The next day while he was at the studio, David got a bit of a surprise. Even though Brie had warned him it would happen, he refused to believe it until he saw it with his own two eyes. And, he did. She’s brought the children up to the studio so that they could see what Daddy did for a living. The younger twins had no idea what Mama meant when she said “Daddy’s at the studio making music”. So, she showed them. David was laying down a scat pattern for a melody he’d come up with for some of the music that Danny had come up with when they walked in. Even fifteen year old Jacob was amazed. He knew what his father did to support the family, but he’s never seen it.
David shut off the recorder he was using to record the scatted melody, and took off the head phones he wore before laying them on top of the machine. “Well, surprise, surprise”, he laughed. He went to his wife and kissed her in greeting.
“I told you this was going to happen, Mr. Stubborn Ass”, she laughed.
“I know you did, but I didn’t believe you. I thought you’d take the kids sightseeing or something.”
“Not without you, Dad”, Maddie said. “You know this place. Mom would only get us all lost.”
David did a face palm as he fought not to laugh. “Madison, behave yourself”, he said as he tried to stifle the belly laugh that kept trying to come out. “You’re as bad as your big sister sometimes.”
“Well, love, she’s right. I’d only get everyone lost. You know Chicago. I don’t. This is my first time here in all the years we’ve been together”, Brie laughed.
“I thought we came up here during that stupid rally tour we did during the War.”
“Nope. We never made it up here because of your ‘Never Again’ speech.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.”
“And it’s my job to remind you.”
“What in the world would I do without you?”
“I don’t know. You’d be one miserable mother fucker, that’s for sure.”
“You can say THAT again. Never in my life have I been so in love with a woman as I am with you.”
“And I feel the same way about you. I’ve never been so in love with another human being.”
“Mom, Dad, you’re getting sappy on us again”, Jacob pointed out.
Brie decided to be a tad childish and stuck her tongue out at her son. “Get over it. When you find the perfect woman, you’ll know just why we’re so sappy. You’ll be just as sappy as we are, Jacob. You are, after all, your father’s son.”
“Oh, GOD, Mom, I think I’m gonna hurl.”
“Bathrooms back the way you came, Jake. If you make a mess, you get to clean it up, so don’t miss”, David joked.
“Dad, I do understand the concept of AIM.”
“So, you can contain your bile until you make it to the bathroom.”
Jake rolled his eyes. Brie noted that he looked a LOT like his father when he did that. And, much like his father, it was a rare occasion that he did it. “See, Jake, there you go acting like your damn Daddy.”
“Hey, now”, David said, feigning being insulted.
“You know I love you. Don’t start playing the injured party. I wasn’t being insulting.”
“You know what, it okay if you were. I know where you sleep.”
“Yeah, right next to you.”
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Malachai spent the morning doting on his children. He watched them do all the things he’d missed since leaving a few days before. He watched his little Miri and Isaiah roll over in the floor as their mother readied their cereal for the morning.
Jordan came down and played with her niece and nephew for a little while before she and her brother had to go to work. They were doing a fitting for the costumes they’d wear for the video shoot that would start first thing the next morning. Jordan would also be sitting down with a hair dresser and makeup artist to discuss how her hair and makeup would be done for the shoot. She had a few ideas that she wanted to bounce off of the people she’d meet with while her band mates were being fitted in the clothes they’d wear. The guys weren’t looking forward to it. Jordan was excited.
“Come on, ‘Chai”, she said when it was time to go. “We’ve got to go catch the limo, bro.”
“I’m on my way, Jordan, geez.” He kissed his wife and children good bye and told them he’d be back after a while. “I’m gonna see if Mom and Dad will watch the kids tonight. I want to take you somewhere”, he said as he grabbed his jacket and swung it over his shoulders.
“Baby, you’d have better luck with Karyn and Morbus. You parents have plans tonight. Your father wants to take your mother on a date night tonight”, Mandy said as she laid Miranda down to take a nap.
“Date night? Since when did they have this planned?”
“Since Mom was planning on bringing everyone up here to see Dad.”
He laughed. “Leave it to my parents to ruin my plans by having plans of their own.”
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Jordan was talking to the hairdresser and makeup artist after having the ‘costume’ she’d wear for the video fitted and altered the way she needed it to be. They wear trying different looks to decide what would go with Jordan’s outfit the best. It took some time, but they finally decided that her hair would be straight and the hairdresser would make funny little “spiky buns” along the crown of her head. The hair dresser actually did her hair to let her see what it would look like. “Are you kidding me!” she shouted when she saw it in the mirror. “This is awesome. I just hope my parents don’t kill me for this.”
“Why would they kill you for looking your age, honey?” the man said.
“You haven’t met my parents, have you?”
--------------
She stopped by the penthouse suite that her family shared to see her brothers and sisters before turning in early. She had to be up at a God awful time of the morning to go get ready to shoot her first music video. She wasn’t looking forward to lip synching, but such was life. She still wore her hair the way the hairdresser did it when she knocked on the door. Her twin answered the door. “Hey sis! You look GREAT!”, he said.
She smiled brightly at him. “Thanks, Jake. Are Mom and Dad here?”
“Yeah, you’re just in time. They’re getting ready to go out. They conned Morbus into keeping an eye on the rest of us while their out on the town. It’s just gonna be cheesy as shit dinner and a movie, then a night of screwing, but you know Mom and Dad.”
“I wanted to show them my hair for tomorrow. We start shooting our first music video tomorrow.”
“Well, come on in.” He stepped out of the way to let his sister in the suite as her father came out of the room he was sharing with her mother.
David looked at his daughter. “Well, well, Jordan. What happened to your hair?”
She smiled shyly at her father. “Do you like it? This is how we’re going to do my hair for the video shoot tomorrow.”
“It’s very you. Rebellious yet slightly tamed. It says, ‘I may be a cute little girl, but I’ll still kick your ass.’ I have to admit, I do honestly like it.”
“Thanks, Daddy. I hoped you and Mom wouldn’t kill me for it.”
“No, sweetheart. It fits your personality.”
Brie walked out of the bedroom as she put in a pair of earrings. She took a look at her daughter and said, “Wow, Jord, you’re looking more and more like a rock star every time I see you.”
She smile only got bigger. “Thanks Mom. This is how my hair’s going to look in the music video.”
“Very rock star. I like it. What time do you have to get up in the morning?”
“Too fucking early. I really need to get some dinner in me and get to bed soon”, she yawned. “I think I’m going to just order some room service, take a shower, and go the hell to bed.”
“Good idea. Oh, have fun tomorrow. Making the videos is probably the most fun part of this lifestyle.. second ONLY to touring.”
“Hopefully soon, we’ll find out for ourselves.”
--------------
David and Brie went out for a romantic night out. They were alone, just the two of them. They had one major rule for this night: no talking about the kids. David just wanted to focus on the two of them being together.
Brie’d been having a craving fur sushi, so David took her to a nice sushi bar not far from the hotel. It was a traditional place where they even had to take their shoes off and sit on the little raise platform on pillows. The chef even came out and cooked for them at the table in a true tappanyaki style. It was a show. Brie loved it. David was happy to see the joy in her eyes as he watched her watch the chef. His bliss was to see her happy. Lately, he’d been in a perpetual state of bliss because she was always happy. Once she accepted her brother’s death, she was happy and thus, he was happy that she was happy. Funny how that works, he thought as he sat in awe and watched the woman her loved. If she’s happy, then I’m happy. If she’s miserable, then I am too. Probably because I can’t stand to see her in pain and will move heaven and Earth to make her happy again. But, what I still can’t seem to figure out is what I’ve done to deserve such a beautiful creature as my wife. Because, she’s more than that to me. She’s my other half; my soul mate. Of all the shit in my “charmed” life that I’ve done wrong, I must have done something right to deserve such a jewel. Because, she certainly is rare. And at 48 years old, she just like a fine wine; she just gets better with age. She’s still amazing. How the hell has it been sixteen years? If feels like it was just yesterday that I thought I was saving her life when in fact she was saving me. No more loneliness for me.
She looked over at him, catching him staring. “What are you staring at, David? You’re acting as though you’ve never seen me a day in your life.”
“Just admiring God’s best piece of work, my love. He certainly broke the mold after he made you.”
She blushed for him. “I bet you’ve said that to all the girls.”
“Nope. Just you.”
She blushed harder. “I’m not that special.”
“On the contrary, love. You most certainly are that special. You’re my personal angel. I’ll say that until the day I die.” And he meant every word.
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