Logan's Leap (6 page)

He
took his grandmother’s old quilt out of the coat closet and settled onto the
couch. His mind was kept busy planning out what to do for Jayna. She and CJ
could settle anywhere once the threat was neutralized. But getting a monster
like Reginald Sanders to leave a victim alone once he’d started the chase would
be nearly impossible. With that thought he started to doze off.

Logan
was lying in his bed, in the middle of the woods. He heard a woman sobbing.
Getting up, he tried to discern where the sound was coming from. “Hello,” he
called moving toward the trees. “Jayna is that you?” For some reason his voice
was so quiet even though he was yelling. “Jayna!” he tried again. He started to
run toward the sound of the crying and the sound of the river. The cries were getting
more desperate. The rushing water was louder. Suddenly he was in a clearing and
in front of him was a large man, at least six-three. He had his arm around
Jayna’s waist and a hand around her delicate throat. “Hey! Get the hell away
from her!” he tried in vain to yell. Despite the quietness of his voice, the
man seemed to hear him and looked up into his eyes before disappearing into
thin air. Jayna dropped to the ground, still crying.

Logan
sprang up, sweat soaking his body. The crying from his dream was now coming
from the bedroom. Making his way across the apartment, he walked into the room
to find Jayna sitting up against the headboard crying. “Hey, what’s
wrong?" he whispered. “Is CJ okay?”

Jayna
nodded in the affirmative and reached for a new Kleenex. “I’m sorry I woke
you.”

“Don’t
even worry about that,” he said, walking around to the other side of the bed.
He sat next to her and reached for her hand. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I…I…I
don’t know,” she hiccupped. "It’s…It’s just that my life is such a mess.
How in the hell did I let that happen?” The tears still coursed down her face.

“None
of this is your fault, Jayna. You just loved the wrong person. That’s all.” But
then didn’t it mean that it was all her fault if she was foolish enough to love
someone…Just like Ben. He’d been fool enough to love and all it got him was
heartache and death. And here was Jayna, her foolishness could cost her, not
just her life but CJ’s too. But of course he couldn’t tell her that. How the
hell should he go about comforting her though? This was so far out of his
realm.

Jayna’s
head dropped to his shoulder, her sobs calming but still shaking their bodies.

Logan
wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “We’ll figure
something out. We have to. Then you and CJ can go live near Deb and Jack.
Boulder City, Nevada is a great place for kids and Vegas is just a short drive
away.”

“That
sounds nice,” Jayna mumbled. “I do miss Deb and the twins a lot.”

“You
have to think positive.”

“I’ll
try.” She straightened up and wiped her eyes. “Thank you for making me feel
safe.”

Logan
felt anything but safe. When she was in his arms, he felt terrified…of
something. Of what? When he watched her sleep or snuggle CJ he was petrified.
He felt like he may never be able to move again. No, like he may never want to
move again. And earlier that night, when he’d kissed her, he felt… What?
Something unknown, unheard of to him, had gripped his heart when their lips
met.

“Logan.
Hey Logan,” Jayna said, pulling him away from his troubling thoughts.

“What?”

“CJ’s
crying, could you grab him while I visit the little girl’s room please?”

“Oh,
uh yeah. Sure. “He got up off the bed and made his way around to the bassinet.
“Hey my man. Are you hungry? It’s okay, Mama will be right back.” He picked him
up and cuddled him on his shoulder. Sniffing the air briefly, he grabbed the
diaper bag off the floor and started to figure out how on earth to change the
squirming, crying little bundle.

“What
are you doing?” Jayna asked as she came out of the bathroom.

“Trying
to change my buddy here. He stinks!”

Jayna
walked closer and gasped. “Logan, put the diaper over his…" But it was too
late. He got a stream of pee right in the face.

Logan
gasped and sputtered as Jayna handed him a burp cloth.

Laughter
bubbled out of his mouth as he wiped his face. “It looks like I’ve been
christened.”

Jayna
was giggling as she finished changing CJ. “At least you remembered to put the
changing pad down so the bed is safe.”

“Very
funny,” he chuckled. “I’ll be right back. I need to clean up.”

When
he returned with a freshly cleaned face, minus a shirt, Jayna was sitting
against the headboard, eyes closed, feeding the baby. Her eyes opened and set
on his torso then quickly flitted away.

“I’m
making you uncomfortable,” he murmured, walking over to the closet. “I’m sorry.
I won’t ever try anything…”

“It’s
okay Logan. You’re not making me uncomfortable. For some reason I trust you
more than I ever did Reggie. Weird huh?”

Logan
put a tank top on and waked over to sit next to her again. “Logan Harper,
master burper is here.”

Jayna
smiled and looked into his eyes for a few moments. What did she see there?
Fear? Confusion? He’d said he didn’t do relationships and family and now more
than ever, she wondered why.

Logan
took CJ and he noticed Jayna didn’t even hurry to cover up anymore. She did
trust him and that scared him most of all. “Do you like shopping?” he asked
suddenly.

“Uh
yeah. Why?”

“Well,
if you are up to it, tomorrow we can put your brown wig on and do some shopping
for Mr. CJ here.”

Jayna
looked away. “I only have a hundred dollars left,” she murmured. “It isn’t safe
to use my debit card anyway.”

“You’re
shopping. I’m paying,” he insisted.

“No
Logan…”

“Don’t
argue!” he emphasized sternly. “Consider it gifts from me and my whole family
or a loan or whatever you want, but this baby – and you, need stuff.”

“Okay
Logan…I guess you’re right. He can’t wear the same onesie all the time. But I will
pay you back.”

Logan
handed CJ back to nurse on the other side and smiled at her. “Fair enough.”

Not
too long later, CJ was burped for a final time and put into the bassinet. Logan
stood to leave.

“Can
you stay?” Jayna asked shyly. "I’ve been getting scared so easily…”

“Sure,"
he agreed, sitting back on the bed. He reached over and turned the light off
before lying down. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight
and thank you again,” she whispered as a shudder wracked her body.

“Hey,
are you okay?”

“I’m
fine. I’m just cold. The doctor told me chills and hot flashes were normal
post-partum.”

“Come
here,” he said, pulling her against him. “Body heat will warm you up quickly.”

Jayna
snuggled into his arms and fell asleep quickly. Logan soon followed.

A
call in the middle of the night informed him that his brother Dylan had been
involved in a serious car accident and was taken to Billings Montana via
helicopter. He laid awake for a long time thinking about his baby brother. It
seems that he was finally on the downward spiral of his self-destruction and if
he didn’t make it out of this, Logan knew he would have even more reason to
steer clear of women.

*********

Logan
woke early the next day. After owning the grocery store for so long, he got
used to getting an early start every day. But after being on the run and giving
birth, he knew Jayna was bordering on exhaustion so he let her sleep in. He
locked the apartment doors behind him and went down to his office in the back
of the store. He had some time to get caught up on paperwork before they would
head to Sheridan to do some shopping for the baby. And for Jayna he reminded
himself.  She had absolutely nothing but the clothes on her back.

“Hey
Logan?” an attractive woman asked, stepping into his office.

“Hey
Robin, what’s up.” His bakery manager sat down in the chair in front of his desk.
Her apron was covered in flour and there was even some on the tip of her nose.

“Can…I…Do…
you have any openings for a stocker or a maintenance worker or something like
that?”

Logan
put his pen down and looked at her. “You aren’t looking to move down in ranks
are you?” he asked, fearing the answer. She was the best bakery manager he’d
ever had and he would hate to lose her.

“No,”
she smiled. "I…well, my little brother is coming to live with me and I
want him to get a job. He’s….He…he has autism. If he has set tasks and a firm
voice he can do pretty much anything. It’s…It’s when he has too much stimulus
at once that he has a meltdown. He’s really a good worker, I promise. He worked
at the grocery store back home and now that mom and dad have passed, he needs a
steady routine in his life…”

“Whoa!
Slow down Robin. There’s no reason to be nervous with me. I know what you’ve
been through these last three months. I would be happy to help you and your
brother.”

“Oh
thank you!” she gushed. Relief was evident on her face. “I was afraid there
wouldn’t be any openings.”

“We
just lost two people who left for school in Casper so we have plenty of room
for someone new.  Once he gets settled, bring him in and we can figure
something out.”

“Thank
you so much,” she gushed as she stood up to leave. “You won’t regret this!”

The
young woman left the room and he picked up his pen again. He had to figure out
where he’d gone wrong in his bookkeeping before it was time to head upstairs to
make breakfast for Jayna.

When
Logan found the mistake he was relieved, but he also knew it was probably time
to hire someone else to do his bookkeeping for him. Between his barely readable
handwriting and his penchant for daydreaming, it was a wonder that he hadn’t
put the store into the hole.

He
stood and stretched before looking at the time on his phone. It was nine a.m.
and his stomach was growling. Rushing up stairs, he unlocked the door and found
Jayna nursing CJ on the couch. “Good morning Sleeping Beauty. How did you
sleep?”

“Very
well, thank you. CJ even slept a decent stretch.”

“Were
you being nice to your mommy, little man?” he asked as Jayna handed him over
and went into the bedroom. He was greeted by an immediate burp. “You’re just
being nice to everyone today. Do you want to help me fix breakfast for your
mommy?” The baby was quiet, already falling asleep on his shoulder.

Logan
started gathering items from the refrigerator and cupboards all while holding
on to CJ. Jayna watched them from the bedroom doorway, a smile on her face.
“Hey, let me hold him so you can have both of your hands free,” Jayna offered.

“Thank
you. I don’t think I could manage cooking with him in my arms.” He handed the
baby over to his mother and set about making eggs, bacon and pancakes. 
Finally, he served them up and took CJ to the bedroom so he could sleep in his
bassinet. 

“Oh
Logan, this is so good, I have never tasted pancakes this good. Where did you
learn to cook?”

“My
mom,” he answered. “I figured since I was never getting married, I would rather
learn to cook than starve.”

Jayna
laughed. “Good idea.” 

Again,
something constricted in Logan’s insides when he looked at her smile and heard
the laughter in her voice.  He hated the feeling, but found it easy to shake
off as conversation switched to making a list of stuff they needed to get in
Sheridan.

“Stop
fighting me on this Jayna,” Logan warned. “I’m going to make sure both of you
have everything you need. Like I said yesterday, you can think of it as gifts
or you can pay me back someday.”

“Okay,”
she sighed, finally giving in. “I’ll go get packed up for the trip while you
clean up. Is that okay?”

“Yeah,”
he said with a smile. “Next stop, Sheridan.”

**********

The
drive took them thirty-five minutes. Jayna had her brown wig and sunglasses on
and Loan wore his most battered jeans, a red and black flannel shirt, a
baseball cap and sunglasses.  “Are you guys that well known in Sheridan too?”
Jayna asked as they got out the new SUV Logan had delivered that morning to
replace the truck which didn’t have room for the baby.

“The
Harpers are known everywhere in Wyoming,” he said with a hint of amusement in
his voice. “Whether good or bad…well that depends on who you talk to.”

“Ah
okay,” Jayna said as she grabbed the diaper bag from the backseat. “I can’t
imagine anyone saying anything bad about you.”

“What
you hear about me is usually pretty decent. My brother Dylan on the other
hand…” He sure hoped his brother would be okay. He’d have to try to call his
mother again when they made it back to Harper’s Rock.

“Nicoletta
mentioned him. She said he was some kind of playboy extraordinaire.”