Jason patted Logan on the shoulder. “Well, good luck, bro. I have a funny feeling that you will come out a winner. Sybil seems to think so too.”
Logan smiled. “I hope so. I’ll let you know.”
Running quickly to his office, he checked the papers and messages on his desk and discovered that everything could wait until tomorrow.
Heading back outside, he jumped in his car and quickly drove to the hotel Vanessa had been staying in. He wanted to settle this before he went to see Chelsea.
Vanessa wasn’t answering her phone, so he had no choice but to visit her in person. Walking up to the front desk, he smiled at the clerk.
“Hi, can you tell me if Vanessa Chilton is in her penthouse?”
"I'm sorry, sir, but Miss Chilton has checked out. I believe she is on her honeymoon right now,” the clerk answered.
“Honeymoon? What did I miss?” Logan said, shaking his head in disbelief. Thanking the clerk, he got back into his car and quickly called his friend Paul whose girlfriend also knew Vanessa’
"Hey, Logan. It’s been a while. What’s up?” Paul said when he answered.
“It has been a long time. I’m actually looking for information. I just heard that Vanessa got married, when did that happen?”
“Oh yeah, that was the day before yesterday. She married some prince, although apparently, she didn’t know he was a prince. There were rumors he had to go back to Monaco with a wife, or else he’d lose his title,” Paul answered.
“Seriously? So she married him to save his title? She wasn’t dating him for very long, was she?”
“Nope, but you know the position she was in. She needed money, and now she’ll be living in a palace with servants and everything. I heard she was pretty happy about it all,” Paul said. “She left for Monaco this morning.”
“So, she’ll be living in Monaco?” Logan asked. Vanessa being in a different country away from them, sounded too good to be true.
“Yep. Hey, we need to get together for beers soon,” Paul said.
“We do. I’ll be in touch soon, and we'll make a plan. I gotta go now, but I'll send you a message when I'm free,” Logan said, hanging up.
Letting out a joyful whoop, he started his car and turned around. He was free, Chelsea was free. Vanessa was gone. He hoped that Chelsea would share his excitement.
Pulling up in front of the castle, Logan jumped out and rang the doorbell.
“Who is it?” Chelsea called from the other side.
“Chelsea, it’s Logan. I need to talk to you,” he said loudly.
Opening the door, Chelsea glared at him. “And I need to talk to you. Did you pay off the mortgage and debts on this place?”
“Yes, I did,” he said proudly.
“Why would you do that?” growled Chelsea. “I don’t want your charity.”
“It’s not charity, Chelsea. I had no choice,” Logan said, confused at her reaction.
"What about the castle. Have you found another buyer for it yet?" Chelsea said, looking at him in frustration. "I need that money."
“Well, not really,” Logan stuttered, realizing Chelsea was not finding anything amusing at the moment. "I never signed the papers."
“I was this close to selling," Chelsea said, holding her fingers inches apart. “Why didn’t you sign those damn papers?”
“Chelsea, I can explain.”
“You better explain, Logan Darlington. You had no right stopping that sale, and you had no right paying off my debts. They were my debts, not yours."
“Chelsea, they were going to tear down the castle,” Logan said, holding out his hands placatingly. “They only wanted the land to build a water park.”
“What?”
“Yes, I found it out just as I was going to sign the papers. The castle was scheduled to be demolished the day after you moved out. I couldn’t let that happen,” Logan said. “You love this place.”
“Why didn’t you tell me all of this instead of disappearing?” Chelsea said angrily.
"I called the bank the next morning, and I paid everything off. This place is yours. You don’t have to worry about it anymore,” Logan protested, holding out his hands towards her. “I wanted to help.”
Chelsea looked at him, not knowing whether to be happy or angry. “I’ll pay all of it back to you if it takes me a lifetime,” she replied. "I'm a MacDuff, and we are proud."
“I have some other news too,” Logan said quickly, hoping he could put a smile on her face. “Vanessa is gone. We don’t have to worry about her any longer.”
“What did you do? Did you strangle her? I can’t imagine her leaving us alone easily,” Chelsea said, smirking.
Logan laughed. “No, she married a German prince and has moved to Monaco with him. She is no longer a threat to you or me.”
“I heard what happened to her father. I have to admit, I'm not mean spirited, but I was quite happy when I read they were bankrupt,” Chelsea admitted with a guilty smile. As she looked at Logan, she could feel her emotions taking over. Standing there in front of him, she fought the urge to run into his arms. The terror that she had felt was suddenly gone. “Logan, I …”
“Don’t say a word. I know exactly how you feel. Chelsea, one of the reasons I did what I did and made sure you could keep your home was because I thought it would be a great place to raise a family.”
Chelsea looked around the room and smiled. “It would be.”
“I was thinking, our family,” Logan said, smiling at her.
“What do you mean, our?” Chelsea said, finding it hard to breath as she looked into his eyes.
“Chelsea MacDuff, I have loved you since the day I first laid eyes on you,” Logan said, getting down on one knee, “and nothing would make me happier than for you to be my wife.” He opened a small box containing the most beautiful diamond and sapphire ring Chelsea had ever seen. “Chelsea? Will you marry me?”
“Logan, I don’t know what to say,” she whispered.
"Yes, would be a good start," Logan joked.
Chelsea looked at him. Part of her wanted to say yes, but another part wanted to say no. She looked at Logan and burst in tears. “Why is this so hard? Logan, I love you, but so much has happened.”
“I believe it has made us stronger. If we can get through all the shit we’ve had to deal with, we can get through anything,” Logan pleaded. “Don’t you love me, Chelsea?”
Looking at Logan, Chelsea felt her wall slowly breaking down. She did love him, but she was still afraid, afraid that she would get hurt if she let her guard down.
“Please, Chelsea. Say yes, and I promise we will have a wonderful life," Logan asked, still kneeling in front of her.
Chelsea felt her heart swell with love and slowly nodded her head. It was time for the walls to come down. “Yes, Logan. I will marry you.”
Jumping up, Logan wrapped his arms around her, pressing his lips against her, muffling her sobs of joy.
“I have one more surprise for you,” he told her after he had slipped the ring onto her finger. Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out a key and handed it to her.