I busted through the doors of the emergency room and immediately went to the nurses station. My mom had dropped me off so I was able to just jump out of the car as soon as it pulled up.
“Logan Saunders please.” I almost yelled.
She seemed empathetic. “He was brought in, I believe there is someone in the waiting room to the right if you want to wait in there.”
“Thank you.” tears starting to form in my eyes.
I rushed over to the waiting room to see a very tired looking Maryanne sitting there on her own looking very worried and lonely.
“Oh thank heavens, I couldn’t get ahold of you, why wasn’t your phone picking up?” She asked.
“I’m so sorry, it died, I hadn’t realized.” I responded feeling really guilty.
“Oh don’t worry about it dear.” She responded not wanting me to be more upset then I had to be.
“Maryanne, what happened?” I asked afraid to hear the answer.
“Sit down dear.” Once I sat down she sat down beside me and grabbed my hand. “A lot went on last night. Just after midnight there was a ruckus at the door, it was Logan’s father again. He seemed to be in a panic demanding that Logan give him money straight away, or else there was going to be trouble. Apparently, even though he had gone to prison, all was not forgiven, there was still a significant amount of money owing to the thugs he was hanging around before so he was desperate to get it from Logan. Logan and him were arguing on the front steps, and Logan was about to walk away when a vehicle came around the corner with some men in it, carrying guns. They stopped the car and began shooting.” A tear fell down Maryanne’s cheek. “Logan’s father jumped in front of the spray of bullets covering Logan.” She said now looking down at her hands. “I guess in the end he did the right thing. Desperate fool.”
“Was Logan hurt?” I finally asked.
“The car took off down the road and they both fell to the ground, I ran out to them and Logan had been shot in his chest near his shoulder, he was still conscious when I got to him but he was loosing blood. He eventually passed out. His father was already dead. Logan’s in surgery now.”
I cried some more, I couldn’t take not knowing, I wanted to be with him.
“I should have been there, I knew he was going to see his father, I should have stayed with him.” I cried out.
Maryanne grabbed me and put me in a warm hug. “Shhhh, no dear, he didn’t want you around all this, he’s probably glad you weren’t there. Don’t you worry about a thing, he’s going to be just fine.”
We sat there for two hours waiting for any information, finally the surgeon came into the room to tell us of his progress.
“Are you Maryanne Curtis?” The surgeon asked.
“Yes, yes I am.”
“Well Miss Curtis, Logan is out of surgery, he did lose a lot of blood, but the bullet did not hit any vital organs. He was lucky. We have removed the bullet, stitched him up, and he seems to be stable. I expect a full recovery.”
Maryanne and I sighed with relief. “Can we see him?” Maryanne asked.
The surgeon looked over to me. “Are you both family?”
Maryanne got her back up. “There is only one other person in this world that boy considers family besides myself, and that’s this girl right here.” She said sternly.
I smiled at her determination.
“Ok then, just not for too long, he may not be awake and if he is he needs his rest.” He responded with a smile and left the room.
A nurse showed us to the room that Logan was staying in, and I was shocked at what I saw when walking in. There was my big strong man looking so pale and vulnerable lying in the hospital bed. I walked up to the side of the bed and began to rub his arm.
His eyes opened slightly seeing me and he smiled. “Hi Princess.”
Tears began to fall again. “Hi.” I couldn’t even find the words to say in this moment I just wanted to throw my arms around him, but couldn’t because I was afraid of hurting him.
He looked over and saw Maryanne standing there also looking like she was going to cry. “Maryanne, you shouldn’t worry so much. I’m fine.” He said seeing the tears in her eyes.
She walked over and grabbed his hand. “You scared the life out of me Logan, I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost you too. Not your mother and you.”
“You haven’t lost me yet.” He said weakly. “I’m still here to eat all your food.”
“Still making jokes, well you must be fine then.” She laughed while shaking her head. “Well I’ll tell you what, I’m going to leave you two here by yourselves and I’m going to give my old heart a rest. I’m also going to bring you some stuff from the house, cause I think your going to be here for awhile.”
We watched as she left and I turned my attention back to Logan. I pulled up a chair and lay my head on his uninjured side to just listen to him breath.
“Are you ok Princess?” He asked, as though I was the one who got shot.
I looked up and gave him the honest answer. “No. No I’m not. I was terrified, I had dream after dream last night of you ending up dead, then I get the phone call from my nightmares. I just want to lay here with you and listen to you breath and make sure your still with me.” I said then lay my head back down.
He put his arm around me and pulled me in closer. His hand went up and down my arm. “I’m not leaving you Princess, your stuck with me.”
“Logan, can you tell me what happened?” I asked, knowing Maryanne’s version of the story.
He lay there silent for a moment, I almost thought he might have gone back to sleep. “Logan you don’t have to tell me right now, you can rest.” I added when he hadn’t said anything.
I put his hand on my cheek. “He was back again demanding the money.” Logan began. “Only this time he said that he needed a large amount, he couldn’t wait until I signed over the estate to him. I told him that I can’t get that kind of money right away, and he went off about how they were going to kill him, that they had already threatened him and thats why he had to push me into giving him the money.”
Logan now closed his eyes and began to tear up. “I was about to tell him that ‘that was his problem’ when they showed up. They shot at us both intent on killing anyone in their path. He jumped in front of me and took the full hit.” Logan had tears running down his face now. “He whispered ‘I’m sorry’ in my ear just before we both went down. What kind of father blackmails his son, then turns around and takes a bullet for him? I mean who does that?” He was now sounding hysteric as I just stared into his sad eyes. “I don’t even know why I’m crying for that bastard.”
“Because he was your father, no matter what he’s done wrong.” I replied with a small smile. “In the end he saved his son, which is what he should have done. Theres no shame in grieving for the man he used to be is there?”
Logan just nodded his head still crying and brought me in so we could just hold each other, and that’s the way we stayed.