Bearly Christmas

by Becca Fanning

  Addy laughed, but she realized quickly that Mark was aware of how tense she had gotten and was trying to help her relax. It almost worked until they pulled into a small parking lot behind an old, three-story house.

  “This is Mel’s place. She lives in the apartment on the top floor. Uncle Bart’s tryin’ to wrangle a deal to buy the whole building, so the rest of us can live in the other two apartments. It’s not that we have to live in each other’s pockets, but we’re still feelin’ our way in the city, so we’d like to stick together. Matt’ll be movin’ in with Mel, after they’re married, of course, but we figure we’ll save a lot of money with the rest of us sharin’ space we own, too.”

  Addy wasn’t paying Mark much attention as she got out of the SUV and stared up at the grand old house. Even her inexperienced eye could tell it was a very old building that had had extensive, quality renovations done. It was a lifetime removed from her cabin in the woods in more than distance.

  “Everythin’s gonna be fine, Addy,” Mark said, wrapping an arm around her and giving her a reassuring squeeze. “They’re gonna love you. I promise.”

  Addy took a deep, fortifying breath and turned to the back of the SUV to get her guitar. If she was going to meet her future upstairs in that apartment, she wanted the one weapon she had at her side.

  * * *

  The music rang through the recording studio, sending Addy to a place she had never been before. The four male voices—all baritone or bass—should have been overpowering, but the four brothers were so in tune with one another, so focused on the music, they held her in a kind of spell she’d never even imagined before.

  “I told you they were good,” Mel whispered, nudging Addy with her shoulder. “I’ve got dibs on the guitar guy, but they’re all pretty, aren’t they?”

  Addy could only nod. They were that: pretty and special. Mark had been right, of course. His family had welcomed her with open arms, and Mel, especially, had taken Addy’s part, instantly bonding with the other woman against the mass of Saint men, who could be a little overwhelming when they were in one room together. Following a quick lunch, they had piled into a van and the SUV to head over to a studio they had reserved that afternoon for some music rehearsal. As the brothers warmed up, Addy felt the sudden urge to join them.

  “Sounds good, boys,” Uncle Bart said through the intercom from where he sat with a sound man on the other side of the glass. “And you were right about that bridge, John.”

  “You know I hate to admit it,” Matt said, “but he really was.”

  “The mandolin made all the difference, there,” Mark agreed.

  “Don’t let it go to your head, kid,” Luke said, laying down a quick pattern on his drums.

  “Like I’d ever have the chance to,” John, the youngest, said with a grin.

  Everyone laughed, including Uncle Bart in the booth, but finally the older man called a halt to the fun.

  “All right, all right. The clock’s runnin’, so let’s move on. Why don’t you try Addy’s new song and bring the pretty lady in to show you how it was meant to be sung?”

  “That’s you,” Mel said with a grin.

  Addy wiped her suddenly damp palms on her jeans and opened her guitar case. As she pulled it out, Matt let out a low whistle.

  “Is that what I think it is?” he said, leaning closer for a better look.

  “I guess that depends on what you think it is,” Addy said. “My great-granddaddy got it in trade back in the ‘30s. I know it’s not much to look at, but it still sounds pretty good.”

  The guitar had an ebony finish on a mahogany back and sides and a red spruce top, with ivoroid binding. A rosewood fingerboard was accented with mother-of-pearl tuners. Under the studio’s bright lights, she could see clearly every scratch and scuff mark, but the familiar trademark Gibson headstock logo made everyone anxious to hear how it sounded.

  “Like I got anythin’ to brag about in the looks department,” Matt said with a grin, holding up his scratched and scuffed Martin guitar. “Looks don’t mean a thing in a music studio.”

  Addy glanced around and realized the same could be said about any of their instruments, and she felt marginally better. Marginally only, however, since they hadn’t yet heard her either play or sing.

  Luke passed out copies of the song to everyone and sat back down at his drums.

  “I don’t really know the names for all the chords I use,” Addy admitted shyly.

  “Self taught?” Matt asked.

  She nodded and blushed.

  “Nothin’ wrong with that,” Mark said with grin and a wink. “I’ll take a good ear over book learnin’ any day.”

  “That’s for sure in this group,” Bart said from beyond the barrier. “Why don’t you just play your song and sing it as you think it ought to go, darlin’, and the boys’ll just join in as you go along. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Addy checked her tuning one last time, slipped her favorite thumb pick out of her front pocket, took a deep breath to calm herself, and started to play. She had called the song “Appalachian Home,” but it was about more than just a place. It was about belonging, being a part of the land, a family, of mattering to someone. She’d written it for Granny, but realized as the boys joined in, both instrumentally and vocally, that it was even more effective as a song of love between a man and a woman, something she had never even considered before.

  Mark quickly picked up the rhythm on his bass fiddle, and Matt didn’t have any trouble following her fingers on guitar. Then Matt started to sing with her, and the harmony made her heart soar. Her own vocal range was a low alto, and Matt’s warm baritone set it off beautifully as they moved into the second verse. Mark added a second baritone to verse three, and then Luke jumped in with his bass on the final chorus, making the full sound shimmer. Luke had quickly switched to brushes on the drums, and John started to add touches of an improvised counter melody on mandolin. As the last chord faded, Addy knew she had finally heard “Appalachian Home” as it had been meant to be played.

  “Well, I’d say that’s a keeper,” Bart said from the next room, his voice full of both approval and satisfaction.

  Addy looked around and saw clearly that all of them felt the same way, if their grins were any indication.

  Mel’s face was tear-streaked, though her smile was sunny bright.

  “Please promise me, Addy, that even if you decide not to sign with Konstantine, you will sing that song at our wedding.”

  Matt carefully set aside his guitar and crossed to pull Mel into his arms.

  “So, what do you say, darlin’?” Mark asked softly from behind her. “Care to join us?”

  Addy turned to look into his eyes, seeing in them an emotion as potent as the music they had just played together. Taking a very deep breath, she finally nodded.

  “I’d like that.”

  Mark grinned, and setting his bass aside, he came forward and took her into his arms.

  You were right, Granny, Addy thought as he held her close, and she felt his lips brush the side of her face. You were so right.

  * * *

  They finished their final set to a rousing round of applause, and Mark thanked everyone, reminding them to drive home safely. Addy felt as though she was floating above the stage, as she gently set her guitar in its stand. Before stepping down, she scanned the still-crowded reception. Granny was sitting with Mark’s two grandmothers, chatting amiably as the elderly often did at the weddings of their grandchildren. Mel and Matt had invited Granny to their wedding, and their family home was close enough to Granny’s place, that it was no trouble for one of the many Saint cousins to pick her up and take her back home again. Addy wouldn’t be going home tonight, and she wasn’t entirely certain of what she felt about that.

  “Buy you a drink, darlin’?” Mark asked, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

  “Just something cold, thanks. I need to talk to Granny, though.”

  Mark gave h
er a squeeze of understanding. “I’ll bring it to the grannies’ table, then.”

  “Thanks, Mark.” She smiled up at him and blushed when he dropped a light kiss on her lips.

  Winding her way across the crowded room, she was waylaid several times by people who had nothing but positive things to say about her performance with the Saint brothers. They had publicly débuted “Appalachian Home” during the actual wedding ceremony, and according to everyone who had spoken to her about it, there hadn’t been a dry eye left in the house. Addy was glad for many reasons, not the least of which was knowing it was the best wedding present she could have given to her new friends.

  Addy had been rehearsing and recording with The Four Saints for a couple of months, now, and they all had such confidence in her that Matt had asked her to sit in with the band on stage while he and Mel were on their honeymoon. Uncertainty still plagued her, but there was no way she was going to let them down—short of a complete breakdown, of course.

  It was Uncle Bart who had taken it upon himself to make certain that wouldn’t happen. He’d spent countless hours with her over the past eight weeks, working with her to help her understand what was happening when she Shifted, how to anticipate it, and how to control it instead of letting it control her. She’d never felt the kind of confidence around other people she now felt, and while she’d been acutely nervous before the wedding, she’d managed to hold it together in the time leading up to “Appalachian Home,” and she and Mark and the others had “nailed it,” as John had claimed. And throughout the reception, she had covered Matt’s guitar parts, adding her voice to the band’s regular songs. Addy couldn’t imagine not being scared to death, when she finally stepped on stage in front of an audience of strangers, but she knew she was going to be just fine, thanks to this entire family of new friends who believed in her.

  “There’s my darlin’,” Granny said, when Addy stepped up to the table.

  “Have a seat, Addy,” Mark’s Grandma Larkin said, gesturing to another chair at their table.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Larkin.”

  “Oh, just make it Grandma, dear. Mrs. Larkin is much too formal on such an occasion.”

  Addy smiled her thanks and felt Granny squeeze her hand.

  “Didn’t I tell you my Addy was doin’ just fine by your boys?” Granny asked, hugging Addy’s arm to her.

  “You certainly did, Flora,” Mark’s Gran said. “We especially liked that new song,” she said, turning her attention to Addy. “The one you did durin’ the wedding? Oh, my, but I wept through that one.”

  “We all did, Agatha,” Gran said. She sighed. “It was so beautiful.”

  “Ladies,” Mark said, as he came up to the table and handed Addy a glass of punch.

  “There’s our boy,” Gran said, putting her arm around him.

  “You look tired, sweetie,” Grandma Larkin said. “Are you sure about drivin’ all the way back to Nashville tonight?”

  “We’ll be fine Grandma. We’ll trade off on the drivin’, if we get too tired, but we’re all feelin’ pretty frisky right now, so it shouldn’t be a problem. And no one’s been drinkin’ alcohol, either, so don’t you worry.”

  “Well, of course we’ll worry,” Gran said, reaching across her in-law to take Mark’s hand. “That’s what grandmothers do, you know.”

  Mark laughed and leaned in to kiss both their cheeks.

  “I need to start packin’ up,” he said, glancing over at the stage and seeing Luke starting to break down his drums.

  “I should help,” Addy said.

  “You’ve done enough, today, Addy,” he said, resting his hand on her shoulder to keep her seated. “We’ve got this.”

  “Okay.”

  “Such a nice boy,” Granny said.

  Addy nodded, her eyes following Mark as he returned to his brothers.

  She took a deep breath and turned back to Granny.

  “I’m goin’ back to Nashville with them, Granny,” she said, keeping her voice low so only her own grandmother heard her.

  Granny put her arm around her and squeezed. “Of course you are, darlin’.”

  Addy saw Granny’s knowing smile and blushed.

  “You knew?”

  She nodded. “And I’m not even goin’ to say ‘I told you so.’”

  Addy laughed and wrapped her arms around her grandmother’s neck.

  “You deserve to,” she whispered. “I love you so much.”

  “Oh, and I love you, darlin’, so much.”

  “I’ll miss you.”

  “Of course. But don’t you be worryin’ about me, Addy Ann. I have a lot of new friends, now, and they’ll be stoppin’ by to keep me from gettin’ lonely.”

  “You bet we will,” Grandma Larkin said, hearing the last bit. “We had no idea Flora was livin’ so close to us. We’ll visit often, and I’m bettin’ our granddaughters will be lookin’ in on your granny in the future as much as they look in on us now.”

  Addy smiled. “Please thank them for me.”

  “We will. Now as your granny said, don’t you be worryin’ about a thing.”

  Addy hugged and kissed Granny one more time said, goodbye to the others then headed off to pack up her guitar.

  Whatever happens now, she decided then and there, I’m gonna do what Granny says and not worry about it anymore.

  * * *

  Addy stood in the front widow of Mel’s third-floor apartment, looking down at the street below as traffic continued moving into the night. She’d changed into her nightgown and robe, but couldn’t seem to settle. The night lights and sounds in the city were so different from what she was used to, that even after only a couple of nights back home, they were keeping her awake again.

  “You okay?” Mark asked, coming up behind her.

  “It’s the city,” she murmured. “I wonder if I’ll ever really get used to it.”

  They heard a siren in the distance.

  “I know the feelin’, darlin’,” Mark said, wrapping his arms around her from behind in a now-practiced move.

  Addy leaned back in his arms, comforted in a way she never would have imagined only a few weeks before. She shouldn’t feel this way after knowing Mark for only two months. She shouldn’t have let him stay in Mel’s apartment with her. But Mel and Matt were at this moment on their honeymoon in a cozy cabin somewhere near Gatlinburg, and she didn’t want to be alone tonight.

  She thought of the rest of the men in the apartments below. The original owner of the building—who had been living on the first floor—had decided to sell it to Uncle Bart after all when the second floor tenant had moved out. Luke and John were staying on the second floor, now, and Uncle Bart had moved into the first floor apartment. What her living arrangements would be once Mel and Matt got back was still up in the air, but for one week, she was going to explore what she and Mark might have together.

  Addy hugged his arms about her and sighed.

  “I shouldn’t be here with you,” she whispered, “but I can’t seem to care. I don’t want to be anywhere else.”