Saving Cassie (Fairfield Corners)

by Remenicky, L. A.

  Adam looks at me. “She won’t. We’re almost family and I take care of my family.”

  James leaves and Adam pulls the two chairs in the room closer to Logan’s bed. “Come and sit Cassie, I have some things I need to tell you about Logan.” I sit and look at Adam, waiting for him to start. “Believe it or not, Logan has been searching for you since he was nine years old. It all started with a dream he had in April that year. He couldn’t tell me what happened in the dream, only that he dreamed of blood and knives and red hair, and that he had to save Reggie. For years, he’s been searching for a red-headed Reggie, it really threw him for a loop when he figured out it was you.” He sees the look of disbelief on my face. “You Ok, Cassie?”

  “Yeah, I just can’t believe this. You’re going to think I’m crazy when I tell you everything that has happened. It all started 20 years ago, the day before I turned six, on April 3.” I can see when he starts putting two and two together. “Reverend Jake killed my parents and was planning on killing me but our neighbor showed up before he could get to me.” I continue with the story, telling him about coming to live with Gram and moving to New York when I turned 18. I explain about meeting Matt, and what happened that night nine months ago.

  “What date was that?” he asks, “I had a show in New York around that time. That was one of the shows that Logan was working security.”

  “It was January 16. I had tickets to go to that show. I can’t believe I was that close to Logan on that night.”

  “That actually explains something that happened the night of that concert. After the show, we were in the limo headed for the Plaza when Logan got a blinding headache, it made him physically sick so I had the limo driver rush us to the nearest hospital. We were waiting for Logan to go to the x-ray department for an MRI when suddenly the pain was gone. He said “Thank God, she is safe.”

  “Don’t tell me… You were at Manhattan General Hospital, weren’t you?”

  “How did you know?”

  “That’s where I was treated that night. I thought my life was over.” I start to cry silently, tears running down my face.

  Adam pulls me into his arms, letting me cry, somehow knowing that holding me is the best thing he can do.

  Over the next few days I am grateful to have someone here with me. James and Marie are here as much as they can be. James is still dealing with the state police and Marie has Olivia to take care of. Adam and I are walking down to the end of the hall to stretch our legs. We have turned around and have started back when we hear alarms going off and a code blue call to Logan’s room. God, no! I run back to his room but the nurse won’t let me in, she says they need us to stay out in the hall out of the way. I call James, but I can’t even talk when he answers the phone. “Hi Reggie, any news?” When I don’t answer I can hear the panic in his voice. “I’m almost there Reg, hold on!”

  The doctor is just coming out of Logan’s room when James gets there, breathing hard from running up the stairs, not even taking time to wait for the elevator. Adam is holding my left hand so I grab James’ hand with my right, holding on for all I’m worth, willing Logan to be OK.

  “There’s been a complication. A blood clot broke loose and traveled up to his brain causing a stroke. It looks like we were able counter most of the effects of the stroke but we won’t know for sure until he wakes up.”

  All I hear is stroke and my mind shuts down, and I start shaking my head no. James looks at me and sets me in a chair as Adam goes to get a glass of water. “God, Reg. When was the last time you ate? You look like shit.” He gives Adam a dirty look, as if he’s not taking good care of me. “I’m going down to the cafeteria and get you something.

  I nod and he heads off to the elevator. Marie comes off the elevator and James fills her in on the latest developments. She hurries over to me and puts her arm around me. “He’s still with us Cassie. Obviously he’s fighting to stay here with you. Keep praying Cassie. We’ll get him through this.” Only after she has comforted me does she look up and acknowledge Adam’s presence. “Hi Adam, I’m Marie. I didn’t know you and Logan were such good friends.”

  “Actually, Logan and I are family,” Adam begins, “We are first cousins and we grew up together. He called me last week and asked me to be his best man.” He turns to me, “He’s tough, Cassie. He’ll pull through this.”

  “I’m just so scared. I almost lost him again today. I don’t know if I can hold it together much longer.”

  James walks up with a container of soup. “Here, Reg. You need to eat this.” He pulls the lid off and sticks a spoon in it and hands it to me. I get a whiff of chicken soup and that’s it, welcome back morning sickness! I stand up and shove the soup at James and run for the nearest bathroom. Unfortunately I’m not going to make it that far, but there is a trash can right here. I manage to get sick into the trash can while everyone just stares at me.

  I turn around and look at them all staring at me. “Don’t look at me like that. Haven’t you ever seen anyone with morning sickness before?”

  “What?” James asks as he continues to stare at me. I can see when my words start to make sense to him. I haven’t seen him that happy since Olivia was born. “I thought that wasn’t possible? Come over here and sit down. Have you seen a doctor? Are you sure?” James asks.

  I grin at him, “Yes, I’m sure. I saw Doc the morning that all this happened. He says everything looks good. I wanted to tell Logan first as he’s the reason for this miracle.” My eyes fill up with tears again, it seems like all I do these days is cry. “He’s just got to be OK, I don’t want to do this by myself.”

  “When was the last time you ate? I haven’t seen you leave Logan’s room for two days. Do you think you can eat something now? I’ve got some crackers I brought up with the soup.” Seeing James acting like a mother hen makes me smile.

  The doctor comes back out of Logan’s room. “We’ve got him stabilized now, you can go back in.”

  I head back in to Logan’s room, grateful that he’s still here with us. “Come on, Dudley. Time to wake up now. I’ve got some big news for you.”

  Adam comes in to sit with us for a while, asking if he’s intruding.

  “No, you’re family.” I respond.

  “I don’t want you to worry about any of the hospital bills, I will take care of it. Logan would never let me help him, but he will this time. I want to make sure he has the best care available.”

  I give Adam a big hug. “Thanks, Adam. That’s one less thing I have to worry about.” He gets up to leave, “I’m going to stay at Logan’s house if that’s OK, I really need to get some sleep.”

  The next day I’m sleeping with my head on the bed holding Logan’s hand. I wake up to feel his thumb gently rubbing my palm. I look up and see him looking at me through half-open eyes. “Hey, Darlin’. Are you pregnant?” and then his eyes close again. I press the call button and I keep pressing it until the nurse comes running in.

  She sees the tears in my eyes and the smile on my face. “What happened, honey?”

  “He was awake! He looked right at me and he knew me! He even spoke to me!”

  “That’s great! I’ll get the doctor up here shortly.” She hurries out of the room.

  Logan has woken up briefly twice more in the last three days. Hopefully, he’ll be fully awake soon. I want to make sure he can fully comprehend what I want to tell him. I am hoping he will be as excited as I am!

  James, Marie, and Adam have been making sure I’m eating and staying away from caffeine. The morning sickness has been awful, but I’m dealing with it OK. I seem to be sleeping a lot. Usually I crawl into bed with Logan. I’m sure the nurses have seen it, but they haven’t said anything so I’m going to continue to do it.

  Some days are worse than others. Today, the hormones got the best of me and I cried all over Adam for about an hour. He just pulled me into his lap and let me cry. I fell asleep in his lap, exhausted. About half an hour later, Adam sees Logan’s eyes open and finally focus on m
e in his lap.

  “I’m on my deathbed and you still can’t keep your hands off my woman? Go find your own,” he says to Adam with a smile.

  Adam wakes me gently by whispering in my ear, watching Logan’s eyes to be sure he’s still awake. “Wake up, Cassie,” he whispers, “Got a surprise for you!”

  I sit up, struggling to focus. I hate sleeping during the day, it makes me groggy. Adam takes my chin in his hand and turns my head so I am looking at Logan. I see Logan awake and looking at me. “Hey, Darlin’,” he whispers with a slight grin.

  “Oh my God, Logan!” I grab his hand and a tear starts rolling down my cheek. “I was so scared!”

  He reaches up and wipes away my tears. “Don’t cry, Darlin’. Everything is OK now. How’s the baby?”

  Adam reaches around me and grabs the call button with a big smile on his face. “Hey, cuz. About time you woke up.”

  The nurse comes in and sees Logan’s awake. “Hi there, Deputy. Glad to see you decided to wake up. I’ll go call the doctor and I’ll be right back.”

  I get out my phone and text James, Marie, and Ragan. “AWAKE!!”

  Logan still hasn’t let go of my hand as if he’s afraid I’ll disappear. “I see you found your ring. I take it that your answer is yes as you’re wearing it?”

  I bring my other hand up to his face, “Of course, it’s yes. I love you so much!” I kiss him to show him how much. “How did you know I’m pregnant?”

  “Your Gram told me.”

  At this point the doctor walks in so Adam and I go out in the hall to wait. James shows up first and then Marie comes running up five minutes later. James picks me up and swings me around. “James, not the best idea to swing a pregnant lady around.”

  “Sorry, I’m just so happy for you!” he hugs me tighter and puts me down, making sure I’m not dizzy before he lets me go.

  Ragan gets there five minutes later. “Oh honey, I’m so glad for you. I can’t wait to meet him.”

  The doctor comes out of Logan’s room smiling. Looks like things are going to be Ok.

  The next day I get back to the hospital after going home to take a shower and change clothes. I am so happy I feel like I’m floating! As I get closer to Logan’s room I hear yelling. “I don’t want your damn money, Adam, get the hell out of my room!”

  Adam comes out of the room, ducking to avoid the plastic glass that comes flying out the door. He grins at me. “Well, he took that better than I thought he would.”

  I smile back. “I’ll get him to accept it, Adam. You don’t know how much I appreciate it.”

  Two days later I am pacing the hallway outside Logan’s room, waiting for the doctor to release Logan to go home. He still has some left side paralysis and has a long road ahead of him until he’ll be ready to go back to work. Luckily, he has decent disability insurance and he has finally accepted that Adam is footing the bill for anything the insurance doesn’t cover.

  The doctor comes out of Logan’s room smiling. “You can take him home today, Cassie. He’s good to go.”

  I reach up and give him a big hug. “Thanks, Doc. I’ve been afraid I’m going to wake up and this was all a dream and Logan’s still in a coma.”

  Adam and I get all the paperwork taken care of and Logan is released. He grumbles about the wheelchair but it is policy and the hospital won’t budge on this. I grab his cane and we head for the parking lot. We get to the sidewalk as Adam’s limo pulls up, we’re going home in style!

  We pull up in front of the house and find James and Marie on the front porch. We get Logan out of the car and he insists on getting into the house on his own. We go through the door and find all of our friends waiting for us, waiting to welcome us home. An hour later we are saying goodbye to James and Marie. I can see that Logan is exhausted, and he actually accepts Adam’s help going up the stairs. He takes him into Gram’s room because it has its own bathroom. I walk into the room and it’s transformed, it’s been painted and everything has been cleaned and polished. We have great friends who would go to all this trouble for us.

  Two days later, I help Logan down to the living room. It’s been hard here by myself. Adam had to take care of some things to cancel the rest of his tour and James and Marie took Olivia to Indy to the Children’s Museum for her birthday. Ragan is supposed to be back today after her meeting in New York yesterday. A gallery is interested in a show of her nature photographs. I’m excited for her but I could really use her support right now. I’m exhausted. Logan is trying to do too much too soon. He sees how tired I am. That’s the downside of being pregnant, the bone deep weariness. “Go up and lie down for a while, Darlin’. You’re getting bags under your eyes. I’ll be fine down here by myself. I’m not totally helpless, you know. I’ll make sure you’re up before I have to be at my PT appointment.” I go over and sit on Logan’s lap and give him a kiss that shows how much I love him.

  “OK, I can hardly keep my eyes open. Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Don’t worry, Darlin’. I’ll be fine.”

  I make my way upstairs and lay down on the bed and I am asleep before my head hits the pillow. I wake up to voices, it sounds like Adam is back. “Don’t cancel your tour because of me, Adam. We can handle things here without you.”

  “Why are you so stubborn, Logan? I told you, I’m burnt out and I’m ready for a break. I’m not going anywhere. I talked to Karen over at the real estate office this morning and she has a couple of houses that I am going to look at tomorrow. I’m tired of missing all the milestones in Jenna’s life. I’ve missed her first steps, most of her birthdays, and most holidays. I want her to know me as her Dad, not as the guy that shows up once in a while and gives her presents. You, Cassie, and Jenna are the only family I have, so sue me for wanting to be close to my family. I’m here to stay and you’re just going to have to deal with it!”

  I come down the stairs, yawning. “Hey, Adam. When did you get back?”

  “Just this morning, Cassie. How’s the little one doing?”

  “So far so good, other than being tired all the time.” Someone knocks on the door, so I head that way to see who it is.

  It’s Ragan, back from New York. “Hi, Cassie. I’m so excited! The gallery is still interested in my photographs. I have three months to get them ready for a show.”

  “I’m so happy for you. Come in and sit down, you must be tired from your trip.”

  She goes over to Logan and sits next to him on the couch. “You’re looking better every day, Logan.”

  Adam comes out of the kitchen with a couple of glasses of water. “Here you go, Logan. You about ready to head to physical therapy?”

  “You don’t have to take him, Adam. I’m sure you tired from your trip. I just had a nap and I’m ready to go.”

  “You stay here and take care of that baby. I’ll take him. I’ll make sure he does as he’s told.”

  He gets Logan out to his car, a brand new Escalade, Logan bitching the whole way, “I can do it myself, dammit! Quit treating me like an invalid!”

  I snicker, glad it’s Adam and not me. Logan is not a very good patient. Ragan and I sit on the couch and talk about the show she is going to have in a couple of months. After about ten minutes she asks me, “so what is up with Adam? Is he really Adam Bricklin?”

  “Yep, he is. He’s Logan’s cousin, they grew up together. He’s the only family Logan has left.” I tell her about how Logan arranged for the private concert for our first date.

  “That is so romantic.”

  “We’ve sure come a long way since then. I can’t believe everything that’s happened. So, how are the plans for the show coming?”

  “I’ve picked the pictures for the show. I’ve got to get them shipped off to New York tomorrow to be framed and matted. I’ve also been offered a grant to go back to the Congo. I haven’t decided if I’m going to take it yet. I’ve got a couple of months until I have to make a decision on that.”

  “That’s wonderful! Are you going to stay he
re until the show?”

  “Yes, I want to be here to help you and Logan until he’s recovered.”

  Two months later, Logan is at his last appointment with the physical therapist. He had some left side paralysis from the stroke but has worked hard and now he is fine. He only limps when he’s tired. Adam has been here the whole time. He’s been working with Logan on the dexterity of his left hand by having him play guitar. We all had a long talk. Logan finally tells me about touring with Adam as Southern Cousins and then deciding to go into law enforcement. He also tells me that it was five years between his police job in Atlanta and being hired as James’ deputy, not the few months he led me to believe. He worked security for Adam during that time. Adam told Logan about a bank account he opened for him. He’s been depositing Logan’s share of the royalties from “Dreaming” even though Logan didn’t want his name on the credits. Logan decided we won’t touch it; it will be for our baby’s education.

  Ragan has been great, helping out wherever she can. She and Adam have been making eyes at each other for days. I think she’s going to turn down the grant and stay here in Fairfield Corners; she has been talking about opening a photography studio here in town. She has been taking what I call her “sneak attack” pictures when no one is looking. Gotta admit the one she took of Logan watching me while I slept is amazing. He is lying behind me with his hand on my baby bump. You can see the love and protectiveness in his eyes.

  Adam has decided that there will be no more long tours. Almost losing Logan made him realize how much he misses when he’s on the road all the time. He is still looking for a house, he wants one large enough to have a recording studio.

  My pregnancy seems to be progressing normally, thank God, and Logan loves rubbing his hand on my baby bump. We’ve had plenty of time to talk about what happened. Especially what happened while he was in a coma. He told me he woke up in a hazy white room, and my Gram was there. First, she kicked his ass for leaving me, but she understood why. “You need to get back to Cassie. She’s going to need you over the next seven months. The pregnancy won’t be an easy one.”