o.O three O.o

“Oh, we must pay a visit to him!” Mrs. Weller exclaimed that night.

Charlotte could only shake her head. It was just like her mother to say such a thing after witnessing what had happened at the gathering. She would never hear the end of it until something happened, and that thing was marriage. That would be the only thing that would make her mother happy, Charlotte concluded, unless she suddenly, after we married, she would encourage a child, and then maybe another. She would never hear the end of it.

“So, our daughter has met a young man?” Mr. Weller declared with a big grin upon his face.

Charlotte could not help but look away. She should have known that it wouldn’t be long before her parents would insist on the match. It was bound to happen.

“Oh yes indeed. That young Ethan Gregory, the son of the man who took over Hanson’s plantation. And would you believe he, he spent the whole time with her! They even danced together!”

“Well, I say the man is worthy if he singled you out of the crowd of women.” Her father declared giving his daughter a loving smile.

“He…he didn’t single me out, papa, or if he did he probably did it out of pity.”

“Nonsense!” Mrs. Weller interjected. “What has gotten into your head, child? He may have compassion, but rest assured that he didn’t approach simply because of that. Why do you insist on being so negative? And if I’m not mistaken, you seemed quite happy too. What has changed?”

Charlotte turned away from her parents and let her gaze rest upon a few birds fluttering about in the large oak tree. A lot had changed. She was brought back to her sense now. Everything seemed clear. Ethan seemed like a nice guy, but she wouldn’t be brought into his charms yet. Time would only tell what his true intentions were, and she simply could not let herself “loose”, so to speak, just because he had showed her more attention than any other young gentleman before. Besides, she was sure to cause some uproar if Melissa had any interest in him, and that was something she wanted to avoid. From the moment she got home from the barbecue, she decided that she had to be sensible about this, though she hardly expected her parents to understand that. She was sure her mother would, if Charlotte desired it, allow her and Ethan to wed within a week.

“Nothing has changed…” Charlotte finally answered in a low voice. “It’s just I’m not going to get all excited about this for nothing. I have to be sensible.”

“So are you saying you no longer want to speak to him?” Mrs. Weller asked, her voice evidently giving away her anxiousness.

Charlotte turned around and shook her head. “He’s a nice enough man, that’s for sure, and I will visit him, but you must promise me one thing.”

“What?”

“Don’t say anything about a match between us. You’ll make any man, even him, feel uncomfortable with such talk.” Charlotte answered, feeling slightly guilty for talking in such a manner, even if it was the truth. That guilt however, was pushed aside just as quickly as it came. “Question him on his family, past, and such, just avoid anything that insinuates anything between the two of us,” Charlotte continued.

“Why should I not encourage such a match, though? You both looked great together, and I dare say, a little help from me wouldn’t hurt.”

Charlotte turned around again and gave a sigh. How was she ever to make her mother understand? It seemed like she was already planning the wedding in her head, and that thought alone was horrifying. How could her mother ever stand to be disappointed so many times, considering all the matches she tried to make with her? How was she to respond to her statement now? She had already walked on thin ice instructing her mother not to do something, but to say that she was doing more harm than help, even in a tactful way, would surely rattle her mother.

“I don’t see the reason to get our hopes up,” said Charlotte still turned around. “One day is hardly enough to judge a character, so you see, things might not work out, but I’m positive that if you constantly interfere than there shall be no hope. Now, it’s getting late, and I’m rather worn out from the day’s event.”

Charlotte avoided her mother’s eye and simply walked out of the room, limping all the way. She tried not to feel guilty at all. Besides, she had simply stated the truth, and wasn’t that an honorable thing?

“But what about calling on Ethan? Are you going to do that?” her mother asked before Charlotte shut the door. Slowly, she turned around.

“I will, but on my own time,” she answered. From her mother’s eyes, she could tell that she was at least satisfied with that answer, so she let that be.

Laying there in her bed, under the cover of darkness, with only a candle to light the room, Charloote found that she was not as tired as she had previously assumed. Constantly, she would toss and turn, and it was all thanks to Ethan. Charlotte had no idea what had gotten into her, since there was no denying the fact that she did enjoy his company. In fact, she couldn’t help but smile whenever she thought about what happened. She tried not to think of him too much, but no matter what she did, thoughts of him always seemed to find their way into her mind. There was no doubt now, that she was glad she had gone. He seemed nice, and on top of all that, he was handsome. He was almost too perfect Then why was she so hesitant about going to visit him?

It’s because my mother had singled him out for me, and he is actually a decent person. She was right, Charlotte thought with a sigh.

Yes, that was it, though she couldn’t deny that she was still a little unsure of Ethan. He seemed almost…too perfect, as weird as that sounded to her. She was positive he was hiding something, that he had a secret, or a secret motive that she didn’t know of. There had to be a flaw in him. Why, every man her mother had pushed her way did. That Matthew had huge buck teeth, that Brett had such a annoying laugh, and worst of all, she remembered, Richard seemed to always tease her to the point where she ended up yelling at the poor man.

Charlotte nodded. Despite his outward appearance, she was sure there was something wrong with him. There had to be, and she made it her business to find out. Why, what sort of person didn’t have secrets of their own?

With that, Charlotte blew out the candle, letting the darkness surround her. Looking out her window at the full moon, she smiled, and soon enough her eyes began to feel quite heavy. She closed them and finally fell asleep, her mind now quite at peace. She would visit Ethan tomorrow and test him, see what secrets he may have.

Charlotte woke up to the sounds of the birds chirping, and the sun rising above the tall trees in the distance. She gave a small groan, and turned over, trying to ignore everything that was going on around her, hoping to get some more sleep. After a few minutes of unsuccessfully getting back to sleep, she finally got up, irritated.

Might as well get up since I can’t sleep now, she thought.

With that, she walked over to the water basin, splashed some water on her face hoping the coolness of the water would bring her out of her grogginess. Getting dressed was the next thing that was on her mind, so she walked over and put on a dress that had decided she would wear when she went to visit Ethan that morning.

After that, she took a comb and let it go through her long longs of dark hair, until it was as smooth as she could get it. Deciding she would have Marie take care of putting her hair up, she went down to eat breakfast, her stomach starving.

When she arrived in the parlor, she saw her mother there, who looked at her expectantly. I took only a second for Charlotte to realize what her mother was thinking, and it was moments later, before Mrs. Weller said what was on her mind. “Are you going today?”

“Going where?” Charlotte asked, acing innocent. It was the only way she could get her mother back for being so insistent.

“You know, to see Ethan.” Her mother answered.

For a second, Charlotte wondered if she should go. She had already asked her mother not to get involved and yet here she was asking if she was going to see him today, before even saying ‘good morning’ to her. However, she knew that she couldn’t do that. She had a plan in mind, and that involved her going to see him today.

“Well if you must know,” she replied, “I am.”

Mrs. Weller was certainly pleased, and led her to the table to eat a breakfast, to which Charlotte ate only because she was quite hungry. With that done, her mother eagerly sent for a carriage and together, and within minutes, both Charlotte and her mother were headed off.

At first, she did not think that her mother would want to go with her, but now, as Charlotte sat beside her, she didn’t know how she could have forgotten that small detail. It would surely ruin her plans! She wouldn’t be able to have a private conversation with Ethan, so how was she to settle her own mind in finding a fault in him? The sooner she found out, the better. Maybe his secret or fault wasn’t so bad, but she still knew he had to have one, and then she the man would be less of a mystery to her. He wouldn’t haunt her thoughts anymore. That would ease her mind, and maybe, just maybe, she would be able to focus on the good aspects of his character, knowing his bad.

But Charlotte knew it was foolish of her to have thought that her mother would let her go alone to Ethan’s home. At least at this moment it was.

The trip itself wasn’t too bad, only about a ten-minute drive. For the whole ride, they didn’t say much, and she welcomed the sight of the plantation. Getting out, they walked up to the steps, and for some reason, she felt slightly nervous, holding a pie that her mother had insisted on taking with her as a gift, something to welcome the family with, though technically it was a welcome more directed toward Ethan.

After a few knocks the door was promptly answered by one of the servants. She gave the guests a bow, and once they requested to see the family, she led them to the parlor and they waited.

“Why, you’re here!” Ethan said, when he entered in the room.

Charlotte snapped her head in his direction, caught off guard that he had been the one that greeted them. She had guessed his parents would be the ones to welcome them, but here he was.

“I thought it might be nice to pay you our respects,” Charlotte answered, standing up now.

“Yes, we just wanted to welcome you in your new home, so we brought you this pie,”

Ethan gave a smile, took the pie and handed it off to the servant. “Well, it looks delicious. I’m sure we will enjoy it.” He answered.

“This…is my Ma,” Charlotte declared, in a voice that didn’t give away any sort of excitement.

For a minute silence reined in the room, until Mrs. Weller got the nerve to break it. “So, were are your parents?”

“Oh, my parents? Well, they were busy at the moment, but they said they would be here…”

Just as he said that, footsteps could he heard and seconds later, three people stepped in the room. Charlotte could easily spot Ethan’s parent’s, but there was also a younger gentleman, about Ethan’s age, and so she assumed he was her brother.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Gregory.” Mrs. Weller said, getting up to shake the woman’s hand, then moving on to her husband, “As well as you, Mr. Gregory.” At the younger gentleman, however, she paused

“This is my brother,” Ethan interjected, “James.”

“Well then, James,” Mrs. Weller continued, “It’s a pleasure to meet you too. I don’t recall seeing you at the picnic yesterday.”

“That’s because I wasn’t there. I had things to attend to.”

“Things? More important than establishing relationships? Well, then I must say it’s a good thing we came. We’ll be sure to get you acquainted with everyone in this town.”

James gave a small laugh, “I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” he answered.

“Oh, nonsense.”

“Well, what do you say we sit. I can get us some tea,” Mrs. Gregory offered. Everyone agreed and so were seated.

“So, do you all like it here?” Mrs. Gregory asked. Charlotte wanted to groan but stopped herself. Why was it that her mother seemed to be taking control over this whole meeting? It wasn’t right, it wasn’t exactly fair either. She wished she had come alone. Then again, she figured maybe coming with her mother wasn’t a bad idea. She figured her parents wouldn’t take too kindly to her if she just showed up alone, considering the fact she had not met his parents before.

Suddenly, Charlotte began to take that last through back. Mrs. Weller soon began to ask Ethan questions, all about where he lived, what he did, what he planed to do, and other things, so that it was almost like she ignored everyone else in the room.

Charlotte bit her tongue for a minute, taking a look around, noticing that everyone else saw what she saw, and that made her face get even redder. She didn’t want it to be like this. Why did her mother have to interrogate this poor man? If she wanted to find these things out, why not do it in a subtle way?

Looking around, her eyes rested on the brother, James. He didn’t look like Ethan at all with his lighter hair, blue eyes and sharper features. He seemed to take more after his mother, she observed, but she also noticed, while looking at him that he seemed upset. Why, she could not figure out, and she didn’t allow herself the chance as she knew she could take no more of hearing her mother ask questions.

“Mother, I think we have some things to pick up. Shall we go?” Charlotte asked.

Mrs. Weller looked at her daughter confused, but nodding, she understood. “Yes, we do. I’m afraid we’ll have to cut our chat short, then. I’m sure we’ll have other times to talk.”

With that, everyone got up and made their way tot eh door.

“The y

“I..I want to thank you for saving me from such awful interrogation,” Ethan said, smiling.

“No problem. Thanks for taking my mother so well,” Charlotte whispered as they walked out the door. This was the only chance she could take on having any sort of private conversation.

“Oh, trust me, she isn’t bad at all,” Ethan replied.

“Really?” Charlotte found that hard to believe. She figured he was delusional.

“She cares, you know.”

“Yeah, well sometimes, I wish she didn’t care.” She had to admit he was pretty perceptive for only having a short meeting with her mother.

“Ah, so a confession comes out!”

“Willingly, though. It’s not like it’s a secret…though I do have my own.”

“Oh, like what?”

Before any answer could be given, she found she was out the door. Time was up, and Charlotte had been quite unsuccessful in finding out what she wanted. So, reluctantly, she followed her mother and headed home.

“Well, he certainly does seem like a nice man,” Mrs. Weller stated, obviously pleased.

“Yes, he does.” Charlotte answered, holding back all the comments she had in mind to say.

Charlotte was happy to finally see her home in the distance, and when the finally got out of the carriage, she walked inside to quite a surprise, for Isabella was waiting in the parlor for her.

“Why, Isabella, this is quite a surprise,” Charlotte declared.

“Well, yes, I figured that much.” Isabella answered.

When their mother left the two of them alone, Charlotte took a seat, and looked at her friend expectantly. “So, why did you come down here…and quite alone?”

“I came here to speak with you,” she answered.

“I figured as much, but what for?”

“Well, I…I…”

For some reason, her friend could not get it out, and why Charlotte could not figure out. Her friend had never been this speechless. In fact, never in hr entire life, had she acted in this way. The look on Isabella’s face, told Charlotte that she did not bring any good news. But what could that news be? For a second, she looked at her friend expectantly waiting for her to get the words out.

“Yes?” she finally said, hoping to get an answer out of her friend.

“Well,” Isabella said, “It’s about that Gregory boy. He’s not good news.”

Everyone, THANK YOU for your reviews...they mean so much, and I really do appreicate you sticking out being so slow with getting chapters out. Life is just getting so demanding...but I shall not give up on this or my other story...I promise. I want to thank each and every one of you for such support, and I hope you enjoy it...

OH, and as a note, Charlotte's friend is no longer Elizabeth, but Isabella...I hope that doesn't confuse a lot of people, and it shouldn't since she was in one chapter. Anyway, I'll get to changing and editing the last chapter as soon as I can.