Hello Stranger

We really did live by the every moment counts mantra, and Logan took to it better than I’ve ever known anyone take to anything. His attention was always on the now, and his smiles were always bright, and he held me so tight in bed at night that I really couldn’t imagine being without him.

We made friends upon friends, and he got to know my dog, Beano, and Mum and Dad would laugh with us across his dining table as we enjoyed takeaway pizza most weeks.

Even me, embracing life in every moment with every single breath I ever took, wasn’t expecting it when Logan pulled a tiny little box from his pocket on Frensham Beach on our weekend break, and dropped down onto one knee in the sand.

My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it, hear myself whispering oh my God, oh my God, oh my God over the crash of the waves.

“Chloe Sutton, the most fantastic little jitterbug of all time, would you please do me the honour of becoming Mrs Chloe Hall?”

Tears pricked, and they fell, and my nods were frantic, still not quite believing it, even when the sparkle of the diamond caught the sunlight.

“Yes!” I said. “Hell, yes, Logan. Hell yes!”

The ring was a perfect fit on my finger, and it was crazy, just how a hello, stranger on the train can turn into something that sets your life on a whole new road.

I guess that’s fate, though, isn’t it? It rocks into your world and taps its magic wand and there you are, staring out at a horizon that blows your mind.

Logan Hall still blew mine every day.

As the incredible doctor in Franklin Ward, always giving himself so strongly to so many people that needed him.

As the incredible bookworm who recounted words from the pages with a smile every time we read together.

As the incredible lover, who made me wriggle and squeal in bed at night and beg him for more, more, more when my body was taking all that it could take.

And as the incredible man I was in love with. The man who inspired me more than words could ever say, and soar my soul to the moon and back.Our wedding day was at Halsey. My dad’s arm was so happy in mine to be walking me up the aisle to a man they respected so much and had come to know so well.

“I’m so proud of your choice, little one,” he said to me. “I’m so happy for the man you’re saying yes to.”

And he was proud of my choice. I’d seen it every time he’d smiled at my fiancé and realised just what an awesome man I was going to marry.

My mum was in tears in the front pew, giving me a thumbs-up as she saw me and dabbing a tissue to her eyes.

Vickie, Romi and Wendy were sitting with Gina, and Richard and Nadia, all of them beaming with happiness as I made my way towards the man of my dreams to say the eternal I do.

My college friends were in a cluster, and my schoolfriends were not far away, and my family members were sitting around Mum, grinning bright along with the others.

It was everything I’d ever dreamed, bringing every one of my romance novel hopes to life.

But it was the other side of the aisle that really made my heart soar. The groom’s side of the church, packed full with so many people Logan had come to know all over again.

Friends.

He had so many friends, from so many points in his life.

It was just such a terrible shame that Jackie Hall wasn’t sitting there in the front pew, smiling her incredible smile with her twinkling eyes. But I felt her there. Her words of wisdom in my mind. Her cackle of a laugh. I knew I would always feel Jackie Hall.

Logan’s gaze was magical, the love I saw in his stare was divine. It was all I could do to stop the tears from falling.

He was the same beautiful man who’d captivated me on the way to Harrow every morning, with his glorious beard and his solid jaw. His eyes were every bit as dark as they’d ever been, and his brows were still stunningly heavy, but there was more there when I looked at him that day.

He was alive in the most magnificent of ways.

His suit was spectacular, the rose at his buttonhole was exquisite, and he looked at me with a wow as he took my hand in his.

“You are the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever seen, jitterbug,” he whispered before the vicar led the service, and I believed him.

In his vision, and his heart, I was the most gorgeous creature he’d ever seen, and my imperfections were loved every little bit as much as the rest of me.