Chapter 22

Katie

“That’s it?” I asked and sat forward, pulling my shirt down, my eyes fixed on the screen.

Doctor Shelby smiled at me and hovered her finger to the screen, pointing at the shape on it, defined in white and black. “That’s it,” she said. “That’s your little one.”

Tears sprang to my eyes. Sam let out a little sniff beside me and rubbed my back. “Oh my god, you’re going to have a baby.”

“Yes you are,” the doctor said. “Now, I’m going to give you a prescription for some prenatal vitamins, and specifically, some folic acid. I will need to see you once a month for the next few months, just for a checkup and scan. Sound good?”

“Yes,” I said and nodded. The more I looked at that image, so adorable and so totally weird – how was I supposed to identify which part of it was baby and which was womb? “Yes, thank you so much, Doctor. I really appreciate you seeing me on such short notice.”

“Do you have any questions for me?”

“Just about which symptoms I’ll be experiencing for the next little while,” I said. “And, um, could I get a copy of the sonogram picture?”

“Of course,” the doc said, and brushed off her white coat. “As for symptoms, you could have morning sickness, which is really a misnomer because it can happen at any time of the day. And there’s tender breasts.”

“Check,” I said, and winced.

“And you may experience a heightened sense of smell, headaches, fatigue, that type of thing,” she finished.

“Sounds like a walk in the park,” Sam said and chuckled under her breath.

“If you experience any spotting or bleeding, please make an appointment with me immediately, okay?” The doctor rose, smiling. “Congratulations. You’re going to be a fantastic mom.”

“Thank you,” I said, though I definitely didn’t have the confidence to believe that yet. The next part of this journey would be tough and scary. I had to go home, get that card Logan had given me out of my journal, and make the call.

I was about to change his life forever.

The doctor excused herself to print out the picture, and I swung my legs over the side of the table and sat up straight.

Sam rose from her chair and scooched closer. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. I know you can do this.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you should be a motivational speaker?”

“There’s the wise-cracking bitch I love,” Sam said and cuffed me on the shoulder.

“I’m happy about this,” I said, and it felt right on my tongue. I could only hope I’d be as good of a mother as mine had always been to me. Oh, wow, she’d be over the moon once I told her. “I guess I just need to figure out my next steps. I— It’s going to be crazy to call him after all this time has passed.”

“Honey, I don’t know why you didn’t call him when you got back to New York in the first place.”

“I told you, Sam, it just wasn’t right. It was— We’d known each other for three days and—”

“And you were scared because you actually felt something for him,” Sam finished. “Don’t bullshit me. I know what you’re like. You’ve never believed in those types of feelings, ever since you were a kid. I was there, remember? When your dad left and—”

The doctor entered the room and handed me an envelope which contained the picture. “Here you are.”

“Thank you so much, Doctor Shelby,” I said.

“It was my pleasure.”

We left the doctor’s office and caught a taxi outside, the quiet growing between me and my best friend as I worked all of this over in my mind. She was right, of course. I’d always been hesitant about love or feelings. It was the reason I’d kept my previous boyfriends at a distance, and why I’d thrown myself into work instead.

Of course, I loved what I did, but it was part of the reason, and that was pretty sad.

But I couldn’t expect anything of Logan now. All that mattered was telling him about the baby and how we’d move forward. Could I do this on my own if he didn’t want to be a part of the journey? I certainly had enough support from my mother, but the thought of him stepping back made me super sad.

Sam squeezed my knee as we pulled up outside my apartment. “Sorry if I upset you earlier,” she said. “I went too far.”

“Don’t be silly, Sam. You said what you should have and you were right. But for now, I’m going to focus on all things baby, rather than all things Logan. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay? I’ve got a dinner date with Mom tonight.”

“Oh, so exciting! You’ll get to tell her all about it.”

I was excited about that. I air-kissed my bestie, then slipped out of the cab and made my way up the front steps of the apartment building. Two minutes later, I unlocked my front door to the sonorous barks from Butch inside.

“Mom, I’ve got news,” I said as I entered because I could hardly keep it in a second longer. “And you’re going to need to sit—” I gasped and pressed my fingers to my lips.

My mother was already seated in the living room, and directly across from her sat Logan Wright.

Oh my god.

“Wh-what?” I blinked. “Logan, how did you— What are you doing here?”

“I came to pay you a visit,” he said, and that deep rumble set off every memory we’d had together. Flashbacks streamed through my mind: us naked together; cooking in the kitchen; him standing on the beach with the gun raised, threatening Marino.

“Logan wanted to talk to you, darling,” Mom said and rose from the armchair. Butch pawed at my feet and barked, nuzzling my palm for attention as he always did. “I let him in.”

“Oh,” I said. “Oh.”

“You didn’t call, Katie.” Logan got up too and crossed the living room, my living room, filling it so completely with his frame. He halted in front of me but didn’t touch me. “I couldn’t stand the thought of not knowing.”

“Not knowing what?” I asked, a little panic rearing up, now. Get it together. He doesn’t know about the baby, yet.

“Whether what we had on the island was nothing more than just a fling to you,” he said. “It wasn’t to me.”

Oh, my god times two. This was everything I’d have loved to have heard from him today if I hadn’t just found out I was pregnant with his child. All thoughts of romance would be erased once he found out the truth.

Shit, and mom had probably invited him to stay for dinner.

“Well,” Mom said and cleared her throat. “I think I’ll leave you two to talk. Logan, be sure to call me and give me that cannelloni recipe. Or you can email me, whichever is easiest.”

“I will, Mrs. Hendrickson,” he said.

“Wait, you’re leaving? What about dinner?” I turned toward her, but she was already on the way to the door, Butch in tow.

“We’ll catch up tomorrow, hon.” She blew me a kiss, then slipped out and shut the door behind her. Butch barked one more time before he was shushed, and I heard their footsteps track down the hall.

Logan shifted in front of me. We still hadn’t touched, but the tension which spread between us threatened to break me right in half. This was… it was everything I’d imagined seeing him again would be like.

I drank him in, from the collared shirt to the rolled up sleeves, the tailored pants, and his strong nose. Those eyes weren’t cold for me anymore. They were alive with emotion, and it would’ve been too easy to get sucked into them had there not been so much I had to say.

“Jinx,” he whispered and dragged a single finger down my cheek and to my chin.

My eyelids fluttered and I inhaled, forcing down the tide of desire which automatically responded to his touch. God, I’d missed him. The rich scent of his cologne embraced me.

“Logan,” I said, barely croaking it out—not the brisk, professional tone I’d been going for. “Logan, I’m actually glad you’re here. We need to talk.”

“You’re right about that. Why didn’t you call?” Logan asked, and took my hand. He walked us over to the sofa, then sat me down, sinking into the cushions beside me. “I’m not a patient man, Katie. It took all my energy not to rush over here and claim you right away.”

“Claim me?” I said.

“Yes.” He rested his hand on the back of my neck, his thumb on my jaw. “You’ve got to know how I feel about you.”

“I—”

“Three days or three weeks or three years. It makes no difference to me. I love you.”

“Logan!”

“I love you,” he repeated, and my heart tha-thumped in my chest.

“We don’t even know each other.”

“We do,” he said. “I know everything I need to know about you to love you. You’re strong, sassy, you don’t back down from a challenge, and you respect yourself enough to know when you’re in too deep. A person is more than just a collection of favorite colors and foods and animals. I can learn all that shit later. But the important stuff? I know that now, and I know that I love all of those things about you.”

“Oh god.” I pressed a hand to my stomach. “Logan, we seriously need to talk.”

“We are talking.”

“I’m pregnant.” The words fell out of my mouth before I could formulate a better way to say them. A softer, kinder way.

Logan froze. His eyes didn’t widen and he didn’t pull back. He simply stared at me. “Say that again.”