Filed to story: Sedona Preston and Logan Hayes Book PDF Free
Sedona’s POV
“No, please.” I took her hand, stopping her from reaching for her phone as she resisted the hold but I held on tight shaking my head.
“This isn’t something that can be fixed with a phone call. Please this isn’t something that can be fixed with a mere phone call and order from you to them to behave more appropriately. This is about me finally accepting the truth.”
“What truth, dear?”
“That I was never really Logan’s wife. I always knew but I never accepted it, staying stuck in a fantasy I had made. But I was a substitute. A placeholder for someone else.” I squeezed her hand gently as ! continued speaking, tears present in my eyes but not spilling down my cheeks.
“You were kind to me, Grandma Brooke. You were the only one who ever made me feel like I belonged. But I don’t belong in this family. I never did.”
“That’s not true-“
“It is.” I gave her a sad smile as I patted her hand gently before continuing.
“And that’s okay. I’ve made my peace with it. I just wanted to say goodbye properly, and to return this.” I gestured to the necklace still on her laps as I took a deep breath and continued speaking.
“It’s beautiful, and it means the world to me that you trusted me with it. But it should stay with the Hayes family because that is where it belongs and it’s no longer my place to hold onto something that was never fully mine. Maybe someday Logan will marry someone who actually deserves it.”
Grandma Brooke’s eyes were bright with unshed tears as the fight went out from her too, her shoulders slumping in defeat as she asked. “Where are you going? Back to your family?”
I nodded. “Yes. To Seattle. To my parents and my brother. To the people who loved me before I ran away from them.”
“And Nick?” Her voice was audible as she looked at me. “What about my great-grandson?”
The question I’d been dreading. I looked down at our joined hands, at her wrinkled hand against mine.
“Nick…” I had to stop, had to swallow past the lump in my throat, making it difficult to speak as I pushed past the discomfort and continued.
“Nick perhaps never saw me as his mother. Not really. He has Katherine now, and she makes him happy in ways I never could. I won’t take that away from him.”
“Sedona, he’s your son-“
“And Logan can give him the best life as his father.”
Grandma Brooke was crying now, tears running down her wrinkled cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Sedona. I’m so sorry for what my family has done to you. All these years and I had been a fool, thinking it was alright. If I had known-“
“You have nothing to apologize for. You were the one good thing I looked up to in this whole mess.” I leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “Thank you for your kindness. For making me feel, even for a little while, like I mattered.”
“You do matter. You’ll always matter.”
I stood, knowing if I stayed any longer I’d break down completely. “Goodbye, Grandma Brooke. Take care of yourself.”
“Wait.” She struggled to her feet, moving more slowly than I remembered, her age getting more pronounced as she reached out for me.
“Will you… will you write to me? Let me know you’re alright?”
I thought about it, about maintaining this connection. But what was the point? In three months, maybe less, I’d be gone. Better to make a clean break now than to break her heart when she hears of my death.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said gently. “But I’ll never forget you. Or your kindness.”
Cameron was leaning against the car, and he straightened when he saw my face. He didn’t say anything, just pulled me into his arms and let me cry against his shoulder while the Chicago wind whipped around
“It’s done,” I finally managed to speak after sobbing silently on him for the second time in mere days. “Can we go back to the hotel now? I’m tired.”
“Of course. Come on.”
As we drove away, I looked back at Grandma Brooke’s house one last time..
Cameron reached over and squeezed my hand “Let’s go. Mum and Dad are waiting for us. I nodded my head, unable to say anything as I felt the metallic coppery taste of blood as I coughed into my handkerchief and concealed the blood from Cameron.
I was getting worse.
Sedona’s POV
The morning that I was meant to leave Chicago forever had me already up by 7am tending in the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Presidential Suite, folding the few clothes I’d brought with me. Cameron had arranged for our flight back to Seattle which technically was a private jet leaving at two o’clock that afternoon. In just a few hours, I’d be gone from Chicago forever.
I should have felt relief. Instead, I felt hollow, like someone had scooped out my insides and left the shell behind.
“Almost ready?” Cameron appeared in the doorway, two cups of coffee in his hands as his eyes were tracking me again, as if searching for some symptoms that I was going to collaspe in his arms.
He’d been hovering all morning, watching me intensely in a way that made my chest ache. “We should leave for the airport in about an hour.”
“Almost.” I reached for one of the coffee cups, but a sudden wave of dizziness made me stumble as I lost my footing for a moment but Cameron was there immediately, steadying me with one hand while setting both cups down on the dresser.
“Sedona? What’s wrong?”
“Just dizzy. I’m fine.” But even as I said it, I felt something change inside me getting worse as I felt, something wet and wrong rising in my throat.
“Cam, I-“
The cough came without warning, painful in it’s intensity as I doubled over, and suddenly there was blood spattering onto the pristine white carpet, onto my hands, onto the front of my shirt.
“Sedona!” Cameron’s voice was filled with panic, making his tone a pitch higher.
“Jesus Christ-“
There was another cough as it had set it off with blood spraying from my mouth without fail.
The room seemed to be spinning on its own tilting, making me unable to focus on anything in particular but the feeling in my stomach that made me certain it was nausea that I was trying to force back down. I tried to speak, to tell Cameron I was okay, but I couldn’t catch my breath. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t-
“Stay with me. Look at me, Sedona.” Cameron’s face swam into view, pale and frightened as he was trying his best not to panic. He was holding me up, supporting my weight as my legs gave out beneath me.
“I’m calling an ambulance. Just hold on, okay? Just hold on.”
