Twisted Fate by Summer Cooper
21
Logan
They’re five months old today, Logan thought as he glanced at the girls in the back seat of the rental car they’d picked up at the airport. Five months and growing like weeds, he thought with pride as he turned into the driveway the navigation system pronounced was the address he wanted.
“The keys are supposed to be in the mailbox,” Logan said to Keily and she jumped out of the car to walk to the mailbox in front of the gate. Luckily, it was his left leg he’d broken so he could still drive.
He looked over her frame with hungry eyes, always hungry, even after a month of having her every way he wanted her. He knew from past experience that it was unlikely he’d ever have enough of her. He smiled when she opened the gate with a comical bow and flourish to wave him in.
She closed the gate while he pulled the car up to the mansion he’d rented for the week in Puerto Rico. It had been a bit of a juggle to get the girl’s passports in time, but he’d managed it. A quick glance up at the house revealed three stories in a traditional Spanish style with a terracotta roof and white adobe walls. Balconies ringed the top two floors and he knew the roof hid a terrace. Out back there was a pool, tennis courts, and an orange grove that filled the air with the sweet scent of orange blossoms.
“This is lovely, Logan,” Avery said as she climbed out of the car and started to unbuckle the girls. “Just right, I should think.”
Her eyes held a twinkle of knowledge that made him wonder if she’d guessed why he’d brought them here. It was a surprise, this trip, planned for many months now. When he started to plan it, he hadn’t known exactly what he had in mind, other than a vacation for a woman that had just been through hell, but now he knew.
He touched his pocket, felt the small box there, and sighed. He hadn’t lost the ring then. “I say we check what’s inside, unload the girls, and head to the beach.”
“I’ll go to the grocery store if I need to.” Avery volunteered as she pulled one car seat out and got out of the way.
By the time the girls were unloaded and the car unpacked it was mid-afternoon. Avery had rushed off to a supermarket down the street and was back in time for them all to go to the beach together. Keily pushed the girls in a specially-ordered stroller designed for triplets and smiled as people stared in delight at the girls beneath the canopy of the stroller.
Logan was proud of his girls, all of them.
Keily sidled up to him, in black flip flops, a sapphire blue sarong, and a matching bikini top that did little to hide her assets. He didn’t mind a bit.
She’d started to wean the girls a couple of weeks ago but her bustline hadn’t suffered for it. Neither had her waist, he noticed, she was almost back to her old size. Not that any of that really mattered, he’d loved her cushiony, he’d love her thinner too.
“I’m so glad you sprang this little trip on me last night.” She sighed as she looked around. “It’s so lovely here.”
“It is, but not as lovely as you.” He waggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed loudly, her eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses.
“That was just cheesy, Logan, but I’ll take the compliment.” She took a bottle of water from the compartment at the top of the stroller and drank. “Are you sure you should take your brace off?”
He looked down at the metal, cloth, and Velcro of the soft cast he wore and frowned. He probably shouldn’t, but as long as he was careful, maybe he wouldn’t end up back in the ER. He’d been cleared for the trip when he reported no headaches or blurred vision and the only real display of the accident he’d managed to survive was the cast he had to wear. “Should be fine.”
He hoped they weren’t the famous last words of every male fool that ever lived.
They spent the first hour playing together in the water while Avery looked after the girls. He swam easily after her in the water, marveled at how well she swam, and when he started to get tired, he held her in his arms to kiss the salt from her lips. “I’m so glad we’re here.”
“I am too, Logan.” She snuggled into his arms, her lips nuzzling at his neck.
Logan held her there and wanted to slip her bikini bottoms off but there were too many people around. Maybe he could get her in the pool later, once it was dark and Avery and the girls had gone to bed. Keily suddenly jolted and made a noise somewhere between a screech and a scream.
“I’m getting out, I don’t know what that was that just brushed against my leg and I don’t want to find out.” She said as she swam away, fear evident in the way she didn’t bother to look back.
He had to chuckle at her but stopped when he saw the telltale sign of a fin about thirty feet away. Not a good time to be in the water, he decided and followed her. He decided he wouldn’t tell her what he’d seen, but he did keep his eyes open for that fin. It kept heading further out to sea and was gone by the time he walked out of the water behind Keily.
Avery sat on a huge blanket with the girls, two umbrellas spread out to keep the family in the shade. The babies were all asleep, seagulls swam on breezes in the sky, and the world was a peaceful place, despite the shark they’d just managed to calmly escape. Maybe they’d stay at the house the rest of the week, he decided, with a grim look back at the ocean before he sat down.
Families and friends filled the long expanse of sand and Logan decided it was the perfect time. Nobody was paying them any attention and the only people that mattered to him were right there. He didn’t feel nervous, he knew in his heart what her answer would be, so after he dried his leg and put his cast back on, he dug out the ring box from the diaper bag he’d insisted on packing.
He tried to gather his thoughts, he’d had this all planned out, down to what he wanted to say, but now that the moment was at hand those words disappeared and he couldn’t bring them back. A breeze blew over them, cooling their hot skin, but doing little for Logan’s suddenly seized-up brain. He couldn’t think of words, any words, to say. She was sitting there, not looking at him but at a family of seagulls fighting over something that had washed up on the beach.
“I think I’ll go get a drink,” Keily said out of the blue, her head tilted towards a little kiosk selling drinks and snacks.
“Keily…wait. Please?” Logan asked, still with the box in his hands. He felt the sand give another centimeter as he reached out to take her hand to stop her.
“What’s up, Logan?” Keily asked and brushed hair out of her face, her sunglasses hiding her eyes from him. Then she glanced down at the box and he saw her eyebrows rise up over the sunglasses. It was a surprise then. “Logan?”
“Keily, I had a plan, a really good plan, and all these really great words I wanted to say. Stuff that would make it into movies, it was so good. But now that I’m here, looking at you, looking at the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, my brain has just gone dead. I’m sorry the words aren’t coming out better, but I want to tell you I love you.”
He paused as she gasped, and a tear ran down from behind the huge sunglasses on her face. He didn’t want her to cry, but if it was good crying that was fine. He rushed on to fill up the empty silence.
“I’m sorry I’m bungling this, but I do love you. Maybe the first time you hear those words from me shouldn’t be the point where I’m asking you to be my wife, but that’s just how it worked out. I love you. I love our girls. I want to spend the rest of my life with all of you, watching the girls grow up as we grow old together. Because I didn’t know this, Keily, but I have a lot of love to give and the only people I want to give it to are you and our girls. So, will you marry me? Will you let me spend the rest of my life loving you?”
“Logan…” She started but then choked up. She’d been so afraid to let him back into her life that when she finally did, he thought she was past the bad times, past the things that could have torn them apart. Had he been wrong?
He frowned, his world about to collapse around him when she got up on her knees, pushed her glasses up on her head, and took his hand. This was it, he thought, afraid to meet her eyes, afraid to see her refusal there. He’d been so certain she’d say yes, but here he was, about to be thrown back into reality. Damn, he’d been a fool, he should have waited longer.
“Logan, I think for most of your life you haven’t been loved. When I came to work for you, I don’t think you wanted to be loved. You didn’t know what it was, and it didn’t fit into the goals you’d set in life. But I think you felt it, even when I didn’t say it. Even when I didn’t want to feel it, you felt it, despite our past, despite who I was when you came back into my life. The girls, they’re our most precious gifts to each other, but you’re mine, Logan. Without you, I wouldn’t have them, or be me, or know what real love was. I know two kinds of love now and yes, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, learning how love grows, changes, and what it’s like to have that love for the rest of my life.”
“Oh my.” Avery sniffed behind Logan, but he didn’t mind.
She’d said yes?
“Yes? You will marry me?” He whispered, too afraid she’d change her mind to speak louder.
“Yes, you goofy man, I’ll marry you.” Keily all but shouted and dozens of people around them started to clap and shout in happiness for them.
Logan looked around, surprised anyone had noticed their little moment, but pleased at the response. At her response. He pulled her into his arms, kissing her all over her face as she laughed at his response. With his response rather, he reminded himself.
“I hope it’s the right size.” He breathed as he took out the diamond ring, just the right size and shape for Keily’s hand.
She was never ostentatious with jewelry and he’d chosen this one for a reason…it was a round, 2.5 gray carat diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds that matched the color of her eyes when she was most aroused. Only he would know that, though, he knew, and it pleased him that she’d wear his ring.
“It’s beautiful, Logan, thank you.” She held her left hand out, admiring the ring with Avery, just as one of the girls started to fuss and kick her legs.
People walked by and congratulated them in a mixture of Spanish and English. Logan said gracias to them all and meant it. This was one of the most important days of his life. He was pleased to have others to share it with.
“I’m still finishing school, though,” Keily announced once she had Zoe changed and a bottle in her mouth. “I want to work for you.”
“You can do whatever you like, Keily, as long as I get to do it with you,” Logan answered and picked up Zinnia when she started to fuss.
“Hmm, I wasn’t asking you, you know?” She narrowed her eyes at him but relaxed when he just smiled at her.
“I know, honey.” He finally replied. “Thank you for accepting my rather pitiful attempt at proposing, by the way.”
“I never in a million years expected it, Logan. You just aren’t the type. Well, weren’t the type, I should say. I guess you really have changed, and I love you for it.”
“You wouldn’t love me if I hadn’t changed?” He asked, a little perplexed.
“I would, but you wouldn’t have let yourself take a chance on it, so it’s not me that would have changed the situation, it’s you. I knew I loved you over a year ago. I’ve waited a long time for you to realize you loved me too.” Keily sighed, her eyes stormy. “A lot happened, in both our pasts and lately with the babies. We had to change because of that, but the way we approached those things had to change. We’ve let it draw us together, instead of pushing us apart, and that’s what matters. We’re stronger together, and always will be.”
“I love you, too, Keily.” It felt nice to say it, and he didn’t mind repeating it. He had a feeling he’d say it millions of times before his days were done.
“Good, because I need all the love I can get. Eventually, these three will leave us, and all I’ll have is you. But that will be enough.” She smiled a happy smile, full of joy and contentment.
“It will. And we can always adopt if we want more children. That’s a promise.” It was something that he’d thought about a few times now, but it was a decision for the future.
“Maybe when these three are older. Not before. No way.” She chuckled and looked over at poor Avery, quietly wiping away the last of her happy tears. “Want to help me find a dress?”
“I’d love to, Keily. I really would.” Avery sniffed and laughed at the same time.
This was going to be perfect, after all.
