Witnessing that match was the perfect ending to the three week tour. Billy brought up the rear of the procession, savoring the moment to take in the incredible atmosphere of working in front of such a demanding, yet appreciative, crowd. Someday it was going to be him putting on a show like that. Someday all those people were going to be cheering for Billy Dalton.
The Tokyo Dome was so big that Paul and William both had their own dressing rooms. It had amazed Billy how they hadn’t said a word to each other before the match. Those two were so professionally in sync that they didn’t even call their spots in the ring. They just knew what to do to make it all click.
It wasn’t like Billy had gone out of his way to avoid Paul. It was more like this wasn’t the time or the place to air their dirty laundry. He had looked Paul in the eye and shook his hand, just as the other undercard guys had, when Bryson made his customary walkthrough of their dressing room. It likely surprised Paul when he didn’t back down. All the professional respect in the world wasn’t going to stop Billy from marrying Lizzie.
Billy went around and said his goodbyes and thank yous to all the Japanese boys he had worked with and headed over to wait for William. He knocked on the dressing room door and Mr. Hasegawa himself invited him to come in.
“You did good for us,” he said handing Billy a pay envelope for three weeks of work. “Come sit, we must talk.”
Billy sat down beside him still holding the unopened envelope in his hand.
“After Australia, we want you back for six week tour. You train in dojo by day. Get good pay to have match each night.”
“I appreciate the offer-”
“He’ll be there.” Before Billy could get in his “but”, William took control of the conversation. “Just forward his itinerary to my hotel in Melbourne.”
“Very well.”
Hasegawa was out of there before Billy had a chance to speak up.
“I don’t want to come back here for six more weeks.”
“Open your pay envelope.”
Billy let out an impressed whistle at the sight of all those crisp American hundred dollar bills.
“Money notwithstanding, only a fool would refuse an offer to train in their dojo.”
“You mean because of the mafia thing?”
“Guess how many foreigners have trained in this dojo?”
“I don’t have any idea.”
“You’re looking at the one and only,” William said with one of those sly smiles. “There are guys back in the States who would cut off their left nut for such an opportunity.”
“I reckon I’d better go on and write Lizzie to break the bad news that I’ll be here a little longer.”
“Break the good news, in those six weeks you’ll make more than you could working over six months back home, and a good working relationship with the Japanese office is priceless.”
William showed Billy his pay envelope, stuffed with more bills than he’d ever laid eyes on.
“I guess me and Lizzie would be able to put the money to good use.”
“After you walk out of that dojo in six weeks, Paul Bryson will never intimidate you again. You’ll be itching for him to take a swing at you so you can try out some of the things you’re going to learn in your training.”
Billy’s heart skipped a beat when they walked into that restaurant and saw Paul deep in conversation with a tiny woman with a mane of fiery red hair.
Lizzie - For just a second he hoped that she had somehow found a way to make the trip with her daddy. He should have known better. When the woman turned around, he saw it was Dinera decked out in a stunning gold kimono.
“Billy darling,” she said as soon as she spotted him. “Your match was just marvelous.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“My prodigy here,” William slapped his arm around Billy, “has been invited to train in the JPW dojo.”
Paul’s jaw just about hit the floor. “You cannot be serious.”
“He starts in three weeks.”
“Well, that certainly calls for a round of drinks,” Paul said as they all attempted to get comfortable around the little table that barely hit the men’s knees. “Dinera, can you select something appropriate for this auspicious occasion? Drinks are on me.”
Billy knew exactly why Paul was being so damn nice. It would be hard for him to marry the man’s daughter when he was halfway across the world busting his ass in a Japanese dojo.
After Dinera fired off their order in what sounded like fluent Japanese, she turned to Paul. “You must be very proud of your future son-in-law.”
“He’s not marrying my daughter.” Paul stated like his word was the law.
“We’ll see about that,” Dinera replied with a lilting laugh.
Whatever it was that Dinera ordered, it was the best food Billy had eaten the whole time he’d been there. It made him feel a little better to see that Paul hadn’t attempted the chopsticks and was also resorting to a fork. He was just as out of his element as Billy had been.
When Dinera excused herself to go to the ladies room, Paul said, “How about I get you one of those Geishas for the night?”
‘No thanks,” he said real quick before Paul even thought he would consider it, “I’m just going to head back to my room and write my gal a love letter.”
“You can’t do a tour without this experience. Those gals are something else.”
“No thank you.”
“Suit yourself.” Paul threw down some Japanese bills and went upstairs alone.
Billy went back to his room and sat down with a pencil and a notepad to try to find the words to make Lizzie understand why he was going to be away from her for six more weeks. He sat there staring at the blank page until his butt went numb. Too keyed up to sleep, he got the pay envelope out from where he’d hidden it in the lining of a suitcase and stuffed it into his boot to head to the downstairs bar.
Billy ordered up one of those Japanese beers and sat down beside Hoshi, a nice guy who came to a lot of their matches. He was one of the few people Billy had met over there who spoke good English. At least he had someone to talk to. Hoshi congratulated him on getting into the dojo and Billy bought him a beer since it was his last night.
“I’d like to get my gal back home some kind of present. Are those kimonos expensive?”
“For good one, yes, if you buy in store. My sister might get you discount. She works for seamstress. You want come to my house to see?”
“Yeah, sure, if it ain’t too much trouble.”
“No trouble at all.”
After Hoshi scared him half to death, driving like a mad man in a tiny box of a car, they finally pulled up to what looked like a dollhouse. Hoshi’s sister was just about as cute as a little doll, so it was a good fit.
“What size is she?” Hoshi asked.
“She’s a little thing, about her size.”
The girl disappeared into a back bedroom and returned a few minutes later with her arms overflowing with shiny fabric.
“Which you like?”
“She looks real pretty in blue. It makes her eyes sparkle.”
“How about this?”
She held one up that was just the color of Lizzie’s eyes. The sleeves were embroidered with pink, white and black dragonflies. It was really nice, but he was pretty sure it was out of his price range.
“How much?”
“For you, ten American dollars.”
He could swing that with what he had in his wallet, so Billy pulled out a twenty. “Could you mail it to her for me with this?”
She nodded.
“Good, you can keep the change.”
She even got him some stationery to write Lizzie a little note. Hoshi gave him some photos he’d taken from Billy’s matches and those went into box with the note. Then he posed with everyone in their family, from Granny to the scrawny dog hanging outside, for Hoshi to take a series of photos.
“Billy will be big star someday,” he said proudly.
&n
bsp; Chapter 21
It was all Lizzie could do not to drum her pen on the conference table as Dr. Holt dissected the purchase contracts for the third time. From what she had paid out in medical bills, he should be naming a room after her instead of nitpicking about every single detail. The seller wasn’t going to make any more concessions and she really didn’t want to have Martha retype all those pages.
Billy’s plane was due to land in three hours and if Dr. Holt hadn’t been taking all day on this closing, she could have been halfway to Raleigh by now. While he reread every line of fine print, she peeked through the blinds and saw it was still pouring down the rain. She didn’t care if she had to swim to Raleigh. She was going to be there to meet Billy. This had been the longest six weeks of her entire life.
It took all her manners not to breathe a noticeable sigh of relief when Dr. Holt finally picked up his pen and started initialing and signing through the stack of papers. This was her biggest sale to date, so she should have been excited about the commission. If only she wouldn’t be paying a chunk of it right back to him and the hospital. It didn’t seem right for her to have to pay all those medical bills when she had gone home empty handed.
Lizzie just hoped things would get better when she was back in Billy’s arms. He didn’t know yet about the baby. It wasn’t something she wanted to tell him in one of the many letters she had written to him just about every day that he had been gone.
Looking at the directions Carol Ann had written down for her to find the airport and motel, she wished she wasn’t making this trip alone. She was already scared about getting lost and knew she would be running late.
Finally… every “I” dotted and every “t” crossed, new keys in his hand, Dr. Holt made it out the door.
Martha caught Lizzie right as she was headed for the door herself. “There’s a package here for you from Japan.”
She grabbed the box and threw it in the passenger seat of Billy’s Riviera, ready to hit the road.
The windshield wipers were churning double time and Lizzie still couldn’t see more than a car’s length in front of her. To make matters worse, she was lost. Some stupid wreck had caused a detour and she had no idea how to get back to any of the roads listed on Carol Ann’s directions.
This was so not good. If Billy’s flight had landed on schedule, he would have gotten in almost two hours ago. He had most likely caught a cab by now and gone on to the motel. As many times as she’d heard her Daddy complain, she knew that being late for TV was the worst thing an up and coming star like Billy could do. Especially since this was his first night back and he really needed to make a good impression so they could stay in Charlotte.
If Lizzie hadn’t known better, she could have sworn it was her daddy who had gotten the taping and the Dorton Arena show flip-flopped just to cause problems for Billy. Truth was, it had been a Led Zepplin concert in the Arena that had the wrestling pushed a day later to Wednesday. She almost wished she could have been there to hear her daddy rant about the long haired rock and rollers screwing up his workout schedule by moving TV a day early to Tuesday.
Surely there would be a sign for the TV station if she just kept going towards downtown Raleigh. This didn’t look like the safest part of town, so she didn’t want to stop and ask for directions unless it was absolutely necessary. Lizzie kept going until an empty gas tank and a full bladder made her have to make a pit stop.
After her gas and potty break, Lizzie pulled back out onto the road, glad to know she was only a few blocks from the TV station. In her excitement to finally get to Billy she didn’t even see the Rambler until it was too late. There was the boom of crushing steel when the other car smashed into the rear end of the Riviera. The steering wheel jerked out of her hands and the car careened headfirst into a telephone pole.
She was still shaking when a girl tapped on the window.
“Are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” Lizzie admitted, still trying to take in what had just happened. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to pull out in front of you.”
“Accidents happen.” She shrugged. “Are you able to get out?”
Lizzie opened the door, easing to her feet to survey the damage. The headlight of the Rambler was busted and there was a small dent on the fender. Other than a ding, the back of the Riviera was okay. At least compared to the front end embedded in the utility pole. The hood had been smashed in good.
Lizzie was already in tears when a patrol car pulled up alongside them.
“Are you ladies alright?”
“We’re okay,” the girl said, “It looks like her car got the worst of the damage.”
“Cars can be fixed a lot easier than lives,” he said. “If no one is injured why don’t you ladies get your purses and join me in the car. There’s no sense in any of us getting soaking wet while I write up a report.”
The contents of Lizzie’s purse had spilled out all over the floorboard, so it took her a moment to find her wallet and dig Billy’s registration out of the glove box. The officer already had the other girl’s information by the time Lizzie handed over her driver’s license.
“Miss Bryson, what brings you up from Charlotte on a night like this?”
“I was supposed to meet my boyfriend at the airport, but I missed his flight so I was trying to find the WRAL TV Studio so I could meet him there. He’s one of the wrestlers.”
“Billy Dalton,” he read off the registration.
“Oh my God!” the girl exclaimed, “You’re Paul Bryson’s daughter.”
Lizzie nodded.
“I was supposed to be going to the taping too, but I was late getting off work and they won’t let you in after the cameras start rolling.”
“That Paul Bryson is a fine man,” the officer said. “Every year he always makes a big donation to the local Boys Club and most important he takes time out of his busy schedule to come over and speak to the kids.”
For the first time in quite a while, Lizzie felt proud to be Paul Bryson’s daughter.
“I tell you what,” he continued. “After we get your car towed, I’ll take you over to the studio and I bet your daddy will get this all straightened out.”
“Do we have to tell Daddy?” Lizzie panicked. “He didn’t know I was coming up here and I know he’ll be mad at me for wrecking Billy’s car.”
“I know Paul, and I’m sure he’ll make arrangements to cover the damage to my car. It’s just a busted headlight,” the girl said, much to Lizzie’s relief. “I can give Miss Bryson a ride over there after you finish your report.”
“We are rather busy today, so that might be the best plan if it’s not an inconvenience to you Miss Kafelnikova.”
“No problem at all,” she assured him.
“I’d really appreciate that,” Lizzie looked down at the insurance information and saw her name, “Elena.”
“You really do favor your grandmother. Glenda DuBois has got to be the coolest lady wrestler ever,” the girl said, taking Lizzie’s bag and shoving it into the back seat of her car.
“Gran is awesome.”
Lizzie couldn’t believe that Elena was so nice. They sat in her car and chatted until the wrecker loaded up Billy’s car to tow to a place Elena recommended, telling Lizzie her cousin worked there. The officer gave Lizzie his card in case Paul had any questions and they finally pulled away with neither of them getting a ticket.
“Since it’s getting late, do you want to just go on over to the Lodestone and wait for Billy there?” Elena asked. “Everyone eats at the restaurant after TV and I’m starved.”
“I could go for some food, too.” As much as Lizzie wanted to see Billy, she didn’t want to upset her daddy while he was at work.
It felt so good to be in out of the rain and finally know where she was. A warm bowl of soup was just what she needed.
“I can pay for the damages to your car and it would help me and Billy both if Daddy di
dn’t find out about the wreck.”
“I understand.” Elena laughed. “Paul’s not someone you want mad at you.”
“How long have you known my Daddy?”
Lizzie wondered if Elena was just being nice because she was one of her daddy’s groupies.
“Oh, I don’t really know him that well, just in passing.”
“Do you know Carol Ann?"
“Sure do, she’s a sweet lady. I miss her at work.”
“Are you a nurse too?”
“Me? No, I work in the hospital cafeteria.”
“Evening ladies.”
Lizzie looked up just in time to see Johnny Weaver walking by their table.
“Hello Mr. Weaver.”
He turned back around apparently surprised to see her, “Elizabeth, what in the world are you doing here?”
“Waiting for Billy.”
“I thought he was still over in Japan training in the dojo.”
“Wasn’t he at TV?” Elena asked.
“No, didn’t your daddy tell you?”
“Tell her what?” Just who Lizzie didn’t want to see… Daddy… and he didn’t look too happy to see her.
“If you will excuse us for a minute, I’d like to speak to my daughter in private.” When Lizzie didn’t budge, Paul said, “Elizabeth, come with me now.”
“Why, do you have a groupie waiting to go back to your motel room?” Lizzie took a defiant bite out of her cheeseburger, refusing to look at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep kayfabe. Isn’t that what it’s called? Not telling what happens on the road.”
“You’re really pushing it, young lady.” Her daddy glared at her. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I was supposed to pick Billy up at the airport.”
“Billy’s in Japan for at least six more weeks. Didn’t he bother to call you about his change of plans?”
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