Saving Cassie (Fairfield Corners) (17 page)

The next day I’m sleeping
with my head on the bed holding Logan’s hand.  I wake up to feel his thumb
gently rubbing my palm.  I look up and see him looking at me through half-open
eyes.  “Hey, Darlin’.  Are you pregnant?” and then his eyes close again.  I
press the call button and I keep pressing it until the nurse comes running in.

She sees the tears in my
eyes and the smile on my face.  “What happened, honey?”

“He was awake!  He looked
right at me and he knew me!  He even spoke to me!”

“That’s great!  I’ll get
the doctor up here shortly.”  She hurries out of the room.

Logan has woken up briefly
twice more in the last three days.  Hopefully, he’ll be fully awake soon.  I
want to make sure he can fully comprehend what I want to tell him.  I am hoping
he will be as excited as I am!

James, Marie, and Adam
have been making sure I’m eating and staying away from caffeine.  The morning
sickness has been awful, but I’m dealing with it OK.  I seem to be sleeping a
lot.  Usually I crawl into bed with Logan. I’m sure the nurses have seen it,
but they haven’t said anything so I’m going to continue to do it.

Some days are worse than
others.  Today, the hormones got the best of me and I cried all over Adam for
about an hour.  He just pulled me into his lap and let me cry.  I fell asleep
in his lap, exhausted. About half an hour later, Adam sees Logan’s eyes open
and finally focus on me in his lap.

“I’m on my deathbed and
you still can’t keep your hands off my woman?  Go find your own,” he says to
Adam with a smile.

Adam wakes me gently by
whispering in my ear, watching Logan’s eyes to be sure he’s still awake.  “Wake
up, Cassie,” he whispers, “Got a surprise for you!”

I sit up, struggling to
focus.  I hate sleeping during the day, it makes me groggy.  Adam takes my chin
in his hand and turns my head so I am looking at Logan.  I see Logan awake and
looking at me.  “Hey, Darlin’,” he whispers with a slight grin.

“Oh my God, Logan!” I grab
his hand and a tear starts rolling down my cheek. “I was so scared!”

He reaches up and wipes
away my tears.  “Don’t cry, Darlin’.  Everything is OK now.  How’s the baby?”

Adam reaches around me and
grabs the call button with a big smile on his face. “Hey, cuz.  About time you
woke up.”

The nurse comes in and
sees Logan’s awake.  “Hi there, Deputy.  Glad to see you decided to wake up.  I’ll
go call the doctor and I’ll be right back.”

I get out my phone and
text James, Marie, and Ragan.  “AWAKE!!”

Logan still hasn’t let go
of my hand as if he’s afraid I’ll disappear.  “I see you found your ring.  I
take it that your answer is yes as you’re wearing it?”

I bring my other hand up
to his face, “Of course, it’s yes.  I love you so much!” I kiss him to show him
how much.  “How did you know I’m pregnant?”

“Your Gram told me.”

At this point the doctor
walks in so Adam and I go out in the hall to wait.  James shows up first and
then Marie comes running up five minutes later.  James picks me up and swings
me around.  “James, not the best idea to swing a pregnant lady around.”

“Sorry, I’m just so happy
for you!” he hugs me tighter and puts me down, making sure I’m not dizzy before
he lets me go.

Ragan gets there five
minutes later.  “Oh honey, I’m so glad for you.  I can’t wait to meet him.”

The doctor comes out of
Logan’s room smiling.  Looks like things are going to be Ok.

The next day I get back to
the hospital after going home to take a shower and change clothes.  I am so
happy I feel like I’m floating!  As I get closer to Logan’s room I hear yelling.
 “I don’t want your damn money, Adam, get the hell out of my room!”

Adam comes out of the
room, ducking to avoid the plastic glass that comes flying out the door. He
grins at me.  “Well, he took that better than I thought he would.”

I smile back.  “I’ll get
him to accept it, Adam.  You don’t know how much I appreciate it.”

Two days later I am pacing
the hallway outside Logan’s room, waiting for the doctor to release Logan to go
home.  He still has some left side paralysis and has a long road ahead of him
until he’ll be ready to go back to work.  Luckily, he has decent disability
insurance and he has finally accepted that Adam is footing the bill for
anything the insurance doesn’t cover.

The doctor comes out of
Logan’s room smiling.  “You can take him home today, Cassie.  He’s good to go.”

I reach up and give him a
big hug.  “Thanks, Doc.  I’ve been afraid I’m going to wake up and this was all
a dream and Logan’s still in a coma.”

Adam and I get all the
paperwork taken care of and Logan is released.  He grumbles about the
wheelchair but it is policy and the hospital won’t budge on this.  I grab his
cane and we head for the parking lot. We get to the sidewalk as Adam’s limo
pulls up, we’re going home in style!

We pull up in front of the
house and find James and Marie on the front porch.  We get Logan out of the car
and he insists on getting into the house on his own.  We go through the door
and find all of our friends waiting for us, waiting to welcome us home.  An
hour later we are saying goodbye to James and Marie.  I can see that Logan is
exhausted, and he actually accepts Adam’s help going up the stairs. He takes
him into Gram’s room because it has its own bathroom.  I walk into the room and
it’s transformed, it’s been painted and everything has been cleaned and
polished.  We have great friends who would go to all this trouble for us.

Two days later, I help
Logan down to the living room.  It’s been hard here by myself.  Adam had to
take care of some things to cancel the rest of his tour and James and Marie
took Olivia to Indy to the Children’s Museum for her birthday.  Ragan is
supposed to be back today after her meeting in New York yesterday.  A gallery
is interested in a show of her nature photographs.  I’m excited for her but I
could really use her support right now.  I’m exhausted.  Logan is trying to do
too much too soon.  He sees how tired I am.  That’s the downside of being
pregnant, the bone deep weariness.  “Go up and lie down for a while, Darlin’.  You’re
getting bags under your eyes.  I’ll be fine down here by myself.  I’m not
totally helpless, you know.  I’ll make sure you’re up before I have to be at my
PT appointment.”  I go over and sit on Logan’s lap and give him a kiss that
shows how much I love him.

“OK, I can hardly keep my
eyes open.  Let me know if you need anything.”

“Don’t worry, Darlin’.  I’ll
be fine.”

I make my way upstairs and
lay down on the bed and I am asleep before my head hits the pillow.  I wake up
to voices, it sounds like Adam is back.  “Don’t cancel your tour because of me,
Adam.  We can handle things here without you.”

“Why are you so stubborn,
Logan?  I told you, I’m burnt out and I’m ready for a break.  I’m not going
anywhere.  I talked to Karen over at the real estate office this morning and
she has a couple of houses that I am going to look at tomorrow.  I’m tired of
missing all the milestones in Jenna’s life.  I’ve missed her first steps, most
of her birthdays, and most holidays.  I want her to know me as her Dad, not as
the guy that shows up once in a while and gives her presents.  You, Cassie, and
Jenna are the only family I have, so sue me for wanting to be close to my
family.  I’m here to stay and you’re just going to have to deal with it!”

I come down the stairs,
yawning.  “Hey, Adam.  When did you get back?”

“Just this morning,
Cassie.  How’s the little one doing?”

“So far so good, other
than being tired all the time.”  Someone knocks on the door, so I head that way
to see who it is.

It’s Ragan, back from New
York.  “Hi, Cassie.  I’m so excited!  The gallery is still interested in my
photographs.  I have three months to get them ready for a show.”

“I’m so happy for you.  Come
in and sit down, you must be tired from your trip.”

She goes over to Logan and
sits next to him on the couch.  “You’re looking better every day, Logan.”

Adam comes out of the
kitchen with a couple of glasses of water.  “Here you go, Logan.  You about
ready to head to physical therapy?”

“You don’t have to take
him, Adam.  I’m sure you tired from your trip.  I just had a nap and I’m ready
to go.”

“You stay here and take
care of that baby.  I’ll take him.  I’ll make sure he does as he’s told.”

He gets Logan out to his
car, a brand new Escalade, Logan bitching the whole way, “I can do it myself,
dammit!  Quit treating me like an invalid!”

I snicker, glad it’s Adam
and not me.  Logan is not a very good patient.  Ragan and I sit on the couch
and talk about the show she is going to have in a couple of months.  After
about ten minutes she asks me, “so what is up with Adam?  Is he really Adam
Bricklin?”

“Yep, he is.  He’s Logan’s
cousin, they grew up together.  He’s the only family Logan has left.”  I tell
her about how Logan arranged for the private concert for our first date.

“That is so romantic.”

“We’ve sure come a long
way since then.  I can’t believe everything that’s happened.  So, how are the
plans for the show coming?”

“I’ve picked the pictures
for the show.  I’ve got to get them shipped off to New York tomorrow to be framed
and matted.  I’ve also been offered a grant to go back to the Congo.  I haven’t
decided if I’m going to take it yet.  I’ve got a couple of months until I have
to make a decision on that.”

“That’s wonderful!  Are
you going to stay here until the show?”

“Yes, I want to be here to
help you and Logan until he’s recovered.”

Two months later, Logan is
at his last appointment with the physical therapist.  He had some left side
paralysis from the stroke but has worked hard and now he is fine.  He only
limps when he’s tired. Adam has been here the whole time.  He’s been working
with Logan on the dexterity of his left hand by having him play guitar.  We all
had a long talk.  Logan finally tells me about touring with Adam as Southern
Cousins and then deciding to go into law enforcement.  He also tells me that it
was five years between his police job in Atlanta and being hired as James’
deputy, not the few months he led me to believe.  He worked security for Adam
during that time.  Adam told Logan about a bank account he opened for him.  He’s
been depositing Logan’s share of the royalties from “Dreaming” even though
Logan didn’t want his name on the credits.  Logan decided we won’t touch it; it
will be for our baby’s education.

Ragan has been great,
helping out wherever she can.  She and Adam have been making eyes at each other
for days.  I think she’s going to turn down the grant and stay here in
Fairfield Corners; she has been talking about opening a photography studio here
in town.  She has been taking what I call her “sneak attack” pictures when no
one is looking.  Gotta admit the one she took of Logan watching me while I
slept is amazing.  He is lying behind me with his hand on my baby bump.  You
can see the love and protectiveness in his eyes.

Adam has decided that
there will be no more long tours.  Almost losing Logan made him realize how
much he misses when he’s on the road all the time.  He is still looking for a
house, he wants one large enough to have a recording studio.

My pregnancy seems to be
progressing normally, thank God, and Logan loves rubbing his hand on my baby
bump.  We’ve had plenty of time to talk about what happened.  Especially what
happened while he was in a coma.  He told me he woke up in a hazy white room,
and my Gram was there.  First, she kicked his ass for leaving me, but she
understood why.  “You need to get back to Cassie.  She’s going to need you over
the next seven months.  The pregnancy won’t be an easy one.”

“She’s pregnant?  How?  We
thought that wasn’t possible.”

“What’s meant to be will
happen despite the odds against it.  You need to let go of the demon now, I
will make sure he never bothers anyone again.  I won’t be able to come back
after this.  Tell Cassie I love her.”

“Of course I will.  She
loves you too, she talks about you all the time.”

“Time is short, let him go
and get back to Cassie.”  That’s how he knew I was pregnant before I told him. 
Leave it to Gram to steal my thunder.

Ragan and I are at the
bookstore, sitting on one of the couches supervising the construction of the
coffee shop, too bad I won’t be able to drink any for a while yet.  We are sitting
and talking when we are interrupted and I get up to wait on a customer and I
feel a twinge.  I stop and put my hand on my belly.  Doc says that’s normal, if
it keeps up it could be a problem.  I tend to panic at everything considering
that I wasn’t supposed to be able to get pregnant in the first place, much less
carry it to term.  I only work a couple hours a day, just enough to get me out
of the house for a while.  I finish up the transaction and am heading back to
the couch when the twinge comes back, much worse than before.  I stop and put
my hand on my baby, willing everything to OK.  Ragan sees the look on my face. 
“Everything OK, Cassie?”

The pain comes back,
doubling me over.  “Something’s wrong!  Please don’t do this, please don’t take
my baby,” I pray.

Ragan helps me over to the
couch and makes me lie down as Mel calls Logan and Doc.  “Don’t worry, Cassie,”
Mel says, trying to reassure me, “I called Logan and Doc.  They should be here
any minute.”

Logan comes running in, he
must have run all the way from the sheriff’s office.  He drops to one knee
beside me and grabs my hand, “Hey, Darlin’.  How you feeling?  Is it getting
any worse?”  He turns and looks up at Mel, trying to keep me from seeing the
look of terror on his face.  “Is Doc on his way, Mel?”

“Of course, I called him
right after you.  There’s his car now.”