Bittersweet Perfection

Chapter Thirteen

Mia’s POV

After Laura left I ate and hung out in mine and Logan’s room reading while Sadie slept. When she woke up we played some games and Riana stopped by once to tell us that her and Cassie were going out. After what felt like forever, John, Logan, Sam and Noah got here. I found this out when Logan bounded into the room, looking flustered. Sadie gave him an apprehensive look and Logan raised a brow in curiosity.

“Sadie, Jo-Dad is home, why don’t you go say hi?” Logan suggested and Sadie nodded before barreling out the door. Logan shut the door behind her and I took a breath to calm myself before opening my mouth to tell him about Laura. But I stopped when I saw a tear escape Logan’s eye. I jumped up and ran over to him, wrapping my arms around his waist.

“What’s wrong?” I murmured as he buried his head into the crook of my shoulder once again. I rubbed his back until he pulled away and took one of my hands, interlacing our fingers. Logan pulled me to the ground so I was sitting across from him.

“You can tell me,” I said.

“I know; it’s just hard to talk about.” He paused for a minute, but then went on, “John is dying. He has cancer and he only has six weeks left. And I know he’s a jerk for what he did, but he’s my dad and I still love him. I don’t want him to die.” Logan said it so fast I had to strain my ears to catch the words. I stared at him in shock until I could gather my voice.

“I’m so sorry. That is awful,” I said, not sure what else to say. Logan held open his arms and I sat on his lap, hugging him tightly. “I’m sorry,” I whispered again. That’s when I realized, if Laura and John weren’t getting married, Laura wouldn’t have custody of Sadie, thank god. But where would she go? I was mostly relieved because she wouldn’t have to live with Laura. That was until I heard Logan’s next words.

“I know. But for some reason he still wants to get married.”

I shot back far enough to look him in the eye and hoarsely asked, “What, why?”

“I don’t know, but if it makes him happy…” Logan trailed off. Now was not the right time to tell him, but my big mouth blurted it out before I could stop.

“They can’t get married; after he dies Laura would have full custody of Sadie!” Logan gave me a confused look and I continued, “She hit her! Who knows how much Laura would abuse her if she got custody. There has to be something we can do.” 

Instead of agreeing with me, like I expected him to, Logan shook his head, “Whatever made you think that, I’m sure there is a perfectly good explanation. My dad wouldn’t be engaged to Laura if she were hurting his kid.”

“I saw the mark on her cheek. I saw how terrified she looked. I heard Laura yelling about how stupid and clumsy Sadie was.” I tried to convince Logan of what I’d seen and heard, but he still looked doubtful.

“Mia, everyone gets mad and says things that they regret later. I’m sure the mark must have been from something else. Why do you hate Laura so much? And why would you make up all of this after what I just told you?” I gaped at him and stumbled off his lap.

I scowled at him and hissed through gritted teeth, “I hate her because she was hurting Sadie and sneaking off in expensive dresses. And I know the mark was from her; it couldn’t have been from anything else, it was shaped like a frigging hand! Come find me when you feel like believing me over some random lady you met less than twenty four hours ago. I am really sorry about your dad, but it doesn’t give you the right to accuse me of making all this up. I would never do that.” Then I ran from the room and straight into a now casually dressed Laura.