From the Heart: A Valentine's Day Anthology

by Anthology

  “LOGAN!” Ella cried as another pain shot through her body.

  “I am right here, Ella,” he called out. “I am going nowhere without you.”

  “What’s your name?” The firefighter said as he climbed into the car next to Ella.

  “Ella,” she replied as the tears trickled down her face. “I think I am in labour, but it’s too soon for the baby to come. I am only twenty seven weeks.”

  “Okay, Ella,” he said in a reassuring tone of voice. “Try not to worry, we will get you out of here and get you to the hospital.”

  Ella just nodded before she looked past the firefighter, to where Logan was standing, watching everything that was going on. He held his breath the whole time he was waiting for the rescue services to free her from the car.

  Once she was out, they wasted no time getting them both to the emergency room, but by the time they arrived, it was too late. Ella was in full labour and the baby was arriving thirteen weeks early.

  Logan held Ella’s hand as she gave birth to their baby, and despite the complete terror he was feeling, he thought she never looked more beautiful.

  “Just one more push,” the doctor urged an exhausted Ella.

  “I can’t,” she cried as she flopped back onto the bed.

  “Come on, Ella,” Logan said as he brushed her hair back from her face. “Just once more, then it will be over.”

  “One more,” she nodded, before she pushed with everything she had.

  “That’s it,” the doctor said. “You did it, Ella, your daughter is here.”

  “You did it, baby,” Logan cried as he kissed Ella. “You did it, we have a little girl.”

  “Is she okay,” Ella asked as she slowly lifted her head. “I don’t hear her crying.

  Logan looked down at the doctor waiting for him to reply, but he said nothing. Instead he took the baby to a warmer on the far side of the room.

  “Logan, what’s happening?” Ella asked, and he could hear the terror in her voice. “Why isn’t she crying?”

  “Doctor?” Logan asked, holding Ella’s hand tightly.

  “Logan, Ella,” the doctor said walking towards them. “I am afraid the baby isn’t breathing on her own. We need to take her to the NICU.”

  Before either of them could answer, the doctor left the room with the baby.

  “We didn’t even get to see her,” Ella said looking like she wanted to cry.

  “You will,” the midwife reassured her. “Once we have you all fixed up here.”

  Ella never said another word until the midwife led them to the NICU an hour later. Logan watched her, wondering what was going through her head. She had this quiet calm about her, that told him she was expecting bad news, and deep inside he knew he was expecting it too.

  When they walked into the NICU, nothing could have prepared them for what they would find.

  They were led to an incubator where the tiniest baby they ever saw was connected to what seemed like a million tubes and wires.

  “This is your daughter,” the midwife told them.

  “She is so beautiful,” Logan said as he reached for Ella hand. “She is perfect.”

  “She is so small,” Ella whispered. “Too small.”

  “Ella, Logan,” the doctor that delivered the baby said, as he appeared behind them suddenly. He was accompanied by another doctor who introduced as Alice Willis, a neonatal specialist.

  “Is she going to be okay?” Ella asked, as she looked from the doctors to her baby.

  “Ella,” Doctor Willis said as she stepped forward. “Your baby was born very early, she has a lot of problems.”

  “But she is be okay,” Ella repeated, looking up at the doctor.

  “She has necrotizing enterocolitis,” the doctor replied.

  “What is that?” Logan asked, knowing it wasn’t good.

  “It’s quite common in babies that are born so early,” the doctor explained. “It’s where portions of the bowel undergo necrosis, eh…tissue death.”

  “Her bowel is dying?” Ella asked.

  “But there is something you can do?” Logan said as he tried to comprehend what that doctor had just said.

  “Yes, we can operate,” the doctor said in a calm, sympathetic voice. “But a scans show that she also has a significant bleed on the brain. This complicates things a great deal. The truth is, she is in a lot of pain, and she is unlikely to survive the surgery, but that choice is yours.”

  “So,” Ella asked in an eerily calm voice. “You’re telling me, my baby will most likely die.”

  “Yes,” she replied in a quiet, solemn voice. “I am truly sorry. I will leave you two alone for a few minutes.”

  The two doctors walked out of the room and left a heartbroken Logan and a stunned Ella sitting there in silence.

  “I can’t believe this is happening,” Logan said as he stood up and started to pace up and down. “One minute we were driving along, everything was perfect, we were happy. Then some asshole runs a red light and destroys everything.”

  “I don’t understand,” Ella said as she looked down at the strapping on her broken wrist. “I just hurt my hand and bumped my head, how was the baby so hurt. Is…is this my fault? I was supposed to keep her safe.”

  “This is not your fault, Ella,” Logan said as he hurried back to his wife.

  “She…she doesn’t even have a name,” Ella whispered as tears trickled down her cheeks. “She was supposed to do so many great things. Other children were supposed to be taught about her at school. This can’t be all the life she gets. She…she can’t die without me ever holding her.”

  “Ella, sweetheart,” Logan said as he kneeled down before her. He turned her to him, and the sadness in her eyes almost broke his heart. “She knows she is so loved. She has always known this.”

  “I can’t let her go,” Ella cried. “Not without knowing we did all we could for her.”

  “Then that’s what we will do,” Logan said as he too could no longer hold back the tears.

  “I want to call her, Caroline, after your mom,” Ella said as Logan reached up and wiped the tears from her face. “I know how much you loved your mother, and how much you miss her. Maybe she will watch over her and help her through this.”

  “I would like that,” Logan cried as he hugged his wife. “I would like that very much.”

  Logan thought of his mother. He wished she was with him right there and then. She would have given him the strength he needed. She would have given him the courage he needed to go and be by his beautiful Ella’s side.

  He knew what he needed to do. He struggled to his feet and turned towards the door. Before he reached it, it swung open and Megan appeared.

  “Logan, you need to come quickly,” she cried and she grabbed his handed at pulled him back inside.

  “What is it?” Logan asked, but he feared the worst. “She is not…”

  “No!” Megan exclaimed with a broad smile. “They found her a heart.”

  Chapter 6

  As Logan reached Ella’s hospital room, they were just wheeling her out the door to take her to the OR.

  “You’re just in time,” Doctor Bennett said when he looked up and saw Logan running along the corridor.

  “You got a heart for her?” Logan asked, still unable to take it in. It was the miracle they had prayed for, but one he believed would never come.

  “We did,” the doctor replied with a broad smile. “It is on its way here as we speak, so we need to get Ella down to the OR and get her ready.

  “Can I just have a moment?” Logan asked as he stepped closer to his wife.

  “Of course,” Doctor Bennett replied, and everyone stepped away, to give Logan a little bit of privacy.

  “Hey, baby,” he whispered, then leaned down and softly kissed her cheek. “We did it, we got the heart. So now I need you to promise me something, I need you to do one more thing for me. I need you to keep fighting. This is the last hurdle. Survive this operation and we can go back to the perfect
life we once had.”

  Logan stopped and took a deep steadying breath. He was determined not to cry.

  “I need you to come back to me,” he finally continued. “Caroline needs her mom. We can’t do this without you. We have come too far to give up now. Please, Ella.”

  “Logan,” Doctor Bennett said in a low voice. “We need to go.”

  “Okay,” he said before he kissed her again. “I love you Ella Bryce. I have done since the day you crashed into my life. I will love you forever.”

  He slowly stood back, as he wished he didn’t have to let her go.

  “I will take good care of her,” Doctor Bennett promised as he patted Logan’s back.

  “You better,” Logan replied, and gave him a grateful smile.

  He stood and watched while they wheeled her away, as his heart broke that there was a change that was the last time he would see her alive.

  “Logan,” Andrew called from the far end of the corridor.

  Logan turned and saw his father hurry along the corridor, holding Caroline hands. The minute he saw his little girl, the tears finally broke free, he hurried along the corridor towards his father and his daughter. When he reached them, he swept his little girl up into his arms and held her tightly.

  “Daddy, you’re squishing me,” she said in her tiny, four year old voice.

  “I’m sorry, sweetie,” Logan replied through his tears.

  “Where’s Mommy?” She asked as Logan loosened his embrace on his little girl and looked down into her eyes.

  “The doctors have taken her to try and make her better,” Logan said with a smile.

  “And then she can come home?” Caroline asked, excitedly.

  “Hopefully,” Logan replied.

  “Yay,” she squealed excitedly before she hugged her father once again.

  Logan, Caroline, Andrew and Megan sat in the waiting room, waiting for news on Ella. The surgery seemed to be taking an eternity. Caroline eventually climbed up into her daddy’s lap and fell asleep.

  As Logan sat there with his little girl on his lap, he thought about how they had all ended up there.

  “I wish I could shake this damn flu,” Ella said as she and Logan sat at the breakfast table. “I am tired of feeling this exhausted.”

  “Maybe you should go back to the doctor?” Logan suggested as he set down his newspaper and looked across at his wife. “This has been going on for too long.”

  “I might give him a ring later,” Ella said as she finished off her coffee. She stood to clear the table, but as she turned towards the sink, she just hit the floor like a ton of bricks.

  “ELLA!” Logan shouted as he jumped to his feet hurried to his wife. “Sweetheart.”

  Ella didn’t respond. She was barely breathing.

  Logan looked up at Caroline, who had been sitting with them at the table. She looked beyond terrified, as she had no idea what was going on. Suddenly she burst into tears.

  “Caroline, baby,” Logan said in as calm a voice as he could. “I need you to be a brave girl and go into the living room and get me the phone.

  She nodded through her tears, climbed down from the chair and ran to do as her daddy had asked. She returned a few moments later with the phone, and Logan quickly called for an ambulance.

  Three hours later, he was sitting beside Ella’s bed in the hospital, as they both waited for the doctor to return with the results of the test they had run.

  “I am sure it’s just the flu,” she repeated through the oxygen mask for the tenth time. Logan smiled and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, but he knew she was scared and so was he.

  “Ella,” the doctor said as he finally walked into the room. Logan prepared himself for bad news because the look on the doctor’s face was one that scared him. “We have got your test results back. I am afraid it’s not good news. The test indicated you have advanced Cardiomyopathy.”

  “What’s that?” Ella said as her voice cracked with nerves.

  “It’s a deterioration of the heart muscle,” he explained to a shocked Ella and Logan. “Symptoms may include shortness of breath after physical exertion, fatigue, and swelling of the feet, legs, or abdomen. Additionally, you can have arrhythmias and chest pain.”

  “But I haven’t had any chest pain,” Ella replied, as she tried to reason with the doctor. “I just had this flu. Yes I am tired and a little breathless, but other than that I feel fine.”

  “Then you have been incredibly lucky,” the doctor replied. “There are some treatments we can try.”

  “And if they don’t work?” Logan asked.

  “Then we have to look at other options,” the doctor replied.

  “And what would they be?” Ella asked.

  “Well, I think its best that we wait for the cardiologist to come down to talk to you,” he replied.

  “No, I need to know now,” Ella insisted. “Please, just tell us.”

  “Well if the medication doesn’t work,” the doctor said with a deep breath. “Then the only other option maybe a transplant.”

  “I will need a new heart?” Ella exclaimed. “And the fact that I have a rare blood type, how would that work?”

  “Look, I really think it’s best that we wait for the cardiologist,” The doctor said, looking a little uncomfortable.

  “That means it’s bad,” she sighed. “You’re just afraid to say it.

  “No,” the doctor replied. “It just means I don’t have all the answers.”

  “Ella, maybe he is right,” Logan said as he stood up and sat on the edge of her bed. He reached out and took hold of her hand. “We should wait to talk to the cardiologist.”

  “But I need to know now,” she sighed as she looked up at her husband, with tears dancing in her eyes. “I need to know if I am going to die.”

  “No!” Logan exclaimed. “You are not going to die. We will do whatever it takes. I will be with you every step of the way. I will fight for you, when you feel you can’t fight anymore. I will be strong enough for us both, I promise.”

  “I know you will,” Ella said with a smile, as the tears trickled down her face. “And I love you so much for that.”

  “Please don’t cry,” Logan said as he wrapped her in his arms. He was trying hard to be strong, but inside he was beyond terrified. He knew she was right. She had a rare blood type and he knew enough to know, this was not a good thing.

  When the cardiologist came, he confirmed Ella’s fears. Her rare blood type was going to make it hard for them to find a match.

  He promised that he would try everything else first, before it came to that, but to be sure, he wanted to put her name down on the transplant list as soon as possible.

  And they did try everything, one treatment after another but nothing seemed to help. Finally it became clear, her only chance was the transplant.”

  It broke Logan’s heart to watch the love of his life, his Ella, become weaker and weaker. He felt so helpless that he was unable to do anything for her. So he did the only thing he could do. He held her and promised her they would get through this, that they would get their miracle and live happily ever after.

  Logan smiled as it occurred to him, they finally got their miracle. He held a sleeping Caroline close to him and silently whispered a thank you to God and his mom for answering his prayers.

  After what seemed like forever, Doctor Bennett emerged through the double doors and smiled.

  “It went beautifully,” he said to a very relieved Logan. “She did so well. She is breathing on her own already. Now she will probably be out of it for the rest of the evening, but she will be up and alert a lot quicker than you would think. You would be surprised how quickly a transplant recipient bounces back.”

  “I don’t know what to say,” Logan said as he stood up and gave Caroline to Megan before he walked towards the doctor. He threw his arms around his shoulders and hugged him. “Thank you so much, for everything you have done for her, for us all. I can never thank you enough.”

  �
��It is truly my pleasure, Logan,” Doctor Bennett replied with a smile. “Ella is a special lady and I am just so happy for you all.”

  “Can we see her?” Logan asked as he released the doctor.

  “She is still in recovery,” the doctor replied. “We will be moving her shortly. Then you can see her. But just you for tonight, I’m sorry.”

  Logan thanked the doctor again before he turned and disappeared back inside the door.

  Forty minutes later, Logan was taken to Ella’s room. The minutes he saw her, his heart soared. Even with all the tubes and wires, he could see she was already looking better. She wasn’t as pale, and her lips were no longer blue. He rushed to the bed and softly kissed her cheek.

  “Sweetheart, I’m here,” he whispered as he took her hand. He was surprised it was warm, normally her hands where so cold because of her bad circulation. “We made it. We got our miracle.”

  He stared at her, and for the first time he in so long, he wasn’t filled with such sadness.

  “I love you, Ella,” he breathed against her cheek before he kissed her again, softly.

  “I love you, too,” she croaked in a bare whisper.

  “You’re awake!” He exclaimed. “Baby, everything is going to be okay, you’re going to be okay.”

  “Good,” she sighed as she drifted off back to sleep.

  Logan was beyond happy. His Ella was back.

  Epilogue

  “Are you ready?” Logan asked as he walked up behind Ella, sitting at her dressing table.

  “Ready as I will ever be,” she replied and gave him a bright smile. “I’m just a little nervous.”

  “I can understand that,” Logan said. “It will be hard for you both, but you have exchanged letters, and talked on the phone. To meet will be no big deal.”

  “It’s hard to believe it’s a year since I got the heart,” Ella said as she pulled back her blouse and looked at the scar on her chest. “And a year since her son died.”

  “I know,” Logan said and he kissed the top of her head. “But it’s time to finally move on.”