The trouble with love...

Little Brown Bears

Dinner was awkward to say the least, then again, dinner with the Browns was always awkward for Natalie. Mr. brown ate his home cooked steak dinner, with mashed potatoes and broccoli in silence. Every once in a while he would look up, make eye contact with Natalie, look as if he was about to say something before shaking his head, deciding against it, and resuming eating his food.

Cody, David and Sandra tried to make conversation with her, but Sandra was too busy making sure Jordan and Haylee ate their broccoli, Cody kept trying to bate her into conversation about football, but Natalie didn't watch football, nor did she understand it and David wasn't much of a talker. He mostly asked basic questions about work and the city before giving up on conversation all together.

Charlie and Mrs. Brown were wrapped up in their own, private little world. Besides, Mrs. Brown would never willingly talk to her. "Oh, mama! You won't believe what happened to Natalie," Charlie spoke. Immediately at the mention of Natalie's name, Mrs. Brown's smile grows dim, "oh... what happened?" she asked, throwing a fake smile and cold eyes Natalie's way. She didn't want to tell her and Mrs. Brown obviously didn't want to know, but for the sake of Charlie, they both would do what they didn't want to.

"Well the company that I worked for had a recent buy out and now a new Canadian company is managing it. They're selecting a few applicants that they're thinking of promoting to Board Managers and I was one of the applicants selected," she said. She left a lot of things unsaid. Thing that Charlie didn't know yet. Things that Natalie was still too scared to tell him, or anyone else for that matter. Things like the facts that she was already selected to be a Board Manager and her promotion and new position began January, next year... in Canada.

She knew Charlie would never leave his 'mama'. Hell, he struggles to live in the city with her, which was a measly 6-hour flight from Montana, compared to the 72-hour flight between Canada and Montana. Congratulations and 'good lucks' rose from everyone at the table. Everyone except Mrs. Brown. If anything she looked more uninterested than ever. "Oh, that's great," she said. It sounded as forced as her smile looked. "Yeah, I'm so proud of her. She worked real hard and I'm sure she'll get the promotion. She has to, and when she does, she gets to work less hours in the office and more hours at home! Ain't that great, mama?" Charlie chattered excitedly.

"Oh, well at least something good came out of her," Mrs. Brown replied. Charlie pretended he didn't hear her and continued, "now we'll definitely be able to visit more, right Nattie?" Natasha stiffly nodded her head. She was uncomfortable lying to him, but she was too scared to tell him the truth.

Dinner ended relatively quickly, but now came a new problem: sleeping arrangement. Mrs. Brown argues that since Natalie and Charlie aren't married, they shouldn't sleep together, even though she let Ella sleep with Cody long before they got engaged. Mr. brown argues that it's Charlie's choice and they all knew what Charlie's choice will be.

At the end of the night, Natalie shared a room with Charlie and received a bucket full of hateful glares from Mrs. Brown. Everyone said goodnight {except Mrs. Brown} and heads to bed.

In the room, as they both got dressed for bed, Charlie happily chattered about how happy his mama was to see them. "I swear, I've never seen her smile so big," he said while putting his pajama pants on, "and she was real excited to learn about your promotion too." No she wasn't. "I'm sure she's rooting for you." No she isn't. But she'd never say those thoughts out loud. They'd hurt Charlie.

 "Are you sure you don't see yourself moving out here, baby? It's great here and think about our future kids. They'll love being around family," he said and her heart fluttered, while her heart dropped into her stomach. He'd been doing that a lot lately. Talking about their future children and every time he does, Natalie's heart skips a beat. 

She knows he's at that stage in their relationship where he wants to get married and start a family. She wants that too, with him. She just doesn't know if that future is possible for them anymore. Not with the promotion she was hiding from him and definitely not with his mother creating a rift between them, any chance she got.

"Actually baby, there's something that I need to tell you about," she hesitantly says. Charlie slides into the bed next to her and wraps his arms around her. "Oh baby, can't you see it? Little Brown 'bears' running around our house. I don't think I can wait any longer. I want to build a family with you, right here in Blue Lake," he says, his eyes filled with joy. Now's the time to tell him. She has to, or else he'll be too heartbroken to hear it later.

"Charlie," she starts, "I... can't wait to start a family with you too," she says instead. He smiles warmly down at her, pulling her closer and cuddling her into his side. "Please think about moving out here, maybe not right now, but maybe in the future?" he said. She remained silent. She didn't have the heart to tell him. Not while his eyes are so full of stars and his smile so bright. She'll just have to tell him tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow.