Destiny

Part 26

Karen glanced at Stevie in the passenger's seat every few minutes. She didn't need to be told where they were going and she thought, how completely absurd it was that Stevie was still in her wedding dress. Karen's phone had not stopped ringing yet, but the sound mingled with the radio and neither of them could really distinguish the two anymore. Karen wanted to let somebody know, what was going on, for example Stevie's mother, but Stevie insisted on leaving right away. She knew that by now, everyone was aware of what happened. She pictured Michael's face, when he found that note. Maybe someone else did and had the terrible task of handing it to him. Karen wasn't a big supporter of this marriage from the beginning, but even she felt bad for Michael.

"We're here." Karen stated the obvious as she pulled into the driveway. "Do you want me to wait out here for you or..."

"No." Stevie shook her head, turning to face her assistant. "I want you to go home. My family is probably not back yet, but when they do return, please, tell them that everything's okay, that I'm okay."

"How are you so sure, he's going to welcome you with open arms?" Karen asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not." Stevie shrugged, she was not going to get into that discussion now, when she was already in Lindsey's driveway. "Please, do what I asked. I'll call."

Karen sighed then gave a small nod of her head and watched Stevie get out of the car. She was going to wait until Lindsey at least opened the door, but Stevie remained standing by the car, letting Karen know, it was time to leave.

As Stevie walked to the front door of Lindsey's home, she suddenly thought about what Lindsey had said. Did he actually mean for her to wait until the wedding day, until she was minutes away from marrying Michael? Or did he expect to make her mind up sooner? 

Nervous, Stevie rang the doorbell and waited for a short moment until Lindsey opened the door, a shocked expression on his face. They stood, just staring at each other for a little while, but Stevie couldn't take the silence for much longer.

"I've made my decision." Stevie said, a sheepish smile on her face.

"You're- why are you-" Lindsey frowned. "Did you run away from your own wedding?"

"Yeah." Stevie nodded, wringing her hands, she cast her eyes down to the ground. "I'm sorry. I've only just realized that you probably didn't think, I would actually end up in my wedding dress at all and that-"

"Come here." Lindsey held his hand out, a smile crossed his lips as he helped her over the threshold. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her a little too tightly perhaps, breathing in her wonderful scent to calm himself down. "My God, I'm so happy that you didn't go through with it."

Stevie lifted her head off his chest and slightly drew back, placing her hands on his shoulders. "You mean that?"

"Of course, I do." Lindsey nodded, cradling her face in his hands. "You're here. You're not on your way to the reception or the honeymoon, or- you're here."

"I wasn't planning on showing up still dressed like this, but Karen came to get me and I just... I begged her to get me out of there." Stevie pressed herself closer to Lindsey, her arms wrapped around his middle.

"Hey, it's okay." Lindsey assured, kissing the top of her head. "Maybe I could take you to Vegas and-"

"No." Stevie cut him off, chuckling tearfully. "No, we're not going to do that, Linds. If anything, I want to get out of this dress, release my hair from these-" She pulled out one of the hairpins, which bothered her in particular. "And wash my face off."

"Alright." Lindsey smiled, freeing himself from her grip, he took her hand in his. "I've got your shirt ready for you." He said.