* * *
The following day Jimmy invited her on a picnic, but it rained and she couldn't go. She called him and canceled then joined her aunt in the living room.
"Your mother called earlier," she said.
Savannah's head came up and she looked at her aunt as though she had grown two heads. "My mother!"
"It sounded as though your friend, Janet has spread the word that you are madly in love with some yokel cowboy and she wants to get to the bottom of it."
Savannah groaned, "Oh no....so soon. How does everyone get news so fast?"
"Oh yes, and she'll be here tomorrow."
"She's coming here?" Savannah shrieked.
"Yes dear, they are both coming to pick up the car...and talk to you."
"Oh, Aunt Lucy, I've managed to screw everything up and I don't know how to right it all. If only Chad had confessed, all of this wouldn't be happening."
"Yes, you wouldn't have met and fell in love with Ben, nor dated Jimmy, nor visited me.” Lucy shook her head and grabbed Savannah's arm. "Everything isn't messed up. Why don't you simply tell your mother about Chad?"
"I promised Chad I wouldn't say anything until he did." Savannah sighed flopping into a recliner and leaning back. The only person in the whole world that Savannah had managed to tell the truth was her aunt. Weary from the lies and problems it had created, Savannah was at a loss as to what to do next.
"Well, I'm glad to know you are a woman of your word, but the truth has a way of coming out, sooner or later, my dear. But tell me, is Ben the yokel cowboy your mother spoke of?"
"I'm afraid so." Savannah cried out then glanced at her Aunt who was smiling.
"I thought so. Well, you did Ben a favor, I guess it's turn about fair play, isn't it?"
"Not exactly. Oh, Aunt Lucy....this is such a mess. I mean...I wanted Janet to tell everyone that I was in love with Ben, before I knew I was in love with Ben. But now, it's just so confusing."
Lucy went into the kitchen and came back in a few minutes with some tea. Savannah was near tears and trying to hold back.
"Drink your tea dear. This will all look better in the morning."
But it didn't. The morning brought new problems. Problems that materialized on her Aunt's front porch. Her parents had arrived!
They were all talking as Savannah came down the stairway, "Hello Mom, Dad."
A tall, man in his fifties came to stand beside her, Savannah looked up at him and tried to smile. How could she pretend happiness when it was so far from what she felt?
Her father had aged dramatically in the last few years, and telltale signs of his greying hair, and worried lines in his face made Savannah feel guilty for contributing to it. Yet his blue eyes twinkled when he saw her and she immediately felt better.
Her mother on the other hand swept gracefully across the porch, an air of sophistication and determination to her demeanor. A slim woman, in her fifties with golden hair, and very grey-green eyes. "Savannah, I was so happy when Lucy called me to tell me you were here, safe. Whatever possessed you to run from the church so? Oh no, don't tell me, Janet said you'd been infatuated with some yokel cowboy out here from that summer vacation you took all alone. Please tell me that it isn't true."
Aunt Lucy followed them and began taking control of the situation that Savannah had no idea how to handle.
"Let's go have some coffee and talk about this at the table..."
"That sounds divine dear, does your maid have any breakfast left over?"
"My maid?" Lucy queried. "I have no maid, Melanie; I only have a house-sitter when I'm not here."
"You are kidding me. Why...how can that be, the house is so big, you can't sit there and tell me you clean it yourself." Melanie Kingsley was asking as Lucy poured all of them a cup of coffee. Her eyes quickly scanned the mantle above the stove, the windows, everything.
"But of course I do. I have nothing else to do all day. I love taking care of Mama's house."
"I don't understand how you can live here, much less try and take care of this place alone. And especially with all the memories of this place," Melanie remarked, casting her daughter a quick glance.
"They are good memories, Melanie. I love this old house, its home to me. I wouldn't live anywhere else. I try to take care of it like Mama would have." Lucy smiled.
"Lucy, you don't look a day older than the last time I saw you," John Kingsley was saying.
"Thank you, John. And you're as charming as ever."
Melanie's attention went straight to her daughter now, as though the pleasantries had been exchanged and it was time to get down to business. "Savannah, I've been trying to understand, to comprehend, as have all of us. So, whatever possessed you to leave the way you did, without a word? You had us so worried. Until we heard from that Sheriff, we didn't know what to think."
Savannah thought long and hard on how she wanted to tell her parents what had happened. But she had promised Chad too. How could she satiate one and not betray the other?
Weighing her words she nodded, and looked apologetically at her parents, both of them. "I'm sorry, for worrying you. But honestly, Chad and I had very little time to think or act. To be frank, I didn't know what to say to you or the congregation. I freaked out, and ran."
"I know you didn't want a large wedding, like I planned it, but if I'd have known you were this upset, we could have talked about it. Planned it differently. I'm not unapproachable, you know."
Savannah shook her head, "I'll admit, I didn't want a big wedding mother."
"Chad has been so distraught. Oh...he's holding up well as can be expected, but he's definitely in such pain. It's hard to watch." Melanie continued. "How could you do this to him, Savannah?"
John shifted his weight in his chair and looked at his wife, then his daughter, "Maybe we should let her explain."
"She got cold feet, that's all," Melanie firmed her lips and looked at Savannah, "Alright, explain it, if you can."
"Chad hasn't spoken with you?" Savannah asked innocently.
"Only that you mutually agreed to call off the wedding," John inserted.
Savannah nodded, "Well, that's about it."
"But why...." Melanie burst out.
Savannah couldn't explain. And she couldn't lie to her parents so she just sat there.
"Are you really in love with some cowboy out here?" Melanie demanded to know.
Savannah met her gaze, "I...I...yes..." she finally admitted to herself and the world.
"And exactly how long have you known this young man, and who is he for goodness sake, and why on earth haven't you spoken up before about him?" Melanie probed.
John touched his wife's arm, "Give her a minute, dear. You're attacking her. We've raised Savannah to know her own mind, to make her own decisions. We have to trust she knows what she's doing now."
"And do you, Savannah?"
"Can you give me some time? Please...." Savannah sounded desperate even to herself.
"You can have all the time you need, honey, just come home. I've taken the liberty of speaking to Jordan Finch about your job; he's agreed to give you, your old job back when you return. We can even reset a date for the wedding, if that's what you want...I mean, if you re-consider."
Savannah shook her head slowly, "I'm sorry you went to that trouble dad. I don't want my old job back. I didn't get that job on my own merit. It was practically handed to me. I never liked that job. I took it because it was easy, because I'm your daughter, not because I earned the position. I'm doing something now I enjoy..."
"Doing something...what, for heaven's sake?" now it was her father's turn to be upset.
"Photography," she sighed knowing how this was going to upset him, but knowing she had to be firm. "Yes, I wrote the magazine and sent them my work, they've accepted it. They've even given me an advance for more. I love doing it....I've always enjoyed doing it. You know that. I've spoken to you about it many times."
"Of course you have, and it's a wonderful hobby, but y
ou don't seriously think you can earn a living doing something like that, do you?" John was adamant.
"Why not? Others do. I'd like to show you some of my work, dad...."
"I won't tolerate you being so childish, Savannah. You have a good paying job, a home, everything...and now this? If you don't want to get married that's fine by me, but you have to be able to earn a living for yourself. Your mother and I won't always be around. And even though we've left you and your sisters and brother a generous sum, it won't take the place of a lifetime job."
Savannah looked at her parents with tears in her eyes, "This is what I want to do, dad. What I'm going to do. What I'm actually good at doing."
"Let's drop the job thing right now. I don't seriously think Savannah is contemplating this kind of life because of her photography. I think it's this young man she's involved with. I want to know more about him. Who is he?"
She tried to turn the conversation away from Ben, but they were determined to know everything, as always.
"Ben's a fine young man," Lucy quipped tightly.
"Ben?"
Savannah stood up, walked across the room, and then turned to look at them. "I don't expect you to understand me. I don't understand me. I only know I can't marry Chad. Chad has accepted it. Why can't you?"
"Accepted it, why he's been so depressed and despondent since you've been gone how can you possibly think he can accept it?" Melanie cried aloud.
"Because he isn't depressed or despondent about me. There are things you don't know, mother. Things I'm not at liberty to discuss. Things that are between me and Chad."
John's brow shot upward, and again he reached for his wife's arm, "Maybe we should let this go for a while, Melanie. It's obvious there is something between them. Whether it's this Ben fella, or something or someone else, I don't know. But I do know our daughter and she wouldn't be this decided about it, if something weren't amiss."
Melanie shot up from her chair and looked at them all, "Alright, we'll drop it for now, but I want to meet this Ben...whoever he is before I leave here. I want to know why one man can totally change our daughter's life." Her hand reached to control a wayward blonde curl, as her green eyes surveyed her daughter closely.
Savannah closed her eyes, her head began to pound. How would she ever manage this.
"Are you coming home with us, or not, Savannah?"
"For a while, I need to get a few things in order."
"Good, now, where is our car, I didn't see it parked outside?" John asked.
"Oh, Ben has the car," Lucy blurted out.
"Ben? Why would he have the car?" John and Melanie chimed.
"Because he impounded it, he's the Sheriff," Lucy explained with a smile.
"The Sheriff?" again they chimed.