The trouble with love...

Natalie sat in the Blue Lake lodge room, her bags halfway packed, crying. Crying more than she had ever cried in her life. She cried more now than when her father died in a car crash and at her mother's funeral years ago.

She cried so much her head ached, her eyes burned and her hands began to shake. Just when the flood of tears turned into a trickle and all her bags were packed, she made her way downstairs, on shaky legs. She stood in the lobby, watching all the couples mill about, waiting for her uber to arrive.

A loud commotion from the entrance pulled her out of her sad thoughts. There Charlie stood, he looked frantic. His eyes quickly scanned the lobby before landing on her. He quickly ran over to her and threw his arms around her. "I thought I was too late," he whispered. "What are you doing here, Charlie?" she asked, her voice croaky from all the crying. "You didn't think I'd just let you walk away from me, did you?" he smiled at her. She was confused, "what about my job Charlie? What about your family? What about..." she began, but upon seeing the smile on his face, she stopped.

"None of that matters, Nattie. Not my mother, or your job, or Canada, or Montana, or distance, or any of that. They don't matter. The only thing that matters is you and me. I love you Natalie Laker and I want to spend the rest of my life with you and no person, obstacle or distance is going to stop me," he said, "I'll follow you to the ends of the earth if I have to." Natalie stood still, shocked at what he had said, what he had done...for her.

That's when she realised: the trouble with Charlie is that he loved her way too much and the trouble with love is that it was too damn persistent. Love never gives up, it never quits, it never gives in...at least real love does not. Real love will sometimes make mistakes; it will make sometimes make the wrong choices and choose the wrong path, but that doesn't make it any less real, because real, love admits when it's wrong, recognises it's mistakes and tries to fix them, but the most important thing about real love is that it forgives, it forgets and doesn't hold grudges.

That's what Charlie was doing for her. Charlie was persistent, he never gave up. Charlie never quit and never gave in. Charlie made a mistake. He let his mother mistreat Natalie and chose to turn a blind eye. Hell! They both did, but he admitted his mistake and he's apologizing for it now. Him telling her he's willing to go to Canada with her and leave his family behind, was him trying to fix his mistake. It was more than she could ever ask. Charlie loved Natalie and she loved him.

She knew she loved him, because she forgave him the minute she saw him walk through the entrance. She forgave him and soon she would forget all about the pain Caroline Brown caused her. She wouldn't hold any grudges against her, or the Brown family or even Charlie because that's what real love does and Natalie loves Charlie.

So that evening the two took a Cab back to Montana and the following day a bus to the nearest airport, where they booked the first flight back to New York.

A few months later they were off to Canada to begin their new lives together. Two months after moving to Canada, they came back to Montana for Ella and Cody's wedding. Mrs Brown did not attend, but the rest of the Brown family did. They laughed and talked and joked freely and when the pain of not seeing his mother started to get to Charlie, Natalie convinced him to go see her...alone, without her there with him. Charlie went to see her the next morning, but the minute she saw his face she went hysterical, yelling and cursing at him. The situation eventually escalated to the point where she was pointing his father's hunting gun at him, yelling: "get the hell off my property, stranger!" Charlie drove away, leaving behind a hysterical Caroline and any remaining love or respect he had for the woman who gave birth to him.

The two visited Montana a second time that year, this time for the birthday of David's oldest child Jordan, who was turning eight. Mrs Brown did not make an appearance and the couple made sure to avoid her in town. Charlie didn't need another hysterical fit.

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A year after moving to Canada, Natalie and Charlie got married. It was a small ceremony and Charlie's surprise proposal lead to a quick, shotgun wedding the next month. The whole Brown family showed up, except Mrs Brown. David and Sandra arrived, with all three of their baby bears, Jordan who was now nine, Haylee who was six and little Kaden, who was three years old.

Cody and Ella wished them congratulations, holding their little princess Tessa, who came a short two months after they got married. They all looked happy for the couple, but the happiest was Mr Brown, who for the first time saw his youngest son be truly happy without his mother dictating to him what she thought should make him happy.

Four months after their wedding, the couple were expecting their first child. Baby RJ {Robert Junior, named after Charlie's father} was welcomed into the world nine months later. Mr Brown called his new grandson every second week, at 8 pm on Sunday from his work shed out back, so that Mrs Brown wouldn't find out, but what he didn't know was while he did that, Mrs brown was in her study, on her computer, looking at Facebook pictures of her new grandson from the son who betrayed her, wondering if his laugh was as beautiful as his smile and his curly brown hair as soft as it looked.

THE END

Thank you guys so much for reading my book, it means a lot to me.  It always makes me a little sad to finish a story because I invest a lot into my characters and the life I create for them. It's like a small piece of me is in every story I write and that's why I always want to make sure its the best it could be. I'm not the world's greatest writer, but hopefully one day I can get to that level. My writing has a long way to go and hopefully I continue to write and find the courage the put it out there for everyone to see {I always chicken out at that part, lol} and eventually get to a level of writing that make me proud, until then I'll keep practising. I'll see you at my next story.