by Noelle Adams
A quiver of concern went through him. Devon always answered for him, even if she was on a date. The fact that he couldn’t get through to Allison’s or Devon’s cell phone or the house phone nagged at him.
Without questioning the auto-response, he made an abrupt u-turn. Tires squealed. Horns honked. He sped in the direction of Devon’s place.
Maybe if he and Allison saw each other, locked eyes, stood in the same room, she’d see how much he missed her. Needed her.
He wouldn’t force her to change her mind, but maybe she’d acknowledge his peace offering of calling David off her every move. Maybe she’d let him apologize for being a stubborn idiot. For the ultimatum he hadn’t meant to give.
Then, down on his knees, he would ask her come home.
***
Trevor exchanged Devon’s place with Allison.
Allison didn’t make it easy for him, but he overpowered her, zip-tying her wrists.
“Don’t do this, Trevor.” She tried to sound brave and controlled, while her teeth chattered with cold and fear.
“You are my wife. Mine. No one will take you away from me.”
“I’m not the woman you married.”
“You will be, after I break you in again. All I need is time.”
“Never,” she vowed.
“Just wait. I have plans for us.” The gleam in his eyes struck terror into her soul. What would he do to her? To her baby?
“Trevor—!”
The van doors slammed. Through the murky windows, she watched Trevor toss a drugged Devon over one shoulder and carry her into the house.
This might be Allison’s only chance. She screamed until her voice was hoarse. She pounded her bound fists on the windows. She tried every door.
No escape.
She went for the horn. The blast of sound caused lights to turn on in neighboring houses. She didn’t let up. Someone had to wonder what was wrong, had to call the police. Please…please, somebody do something. Her heart pounded in her throat.
As she glanced around, a sparkle in the van caught her eye. Wedged half-under the seat she found Devon’s purse. Frantic, she rifled through it. The cell phone was dead. Besides lipstick and a condom, Devon had tucked in pepper spray and a small knife.
Allison heard the front door slam. Trevor stalked toward the van, his face contorted into a mask of rage. She clutched the pepper spray, trying to catch the knife on her cuffs. She sawed the plastic, gouged her hand, sawed further. Blood made her fingers slippery. She was almost free.
So close.
Suddenly headlights beamed into the rear windows. She stumbled to the back of the van. “Help!” she cried, pounding on the windows, smearing the dust-caked panes with blood.
The other vehicle skidded to a halt and rocked with the force of the stop. A car door shut.
“I’m here! In the van. Help!”
A second later, the rear doors whipped open. Hope collapsed as Trevor stood over her, uncompromising. Deadly.
He flung her out of the van, spun her around. The other vehicle’s headlights blinded her. A shadow moved, blocking one headlight. Then a cold circle of steel pressed to her forehead. She froze.
“Drop the weapon.”
Her heart slammed against her ribs. Logan?
Trevor’s forearm cut off her windpipe as he held her in front of him. She struggled to breathe.
“Take it easy.” Logan’s voice was shockingly calm. “I know what she means to you, Trevor. You don’t want to hurt her.”
Trevor’s jaw clicked repeatedly. His face muscles twitched. A precursor to a psychotic episode. This could turn ugly fast. “Take one more step, and I’ll blow her brains out.”
Allison choked. Her eyes stung. She didn’t want to die. She needed to tell Logan she loved him. Needed to bring her baby into this world. She fought for every gasp of air.
“You came a long way to get her back. I won’t stand in your way. I just need to know this is what she wants.”
“I know what she wants.” Trevor’s breath seethed against her cheek, the one he’d struck weeks ago. How could Logan ever think she would return to this man?
“I get your loyalty. How much you need her. That’s natural. She was your wife.” Logan’s tone was almost hypnotic. She imagined in his line of work he’d talked people down from the brink before.
“She is my wife. A piece of paper from the court doesn’t change that.”
“That’s true. The courts would never realize what you’ve been through together.”
“I was out of the country. I couldn’t fight them all.”
“No, it was too much. One battle at a time. I’ve been there. I know where you’re coming from, and they had no right to take her away from you.”
“That’s right.” Trevor removed the blunt pressure from her temple.
Allison realized Logan’s tactic. As she wriggled her wrists against the half-cut plastic bindings, she stacked the odds in Logan’s favor.
“It was all a mistake, Trevor.” Although it sickened her, she played to her ex-husband’s twisted belief that possessiveness and violence equaled love. “I didn’t know you still cared this much.”
“You ran away from me.” Trevor’s voice grew unsteady. The hand holding the gun flexed with a spasm.
She flinched, held her breath. The barrel steadied.
Inching forward, Logan said reasonably, “If you still love Allison, I want you two to be happy. I won’t stand in your way.”
Allison’s heart dropped. She knew what Logan was trying to do. Still, the words stung.
“Damn straight you won’t.” The clicking in Trevor’s jaw intensified, as did his facial tics.
“Logan’s right,” she said.
“Don’t speak his name.” Trevor flexed his forearm.
“Okay. H-he’s right,” she stammered. “I missed you but I thought we couldn’t be together. Then I met him. He reminded me of you.” She flicked a nervous glance at Logan. The slight narrowing of his lashes was only reaction.
“The good things,” she added, hoping Logan knew she was playing along. Then, holding Logan’s gaze, she spoke directly to him. “Your steady strength. The way you opened your life to me. I never knew what kindness and passion were until I met you.”
Logan’s face went blank. Then she caught the depth of emotion swirling in his eyes.
“I gave you every reason to back out, to walk away. You stayed. You gave me time, letting me learn how to trust again. Lowering my defenses with patience and protection.”
Trevor murmured something she didn’t hear. These two men were completely different. Guilt knifed through her, thinking how unfair it was she had compared Logan to Trevor during their fight.
“I ran because that’s what I always did. It’s all I knew. I was afraid of taking the next step. I made a huge mistake. I’d give anything for a second chance.” A tear slid down her cheek. She whispered, “I love you.”
Logan’s lips parted. He was about to speak but stopped himself, his almost-words a puff of air in the chill night.
“It’s about time you came to your senses, Allie.” Trevor’s death-grip eased off her throat.
“I’m sorry, too.” Logan’s voice was gruff. He looked at her with heart-wrenching devotion. “I didn’t understand what you needed. I was holding on too tight, when I should’ve let go and trusted things would work out. I wasn’t comfortable with that. I’m still not, but I’m trying. I’ll work past it, if that’s what you need. I’d do anything to make you happy.” His voice cut out and he swallowed hard.
“Good.” Trevor nodded. “You heard her. She’s happier with me.” He took the gun away from her head and directed Logan with it. “Get in your car. Pull away slowly. And never look back.”
Allison coughed to cover the snap of her cuffs breaking. The plastic dropped to the ground. She gripped the mace.
“There’s one problem, Trevor.” She wrenched out of his grip. “I wasn’t talking about you.”
Before
he could react, she aimed the mace at him. Pressing with all her might, she emptied the canister of liquid poison into his eyes.
Trevor howled, cursed, clawed at his face. Thrashing, he knocked her hand away, throwing her off balance. He brandished the gun wildly. Blind, he aimed in her direction.
Logan moved like a swift, silent shadow. As Trevor pulled the trigger, Logan dove, caught her around the waist. They landed on the pavement. He rolled out of the bullet’s path, his arms and body cushioning her and the baby from impact.
Allison gasped for breath. Logan lunged to his feet, knocking the gun from Trevor’s hand. The weapon skidded several feet before sliding under the Escalade.
Logan hauled back and punched Trevor so hard she heard something crack. Trevor’s head snapped back. He fell like a hollow tree, hit the ground and didn’t move.
When the threat was no more, Logan turned to her. Allison sat up as he dropped to his knees at her side. He slid his hands over her, checking for wounds. “Did he hurt you?”
“I’m okay.” She nodded shakily. “Just hold me.”
Logan gathered her in his arms, clutching her tight as sirens in the distance screamed toward them. The fear eased like an ebbing tide. She was free. Trevor would be taken into custody. He’d never stalk her or hurt her again.
Face buried in Logan’s coat, she gathered her courage. “Logan, can we give us one more try?”
He tipped her chin up. Their eyes met in wordless need, relief, passion.
“I love you, Allison.” He captured her lips in a searing kiss. “Be my wife. Let me love you for the rest of my life. And we can have as many tries as it takes to get it right.”
“Promise?”
He smiled with aching tenderness. “I told you, I’d only ask the love of my life to marry me if I knew the answer was yes.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
He kissed her passionately.
The worst was over. They were together. That’s all that mattered. At last, she had everything she’d always wanted, all she could ever need, with Logan.
“Then, the diamond you gave me is finally an engagement ring?”
His warm brown eyes shone with enduring love as he revealed, “It always was.”
Epilogue
“Now that’s a baby bump.” Devon stared at Allison’s round belly, draped with the elegant satin folds of her wedding dress. They stood in front of an etched mirror in the changing room of the banquet hall.
Allison rolled her eyes. “Really? I hadn’t noticed.” She sighed. “I told Logan we should just go to the courthouse.”
“He’s getting married—he wants a real wedding, all the bells and whistles.”
“And a pregnant bride?”
“Go big or go home.” Devon grinned.
“Stress on the word big.” Allison curved her hand around her six-month baby bump. “When I pictured a dream wedding, it didn’t include me waddling down the aisle.”
“You look amazing.” Devon fluffed the train of the dress then adjusted the veil cascading down Allison’s hair. Her blond waves were pulled back in a half-up-do, a few tendrils framing her face. Honestly, she felt fantastic. Once the first trimester of sickness and exhaustion ended, she breezed into the second trimester with no problem. She was so excited about their baby. Our baby boy. The ultrasound last month confirmed what her dream had told her, what she’d known in her heart.
Then Allison noticed a hint of nostalgia softening Devon’s dark eyes. “What is it?”
Devon blinked away the sheen. “I hope I’m half as beautiful—and happy—as you on my wedding day.”
“You’ll be twice as gorgeous, and crazy happy. I’m sure of it.”
“I don’t know.” Devon’s shoulders sloped under the lavender straps of her bridesmaid dress. “What you and Logan have is really special. I’ve never seen two people more in love. I just don’t think it’s in the cards for me.”
Allison squeezed Devon’s arm supportively. “The past doesn’t determine the future. Trust me.”
Devon snorted. “Please. I’ve got serious baggage.”
“And I didn’t when I met Logan?”
“Plus mega trust issues. Did I mention those?”
A pang of remorse hit Allison. Trevor had manipulated Devon with online romance into thinking he was her dream man, when he’d really been using Devon to get to Allison. Now, Trevor was behind bars and would never see the light of day except in a prison yard. “Believe me, I understand. But the right man will look past all that. He’s going to sweep you off your feet and blow your mind, before you know what hit you.”
Devon looked unconvinced. “We’ll see.”
“Yes, we will,” Allison stated as if it were fact. In her mind, Devon would find love, no matter her internal scars. “There are great men in the world, I know that now. I’m marrying one today.”
Devon shook off her self-reflection and gave a bright smile. “Let’s get this show on the road.” She glanced at the clock above the mirror. “The ceremony starts in fifteen minutes. You sure you’re ready?”
“More than ready—and more certain than I’ve ever been about anything.”
Heart swelling with honor and gratitude for her husband-to-be, Allison held up the necklace Logan had given her an hour ago, when he broke all the rules and peeked in to see how she was doing. He’d stolen a swift passionate kiss from her, messed up her lipstick, told her he was the happiest man alive, and dropped something into her palm before he left. She’d unfolded her fingers to find a sparkling sapphire jewel ringed with diamonds. Tears almost ruined the rest of her makeup. Last night, she’d been in a panic about having nothing blue to wear on her wedding day, to go with the old rhyme: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.
The something old was a wonderful surprise, when she’d learned Logan had contacted her parents and flew them into Denver from Spain for the wedding. She’d feared the reunion would be tense with years of unspoken thoughts and feelings. Her mother brought her a brooch to pin to her wedding gown that had been in their French background for generations. True to her parents’ demeanors, they were all drama and flair, but in a good way. They gushed over the baby, over Logan, over Allison even. Showered her with praise about how their little girl had grown up. The light in their eyes was genuine, their thrill to be in her life again, tangible. Maybe it was the distance and the time apart, or the joyful occasion that brought them all together again, but the bitter residue coating Allison’s heart over long-ago expectations washed away.
Her father would walk her down the aisle. She couldn’t ask for more.
The something new was an elegant pair of pearl earrings Devon gave her as a wedding present. The something borrowed was Vivi’s garter belt from her and Rick’s wedding, which slightly mortified Allison, but she decided what the heck. It apparently brought them many happy years of marriage and four kids. Allison couldn’t say no to that.
Something blue. That’s what had stumped her last night, as she lay in bed tossing and turning, fretting over details she couldn’t control but wanted to anyway. Logan, amazing groom that he was, had made love to her and promised everything would work out fine. Today, he’d brought her the something blue that had been missing. Symbolic of how this man had come into her life and provided the caring and love she’d been missing, even if she’d been blind and resistant to it at first. He always came through. She loved him so much. Logan was everything she wanted, all she would ever need.
Separating the fastener, she draped the dazzling blue jewel around her neck. “Will you fasten this for me, Devon?”
Her friend connected the clasp and pulled her hair free from the chain, adjusting her golden waves again perfectly. Devon squeezed Allison’s shoulders and smiled. “Now, let’s go get you hitched.”
Grabbing the bridal bouquet—white lilies, sprigs of lilac, and pink roses bundled with a lavender ribbon—Allison followed Devon’s lead through the hall, down the staircase, across the main cor
ridor toward the grand banquet hall entrance.
Allison’s father waited there, his large stomach and regal air lending a grand presence to the event. No surprise there. He wore a finely-tailored tuxedo with the European flare of tails, something out of a Dickens novel.
“Papa.” She ran the few feet that separated them, throwing herself into his arms. His rotund belly and her pregnant one made the hug humorously awkward. She laughed. “I love you, Papa.”
“Ah, I love you, petit belle mariee.”
Her parents hadn’t blinked when they learned she was pregnant and about to be married to the man she loved. The nice thing about a European sensibility regarding love and lovers and marriage and children. Que sera, sera. Whatever will be will be. They’d been thrilled. “Thank you for being here for me, Papa.”
Wistfulness touched his eyes with moisture. “I am glad for your happiness, that you will be happy as you and your mother and I have been happy these many years.”
“I am happy. And I’m glad, too.” Allison blinked hard. She knew her parents had always loved her, even though once it had seemed like they’d split their love three ways, for each other, for performing, and for their daughter.
Now, because of Logan and their baby and her work at Stone Security, Allison understood that love was a many-faceted thing, like the jewel around her neck and the engagement ring on her left finger. When a heart was filled with passion, respect and trust, there was enough love for all things dear to her. More than enough.
The doors swung open. Pachelbel’s Canon came to a close and Beethoven’s Wedding March executed grandly from the piano and violins.
Devon met Rick at the rear and they looped arms, as maid-of-honor and best man, and moved down the aisle. The only two people in their wedding party, which suited Allison just fine. The two people who’d made her and Logan’s relationship possible with their support and encouragement.
Then the music accelerated to a crescendo, the cue to the bride and her father to begin the journey down the aisle. The journey that would take her from her father’s hand, her father’s love, to the hand and love of the man she would spend her life adoring.