Page 62 of Runaway Bride

"But, why...why couldn't she tell me?" Melanie objected. "I'm her mother, for goodness sakes."

"She didn't know until her wedding day. And I suspect Savannah wasn't that upset finding out he was gay, as admitting she was that naive and didn't know. Her ego had been damaged. She didn't know what to do or where to turn. I myself wouldn't have known, if I hadn't taken it upon myself to find out. I'm a lawman, and I guess a little too snoopy for words."

"She wasn't in love with Chad; she was in love with getting married. She so admired her sisters for making good families, that's all Savannah ever wanted." Mrs. Kingsley related, as though talking to herself.

"I asked Savannah what had happened. She was reluctant to tell me anything. As a Sheriff I had to know something though. She had no ID. So I kept at her. She never told me he was gay. She said she had caught him with someone."

"Good Lord," John touched his head, "She caught them....?"

"That's what she said...I don't know much more than you about it, because she hasn't confessed anything to me. I took it upon myself to find out. I'm sorry I intruded, but then again, I'm not. Now I understand why she did so many things."

"That still doesn't explain your relationship with my daughter."

Ben nodded again, and glanced out the door. Where had she gone. Did he have time to catch her?

Ben looked her father in the eye, "Alright, I think you deserve to know, I love her. Does that explain anything? I had no right to fall in love with her, knowing she had run from a planned wedding. But with Savannah, how could you help it? Now I'm sorry, but I've got to go after her. Excuse me..."

* * *

Savannah couldn't see the highway for the tears in her eyes. She'd never been so embarrassed in her life, except maybe when she caught Chad and Douglas together. Everything seemed to come crashing down on her now.

It wasn't that she couldn't accept his life; it was that she couldn't accept hers. Her plans for marriage and family had become an obsession. She had it planted in her mind so deep, that she didn't consider anything else in her life. She could live without marriage, couldn't she?

Stupid, that's what she was. Now everyone knew what a fool she had been. For almost marrying Chad, for falling in love with Ben...oh her life was a total mess. Even her work as a photographer didn't cheer her. Why should it, she reasoned, her father's disapproval made her sick. Why couldn't she ever do anything right?

Thunder sounded above her, but she wasn't frightened. She was too humiliated to be anything but miserable.

The rain began slowly at first, in big heavy drops, but before long it began to pour. She didn't know where she was going, didn't care.

She also hadn't paid the least bit of attention to the gas tank or she would have known she was about to run out. When the engine started sputtering, she glanced at the dash and saw another big blunder. She'd passed high waters, paying little attention, she'd flooded the engine out.

She pulled to the side of the road, beat the steering wheel several times, then dropped her head and bawled.

She was berating herself when a knock on her window startled her.

Slowly her head came up and she knew who she would see, it was him...Ben!

She didn't wipe away the tears, nor roll the window down, she just sat there.

He opened the door, and scooted her over.

"I might have known," he bellowed.

"Don't you dare say a word to me," she shouted.

"You don't even know where you are, do you?" He asked, his voice lowering some.

"No, and I don't care."

"No, well, you're not more than a hundred yards from the same place you had trouble before."

"So what?" she cried, her tears still streaming down her face. "So what, how did you find me?"

"I put an APB out on you as soon as you took off. My office rang me a minute later said they spotted the car, headed west."

"So," he glanced out the window, "That gully you just passed is washed out. We're stuck again."

"Stuck....but...." she glanced about her.