Counting On It (Hearts for Ransom Book 1) (25 page)

Emily looked at the confetti she’d made from the December page of her calendar, and tried not to cry. It was Christmas Eve, the day Logan was supposed to have…No. She had enough to deal with. Her emotions were all over the place—thinking about her mom and dad, missing Linda, the Slammers…Logan.

She had gone to Aaron and Sara’s house the night before so they could celebrate Christmas together. Sara’s tests were all coming back negative. It appeared that they had removed all of the cancer. Last night should have been nothing other than a celebration, but she ended up pouring her heart out to her second set of parents.

After first expressing disbelief, Aaron’s next response was to go find the man and rearrange his face. Emily felt loved and safe at their home and hadn’t wanted to come back to her own house.

Now, Abby had bullied her into going with her to a small party at Brody’s house. She promised Emily that besides Brody and Abby, it would only be Colton and his wife Joni, and Bo was bringing his girlfriend, Liz. Emily would feel like a fifth wheel, but Abby refused to let her sit at home alone on Christmas Eve.

Abby should be picking her up at any moment. Thinking about her friend brought a smile to Emily’s face. She had come to Emily’s house the day after they…saw Logan, on cloud nine. Brody had told her he loved her the night before. It was as Emily suspected. He just thought she knew. Emily didn’t know why he decided he needed to tell Abby, but she was glad he had.

Thirty minutes later, Abby pulled into Brody’s driveway behind Bo’s truck. Emily looked carefully, but there was only one other vehicle there besides Brody’s and Bo’s. Logan really wasn’t there. She sighed with relief. There was no way she was up to seeing him today.

“You’ll have fun,” Abby assured her. “You know everybody here.”

Emily forced a smile. She liked Colton’s wife, Joni, but had only seen Bo’s girlfriend briefly once. She couldn’t even remember what she looked like.

Brody opened the door and let them in.

“Let me take your coats, ladies.” He gave Abby a kiss before he carried the coats to a bedroom.

The three of them had just started walking into the dining room, where Emily could hear the other people talking and laughing, when Abby turned to her.

“Shoot!” Abby’s gaze flitted toward the hallway. “I left my camera in my coat pocket. Would you mind getting it for me, Em?”

Feeling more like a fifth wheel than ever, Emily nodded. “Where is it, Brody?”

“The last door on the right.” He smiled at her before leading Abby into the other room.

Emily sighed as she walked down the hall. This party was a bad idea. Other than Abby, these were Logan’s friends. It hurt too much to be with his friends and not be with him. She wondered if he was somewhere else with that other woman—maybe his mom’s.

She opened the door and walked into the bedroom. There was Abby’s coat, lying on the bed. Emily was a few steps away from it when the door closed behind her. She whirled around.

Logan and his new girlfriend were standing there.

She immediately tried to walk between them to leave, but Logan wouldn’t let her past.

“Let me go, Logan, or I’m going to scream,” she threatened.

“No, you’re not. You’re going to listen to me.”

“I don’t want to listen to you. The minute Abby finds out you’re in here, she’ll take me home.” She pushed against him again. “Let me go.”

The other woman stood silently by.

“Abby knows I’m here,” he calmly announced.

“Abby…” What was her best friend trying to do to her? Why would she put her in this situation?

Feeling abandoned, her sense of self-preservation kicked in and a little of her normal feistiness reappeared. She took a few steps back and crossed her arms. “Fine. If you’re perverted enough to need an audience before you can make out with your new girlfriend, here I am. Go for it.”

“Emily, I don’t think you two have really met.” Why was he speaking so calmly? How could he be so heartless?

“Introduce us, then, you sadistic pig.” It wasn’t enough that he had lied to her. Now he had to rub her face in it.

“Emily, this is Liz Zimmers, Bo’s girlfriend.” He paused. “Liz, this insane woman is Emily Scott, the woman I love more than life itself.”

“I’m insane?” Emily shouted. “You were in a restaurant, making out with one of your best friend’s girlfriends, and now you want me to meet her? What sick game are you playing?”

“Liz, if you’ll excuse us now.” He nodded at the other woman. The dark-haired beauty produced what looked like a disdainful smile toEmily before she left the room, closing the door soundly behind her. Emily wasn’t sorry to see her go. That woman was trouble. Well, Logan was welcome to her.

“I’m leaving.” Emily once more tried to get around Logan.

“You’re going to listen to me first.”. His voice softened. “Then, if you still want to leave, I’ll let you.”

“What choice do I have, you…bully!” She walked to the bed and sat on the edge, her arms crossed defensively. “Talk fast. I want to get out of here.”

“I know you think you saw Liz and me making out, but you’re wrong. You must have seen me thanking her.”

“You thank women by kissing them?”

“I didn’t kiss her, you bull-headed woman! What did you do? Decide that was what was going to happen, and just leave?” He knew her all too well. She pushed aside the niggle of guilt she felt.

“You were holding her hand!” Emily shouted. “How would you feel if I held hands with Paul Findley?!”

“I’d be furious!” he yelled back. “But we weren’t holding hands, you crazy person!”

“Are you calling me names again, you lying, cheating…pig?!” She stood up. She had heard enough.

He firmly pushed her back onto the bed. “We’re not finished!” He knelt in front of her. “We’ll never be finished!”

“Stop yelling at me!” she hollered.

He could have pointed out to her that she had been the one to instigate the loud voices, and she had also been calling him names, but he decided enough was enough. It was time for her to hear the truth.

“Okay.” He took her hands in his. Even though she tried to pull them away, he held firm. “I want to tell you my plan, Em. Are you ready to listen?”

She deflated. “I know your plan. You waited until now so I’d be strong enough to hear that you don’t really love me.”

He sadly shook his head. “Emily, I love you more than words can say.” He was going for broke, and he just hoped she didn’t shoot him down. “My plan was for us to wait until we were both ready for a real commitment. I never meant we were waiting just to make love. I want us to be together for the rest of our lives.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring. “Liz manages her dad’s jewelry store. She helped me with the size since I thought her fingers looked like yours. What you saw was her making sure this would fit you.” He held out a band adorned with a large, princess-cut diamond. “I love you with everything that I am. I promise I’ll love you for the rest of my life. Will you please marry me, Emily Irene Scott?”

Emily was speechless. This had been his plan? Marriage? Logan hadn’t cheated on her. He loved her!

“I’m dying here, Em.”

His voice shook her out of her stupor. She held out her left hand. “I love you so much, Logan. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

He slid the ring on her finger and then, framing her face in his hands, gently kissed her. She felt like a prized piece of porcelain.

After he slowly pulled away, a content smile on his face, she had a question for him.

“Does this mean we can make love now?”

He looked at her solemnly and wanted more than anything for her to understand. “Emily, remember what you said about your parents’ love when you looked at their wedding picture?” She nodded. “We have that kind of love. We’ll see it in our picture.” He leaned forward and kissed her softly. “I want you to wear a white dress at our wedding, and know you embody all it stands for. I want our wedding night to be the first time we make love. It will make it the most precious night of my life.” His eyes searched her face. “Do you understand?”

She slowly nodded. “How soon can we get married?”

He chuckled. “It really doesn’t give us much time for a lot of planning, but I’d like to celebrate your birthday with a wedding.” Her birthday was six weeks away.

“Another six weeks of waiting?” She dropped her forehead against his and groaned.

He lowered his mouth and kissed her lips. “It’ll be worth the wait. I promise.”

She thought of their near-misses. “I’ll be dying for you to make love to me in six weeks.”

He stood and pulled her up with him. Just before his lips took hers, he softly murmured, “I’m counting on it.”

“Is this where you want it?” Logan held their wedding picture against the wall on the landing at the top of the stairs.

“Down just a little.” He lowered it. “There. I want the bottom of it to be even with the top of Mom and Dad’s and your mom’s.” Once he hung their wedding picture, they would have a diamond-shaped arrangement with their wedding picture on top, a professional photograph of his mom on the left, a picture of the Slammers and their little brothers on the bottom, and her parents’ wedding picture on the right. She smiled as she remembered her mother-in-law’s pride at being able to make it through a brief photo session at the local department store.

“You know what?” he asked, carefully setting the picture on the floor and laying the hammer beside it. “This can wait.”

“Now, how are you ever going to get it in the right place?”

He grinned at her, a twinkle in his eyes. “I know just the right place.” Before she knew what he was doing, he swept her up into his arms and carried her into their bedroom.

“Logan, it’s broad daylight.” She thought she ought to at least put up a token protest. “What if somebody comes?”

Her ornery husband winked at her. “Oh, Emily, I’m counting on it.” He dropped her on the bed and pounced.

Their wedding picture remained on the floor until the next day.

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