Chapter 57
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
isaac
Five months later
Watching Elena and Eli James film the wedding scene for the finale episode is harder than I expect it to be.
My girl stands there, breathtaking as always, a little over eight months pregnant. My whole world. I’m so damn proud of her, proud to be hers.
She’s standing across from Eli in a white lace sundress, cheeks flushed, eyes soft. There are flowers everywhere, way more than were actually at Wyatt and Ivy’s wedding.
I offered to quadruple reinforce Jasper’s pen after the showing he made at the real life event that inspired this one. But the director said they’d risk it in hopes of usable footage in the event he comes out to taste this cake, too.
Ironically enough, Jasper never shows, out doing his rounds no doubt. But no one thought to contain Sophia.
She’s interrupted filming twice already, causing them to reset. Even Rowdy and Blue have tried to herd Elena back to me.
I sneak them extra treats for this.
The crew is on hour two of shooting a twenty-minute ceremony scene when I notice Elena looks pale.
The actor playing the officiant is an older gray-haired gentleman, who I overhear ask if she needs a break.
That’s my cue.
Jogging over with a Gatorade and a mini chocolate stash in case her sugar is low, I arrive just in time to see her lean over and place her hands on her knees.
“All right,” I break in, turning toward the director. “She’s taking five. Now.”
Everyone thinks I’m overprotective. They give me plenty of hell about it. I give zero fucks what they think.
I reach for my girl and her hand squeezes mine tightly.
Extremely tightly. This woman has a grip.
“Baby? Tell me what you need.”
Her breathing is shallow, one hand squeezing the life out of mine, the other bracing on her lower back. “I’m . . . uh. I think—”
Her face crumples.
“Elena?”
“I think my water just broke.”
I glance down and there is clear fluid running down her legs.
Silence.
Dead. Stunned. Silence.
Then Ivy squeals from beside the huge camera, claps her hands and calls out, “The baby is coming! Someone call an ambulance.”
Eli yanks his phone from his pocket and makes the call, rattling off the information I’ve made everyone memorize for just such an occasion.
Maybe I’m a little over protective. I may never have been in the scouts, but I do believe in being prepared.
Elena holds onto my arm with both hands now, eyes wide and wild. “We need to—oh my God—I think I’m having a contraction.”
“Hey,” I say, taking both her hands and pressing my forehead to hers. “You’ve got this, baby. We’ve got this. Just breathe.”
“Yeah?”
I nod. “Yeah. Deep breaths. Like we practiced.”
She cries out in pain, which breaks my heart.
“Eli, what’s the ETA on that ambulance?”
He shakes his head. “They put me on hold.”
My eyes nearly bug out of my head. “Are they kidding? What the—you know what, fuck this. I’ll take her myself.”
Elena groans and doubles over. “Oh my God—okay this one’s worse—”
I lift her into my arms and kiss her temple. We head toward the driveway with half the crew in tow.
Eli jogs over to us. “Isaac, both ambulances are at an accident on the edge of town. They said it could be an hour until they get here.”
I look at Elena. “Do we have an hour?”
She shakes her head then cries out in pain. “I don’t think so.”
“We’re going.” I put her in the passenger seat of my truck and buckle her in. Then I turn to Ivy. “There’s a fancy leather maroon bag on the kitchen table at our house. If you can grab it and bring it to the hospital, that would be amazing.”
She nods rapidly. “Of course.”
I climb in the truck. Crank it up and grin at my girl.
“You ready to have a baby, baby?”
“Ready or not, it’s time.” She braces a hand on the dashboard. “Drive, cowboy.”
I make a mental note to thank my kid later for not making me suffer through watching my wife marry another man. Even it was fictional.
Kid has great timing already.
Rayne Isabella Logan is born at 6:56 that evening. She weighs six pounds and eight ounces. She’s a tiny thing but when her eyes open and lock on mine, I see it. The same ferocity her mother possesses.
I’m a girl dad.
Which means all the years I didn’t take women as seriously as I should have are coming back to me tenfold. Somewhere they’re all laughing together having a drink and toasting to the fact that I got what was coming to me.
Because these two women, Elena and Rayne, already dominate every aspect of my life.
I am one lucky man, and I don’t intend to forget it. Not for a single second.
“Okay,” Ivy breaks in from where she’s parked herself on the hospital room couch. “Can I start planning your real wedding now?”
Elena smiles from where she’s propped up in her hospital bed holding the bundle of blankets that contains our daughter. “I think now is a good time.”
Elena wanted to wait for filming to wrap and the baby to be born so we could have our Logan family extravaganza wedding and go on a honeymoon while she was on maternity leave. She doesn’t have another role lined up yet so her maternity leave will be as long as she needs it to be.
Ivy’s phone rings and she hops up quickly. “It’s my agent. I’ll be right back. I call next for baby cuddles,” she says on her way out the door.
Wyatt stands beside me, clapping me on the shoulder. “You did good, brother. Dad would be proud.”
That’s extremely high praise from him. “Damn, dude. You’re going to make me cry.”
I’m not serious but then I see the wistful way he looks at Rayne. Far as I know, he and Ivy are still trying. My heart breaks for them.
“Your day’s coming, Wy. I know it is.”
He smiles warmly at me. It’s still a weird sight to see. The man is not a smiler. “We’re having plenty of fun practicing.”
“Yeah, I try really hard not to walk in on your practice sessions.” I mock a shudder.
Elena’s laughter chimes between us. “Like you have any room to talk.”
I lean over and kiss her forehead then gaze at our daughter. “I’m very much looking forward to getting back to practicing with you.”
Elena shakes her head. “Maybe we’ll be a little more prepared next time.”
Wyatt clears his throat, reminding us he’s still in the room. Ivy bursts back in with a huge grin on her face and her phone in hand.
“Good news,” she says, wiggling her shoulders in some type of happy dance. “The studio saw the first edited footage of the show and they greenlit the filming of season two. So, after your maternity leave, we’ll get back to filming.”
“That’s fantastic,” Elena says and I hear the relief in her voice. I know she was worried about what her next role would be and where it might take her.
“Guess you’re stuck with me, spitfire,” I say.
She shakes her head and glances down at our daughter. “I think I’ve been stuck with you since day one, cowboy.”
I climb into the bed beside her and nuzzle her cheek with my nose. “Would you have it any other way?”
Her eyes meet mine and the world around us disappears. “Not even a little bit.”
I kiss her then, slow, soft, then deeper.
“I can’t wait to marry you,” I whisper.
“I think you’re stuck with me either way,” she whispers back.
A phone rings loudly, bringing us back to reality where Wyatt is studying the walls and Ivy is watching us with heart eyes. Probably writing this moment into a scene in her head.
The woman should come with a disclaimer: will turn your life into a screenplay at any given time.
We all scramble to figure out whose phone is ringing.
“Probably mine,” Elena says. “I texted my mom on the way here to let her know the baby was coming.”
I see her phone on the tray table beside the bed. It’s not lit up.
I feel for mine and realize I left it in the truck in my panic about getting Elena into the hospital.
“It’s me,” Wyatt says, sounding as surprised as I feel.
Everyone who calls him is in this room. Well, maybe besides Antonio.
He steps out of the room to answer it just as Ivy makes her way to us. She stops at the sink and washes her hands.
“Okay, lovebirds. I’ve been patient. It’s time for me to hold this baby and discuss all the ways I plan to spoil her.”
I nod. “You better soak it up while you can. Pretty sure Mom, Willow, and Sutton are in the waiting room eagerly awaiting their turn.”
According to Wyatt, Eli James is also in the waiting room with Willow, which none of us have pushed her to explain. Willow is a private person. We all know she’ll share her story when she’s ready.
Elena hands the swaddled baby-burrito bundle that is Rayne over to Ivy and the two exchange an estrogen-filled stare.
“Isaac,” Wyatt says sharply, his head poking through the cracked door. “Can you come out here for a minute?”
I glance back at Elena to make sure she’s okay with me leaving her side.
She waves me on, then says, “You can send your mom and sisters back if you want. I think it’s going to be a while before my mom gets here. She had to wait for my aunt to come sit with my dad before she could leave.”
After what happened with Diego, Elena’s relationship with her mom has been a little less strained. I don’t think Rosa Ortega enjoyed being wrong about the boy next door, but at least she could admit that she was.
Last we’d talked to her, she’d muttered something about telling his mother she was spoiling him rotten for years.
I kiss my girl once more, remind her that I love her more than my own life, then join Wyatt out in the hall.
His face is pale. His jaw is tight.
“What’s wrong?”
His temple flexes. “It’s Caleb.”
Seems like it’s been a while since I’d heard those words. It’s probably time.
“What’d he do this time?”
Wyatt shakes his head. Swallows thickly. Speaks slowly. “He’s in a hospital in Vegas. He’s hurt, Isaac. It’s bad”
My body goes instantly numb, the tingling sensation creeping upward from my legs. “How bad?”
I clench my fist in hopes of getting my blood pumping before I pass out.
My mind whirrs, running a million miles a minute with possibilities.
With Caleb it could be anything, but in a split second I narrow it down to Diego somehow making good on his threats from prison or a bull.
Wyatt’s eyes drop to the floor and I swear to fuck I see a tear. But that can’t be, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen him cry. Not even at Dad’s funeral.
“Wyatt,” I plead. “I’m dying here.”
He nods in a quick jerky motion as if amping himself up to speak. “He’s in a coma. That was his boss’s daughter. She’s been trying to reach you since she found his phone. Bull stomped on his head and neck at semi-finals last night.” His voice breaks on the last word.
My vision goes tunnel-tight.
I call him before every single fucking ride. He didn’t answer last night. He’d never not answered. I should’ve known something was wrong.
“I should’ve—”
He interrupts me. “There’s nothing anyone could’ve done. Caleb drew a fucking nightmare of a bull that was supposed to be banned from the circuit. He still chose to ride.”
He stares at his phone as if it’s going to give him answers.
I glance back at the door with my soon-to-be wife and daughter on the other side.
Feels like my heart is being ripped in half.
“I can’t leave them. I can’t . . . fuck.”
Wyatt nods. “I know. I’m going to go. Mom will want to go too. I’ll wait to tell her until after she holds her first grandchild. I’ll let you know as soon as I know anything more.”
“I’ll fly out there as soon as I can,” I tell him.
He does something so out of character, it stuns me. He grabs me by the shoulders and pulls me into a bear hug I desperately need.
“What the fuck are we going to do?” I choke out.
I can’t lose a sibling. I won’t survive it.
We’d barely survived losing Dad.
“We’re going to do what we’ve always done,” he assures me, stepping back but remaining at arm’s length. “What Logans have always done. We’re going to get through this. Together.”
I nod, wiping the moisture from my eyes. “If I find out someone is responsible for what happened to him, anyone, I’m choking the fucking life out of them myself.”
A nurse flinches at my harsh words as she passes by.
Wyatt nods. “Only if you beat me to it.”
When I turn and open the door to my future, I stop for a minute and stare at the women in my life. My entire world.
I get it now.
What I never understood before. Why I never took anyone seriously, including myself.
I never thought I’d have what my parents did. Never thought I’d be worthy of it. Thought I’d always just be the second son, the wisecracking sidekick to my broody main character brother.
But I was wrong. And it took seeing myself the way she sees me to realize it.
The most beautiful brown eyes meet mine and I see everything in them. The past. The present. The future.
In this moment, I understand why Jimmy Peterson looks like a walking dead man. Because the day this woman leaves the world will be the day my life ceases to matter.
I can only pray I go before her.
Elena tilts her head and gives me a questioning look. I smile the best that I can, knowing that whatever else happens, we have each other. I know without question what I have to do for the rest of my days: love this woman better than anyone ever could.
“You okay, cowboy?”
I nod. “Will be.”
I take my daughter from Ivy as Wyatt tells her they need to talk outside.
With a tiny perfect angel in my arms, I climb into bed beside my girl and kiss her deeply.
“Tell me three real things, baby.”
Her face breaks into a grin. “I love you with my whole heart, Isaac Logan.”
I kiss her again. “That’s one.”
“We have the most precious daughter in the whole wide world.”
Another kiss. “Two.”
“I’m actually looking forward to having a real wedding.”
This time, she places a delicate kiss on my stubbled jaw.
“You can put ‘Isaac Logan is insanely in love with me’ at the top of your list. Because that will be true every single day of forever.”
“I love you, too.” She exhales slowly and leans against me, finally resting.
My strong, brave, girl.
The mother of my child.
My future. My forever.
My family has enemies. We have enemies.
According to Elena’s mom, Diego Torres is cooperating with the FEDs and looking to get a reduced sentence. The kind of men he works for won’t take kindly to that.
Maybe he’ll come for us someday. Maybe he won’t get the chance.
Whatever comes, I vow to be Elena’s safe place.
Just like she’s become mine.
‘Til death do us part.