When the word got out that Jana Duggar was being courted by Stephen Wissmann, fans were overjoyed.
After all, they had been waiting the better part of a decade for the eldest Duggar daughter to meet and marry Mr. Right, and now, it looked as though their patience had been rewarded.
No official announcement had been made, but all signs pointed to wedding bells in the near future.
Jana even spent Christmas in Nebraska with the Wissmanns, and you know what a big deal Christmas is in the Duggar's world!
On paper, Stephen was everything that Jana hed been waiting for:
He's successful, he comes from a large family, and of course he's Christian.
Now, however, theres's reason to believe that Jana and her Nebraska-based boo may have called their relationship off.
Jana made the trip to Los Angeles last week to spend time with her sister Jinger.
Fans were quick to note that Stephen was conspicuously absent from the trip.
Instead, Jana was chaperoned by two of her many brothers.
So what does this mean for their relationship?
Well, Stephen is a licensed pilot with his own plane, so he probably wouldn't have sat this one out for practical reasons.
And since he had never met Jana's sister, it seems he would have been incentivized to make that trip.
In other words, the fact that he chose to stay home could be a sign that he and Jana have slowed things down a bit.
Or it may even be an indication that Jana's choosiness once again came into play, and she decided to call it quits with Wissmann.
The move would be a bit surprising, but it would also fit with Jana's relationship pattern.
As she's said herself, Jana has courted several men, all of whom were eventually found lacking.
Unlike her sisters, she seems to have no interest in settling down simply for the sake of starting a family.
Jana says she believes that God has one special man selected for her, and she won't give up the search until she finds him.
That said, she's the first to admit that she would like to leave the nest and get married as soon as possible.
So not only have fans jumped to the conclusion that Jana has broken up with Stephen ...
... They also believe that the goal of her trip to LA was to find a new man.
“[Jana] went to L.A. not only to visit Jinger and Jeremy, but because they are setting Jana up with one of Jeremy’s pastor/seminary friends," one Reddit user commented on Jana's trip.
“Well, I hope she brought a chaperone!” another chimed in.
Famously, that is required for all unmarried Duggars -- of any age.
“Eh, not really,” another chimed in about the theories.
That same Redditor added: “Jana and Jinger have gotten to be pretty close in the last couple years."
The commenter suggested: "Jana simply may have wanted to visit Jinger.”
Obviously, that's the most likely explanation here.
But it's not totally implausible that Jinger would've convinced Jana to come to Los Angeles in order to meet some of the city's eligible Christian singles.
Assuming the rumors about Jana and Laura DeMasie are not true, then Jana is probably still in the market for an eligible young man.
And at this point, she's probably come to terms with the fact that she's not gonna find Mr. Right hanging out in rural Arkansas.
It's not just that her choices are limited by geography, but by her family's actions, existing marriages, and their reputation.
That narrows the playing field significantly, and Josh's trial can't be helping.
There is still so much that we don't know, but we can all look at clues and draw reasonable conclusions.
So while nothing is certain at this point, there's real reason to believe thst Jana and Stephen have gone their separate ways.
If that's the case, we wish Jana all the best in her search for a new partner!
If this were about anyone else, we'd of course be emphasizing that not everyone needs to be married or date to be happy.
But Jana's status as an unmarried Duggar daughter puts her in a special bind.
Marriage isn't just her path to companionship or having sex. It's her only path, without ghosting her family, to being a truly independent adult.