The Sweetest Gift (The Gift)

by Pamela Warren

  “That sounds like a lot of traveling, Mama,” said Belle.

  “Well, I guess it is,” said Maggie. “Justin and I are calling it our world tour.”

  Justin smiled when Maggie said that and looked lovingly at her and the children.

  “I think it sounds great, Mom” said Gabe. “It gets a little boring at home sometimes. I like to see new places.”

  “Me too, Gabe,” Maggie said and smiled. “O.k., I guess we’ll make the arrangements then. We probably have just enough time to fit these trips in before school starts in September.”

  Justin smiled too. He was looking forward to spending time with Maggie, Gabriel, Isabel, and especially Jake. He had been a bachelor for a long time and he was enjoying being part of a large, rambunctious family.

  .

  Chapter 9

  The first stop on Maggie and Justin’s ‘world tour’ was Nashville. They flew from Lafayette to Nashville and then rented a car at the airport. As they drove up the long driveway to Tucker’s estate, Maggie felt happy to be back. She and her children had lived there for two years and she had started to look on it as being her home. Justin drove up to the palatial main house, imposing with its white pillars. Tucker must have been watching for them because he came out immediately when they pulled up and parked. He walked over to get the door for Maggie, and the three kids piled out of the back seat. They said ‘hi’ then helped Justin get the suitcases out of the trunk and carry them into the house. They dropped them off in the front foyer and ran up the sweeping staircase to their bedrooms on the second floor. After a lot of noise and giggling, they came back down again, complaining that they were hungry.

  “Why don’t you come into the kitchen and I’ll make you a snack,” Tucker suggested.

  They were enthusiastic about this idea, so they all sat down at the kitchen table while Tucker made his specialty, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He made sure they all had glasses of milk and then he joined Justin and Maggie who were sitting in the living room. Maggie had kicked off her shoes and was lying down on the couch while Justin was taking the opportunity to play one of Tucker’s many acoustic guitars.

  “Nice tone on this old Martin,” he said.

  “Thanks, those old Martin D-28’s are my favorite. I got this one at Gruhn’s a couple years ago.”

  “It’s nice to be able to afford any instrument that you want,” said Justin.

  Tucker laughed and said, “I must admit that it is. What is your favorite bass, Justin?”

  “Probably the Alembic bass that I bought out in California two years ago. It was previously owned by Phil Lesh. It can really fill an arena,” Justin laughed. “I’m hoping that if you come out to California with the kids Maggie, then you can hear me play it at a show with my band.”

  Tucker looked surprised for a minute.

  “Oh, I didn’t realize that a trip to California was in the works,” he said.

  “I was hoping that Maggie might bring the kids out so my parents could meet Jake. What do you think, Tucker?”

  “I know Maggie hasn’t been out to the west coast in a while. She might enjoy a trip to California,” he said noncommittally.

  “I’ve never been to San Francisco,” Maggie said. “Just to Los Angeles for the Grammy awards. I’d like to go to San Francisco, my parents met there when my mom was at Berkeley.”

  “I didn’t know that Maggie,” Justin said.

  “Yeah, my dad was in the Navy during World War II. He met my mother at a party at her sorority. He told me once that the first time he saw her he thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.”

  Justin thought to himself that he could understand that. That’s what he had thought the first time he had met Maggie in New Orleans. He would never forgive himself for letting Zak make the first move.

  “Well then, maybe you should take the kids out there Maggie,” said Tucker casually.

  “Do you want to go with us Tucker?” Maggie asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m kind of tired of traveling. I’d like to stay home for a while and rest. We have that big tour coming up in a couple months. I think you and Justin should go though.”

  Maggie looked at Justin.

  “We’ll think about it, I guess,” she said.

  After joining Maggie and Tucker for sandwiches in the kitchen, Justin went out to his car and drove down to the guest house. Justin liked the guest house a lot better than Tucker’s mansion. It reminded him of his own house in Louisiana. The house was much smaller in scale. It only had three bedrooms, a living room and a small eat-in kitchen.

  Justin carried his bag into the house and stopped for a moment in the living room. He remembered sitting on the couch with Maggie and kissing her. He then went into the bedroom and unpacked his clothes and put them away in the bureau. He sat on the bed and remembered making love to Maggie the night that she decided that she was going back to her husband Zak. He had told her that he wanted something to remember her by. Well, he certainly got that, he thought. Jake was conceived that night. He knew when they made love that second time and he didn’t use a condom that there was a chance that Maggie might get pregnant. He realized that he secretly wanted that to happen. Maggie was so beautiful when she was pregnant, and he had wanted to see her pregnant with his child. It had been his dream that he couldn’t acknowledge until recently, when he found out that Jake was his son. Now, he regretted that he hadn’t been there for Maggie during her pregnancy. Most of all he regretted missing Jake’s infancy and early childhood. Jake was five years old now, and he would never get that time back.

  Justin walked back to the main house and was almost knocked over by Gabe and Belle who were chasing each other out the front door. They disappeared around the corner of the house into the back yard. Jake was trailing behind them and tears were rolling down his face.

  “Come back and play with me,” he cried.

  “Do you want to do something with me, Jake?” Justin asked.

  “Yes, Daddy. I want to play guitar with you.”

  Justin was incredibly touched. It was the first time that Jake had referred to him as ‘Daddy’.

  “O.k.,” he said. “Let’s go inside and tell your Mama where we’re going and then I’ll take you over to the studio.”

  They went into the living room where Tucker and Maggie were having some coffee.

  “Daddy and I are going to the studio to play guitars,” Jake said proudly. He was starting to enjoy having a special relationship with Justin that wasn’t shared by his brother and sister. “Do you want to come too, Mama and Grampa?”

  “Sure,” Maggie said. “Why don’t you start over and we’ll join you in a couple minutes.”

  “O.k. Mama,” Jake said happily. He took Justin by the hand and led him out the door towards the studio. Justin looked back at Maggie and she could see that he had tears in his eyes.

  After they left, Tucker turned to Maggie and said, “What was that all about?”

  “I guess that Jake is starting to accept Justin as being his father.”

  Maggie was visibly moved, she had tears in her eyes too. Tucker didn’t say anything, but he had a thoughtful look on his face. They finished their coffee and then walked over to the studio which was next door to the guest house. They went inside and saw Jake playing Gabriel’s mandolin and Justin was accompanying him on the bass.

  “Mama, come play with me and Daddy,” Jake requested.

  So Maggie picked up an acoustic guitar and played the chords to “Wheel Hoss” while Jake slowly picked out the melody. Tucker saw Maggie and Justin exchange a tender look as they looked down on their precocious son. Tucker started to feel a little left out of the family circle.

  “I’m going to go back to the house, Maggie. I have some calls to make about the tour.”

  She looked up at him briefly and smiled.

  “O.k. Tucker, we’ll be in before too long.”

  Tucker went back to the house and took the phone into the living room so he coul
d call his booking agent. While he was looking out the window, he saw Maggie and Justin walking up the driveway with Jake in between them. They were all holding hands so that they were linked together. Occasionally they would lift Jake up in the air and swing him forward, much to his delight. As he came running in the house, Tucker heard him laugh and say, “That was fun, Mommy and Daddy.” Tucker heard Maggie reply, “That was fun son, Mommy and Daddy enjoyed it too.”

  .

  Chapter 10

  Later that afternoon, Tucker asked Maggie and Justin if they had booked their flights to San Francisco. He encouraged them to do that soon, so they could get a special fare. Justin got on the phone and called the airline and made reservations. They were going to leave in two weeks. Tucker said it was a good time for him because he was going to be helping a friend of his record an album in his studio. Then Justin called his parents in San Francisco and told them that he was bringing their grandson Jake to visit them. He also wanted them to meet Maggie and her other two children. Next Justin called some of the members of his band and told them he was coming back for a while and he was hoping that they could schedule some practices while he was there.

  “Oh, and by the way,” he said very casually, “I’m bringing my son Jake and his mother Maggie Mae Williams.”

  The members of Justin’s band were very surprised to hear this. They had known Justin for over four years and they realized they didn’t know much about him. They had no idea that he had a son and he certainly had never told them that he had a relationship with Maggie Mae Williams, the country star. They did know that he had played in a band with her because they had won a Grammy award for the album that they had made together, but they were all under the impression that she was married to Tucker Travis. They started to wonder if this was why Justin had never gotten seriously involved with any of the women he had dated.

  Maggie, Justin and the children spent the next two weeks at Tucker’s. The children enjoyed being home, they had friends from school that lived nearby and there was a lot for them to do at Tucker’s. He had an in-ground pool and a stable with horses. Gabe and Belle had been taking riding lessons and were pretty competent with the more gentle horses. Tucker sometimes rode an Arabian stallion named Samson that was fairly spirited, but the children weren’t allowed to take that horse out. Tucker had been thinking of buying a Shetland pony for Jake, but that had been put on hold until Maggie and her children returned from their travels.

  One afternoon, Tucker invited Justin to ride with him. Tucker’s horse needed the exercise and Tucker preferred to ride with someone else. They went down to the barn and saddled the horses, and took them out onto a trail that ran around the periphery of Tucker’s property. Maggie went down to the barn too, but didn’t go out with them. She had taken some riding lessons when she was young, but she didn’t feel totally comfortable on a horse since she couldn’t see well. Justin tried to persuade her that she would be fine on Tucker’s mare Delilah, but she said she would wait for them to get back. Maggie fed some apples to Tucker’s three other horses and petted the barn cat. When the two men returned from their ride, Justin got off his horse and led it over to Maggie. He tied it to a rail fence outside the barn and told Maggie that she should get on the horse.

  “I don’t know, Justin. I don’t feel comfortable riding when I can’t see.”

  “If you slide up to the front of the saddle, I think I can get on behind you Maggie. We can ride together, I’ll hold the reins.”

  Tucker watched them, but didn’t say anything.

  Maggie put her foot in the stirrup and swung her leg over the saddle until she was on the horse.

  “O.k. Maggie, now slide towards the pommel. You can hold on to that. You’re going to have to take your feet out of the stirrups so I can get up.”

  Maggie did as she was told and then Justin mounted the horse and swung up on the saddle behind her. He put his arms around Maggie and then grabbed the reins. Tucker untied the mare, and Justin kicked the horse and she walked towards the trail. Maggie got used to the horse’s gait after a while. As soon as they got out of sight of the barn, Justin started kissing the back of Maggie’s neck.

  “How are you doing, Maggie. Are you having fun?” he whispered in her ear.

  He could feel Maggie relax in his arms. He waited until she seemed completely comfortable and then said “Let’s step it up a notch,” and he kicked the horse into a trot.

  “Justin, I feel like I’m going to slide off since I don’t have any stirrups,” she said.

  “Don’t worry, Maggie, I’ve got you. I won’t let you fall.”

  He pulled back on the reins and the horse slowed back down to a walk. Justin held Maggie even tighter against him, his arms surrounding her waist and his legs enclosing her legs.

  “Maggie, I want you so much,” he whispered softly in her ear as they headed back towards the barn. Maggie was starting to feel aroused by her close proximity to Justin and the way they moved together on the horse. When they got in sight of the barn, they saw that Maggie’s children and Tucker were waiting for them.

  “Mama, I can’t believe you’re riding,” Belle called out.

  “I think we should help your mother get comfortable on Delilah and then maybe she would be able to ride by herself,” Justin suggested.

  “I’m not sure that I would ever get to that point.”

  “You never know what you’re capable of Maggie, until you try,” Justin answered.

  Justin halted the horse in front of the barn and dismounted. He held the bridle while Maggie found the stirrups and swung down. They led the horse back to its stall. Justin put the saddle and tack away while Maggie curried the horse. She enjoyed the feel and smell of the horse and could sense its gentle spirit. Justin put his arm around her so he could retrieve the curry comb. He left it there a few moments longer than was necessary.

  “I’ll finish grooming the horse, Maggie,” he said as Tucker and the children entered the barn.

  “I hope you enjoyed your ride, darlin’,” Tucker said. “Maybe Justin could take you out some more while he’s here.”

  “Maybe you could go for a ride with us, Mama,” said Gabe. “That would be fun.”

  “We’ll see,” Maggie said. She was surprised to think that riding with her children might even be a possibility.

  “That mare is very gentle, Maggie. I’m sure you could handle her. Maybe we could try to go for a ride with the kids before we leave,” said Justin. He put his hand on her shoulder as she smiled at him.

  “O.k., we can give it a try at some point,” she said much to her children’s delight.

  The next day was hot and humid, so they decided to spend the afternoon in the swimming pool. Jake watched his brother and sister racing each other across the pool and suddenly he went over to Justin and took him by the hand.

  “Daddy, teach me to swim,” he pleaded.

  Jake was pretty competent at the dog paddle, but he wasn’t allowed to swim in the deep end of the pool.

  “I think that’s an excellent idea, Jake,” Justin replied. “Maggie, it would be a good idea if he was a little more comfortable in the pool.”

  Maggie agreed. Zak had taught Gabe and Belle how to swim, but due to the divorce, Jake and been overlooked in that regard. So Justin spent the next week teaching Jake the crawl and the back stroke. He also taught him how to tread water in case he had some sort of emergency in the water. By the end of the week, Jake had become a lot more proficient with his swimming skills. Maggie was relieved that Jake would be a little safer around the swimming pool.

  Justin had also been working with Maggie so that she would feel comfortable horseback riding. They went out for an hour or two every day and by the end of the week, Maggie had gotten to the point where she was riding Delilah by herself. She found that the horse was so gentle that it would follow another horse and if Maggie accidentally dropped the reins, she would just stop moving until Maggie could recover them.

  Maggie started to enjoy these
trail rides, Tucker’s property was extensive and included rolling pastures and woods. Maggie began looking even healthier than usual with all this exercise and time outdoors. Tucker wondered if there was another reason that Maggie appeared to be glowing, but kept his suspicions to himself. The week culminated with Maggie accompanying Gabe, Belle and Justin on a trail ride. Tucker stayed home with Jake and played guitar with him. When the other children came home and joined them in the living room, they were excited by the expedition with their mother.

  “Uncle Justin told Mama that he’s going to teach her to ride a motorcycle next,” said Gabe approvingly.

  “I’d like to see that,” Tucker said and laughed.

  “Well, that’s probably not going to happen,” said Maggie as she entered the living room.

  “You never know Maggie,” laughed Justin as he came into the room after her. “I have a bike out in California that you might like to try.”

  “Just bring her back in one piece, Justin,” Tucker said and smiled.

  .

  Chapter 11

  The next day, Maggie and Justin helped the children pack for the trip to San Francisco. They didn’t want to bring too much luggage so Maggie and Belle shared a suitcase and so did Jake and Gabe. Justin loaded the suitcases in the trunk of his rental car and then went back into the house to say goodbye to Tucker.

  Maggie was sitting with Tucker on the couch with her arms wrapped around him. She had tears in her eyes as she kissed him goodbye.

  “Ah darlin’, don’t cry. You’ll be back before you even have time to miss me.” Tucker said.

  “You know that’s not true. I always miss you when we’re apart,” Maggie said softly.

  Tucker turned towards Justin and said, “Take good care of Maggie and the children. And make sure you show them a good time. The kids need to have some fun before they go back to school.”