by Shealy James
Fingers gently dragging across my chest woke me up shortly after the sun made its appearance. The curtains were open and the California sun made its way into my hotel room. I lifted Maggie’s hand from my chest and kissed her fingers. She lifted her chin and rested it on her other arm, which laid flat on my chest.
“Mornin’ pretty girl.”
She gave me the most perfect smile, the one I had been longing to see for the last month. “Good morning.”
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I told her as I ran my hand down her long hair and bare back.
“I missed you,” she said, and I thought for sure my heart would explode. Relief coursed through me and all the worry floated from my body.
“I missed you, too.”
She laughed. “I know. I saw your emails.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“So, did you figure everything out?”
“I think so. There’s just one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
She smiled and pressed her body against mine. “You.”
“What about me?”
“Are you still my Parker? Can you handle spending the rest of your life with a happier Maggie who will still be a lawyer in the future, lost her mother in the past, and plans to live each day like it’s her last?”
I lifted her up, so her body covered mine and our faces were inches from each other. “Nothing would give me greater pleasure.” I saw her smile just before her lips covered mine and she was showing me how much she missed me all over again.
I would have stayed in bed with her all day, but just like always, our stomachs weren’t going to allow it. After the third growl I gently slapped her rear and said, “Shower now. I’m taking you to breakfast before we go to the studio.”
I picked her up and held her as she giggled happily. “Wait,” she stopped me at the door to the bathroom. “I don’t have my clothes. Billy had my bag when you carried me away last night.”
“We’ll get them. Get the shower going. I’ll call Billy.”
I left her in the bathroom while I dialed Billy’s room. It was still early, but I didn’t care about waking him up.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“Get your ass up and bring Maggie’s bag over here.”
“Come get it yourself.”
“I have less than 24 hours with her. I’m not leaving her for a second.”
“Yeah. Alright. Be there in a second. I take it you two made up?”
“Everything’s great. Bring me her bag,” I told him then hung up the phone and threw on some shorts.
As soon as her bag was in my room I was in the shower with her. When I told Billy I wasn’t leaving her for a second, I meant I would be keeping my hands on her as much as possible. I knew we needed to talk still, but all of that could wait. She was headed back to Atlanta in the morning, and there would be nothing to do but talk once we were across the country from each other.
I took Maggie to a little café near the hotel that I liked. Afterwards we spent the day at the studio where she watched us record with a wide smile on her face. I couldn’t wipe the similar smile off my face knowing she was there with me. At every break I went out to where she sat and lifted her on my lap while we listened to the playbacks and let the technicians do their thing. After a busy day I took her back to the room, ordered room service and had my way with her before we had to call a car to take her to the airport.
Saying good-bye this time was hard because I was going to miss having her within reach, but on the same token, I wasn’t worried about being apart. We would make it, and that was all that mattered. We would talk when she was home, and she would finally tell me about her mother and everything she discovered visiting her home. I would finally tell her that my life as a musician would be temporary. I would still write music with Grady, but I was not meant for this life. It turned out I might be a white picket fence guy after all.
Chapter 20
Maggie
One year later
Every person in the room was someone Parker and I chose to include in our lives. We all smiled comfortably and laughed unreservedly. It was how a family should feel. These were the people who would attend our holidays, who would help us raise our kids, who would be there when we graduated law school, who would be the people we turned to when we couldn’t handle something ourselves. Sure, my sisters were missing, but there was always room for more love in this house.
The Christmas tree sparkled with lights and ornaments that we had freely placed without any thought as to design. Wrapped gifts of all different colors poured out from beneath it. Platters of food and drinks covered surfaces as people mingled in the rooms of the home I shared with Parker.
When Parker arrived home from the last part of the tour with Last Call, he told me he was home for good. Alexis had made remarkable progress in her recovery and had dealt with some issues in therapy that had been plaguing her for years. It also helped that for the first time in her life she felt safe. I didn’t know what she meant when she shared that. At the time I was afraid to ask about it. All I cared about was that she was able to replace Parker in the band when he was ready to come home, and I couldn’t have been happier. I had missed him.
Now, as I set the table for our first holiday dinner, it was easy again to see my future with Parker. Once I lit the last candle on the dinner table, I took in everything around me and breathed in the smell of the holiday, the sounds of my family, and the feeling that my life was everything I ever wanted it to be.
It was then that I heard the music playing through the sound system. I had never heard it before, but I knew the voice was Parker’s. It was a love song. I could hear his piano and the distinct sound of Nick’s guitar and Grady’s voice backing Parker’s. Billy’s rhythm picked up as I stepped out of the dining room to hear the song better. There in the living room I found a huge heart on the floor made of coins. These weren’t just pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters though. They were “good luck” coins, “I’m sorry coins, “I miss you” coins, and “I love you” coins Parker and I had collected over the years. It was then I heard the words in the song asking for forever.
I felt the familiar sting of tears as I turned around to find Parker on one knee with a ring in his hand.
“I mean it, Maggie. I want to love you forever. Please marry me.”
The tears fell from my eyes as I covered my mouth with my hands and nodded yes.
He smiled up at me without moving from his knee. “You’re going to have to do better than that, babe.”
I took my hands away from my face and held Parker’s face between them. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
The smile on his face was unforgettable as he slid a beautiful ring with two bands and two diamonds on my finger. Once it was securely on my finger, he lifted me in his arms and kissed me in a way I felt all over my body.
A throat clearing in the doorway stopped us from taking that kiss further. We broke apart to find our dads, Max, Preston, the band, and the crying Eliza and Becca standing in the doorway.
“Son, when I said you could marry my daughter, I didn’t mean you could ravage her right in front of me.”
Parker never took his eyes off me, and I happily smiled back at him. “Yes, sir.”
“The ring looks beautiful on you Maggie,” Dr. Pryce smiled as he stared at my hand that was resting on Parker’s arm.
“Is this…” I couldn’t even say the words.
“It’s a mix of our moms’ engagement rings,” Parker explained. “Your dad gave me the ring he had planned to give your mom, and Pops had my mom’s. They helped me have it recreated to create something just for you.” It was perfect. The fact that these rings represented the love of each of our parents was beyond anything I could have asked for.
I couldn’t hold the tears back then. When Parker saw them coming he just pulled me tightly against his chest. “Don’t cry, babe. It was meant to be on your finger. They would have loved you.”
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“Now we have a reason to celebrate. Good thing I made you go buy the champagne on the way here,” I heard Eliza say to Dr. Pryce as she led our audience of loved ones into the kitchen.
Parker held me against him as he spoke softly in my ear. “I had this whole New Year’s thing planned for last year out by the lake, but seeing as we’ll be ringing in the New Year right here this year, I didn’t want to wait. Everyone was here to celebrate with us, so what better moment to start our future.”
I pulled away and looked up at him while he wiped my tears away with his thumbs. “I can’t think of a better time to start a new family by joining what’s left of ours,” I told him with a smile.
“I love you, Maggie Miller. You make me the happiest man in the world.”
“Good thing I’m madly in love with you too then.”
“A very good thing,” he said before pressing another kiss to my lips.
“Let’s go eat. I think I saw something chocolate in there.”
“My favorite…” he hummed as he set my feet back on the ground.
“Oh, I’m well aware of your love of chocolate,” I laughed.
“You better be. You just agreed to marry me.”
“Does that mean I have to make you chocolaty treats all the time?”
“Doesn’t it? I thought that’s what good wives do,” he joked.
“How about I make you chocolate chunk brownies any time you want if you promise to sing that song to me any time I want?”
“Well Counselor, you drive a hard bargain, but I think that’s a deal I can make.”
Epilogue
Maggie
Ten years later
It was September, and that meant one holiday in our house: Parker’s birthday. I made sure all of our friends and family were invited. It wasn’t a particularly big birthday year for him, but it had been a big year for us. He had given up working for a law firm where he had to work ten or more hours a day in a suit and tie. I had left the world of corporate law, and together we opened our own firm. It was a dream come true for us, and it was time Parker relaxed and really celebrated everything he had accomplished over the past ten years.
“Mommy!” my four-year-old daughter yelled. “Perry is outside in his party hat. Daddy’s gonna see him!” She was really too smart for her own good, and she kept her older brother in check. Usually he let her, but on this particular day he was busy being too big for his britches.
“Ok Mary Leigh, I’ll get him,” I told her. Mary Leigh ran back out of the room appeased with my answer. Her fairy wings and ribbons fluttered behind her as she ran past my dad.
“Careful Princess,” he told her as she ran by.
“Sorry Papa!” she shouted as she kept running. He smiled and shook his head as he watched her go.
“Hey Daddy. Will you tell Perry to come inside? He’s decided that he doesn’t want to listen to anyone but men today.”
“Sure thing, kid. You need anything else?”
“Nope, I’m just about done.” I was finishing setting out the food for the barbecue Max and Billy would be taking care of when they arrived.
Just as I set the last plate out, Perry came running in followed by his sister and four other boys, two of Max’s three boys and Billy and Alexis’s two boys. Needless to say, we had a full house, and Preston and his three girls hadn’t even arrived yet. His wife, Julie, was also pregnant with their fourth, a girl of course.
Max came in my large kitchen carrying more food. “Hey Maggie Anne. What time does the birthday boy get here?”
“Should be here in a half hour. Don’t call me both names!” I told Max as I gave each of them a hug.
He laughed and patted my back before yelling at Billy. “Come on Billy. Let’s go figure out how to screw up Parker’s outdoor kitchen!” They never let Parker live down the fact that he was excited to have an outdoor kitchen. Domesticity was not exactly Billy and Max’s strong suits much to the dismay and annoyance of their wives. Becca couldn’t even get Max to mow the lawn. He paid someone to do it weekly, so she never had to bother him. Billy on the other hand may or may not have purposely turned his son’s clothes pink when he washed them on hot with a pair of Alexis’s red panties. It has been the source of controversy for years.
“All right, what can we do to help?” Alexis asked. After she left rehab and took Parker’s place in the band, we actually became good friends. She had been clean since then, and her and Billy finally admitted they had feelings for each other five years ago. Their admission resulted in a surprise pregnancy and a Vegas shotgun wedding we all thoroughly enjoyed. When I say thoroughly enjoyed, I mean Parker and I ended up with Mary Leigh as result of our time in Vegas.
“Nothing. I think we’re ready. Did y’all park down in the cul-de-sac?”
“Yes. The boys raced all the way up the hill. We are going to have some cranky kids in a few hours if they keep it up,” she rolled her eyes at her wild boys. No surprise that her and Billy produced wild children. She was a great mom, but I always wondered how she kept up with them.
“We’ll just pump them full of sugar until they pass out. After that we’ll make the big boys carry them back down the hill.”
“Great idea,” Becca said breathily as she set down her third son who was red-faced and sucking his thumb.
I reached out my arms to Gabriel, and he immediately reached for me before falling from his mom’s arms to mine.
“Ugh, thank you. He is starting to get too heavy for that.”
I walked away talking to Gabriel who started giggling as soon as I started making funny faces and tickling him.
Finally the rest of our friends and family arrived practically all at once. Pops and Eliza, who had gotten married shortly after Parker and I did, came in with Preston and Julia and their girls. Last person to walk in our front door was Sarah. She came in smiling brightly with her new husband, Michael, in tow. Everyone was here except the birthday boy, so I guided everyone into the backyard to wait for him.
The kids were all running around the pool in backyard in their bathing suits except for Mary Leigh who was still in her fairy costume that she refused to take off when Parker told me he was at the store. I asked him to pick up some chocolate chips I had “forgotten” for his favorite brownies. He thought he was getting dessert with dinner as his big birthday surprise, so I was excited for him to arrive because I had somehow kept the party a secret from him.
As everyone gathered their kids and led them to the covered patio to wait on Parker to arrive, I went inside to greet him. It was only a few moments later that I heard the garage open.
“Hey baby,” he said as he walked in with the chocolate chips in hand. He brought them to the counter and gave me his usual warm greeting that typically had the kids running from the room. I had a hard time not giggling at the secret in the backyard. “Where are the kids?”
“In the yard with Pops. Wait til you see what your daughter is wearing.”
“She’s only my daughter when she’s dressed up in something ridiculous or behaving like the spoiled little princess her mother turned her into.”
“Well…” I said with my eyebrows raised.
“Tiara and tutu?” Parker asked knowing our little girl all too well.
“Close. Fairy wings and tutu. She may have added an eye patch a few minutes ago.”
“Ah,” he nodded as we headed to the backyard.
The second he stepped through the door everyone yelled, “Surprise!”
Parker laughed and turned, “You!” He said as he grabbed me and kissed me like we weren’t standing in front of all of our friends and family.
“Eww!” I heard the kids yell as they scattered and went back to doing whatever they were doing before.
“How did you pull this off without me knowing?”
“I may have had some help.”
“Thank you, baby.”
“You’re welcome. Happy birthday. You have one more surprise later. Grady and Ivy couldn’t make it back
, so I set up a time with him for you to talk. They were really bummed they couldn’t make it back.”
“Uhh…he’s on a solo tour. Who expected him to come?”
“Apparently he did,” I replied just as our friends and family started patting Parker on the back and wishing him a happy birthday. He immediately fell into conversation with his old band mates while everyone filled plates with food.
Every time we were all together I couldn’t help but smile. It was these moments that we lived for. I watched as Sarah huddled close to her new husband. He was ex-military and seemed intimidating until we spent a weekend with him. He and Parker were already great friends despite living far away from each other and only meeting a handful of times.
Alexis and Becca were watching their boys swim and comfortably laughing with each other like they had been best friends all along. Their husbands laughed and drank their beers with Parker while they expertly manned the outdoor kitchen that Max and Billy liked to make fun of but actually were jealous of it. Mary Leigh leaped around the porch waving her magic wand around her favorite Auntie Sarah while Pop’s, Daddy, and Eliza, or “the old folks” as they called themselves, sat happily chatting and eating at the table.
This was a perfect moment.
Of course that’s when the screaming started. Perry had been playing soccer in the yard with Max’s boys. None of us saw what happened, but Perry was screaming crying as he ran over to me holding his arm against his chest.
“Hey. Hey. Calm down and let me see,” I told him once he was in my arms.
He continued to sniffle as he pulled his arm far enough away from his body that I could see it swelling.
“Hey buddy. What’s all the screaming for?” Parker asked as he came over.
“Parker, grab Perry a shirt and meet me at the car.” I said.
“Why?”
“Just go!” I snapped. “Daddy, keep an eye on Mary Leigh. We’ll be back in a little while.” I tried to speak calmly, but I was starting to panic. My little boy’s arm was most definitely broken. He was in pain, and I wasn’t really sure what to do other than take him to the hospital.