Chapter 7

Logan pressed his lips together, taking a long moment before answering.

"If you think your parents can keep putting up with your games at their age, then don't ever bother seeing me again."

This time, he was the one who hung up. Even his fingers were tense with anger.

Logan had always hated being stood up. Whoever was pretending to be me apparently hadn't bothered to find out something so basic about him.

Nathan tried to put in another good word for me, but one look from Logan was enough to silence him.

I followed Logan into the car, where Yvonne called him several times during the drive. At first, he spoke to her gently, doing his best to comfort her. As the calls continued, though, his patience gradually wore thin. By the time he rubbed his forehead and impatiently ended another call, I could sense a growing weariness in him.

Did all men eventually fall out of love?

"Logan, I'm in so much pain. What if I can never dance again? I'm scared, Logan. I don't want to go through what happened back then all over again."

Yvonne sounded miserable, her words broken by sobs that would have made anyone feel sorry for her.

"I'll find you the best doctors," Logan assured her. "Besides, you've already won Best Actress. You don't need ballet to prove yourself anymore."

"No! Logan, ballet is my dream! If Xena hadn't ruined everything back then, I would have..."

"What more do you want?"

Silence fell on the other end before Yvonne answered.

"All I want is an apology from Xena. Is that really so much to ask? I genuinely want her to come to our wedding, too."

Anger welled up inside me.

Yvonne knew perfectly well that I was dead, yet she kept demanding to see me. Wasn't it obvious what she was doing? She wanted Logan to keep using violence against my parents to force me out of hiding.

Predictably, Logan agreed to her demands. Before hanging up, he even reassured her, "I'll handle things with Helen. You just focus on recovering for now."

By the time we reached the hospital, Yvonne was still pressing Logan to have Helen look after her.

She really didn't know when to stop. After everything she'd done, she still expected Helen to look after her.

This time, however, Logan didn't agree immediately.

"We'll see," he replied dismissively.

His indifference finally upset Yvonne. Two tears spilled from her eyes and landed on the back of his hand.

"Logan, do you still love me?"

He let out a long sigh but didn't answer her question.

"I'll have Helen take care of you, but only if you promise not to provoke her again."

Yvonne immediately wiped away her tears.

"I won't! I only wanted to talk to her. How was I supposed to know she'd... Never mind, Logan. I'll be careful about what I say and do from now on."

Logan seemed satisfied with that.

"I'm going to be busy over the next few days. If there's anything about the wedding you're unhappy with, have Nathan pass it along to me."

At last, Yvonne managed a smile and nestled against his shoulder.

That evening, I was back in Yvonne's hospital room, watching her excitedly discuss her wedding dress design with a designer.

A few knocks interrupted their conversation, and the door swung open.

I hadn't seen Helen in over ten days, and the change in her was painfully obvious. She'd grown so thin that her clothes hung loosely from her frail body.

She stopped in front of Yvonne.

"We're on the twelfth floor. A fall from here would definitely kill someone."

Yvonne smiled and asked the designer to leave. Once they were alone, she casually gestured toward the wedding dress spread across the bed.

"Mrs. Shaw, there's actually something I'd like to discuss with you. Logan and I are getting married on the third of next month. Would you and Mr. Shaw be willing to stand in as my parents at the wedding?"

"The third of next month?"

Helen looked up at her.

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

Yvonne smiled and nodded.

"It's such a wonderful date, isn't it?"

The third of next month was the anniversary of my death.