Max awoke around midnight. Groping for Logan, she found nothing but cold sheets. After letting out a great yawn, she rose from bed and walked into the dimly lit dining room. Leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, she watched her husband staring out the window looking very much alone. Tears silently fell from his eyes, making her heart sink.
"Knock knock." She said warmly.
"Oh, Max… Um, what are you doing up?" He quickly wiped tears away with the back of his hand. "Did I wake you?"
"No. Are you alright?"
"Ya, never better. Why do you ask?" A fake smile creased his face as he wheeled into the kitchen. Max skeptically followed him. He went to the sink and poured himself a glass of water, downing it quickly, a glaze covered his eyes.
"Logan, what were you thinking about just now?" Max asked, scooting near him and wrapping a companionable arm around him.
"Nothing."
"Please talk to me."
"There is nothing to talk about."
"I have done unspeakable things to you in the last couple of days, and I just found you alone crying. Not to mention the fact that you have been incredibly, stressing incredibly, forgiving about all of this. Sooner or later we are going to have to face it. Please don't just bottle all of this up and pretend like nothing happened." Logan sighed deeply as her voice trailed off.
"Alright."
"Ok." She said while sitting down.
"One of the reasons that I divorced Valerie was that she had an affair with an associate of mine." He turned and looked at her. "From the beginning of our relationship I have thought that you were different than her." In the distance, thunder rolled. "I have known that you aren't in it for my money, or prestige like she was. I was reassured of that when I lost my fortune for a short time and you stayed with me. Now, though, I am not sure why you are still here. I see such parallels between you and her…"
"I'm not like her at all. I love you."
"She said that she loved me after I caught her cheating." He paused as though debating to tell her something. "Max, go into my desk and look in the manila folder sitting in the upper right hand drawer." She stood and silently padded to his study. Opening the folder, a knot tied her stomach in two. Slowly walking back into the kitchen, she looked at her husband with a hurt look in her eyes.
"What's this?" She almost cried.
"Those." A frog caught in his throat. Clearing it, he started again. "Those, are the divorce papers I had made the day you left."
"Why…" Max began to get frantic. Ignoring her, he continued like she hadn't interrupted.
"There is nothing that makes a man doubt himself like a spouse cheating on him. I'm ashamed to say that since the shooting I have had serious doubts about my masculinity. That, paired with being cheated on twice has made me think that I am not enough to love. Damn it, I love you so much that I hardly even see other women. I don't understand how that you can feel the same way about me and still be unfaithful." He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I'm not going to ask for a divorce…, I do want you to know how much you have hurt me though." Sighing, tears filled his eyes. "I feel so empty, so alone. I haven't felt this way since I found out I would never be able to walk again. If you weren't her right now, I can't say that I wouldn't be dead by now." At the thought of her husband dead, Max began bawling. Logan was looking past her into another world, as if visualizing what could have happened.
"Tell me how to make it better." She pleaded.
"That's just it. I'm not sure it will get better." She fell into his lap, grabbing his shirt and burying her face in his neck.
"I'm so sorry Logan, I love you." She kissed his pulse.
"I know, it just hurts so much." He rocked her back and forth. Max pulled slightly away and looked at him.
"Let's take a vacation, a cruise or something… I want to spend time with you. Prove to you that I am not like Valerie." She smiled briefly and kissed him.
"Okay." He looked away from her. "Promise to do something for me."
"Anything." She said with conviction.
"Love me." Was his simple request.
In response, Max cuddled into him and replied, "I promise."
Max looked at her husband. He was sleeping on the edge of the bad, facing away from her. She tried to place a hand on his waist, but he flinched at the contact. Shaking her head and blinking back the tears that had come so often in the past few days, she moved away from him. Once Logan's breathing became regular, Max dared to kiss his cheek and whisper a sweet "goodnight" in his ear.
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A/N- I know it seemed like Logan was unrealistically forgiving, but I was trying to set this part up, with him beginning to come clean after bottling everything up inside. Hope you liked it!