his mother's table. "What happened?" he asked Charlotte. He noticed his mother resting her head on Dr. Webber's shoulder. "Why did he have to do it here?" she said. "He just ruined my wedding day. Now that is all everyone will remember from this day."
Charlotte said, "Well, it seems that Sheriff Shepherd took this inopportune time to make an arrest in the murder of the Mayor. He just arrested her and he took her down to the sheriff's office."
"Who is her?" Owen said.
"Deputy Kepner," Charlotte said. "Now ain't that a hoot."
A/N: Please leave your comments. If you enjoy my work, I would appreciate if you could leave your thoughts. Thank you.