From the Heart (A Valentine's Day Anthology) (8 page)

Logan smiled to himself and he remember that night. They spent the night in each other arms and he made a promise to himself that he would never do anything to hurt her.

“Have you called her father?” Andrew asked snapping Logan from his thoughts.

“No,” Logan replied as he took hold of Ella’s hand once more. “She wouldn’t want him here…”

“He is her father,” Andrew cut in. “He has a right.”

“He has no right,” Logan replied quickly. “After he turned up to her mother’s funeral with his latest bimbo, Ella said she never wanted to see him again, and I plan on respecting her wishes.”

“That was before she got sick,” Andrew continued to push. “I know if it was my daughter, I would want to know.”

“Dad, just leave it,” Logan told his father as he looked from Ella to him. “I know her, and I know this is not something she would want, so just let it go.”

“Okay, Son,” Andrew said, but Logan knew that his father was less than convinced. Still he had to do what Ella would want and Robert Graham turning up in her hospital room, would be the last thing Ella would want.

Logan spent another night next to Ella’s bed, hoping and praying that the miracle she needed, came true. He tried not to think about the part where, for Ella to get her miracle, someone else would have to lose the person they loved. That thought was almost as hard as to bear as the thought of losing Ella. He knew how much his heart was breaking, and he didn’t want anyone else to have to go through that as well.

He sat and he watched the machines, watching as the numbers very slowly changed. He knew little by little her heart was beating slower and slower and her time was running out.

“How is she,” Megan, Ella’s best friend asked as she stepped through the door.

“Still fighting,” Logan said as he looked up at her friend and forced a smile. “Thank you for coming.”

“Of course,” Megan said as she sat down next to him. “She is my best friend. I love her, I love you both.”

“I know,” he nodded as he turned back to Ella.

“She is going to be okay,” Megan said as she placed her hand on his arm, reassuringly. “She has to be.”

“I don’t know what I will do if I lose her,” Logan whispered. “She is my world.”

“She is Ella Bryce,” Megan said defiantly. “She is a fighter. After everything you guys have been through, this can’t be the end.”

“Ella Bryce,” Logan repeated with a smile. “I still can’t believe she agreed to marry me.”

“She loves you so much, Logan,” Megan tried to reassure him. “The day she married you, was the happiest day of her life.”

“I still remember it like it was yesterday,” Logan sighed.

“It was a wonderful day,” Megan replied.

“You know,” Logan said. “I sneaked into her apartment that morning to see her.”

“What?” Megan exclaimed. “I thought that was bad luck.”

“Maybe,” Logan laughed. “But I needed to know, I needed to be sure she was going to show up.”

“What are you doing here?” Ella exclaimed when Logan crept into her room. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“I needed to see you,” Logan said as he hurried to her and wrapped her in his arms. “I needed to know you are going to be there today.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Ella asked with a laugh. “Of course I am going to be there. Now go, its bad luck to see me before the wedding.”

“I just needed to be sure,” Logan said as he drew her closer to him and kissed her softly on the lips. “I love you so much Ella. I need to know you love me too.”

“More than you will ever know,” she whispered as she reached up and softly touched his face.

“You are so beautiful,” he breathed against her lips. “I still can’t believe you are mine.”

He claimed her with his lips once more, but this time the kiss wasn’t soft and tender, it was full of passion and desire. He pulled her closer to him, and Ella gasped when she felt his erection pressed against her.

“Logan,” she whispered breathlessly. “We can’t, not right now.”

“But I want you,” he growled against her mouth.

“And I am yours,” Ella replied with a smile. “And I will be yours for the rest of my life. But right now, we have a wedding to get to.”

“This is not over,” he sighed as he reluctantly released her from his arms and gave her a cheeky grin. Ella just laughed and kissed him once more before he turned and walked towards the door.

Logan reached for the handle but stopped before he turned back to Ella, and gave her a strange look.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, confused by his actions.

“Are you still sure about your father not being here,” Logan asked as he stepped back towards her. “I know you and he don’t see eye to eye, but he is still your dad, your family.”

“You are my family,” she smiled. “You, Megan and your dad are the only family that matter to me. He does not.”

“Are you sure?” Logan asked as he took her hands.

“I am,” she replied and gave him a reassuring smile.

“Okay,” he said as he kissed her again.

Two hours later they stood before their friends and family and promised to love each other the rest of their lives.

When the time came for the father daughter dance. Ella looked at Logan in surprise. The band had been told there would be no father daughter dance, so when they announced it, Ella was stunned.

Suddenly Andrew walked towards Ella, held out his hand and asked her to dance. She smiled as unshed tears glistened in her eyes. She reached out and took his hand before he led her to the floor.

Logan sat and watched as his father moved around the dance floor with the woman he loved. He realised that despite the differences he and his dad had years before, he was lucky to have him now.

By the time the song ended, there wasn’t a dry eye left in the room. Logan smiled as Ella hugged Andrew tightly and kissed him on the cheek. He knew then his life was perfect.

“Thank you,” he said to his father when he and Ella walked over to him.

“It’s my pleasure,” Andrew beamed as he turned to Ella. “I hope now you consider me your dad too, because I am honoured to call you my daughter.”

“I would love to call you Dad,” Ella replied as her eyes welled up with happy tears.

“I wish your mom was here,” he said turning back to Logan. “She would be so proud of you, Son, and she would love her new daughter so much too.”

“I wish she was here, too,” Logan said as he slipped his hand into Ella’s. “But I am happy. I have never been happier.”

The rest of the night past by so quickly, by the time it came to Ella and Logan saying goodbye to everyone, they were both tired but beyond happy.

“I am so tired,” Ella said as they reached their honeymoon suite. She walked over to the huge bed, and flopped down onto it.

“Not too tired I hope,” Logan said as he walked over to the bed and leaned down over her. “We have some unfinished business, Mrs. Bryce.”

“Do we now, Mr. Bryce?” Ella said with a contented smile as Logan kissed along her neck. “And what do you have in mind?”

“Oh, I think I want to get to know my beautiful wife,” Logan growl against her soft, velvet skin. “I want to get to know every inch on her body with my lips.”

He pressed his lips to her throat.

“And my tongue.”

He kissed her again.

“And my hands.”

He moved up so that he was face to face.

“I love you Ella Louise Bryce,” he whispered before he claimed her mouth with his.

“Logan,” Megan said, pulling him from his thoughts. “Tell me that she is going to be okay. Tell me I am not going to lose my best friend.”

“I wish I could promise you she was,” Logan sighed sadly. “But the truth is, I don’t know. I am so afraid I am going to lose her. Megan, I don’t know what I will do without her.”

Before Megan could respond, Ella’s doctor walked into the room. Logan sat there and held his breath as he watched him checking the different machines, before he put his stethoscope in his ears and listened to Ella’s heart.

“Can we talk outside for a moment, Logan,” Doctor Bennett said and Logan knew by the look in his eyes, this was a not a conversation he wanted to have.

Logan stood up and followed the doctor from the room, followed closely by Megan.

As the doctor turned back to them, he took a deep breath as Megan took hold of Logan’s hand and held it tightly.

“Logan, I am sorry,” the doctor began. “But it seems that Ella’s heart has become very weak. I believe it just a matter of hours now. If there is anyone who should be here. Now is the time to call them, for them to come and say goodbye.”

“Isn’t there something, anything you can do,” Logan pleaded as Megan just sobbed quietly. “There has to be more, we just need more time.”