Three Chords, One Song

by Beatrice M. Hogg

  Lucy was stunned. Three million dollars? Lucy looked at Eve and Soleil, both of whom had their mouths hanging open in disbelief. It was obvious none of them had been thinking in the millions of dollars.

  Sally looked at the other women triumphantly. “Is that all?”

  Lieberman looked nervous. “Yes, that’s it.”

  Sally’s triumphant look faded. “Some things are missing!”

  He turned his attention to Soleil. “Ms. Soleil DeSalle, your father has left all of his recording equipment and his twenty vintage guitars to you. These items will have to be appraised to determine their value.”

  Soleil smiled. “That’s cool.” Sally stared at her. Soleil directed a smirk in her direction.

  Lieberman cleared his throat again. “I need to read the next section verbatim.”

  Lucy wondered what was going on. She thought Mik had left her something. But now it seemed like she and Eve had been left out in the cold.

  Lieberman began, “ ‘I, Mik DeSalle, leave the bulk of my financial estate jointly to my three daughters, Evelyn Elizabeth Shelton MacRae, Lucille Esther Williams DeSalle and Soleil Esparanza DeSalle. I also leave all of the rights and royalties of my musical output jointly to my three daughters. I pray that by doing this I can bring together my three most precious productions. I love the three of you more than you will ever know, and I wish I could have been there for each of you when you needed me the most. I can’t change the past, but I hope in the future you will forgive me.’ ”

  Silence followed Lieberman’s recitation. Sally broke the quiet. “So what does that mean?”

  Lieberman looked at the three sisters. “Mr. DeSalle left five million dollars in his estate. Last year, royalties from album sales and remakes of his songs brought in two million dollars, before taxes. So, approximately, Mr. DeSalle has left his three daughters around seven million dollars.”

  Lucy felt as if she had been slugged. She looked over at Eve, who looked ready to faint. Soleil had tears in her eyes.

  Sally leaped up from the table. “This is ridiculous! I’m going to contest this sham of a will!” She shook her finger at Lieberman. “How could you let him do this, you motherfucker?”

  Lucy was speechless. Something made her look over at Eve, who had seemed to regain her composure. Eve jumped up and glared at Sally. “It’s about damn time he did something for us. He had been doing things for you for years! And, by the way, what did you do with his body?” The green was getting darker, like a Pennsylvania thunderstorm.

  Sally smiled. “I had him cremated, so that your white trash family wouldn’t try to plop him in the ground in that shithole of a town you came from. Take your ass back to Pittsburgh and take your nigger sisters with you!”

  Both Lucy and Soleil jumped up as if electrocuted. In a flash, Lucy remembered the summers spent visiting her tomboy half sister and knew what was coming next. Before Lieberman could react, Eve had rushed across the table and punched Sally in the face. Sally reeled backward from the shock, hit the wall and landed on her behind. The sound reverberated in the room. Lucy grabbed Eve’s hand in mid-recoil. “Eve, no!”

  Soleil shook her head. “Let Eve beat her ass, Lucy. You know she deserves it!” Sally was trying to scramble to her feet while holding the hem of her skirt down with one hand. One of her blue Jimmy Choo sandals had fallen off.

  Lieberman’s secretary knocked on the door. “Is everything all right, sir?” She didn’t open the door. Lieberman was an entertainment lawyer, so she was used to violent outbursts from pampered stars.

  Sally screamed, “No, everything is NOT all right! Call the police!” A bruise was forming below her eye and her bloody nose was swelling.

  Lieberman rushed over to a corner table and pulled some tissues out of a drawer. “Everything is fine, Ms. Johnson.” He handed the tissues to Sally. “Mrs. DeSalle, I think you should leave now. I’ll be in touch.” He opened the door as Sally tried not to get blood on her Armani suit. “Ms. Johnson, please show Mrs. DeSalle to the ladies room.” The secretary couldn’t mask her surprise at seeing the famous actress Sally Fountaine with tissues covering her face. Sally turned back to face the sisters. “You haven’t heard the last from me! I’ll sue you bitches! You aren’t going to get away with this!”

  Eve was livid. Her eyes were filled with hate. Lucy put her arm around her.

  Soleil stood back surveying the scene with a slightly amused look on her face. “That’s some left hook you’ve got there, Eve!”

  Lucy had spent time with Eve when she was growing up and she had also spent time with Soleil when she was a child and saw her occasionally over the years. But until today, Eve and Soleil had never laid eyes on each other. Eve started to cry on Lucy’s shoulder. “I can’t believe it,” Eve mumbled. Lucy didn’t know whether she was referring to the cremation or the money.

  Soleil assumed it was the latter. She clasped her hands together. “Sisters, we are millionaires!”

  Lieberman closed his binder. “I think this has been enough for today. I’m sorry, it was a bad idea to have all of you come in here together.” He got some more tissues for Eve. “We will need to meet later in the week to discuss this in more detail and to get everything signed. Lucy, will you be at your mother’s house?” Lucy nodded. He looked at Soleil. “Soleil, still on Sunset?” After she nodded, he looked at Eve.

  Eve’s face was turning red. “I-I-I-don’t know.”

  Lucy helped Eve wipe her face. “She’ll be with me, George.” Eve looked at her in surprise.

  The three women walked out of the conference room. Lieberman’s sigh of relief was audible as they left. Soleil was the first one to speak. “I don’t know about you two, but I need a drink!”

  “We need to go somewhere and talk,” Lucy said. She looked at Eve. “Okay?” Eve nodded.

  They got into the elevator and stared straight ahead, each wrapped in their thoughts. They were still in shock. “I can’t believe it!” Eve murmured again.

  * * *

  Lieberman’s office was in the Beverly Hills business district, so there were a number of cafes and bistros nearby. It was around lunchtime, and every place was busy. Soleil headed for the first one with a bar. Lucy had to remember that Soleil was twenty-two now, old enough to drink legally, even though she shouldn’t.

  The three of them got more than a few appreciative glances when they sat down, but the glazed looks on their faces kept away any would-be suitors. Lucy was amazed to notice that even though they were different colors, they had a strong family resemblance. They had inherited Mik’s high cheekbones and prominent chin. She was amazed how alike Soleil and Eve looked. Soleil was a light golden color, with hazel eyes and freckles that mirrored Eve’s. Soleil’s honey blonde/dark brown/red hair was in dreads that reached to her shoulders. Eve’s blue/green eyes were just like Mik’s, and her short blonde hair made her look younger than her thirty-three years.

  “What the fuck are you looking at, Lucy?” Soleil noticed her stare.

  “You and Eve look alike.”

  Soleil and Eve looked at each other. They answered in unison. “No, we don’t.”

  “Yes, you do. You just don’t want to see it.” Lucy’s coloring was closer to her mother’s, more of a light walnut shade. She didn’t have freckles, light hair or light eyes. She had a thick, wavy mound of dark brown hair that seemed to belong to no one else in her family tree. It fell to her shoulders, and if she didn’t put gel on it each morning, it would be wilder than Soleil’s dreads. At thirty, she was the middle sister, the mediator.

  Eve pointed to Soleil. “She looks like you, Lucy.”

  Soleil looked at Eve. “No, I don’t. You look like Lucy. Like a negative of Lucy with shorter hair.”

  Eve looked at Lucy. “I don’t look like either one of you.”

  Lucy and Soleil answered in unison. “Yes, you do.”

  I started this, Lucy thought, so now I need to finish it. “We all look alike, whether we like it or not. We all had the same no-good a
sshole of a father.”

  Eve’s eyes flashed in anger. “My father was Richard Shelton, not Mik DeSalle.”

  “Same fuckin’ thing. No matter what he called himself at the time, he still fucked our mothers. We’re sisters, whether we like it or not.” Soleil motioned the waiter over to their table. “And now we are three rich sisters!” For a moment, there was silence from a few of the nearby tables. Oblivious to the attention, they ordered drinks and salads.

  “I don’t want it. Despite what I said to Sally, I don’t want his money.” Eve pursed her lips. “Even though I don’t have any, I don’t want to get money this way. Not from him.”

  “Are you crazy?” Soleil gripped the table edge and leaned towards Eve. “I’ve had my fill of blood money, but he was our father. The least that he could do was provide for us in his will.”

  “I know what you mean, Eve.” The waiter had returned with their drinks. Lucy reached for her rum and coke and took a long sip. “If he couldn’t be a father while he was alive, it’s too late now.” Lucy had been hoping to get enough money to pay her car off, not become an heiress.

  “Both of you are crazy! We’re talking seven million dollars!” Soleil’s voice raised in timbre and other customers were starting to look at them. She lowered her tone. “I don’t know about you two, but that motherfucker owes me!” Her dreads bounced as she shook her head. “I’m not signing away my money! And it’s all for one, one for all!”

  “I don’t even know him! He stopped being my father a long time ago. I grew up without a father. So I don’t want no pity money now.” Eve looked back and forth between Lucy and Soleil. “I can’t even remember the last time that I saw him.”

  * * *

  While Eve and Soleil argued, Lucy thought about the last time that she had seen her father. A year ago, he flew up to visit her in San Francisco. She had designed his website and, after a meeting in her office, they had stopped at a nearby cafe.

  At fifty-two, Mik DeSalle had still looked every bit the rock god. He’d been as good-looking as he had been thirty years ago. Mik was over six feet, so his height alone commanded attention. His dark blond hair was shoulder-length, and his bright blue/green eyes and chiseled features caused every woman, and most of the men, in the cafe to turn to look at him. The very air became charged with the electricity of his presence. He wore expensive cologne, a designer jacket over his Levi’s jeans and handmade Italian shoes. He was tan, lean, fit and healthy. He had not looked like a drug addict.

  “The site looks great, Lucy.” He had smiled broadly and looked deep into her eyes, oblivious to the buzz that he was causing. Lucy assumed that after decades of causing wet panties, Mik no longer even noticed the effect he had on others. “I knew I could count on ‘Lucille Williams and Associates’ for the best site on the Internet.” He had said the name of her business with an edge to his voice.

  She had shaken her head and laughed. “You’re still pissed off about that, aren’t you? I didn’t legally change my name, it’s just my business name.”

  “But why are you ashamed to use ‘DeSalle’?”

  “Why didn’t you marry my mother? You married everyone else!”

  He had sighed. “Lucy, that was decades ago.”

  She gripped the table. “It doesn’t matter how long ago it was! You married four women, but you couldn’t marry my mother? Why, Mik?”

  His eyes had hardened. “Mik?”

  She met his eyes. “You stopped being ‘Daddy’ a long time ago.”

  His eyes softened and he sighed again. “Lucy, I don’t want to continue to fight about this. I love you, but I can’t change the past. I’m sorry. If we can’t be family, at least let us be friends. I would like to be able to see at least one of my children.”

  “What?”

  “Eve and Soleil haven’t spoken to me in years. And Ricky…” He had gotten a faraway sad look in his eyes until the waitress brought his coffee. Then he turned on his rock star charm and smiled broadly, displaying perfect teeth. Lucy shook her head and watched the performance.

  A woman with salt-and-pepper hair had timidly approached the table. “Mr. DeSalle, may I have your autograph?” She handed him a pen and a page from her pocket calendar. Lucy noticed that the date was August 3, Mik’s birthday.

  Mik’s smile had broadened and he absentmindedly tossed his hair. The woman told him about the first time that she saw Sheffield Steel in person. When the woman looked over at Lucy, Mik had said proudly, “This is my daughter, Lucy.”

  The woman had appraised Lucy carefully and nodded. She took her autograph and pen and walked away smiling.

  Lucy grew tired of the performance. “Mik, I’ve got to get back to the office.”

  He took her hand and squeezed it. “You’ll always be my ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’.”

  She had smiled wistfully, touched his hair and kissed his cheek. “I know.”

  When she reached the door, she had turned around once. Mik had winked and blown her a kiss. At that moment, he had looked like the Daddy she used to know.

  * * *

  “Lucy!” Lucy jumped when she realized that Eve and Soleil were looking at her as if she had just been declared insane. Their salads had arrived.

  “You haven’t heard a word we’ve said, have you?” Soleil threw a piece of carrot at her. “What were you thinking about?”

  “The last time that I saw Mik.”

  Eve snorted. “Mik! Why should I accept money from some guy named Mik DeSalle?”

  Soleil threw a piece of lettuce at her. “Seven million dollars, that’s why. You would never have to work again. You could go wherever you want, do whatever you want! Money buys freedom, girl! Don’t you want to be free?” She looked at Lucy. “Our white sister doesn’t want to be free!” She affected an accent straight out of Gone With the Wind.

  Lucy looked at Soleil. “Quit throwing your food around. I can understand where Eve is coming from. If Mik—or Richard—really loved his children, he would have done more for us when he was alive.”

  “But if he would have done right by Eve’s mother, you and I wouldn’t be here talking right now!”

  “That’s not what I mean. If Mik wanted to give us money or be our father, why didn’t he give us money when he was alive? Why didn’t he try to be more of a father to the three of us, and to Ricky?”

  Eve glared at Lucy. “Leave my brother out of it!”

  Soleil put a tomato piece in her mouth and shook her fork at Eve. “He was our brother, too, you know! What do you think Ricky would have done? He would have taken the money!” She looked at Lucy. “Wouldn’t he, Lucy?”

  Lucy looked away at the mention of Ricky.

  “Like I said, leave Ricky out of it.”

  “Well, maybe we can give the money to charity.” Lucy looked from Eve to Soleil.

  “Charity? Fuck charity!” Other diners looked in Soleil’s direction again. “I’m a fucking charity case myself! I got an abusive mother fucked up on drugs, a dead father, and two crazy-ass sisters!”

  Eve’s eyes blazed. “Shut up, Soleil! Maybe we could set up a foundation. A foundation for needy musicians, or abused children, or some disease.”

  “Fuck you! I won’t sign any papers giving up my share to no foundation. Fuck no!”

  Lucy tried to keep the peace between her two sisters. “There’s also the song rights to consider. I think we should keep those; keep the songs in the family. The money from that should be enough for us to live on each year. Maybe we can organize a memorial concert, give all of Mik’s old fans a chance to say goodbye. Something to counteract that farce of a memorial service staged by Sally. We could use the money to rent a concert hall, pay some top-notch musicians who would like to participate and then set up some music scholarships at some schools in LA and Pittsburgh. What about that?” Lucy was tired of arguing with her sisters. They needed to work together. They should be able to at least do that much for Mik.

  “I don’t want no part of the late Mr. Mik DeSall
e!” Eve spat the name out as if it were poison.

  Soleil mulled Lucy’s suggestion over. “Well, it sounds pretty good to me. Eve, no matter what you want to call him, he was our father. And I’m sure that in his own perverse way, he loved all of us. Now, let’s eat and then go over to Mariah’s to start getting this thing in motion.”

  “I don’t want to go over to Mariah’s.”

  Lucy glared at Soleil before she was able to start in again on Eve. “Eve, the will hasn’t been filed yet. And we don’t know what Sally is going to do. Mariah’s got six bedrooms, so you wouldn’t be any trouble. I’ll take you to your hotel to get your things and Soleil can meet us in Malibu later this evening.” She smiled convincingly at Eve and touched her hand. “Okay, sister?”

  Eve sighed. “Okay, this is all too much for me. I’m going to get fired from my job back home.”

  Soleil touched her other hand. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Now let’s eat so these people can stop staring at us!” Lucy knew that some of the diners were hanging on to their every word. Gossip traveled fast in this town.

  Soleil looked around with an expression of mock surprise. “People are staring at us?” She shook her dreads around, stood up and, with a flourish of her hand, took a bow. The multi-colored dreads cascaded over her face like a waterfall of autumn leaves.

  “Sit your ass down, you crazy woman!” Eve couldn’t help but laugh. She looked around at the people who were looking at them, but pretending not to be looking.

  “You are too Hollywood, Soleil!” Lucy laughed, too.

  “I’m just my Daddy’s child!” Lucy saw Soleil’s lip quiver as she sat back down.

  “You’re too foul-mouthed,” Eve continued.

  Soleil laughed. “Fuck you! At least I don’t punch out bitches in an attorney’s office!”

  Lucy had to laugh again. “She got you there, Eve!”

  Eve attempted to look contrite, but didn’t succeed. “It was an accident.”

  Soleil was taking a sip of her drink, and almost choked at Eve’s response. “Accident, my ass! You wanted a piece of that bitch from the moment she walked in the room!” She looked at Lucy. “In fact, you just did what Lucy and I have wanted to do for years.”