Free From the Heart (A Valentine's Day Anthology) by M.B Feeney, et al L.J. Harris Page B

give up now. Please, Ella.”
    “Logan,” Doctor Bennett said in a low voice. “We need to go.”
    “Okay,” he said before he kissed her again. “I love you Ella Bryce. I have done since the day you crashed into my life. I will love you forever.”
    He slowly stood back, as he wished he didn’t have to let her go.
    “I will take good care of her,” Doctor Bennett promised as he patted Logan’s back.
    “You better,” Logan replied, and gave him a grateful smile.
    He stood and watched while they wheeled her away, as his heart broke that there was a change that was the last time he would see her alive.
    “Logan,” Andrew called from the far end of the corridor.
    Logan turned and saw his father hurry along the corridor, holding Caroline hands. The minute he saw his little girl, the tears finally broke free, he hurried along the corridor towards his father and his daughter. When he reached them, he swept his little girl up into his arms and held her tightly.
    “Daddy, you’re squishing me,” she said in her tiny, four year old voice.
    “I’m sorry, sweetie,” Logan replied through his tears.
    “Where’s Mommy?” She asked as Logan loosened his embrace on his little girl and looked down into her eyes.
    “The doctors have taken her to try and make her better,” Logan said with a smile.
    “And then she can come home?” Caroline asked, excitedly.
    “Hopefully,” Logan replied.
    “Yay,” she squealed excitedly before she hugged her father once again.
    Logan, Caroline, Andrew and Megan sat in the waiting room, waiting for news on Ella. The surgery seemed to be taking an eternity. Caroline eventually climbed up into her daddy’s lap and fell asleep.
    As Logan sat there with his little girl on his lap, he thought about how they had all ended up there.

    “I wish I could shake this damn flu,” Ella said as she and Logan sat at the breakfast table. “I am tired of feeling this exhausted.”
    “Maybe you should go back to the doctor?” Logan suggested as he set down his newspaper and looked across at his wife. “This has been going on for too long.”
    “I might give him a ring later,” Ella said as she finished off her coffee. She stood to clear the table, but as she turned towards the sink, she just hit the floor like a ton of bricks.
    “ELLA!” Logan shouted as he jumped to his feet hurried to his wife. “Sweetheart.”
    Ella didn’t respond. She was barely breathing.
    Logan looked up at Caroline, who had been sitting with them at the table. She looked beyond terrified, as she had no idea what was going on. Suddenly she burst into tears.
    “Caroline, baby,” Logan said in as calm a voice as he could. “I need you to be a brave girl and go into the living room and get me the phone.
    She nodded through her tears, climbed down from the chair and ran to do as her daddy had asked. She returned a few moments later with the phone, and Logan quickly called for an ambulance.
    Three hours later, he was sitting beside Ella’s bed in the hospital, as they both waited for the doctor to return with the results of the test they had run.
    “I am sure it’s just the flu,” she repeated through the oxygen mask for the tenth time. Logan smiled and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, but he knew she was scared and so was he.
    “Ella,” the doctor said as he finally walked into the room. Logan prepared himself for bad news because the look on the doctor’s face was one that scared him. “We have got your test results back. I am afraid it’s not good news. The test indicated you have advanced Cardiomyopathy.”
    “What’s that?” Ella said as her voice cracked with nerves.
    “It’s a deterioration of the heart muscle,” he explained to a shocked Ella and Logan. “Symptoms may include shortness of breath after physical exertion, fatigue, and swelling of the feet, legs, or abdomen. Additionally, you can have arrhythmias and chest pain.”
    “But I haven’t had any chest pain,” Ella replied, as