Page 59 of Unmistakably Us

“Oh, he’s a clever one, this one, almost as good as me…almost,” Stacy interjected.

“Pipe down, Rainbow Brite.” Andy’s tone was mocking but in a loving way.

“Rainbow Brite? How the fuck do you figure?” Since Logan had met Stacy, he noticed her increasing embracement of all things happy, but he didn’t have a lot of comparison material. Everyone talked about how she used to be, but Logan had only witnessed that Stacy when she was in crush and destroy mode.

“I figure because you are practically glittering with rainbows and sunshine. Look, you’re even wearing—gasp— pink. Face it, you’re no longer an adult goth in Donna Karan.” Andy slapped her thigh. “We are so rubbing off on you.”

Stacy examined her clothes before making a retort. “This isn’t pink. It was red, and it faded due to my superior laundry skills. Besides, who are you to talk, gay boy. If the fucking sparkling tiara fits—”

“Children!” Francis admonished. “Let’s get on with it. I’m dying to hear what Andrew has to say. Besides, the sooner we’re done here, the sooner we can eat.”

“Thank you, Francis.” The wink was over the top, but Andy was good at the schmoozing. “As I was saying, before we go forward, I want y’all to know that any information I am sharing with you is shared because I feel you are all experts on one aspect or another of the matter at hand.”

Logan looked around the room. Dax, Francis, Tori, Michael, and John were the only people who were there and not in the kitchen or elsewhere. He wasn’t sure what he could possibly be an expert on the same as these folks, but he guessed this was a family thing and he was being included.

“First, before I dive into all this, Logan, I need to ask you a few questions. I want you to answer as honestly as you possibly can and from the heart.”

Logan was about to jump out of his skin and run. He did not have a good feeling about having two lawyers staring at him and asking questions.

“What’s this about? You’re making me nervous as fuck.” Logan reached into his pocket and worried the stone with his thumb. Francis sat on the arm of his chair and tried to soothe him. It was working too when he glanced up at her face and saw love reflected there.

Andy drew his attention with a soothing tone. “It’s not bad, I promise, just humor me.” A nod was the only response Logan could manage.

“Do you love January and can you forgive her for anything she may have done?”

Logan did jump up then, but he was still wearing his skin and raking his hands through his hair. “Why are you asking me this? It doesn’t matter. The fact is she’s getting married, so my feelings mean jack shit.”

“Logan, your heart? Leave the facts to me. They’re kinda my thing. I know you love her, so I want to know if you can forgive her for her actions? Especially if I could prove to you right now that she loves you?”

Logan’s head snapped up so fast, he gave himself fucking whiplash. Exhaustion and acceptance made him drop back into the chair. Francis was there with a gentle squeeze and the boost he needed.

“Yes,” he breathed, barely audible. “Yes to all of it. I never wanted the domestic life or a family, but now I don’t know if I can live without it all. Without her.” Michael came to the other side of the chair and squeezed his shoulder.

“Brother,” that was the first time he had called him that since he knew it to be true, and it meant something to Logan, "you have the family no matter what. Even if you and January don’t make a go of it or even if you and I can’t get past all the water under the bridge, this family…they’re permanent. No matter what, the Reids are bound together by something stronger than blood and that shit lasts.”

Stacy was beaming and beautiful as it was, but the look she sported now kinda scared the shit out of Logan. She opened her briefcase, produced an envelope, and handed it to him. Nothing had ever come to him with good news that he had to unwind a red thread to open. “Open it.”

Once the flap was open, Logan slowly extracted the papers inside. Before he could make heads or tails of them, Stacy couldn’t contain herself. “Those are everything in this world that January owned on her own, what you now own.”

With his jaw on the floor, Logan sought clarity by looking from Andy to Stacy and back again.

“Oh, look at that, isn’t he adorable in all his dumbfounded glory?”

“Stacy Olivia, you stop making fun of your brother and explain this to him. Can’t you see he’s in shock and still hurting?” Leave it to Francis to say what needed to be said in the least amount of words. Not to mention, she called them siblings as easy as breathing.

“The papers in your hands are the title to her bike and a check from the balance of her bank account I closed earlier. All the money she socked away over the last few years that her family didn’t know about. She wanted you to have it. I tried to get her to take some to have…” Stacy trailed off but Logan had quit listening anyway.

“Demon?” It was rhetorical question that was whispered in an attempt at comprehension. “But she loves that bike.”

Now it was Andy’s turn to mumble. “Obviously, she loves you more, you big lug.”

Logan’s eyes snapped up at that.

“When? When did she have time to do this? I don’t understand.” Logan slapped the papers down and just reeled trying to grasp the meaning of everything.

Sheepishly, as if dealing with someone on the verge of a breakdown—and he kind of was—Stacy extended another piece of folded up paper. “There was also this.”

Treating it like a snake that would strike at any minute, Logan leaned away from it. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, it won’t bite you, big baby.” Stacy brought the paper back toward her and unfolded it. “I choose you. I will always choose you. Even if I’m not right here, right now, Logan Chapman, you are my choice. I hope you can forgive me for things I had to do, but I would never, could never choose anyone other than you. My first, my last, my always.”

---