Author's note:
I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I know I said Monday, but I just couldn't make it. I really hope you like this chapter. Especially the way it ends. :)
I took my time getting back to the hotel, so when I finally got there it was already late afternoon. I was in a really good mood. I took a stroll through Hyde Park and got some extremely delicious candy out of a boutique chocolate shop. So, combining my sugar rush with my earlier lunch with Logan, I was having a pretty good day. As I walked through the lobby, I heard my name being called, by the girl at the front desk. I turned around and headed towards her.
'There was a package delivered for you, Miss Gilmore.' She said with a smile and ducked under the desk. From there the girl pulled out a rather large, black rectangular box, tied up with a shiny red bow.
I took the box and opened it. On top of the tissue paper inside it, there was a card. I opened it. My face stretched into a huge smile. I didn't know what the card said, because I haven't even read it yet, but it was the handwriting that brought the smile to my face. I would recognize that handwriting anywhere. It belonged to the only person, who could make my entire being do mental cartwheels out of pure joy. Logan. "I can't wait to see you tonight!" That card read. My smile got even bigger. I felt like I should start doing cartwheels in the middle of the lobby, for real this time. The only problem was that I never learned how to do a cartwheel. I unfolded the tissue paper. Inside it there were dozens of red and white roses. I melted. He could do that to me. Always the romantic.
'They are so beautiful!' The girl sighed. I looked at her. She had one of those dreamy looks on her face. That look quickly changed into a more sheepish one when she realized I was looking at her.
'Thank you.' I said and smiled at her. I put the lid back on and headed for the elevator.
Back in my room, I put the flowers into water and decided to call my mom. I haven't talked to her since I called to tell that I have landed. I filled her in on my lunch with Logan. She sounded happy for me. I knew she was never a big fan of Logan, but he wasn't that boy she met all those years ago at Yale anymore. To be honest, I think he never really was that boy. It was just that people were so busy to look only at his 'bad boy' exterior, they never bothered to take a look at the real person underneath it.
'You sound good, kid.' I heard mom's voice over the phone.
'I feel good.' I answered with a content smile.
'So, what's the plan? What are you and Logan going to do now?' She asked me.
'I don't know yet. He's coming over tonight, so we'll probably figure some of the stuff out then.' There was something really interesting about me right now. I really didn't know what Logan and I were going to do, and not knowing what's next, was not a good place for me to be. I have always hated the unknown. I liked plans. And yet, right now I felt perfectly okay. True, I wasn't sure what tomorrow would bring, but I knew with absolute certainty that Logan would be here, so we can figure it out together. And that was all that it mattered to me.
'So, he broke up with his fiancé, huh? What did his family had to say about that?' Mom asked.
'I don't know. But he was happy about it, so either his family had nothing to say, or he just didn't give a damn.' I answered, but I couldn't help but add. 'Knowing his family though, it was most likely the latter.' We both laughed. Yeah, knowing the Huntzburgers, telling them to go to hell and throwing their carefully crafted "dynastic plan" away, certainly did not sit well with them. But Logan stopped being their pushover a long time ago. And no matter how much Mitchum hated it, he respected the hell out of Logan for it.
Me and mom talked for a few minutes, before she said there were people coming at the inn, so she had to go. Not knowing what else to do, I went in the bathroom and took a long shower. Getting out I towel dried my hair and put on a pair of sweatpants and an old Yale t-shirt. It was six o'clock in the evening, which meant that it was one in the afternoon in Hartford. I thought about it for a minute, then I picked up the phone to call my dad. He picked up on the second ring.
'Hey, kiddo. I wasn't expecting your call.' He sounded like his normal happy self.
'Yeah, hi. Are you busy?' I asked. After all it was a weekday, so he might have meetings, or whatever else corporate guys did with their time.
'No, nothing more than the usual. What's up?' It sounded like he was giving me his full attention. I wasn't sure if this was good or bad in this particular situation.
'I wanted to tell you something.' I made a small pause. 'I'm pregnant.'
'Oh, wow!' I heard a nervous laugh come out of him. 'I knew there was something more, other than the book the other day, when you came to talk.'
'Yeah.' I agreed. 'Busted.' I laughed. I really was busted. The other day when I went to him, I didn't go there to talk about the book. I went there to talk about Logan and the baby and that conversation helped me realized that no matter what happens, Logan deserved to know the truth. And in the end, me coming here and telling Logan, turned out better than I ever imagined it.
'So, how are you feeling?' Dad asked me.
'I feel good. Nothing of those pesky pregnancy symptoms I've heard of, so I guess that's good.'
'That is good indeed.' He fell silent. I suspected that he was bracing himself to tell me something, so I waited him out. 'So…. Can I ask who the lucky guy is?' I should have known that he was going to ask me that. I mean it is a natural question. Especially when your daughter tells you she's pregnant, and you haven't met any boyfriend of hers in the last couple of years.
'It's Logan.'
'Logan? Logan, your old boyfriend from college, Logan?' Dad sounded a little confused. I couldn't blame him. As far as he knew me and Logan broke up after his proposal at my graduation.
'The one and the same.' I confirmed.
'Huh! When did that happen again?' He sounded genuinely curious.
'It's kind of a long story.' A story I really didn't want to get into with my dad. There were just some things a daughter should never say to her father, and a father should never hear from his daughter. No matter what their relationship was in the past, or the present.
We talked for a while more. Now that the cat was out of the bag our conversation went back to our normal dynamic. I asked about Gigi and Lana. The way he kind of avoided my question about her, made me think that they weren't together anymore. To be honest, I got that feeling even when I was in his office, but then I had other things on my mind, so I didn't think much of it. He asked about how the wedding went. My heart ached a little for him. I don't think he ever got over mom. And just because I knew she and Luke belonged together, didn't mean I didn't feel bad for him. I wanted dad to find the happiness mom did. After a few minutes we hung up. I thought about calling grandma too, to tell her that I'm pregnant, but I really wanted to tell her in person. Maybe when I get back to the states I can go and visit her in Nantucket. Yeah, that sounded good. Besides, I haven't even seen her new house yet.
It was six-twenty, give or take a few minutes, and I was starting to get anxious for Logan to get here. I plopped down on the bed. I wanted to see him. I really wanted to talk with him. I wanted to know where we stand now. What was going to happen between the two of us from now on? We needed to talk about how we were going to raise this baby. I really wanted to be in the states so I can be close to my family and friends, but I couldn't expect him to just quit his job. If he really wanted to be a dad to his baby, I wasn't going to take that away from him. We just had to figure some of the logistics out. I put my hands on my belly and started rubbing little circles on it with my fingers.
I was just starting to nod off when I felt something turn in my stomach, under my hands. I tried to sit up, and apparently that was the biggest mistake I could make. I could feel that awful taste, that forms in your mouth, just when you're about to puke. I jumped from the bed and bolted from the bathroom. I fell to my knees in front of the toilet, and emptied my stomach in it. Unfortunately, that lasted for an hour. Or it could have been just a few minutes. I felt so sick. I was lying on the bathroom floor, with my cheek pressed to the cold tiles. The cold felt really good. And that is how Logan found me.
As I was lying there, to what felt slowly dying, I heard someone knocking on my hotel door. I groaned. Slowly I somehow managed to get up. My head was spinning, and it felt like my body was weighing a lot more than I could carry right about now. I got to the door and opened it. Logan was standing there, smiling, and looking gorgeous. I on the other hand, looked like crap. And it took him only a moment to realize that. Once he got a good look at me, his smile fell down in an instant. His expression changed into one of concern and he reached for me, to help keep me steady, as I was swaying a little.
'Hey, hey. You okay?' He sounded distressed. Which I guess was to be expected, when your pregnant ex opens up the door, looking like a ghost.
I opened my mouth to say something, but as soon as I did that I felt like I was going to throw up again. So instead of doing that here and ruining his very expensive suit, I put a hand over my mouth and ran for the bathroom again. I could hear Logan following close behind me, but I didn't have time to turn to him and tell him not to come. I got to the bathroom just in time. As I was bending over the toilet I felt Logan's hand on me. He gathered my hair and pulled it back, while his other hand was rubbing patterns up and down my back. In a minute or two it was over and I leaned back onto him. As I was trying to calm my breathing, he ran a soothing hand through my face, getting the sticky, wet strands of hair, out of my forehead. We sat there like that, with my back to his chest, and his hand running through my hair, while the other was wrapped around my middle section, for what felt like ages.
'Are you ready to move?' He asked me, as my breathing finally returned to its normal pace. I shook my head to indicate a hard no. I was afraid that if I moved, the whole thing was just going to start up again. 'Can I at least put you down for a second, so I can go wet a towel with cold water? I think it might make you feel better.' I nodded, and he gently lifted my body off of his and moved me to lean against the wall. I saw him stand up and go to the sink to take a hand towel. I took the time to look him over.
'When did you take your coat and jacket off?' My voice was weak and raspy.
'I took them off while I was running after you. I figured they were only going to get in the way.' He squeezed the unnecessary water out of the towel, took his tie off, and made his way back to me. He once again lifted me, this time off the wall, and got behind me. Logan maneuvered me to sit between his legs and put his hands around me. He ran the cold towel through my face, then went down my neck, and down my arms. It felt heavenly. When he was done, he put the towel away and just put his arms around me, embracing me. 'Are you feeling any better?' Logan asked softly.
'Yes. Thank you.' I whispered in return and turned my head towards him. He kissed my hair and I tried to look up into his eyes, through heavy eyelids. It took a few tries, but I finally managed. When I looked into his eyes, he smiled at me. I did my best to smile back. His hands started rubbing up and down my arms. He was looking at me, and I couldn't help but notice that the look he was giving me now, was a lot like the one he was giving me when we were together and happy all those years ago. It was a look full of love. Suddenly he laughed. 'What's so funny?' I asked him a little offended. Here I was, sick as a dog, and the bastard was laughing at me.
'You're wearing my shirt?' I looked down at my Yale t-shirt. It was light grey, with blue lettering on it. The shirt was old, oversized, and… his. When we were living together, I often wore his clothes. They always felt so comfy and smelled like him. The Yale t-shirt was one of the ones he left behind, when he moved to London. I slept with it every night, imagining he was right there beside me. The Yale t-shirt was also one of the things I never returned back to him, after we broke up.
'Yeah, I guess I am.' I laughed too. It was a little embarrassing, him catching me like this. The shirt looked worn enough to be clearly seen, that it didn't spend the last ten years tucked away in a drawer. Well, what can I say? We all had our guilty pleasures, and wearing Logan's old t-shirt was one of mine. He was now smiling lovingly at me. His eyes roaming all over my body. Assessing. That got me suspicious. 'You're not about to drag me down to the ER again, are you?' I asked him with narrowed eyes.
He laughed. 'No. Even I am aware that pregnant women tend to get sick sometimes.' He said, his hand never stopping its gentle brushes through my head.
'This is your idea of a tendency?' That notion, was just downright offending.
'What would you call it then?' Logan asked, his smile getting even bigger. He was enjoying this. Ass.
'I don't know. Maybe something in the lines of "the worst hour of my life".' I tried to be humorous about it, but it just wasn't funny. I hated feeling like this.
'I'm so sorry, Ace.' He kissed my temple and embraced me tighter in his arms. One of his hands was around my shoulders, the other around my middle. I brought my hands up to cover over his.
'Not your fault.' My voice was barely above a whisper and my eyes were closing. I was tired.
'Kind of my fault.' I heard him say. I looked up to meet his eyes. He was smiling at me. Forgetting how tired I was, I smiled back and we burst into laughter.
I woke up in my bed around five in the morning. It was still dark outside. It took me a few seconds to realize exactly where I was and what was happening. After that heartfelt talk Logan and I had on the bathroom floor, we stayed there for a few more minutes before he took me to bed. Unfortunately, that little stunt, with me puking my guts out, repeated two more times after that. And Logan was by my side every step of the way. He made sure to hold my hair back, and keep something cold on my neck and back, because that made me feel better. And then, when I was sure that I simply didn't have anything left to get out of me, Logan helped me take a shower and brought me back in bed.
Now, I was lying on my side, my head toward the window, with Logan's body pressed to mine. Our legs were tangled. With one of his hands beneath my head and the other around my middle, he was holding onto me tight. Keeping me firmly, against his chest. He was also keeping me hot. Logan was like a human electrical blanket. I didn't want to wake him, but I really wanted to look at him also, so I turned around as gently as I could. I brought my fingers up to his lips. So soft. They were always so soft. I really missed those lips. My hands went on an expedition. They re-familiarized themselves with every single line on his handsome face. I've missed that face almost as much as I missed those lips. I ran my fingers through his silky blonde hair and brought my face closer to his, so that our noses were touching.
'That was nice.' He whispered and pressed his body firmly onto mine.
'You are awake?' And here I thought I was being stealthy.
'Mhmm.' He just murmured and nuzzled his nose into mine. We laid there in the silence for a while. I was lazily brushing my fingers through his hair, then going down and drawing nonsense patterns on his back, and going back up to his hair.
'Logan?' I whispered in the quiet.
'Hm.' He didn't even bother to open his eyes.
'What are we doing?' I asked. He opened his eyes. He brought his hand up, and tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear.
'I don't know.' Logan admitted. 'But it feels good, doesn't it?' I just smiled and nodded, too mesmerized by the look of love in his eyes, to use my voice for an answer. 'Do you want to try this again? No Paul, no Odette, no Vegas. Just me and you.' My hands stopped their movement and I just stared deeply into his eyes. 'Well, and the baby that is. Just me, you and the baby?' He laughed and I joined. In a second he turned serious again. 'Do you?' There was no humor in his voice this time, and his eyes were dead serious. They were also full of love. So much love, it took my breath away.
I could only hope, that what he could clearly see in my eyes, what I so clearly saw in his, when I gave him my answer.
'I do.'
The smile on Logan's face, was one of pure joy. And it totally mirrored my own. He kissed me with passion, his hands started roaming over my body, and everything else, with the exception of me and him, went into oblivion.
They got back together! YAYYY! I'm going to delve into that and where do the go from here in the next chapter. But the important thing is, that no matter where they end up, they'll be there together! Thanks for sticking with me! I wish you all an amazing week! Until next time :)
