“I’m sorry. He’s your responsibility now. I’m moving to L.A. I’m going to try to make something of myself. I want to sing. Now I have the money to take formal singing lessons again. I need to do this for me.”
“Why don’t you think about someone else for once? That kid needs his mother!”
“Stop making it sound like I’m abandoning him!” There was guilt in her voice.
“You are! This is going to be a shock to him!”
“I still want visitation . . . when I’m in town. I just want you to take custody.” She pulled a manila envelope from her handbag and dropped it on the couch. “I had a lawyer draw up the papers. All you have to do is sign them. Feel free to have your own lawyer review them. Everything is in order. I signed over full custody.” She headed for the door, obviously done with their conversation. “My aunt will drop Mason off in a little while.”
“A little while? Are you fucking crazy? I got rehearsal in an hour. You need to give me some notice. I can’t just drop everything.”
Her raised brows mocked him. “Welcome to parenthood.”
While Jimmy’s mind raced with uncertainty and worry, Kendall walked out without a second thought. She left. Kendall walked out the door and left Jimmy standing there with his mouth hanging open, still processing the news that he was now a full-time parent. Self-doubt and fear made his hands tremble, and even the steady rhythm of his fingers tapping against his leg wouldn’t stop them from shaking.
He searched for his phone and called Audra, but the call went straight into voicemail. “Call me as soon as you can. It’s important. Love you. Bye.” He stared at the phone, hoping Audra just missed the call and would return it momentarily, but the screen remained dark and silent. He couldn’t sit still. His mind was racing with a million different thoughts. He needed to figure out how to raise a child with his hectic life, and he needed to figure it out before he left for Australia.
He took the elevator and ended up in front of Audra’s door. She didn’t answer, and her phone went into voicemail again. Where the hell was she? When Kira didn’t answer her door either, Jimmy remembered that both girls had an early meeting at Falcon. He returned to his apartment with the hope that Audra would surface in the next 60 minutes. The band needed to tighten up some of the songs they would be playing at the Allphones Arena on their first stop in Australia, and he needed to head over to Angel and Tommy’s house for rehearsal.
Thirty minutes later, there was still no word from Audra, but Mason and Aunt Mary were on their way up to his apartment. Despite the tailspin going on inside his head, he couldn’t be happier to see his son.
“Jimmy!” Mason’s little arms circled Jimmy’s legs.
He lifted his son up. “I wasn’t expecting you so soon, Mase, but I’m happy you’re here.” His hand practically covered his son’s back as he patted it with affection.
“Mommy said I can sleep here now!”
Jimmy’s eyes met Aunt Mary’s. They shared mutual disgust at Kendall’s behavior and also conveyed sympathy and concern for Mason.
“That’s right, buddy. We’re gonna set your room up any way you like it, and you can play the drums whenever you want. Is that okay with you?”
Mason clapped his hands and nodded his head.
Jimmy set the boy down on his feet. “Go start without me. I’ll join you in a minute.”
“K!” Mason ran a few steps, then backtracked and hugged his aunt. “Bye, Aunt Mary!”
As soon as Mason was out of sight, Aunt Mary folded her arms across her chest. “We need to talk.”
“I want Mason. I want to make that perfectly clear to you. I love having him here, and my lady adores him. She’s on board with having him in our life, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to raise a kid when I’m on tour or in the music studio all the time. It’s not fair to him.”
“I don’t know either.” Aunt Mary let out a sigh, and she suddenly looked very old. Worry lines creased her forehead, and tiny wrinkles lined her upper lip. Her eyes were tired and showed exhaustion. “I know Kendall loves Mason, and I really think she’s trying to do right by him, but I honestly don’t know if either of you can provide him the home he needs. Children need stability. She’s off doing God-knows-what half the time, and now she’s moved across the country. You travel and have a busy lifestyle. Where does that leave Mason?”
She was clearly worried about the boy and her role in his life now that he would be living with Jimmy full time. Aunt Mary was probably more of a mother to Mason than Kendall ever was, and Mason needed her in his life. They both did. “Just because Mason is going to live here now doesn’t mean he doesn’t need you. You’re his aunt. I’m gonna need help, and I’m not gonna hire some stranger when you’re family. I want you to remain in his life. I want this transition to be as easy as possible for Mason.”
Aunt Mary’s face softened into a smile, and her eyes glistened. “I was worried you wouldn’t want me around.”
“You’re the best thing that happened to that kid. I’m grateful you stepped in to raise him; otherwise, who knows how much Kendall would have screwed up his head.”
Too choked up to respond, she nodded her thanks.
Jimmy flashed an amicable smile. “Don’t worry. Everything is gonna work out just fine.”
She nodded again and dabbed at the corners of her eyes with a crumpled tissue she produced from her handbag. “I’m going to leave before I start crying. You’re a good man, Jimmy. I’m glad you’re Mason’s father. Call me if you need anything; otherwise, I’ll stop by in a few days to see Mason. I usually call him to say goodnight. If it’s not a bother, I’d like to continue to do that.”
“Of course it’s not a bother. Call anytime.”
“Thanks for letting me bring the kid.” Jimmy wouldn’t let go of his son’s hand. Thrust into a room full of strangers, he didn’t want Mason to feel out of place. They were tethered together until Jimmy knew Mason felt at ease. “I haven’t heard from Audra all day. I thought she said she’d be back in time for a late lunch, but she must be tied up with details for the tour.”
“You can bring Mason along anytime you want.” Angel squatted down next to Mason. “Hi. My name is Angel. I hear you’re a mastermind on the drums. Do you want to listen to us play music?”
Mason nodded eagerly. ”Do you play drums too?”
A smile lit up Angel’s face. He already adored Mason. “No. I’m a singer.”
“Ohhh! I like to sing. My mommy sings too.”
Mason’s mention of his mother saddened Jimmy. He had no idea when, or if, Kendall was going to return. Aunt Mary had explained to Mason that his mother lived in California now, but Jimmy didn’t know if the kid understood, and he didn’t know how he was going to explain her absence when his son started asking questions. Mason was thrown into a world filled with people he barely knew.
Jessi and Alyssa came in from the other room to meet Mason. Jessi was first to fawn over him, filled with a happy and excited smile. “Look at you!” She leaned over so she was at eye level with Mason. “You’re so cute! It’s nice to meet you, Mason. I’m Jessi.”
Mason giggled and covered his cheeks with his fists for a few seconds. “Your hair is pretty.” He tugged on Jimmy’s arm and pointed at Jessi. “Pink!”
Jessi laughed and fingered the ends of her hair. “That’s right. My hair is pink. I’m glad you like it.” She stood next to Angel, took his hand, and they smiled warmly at each other. “I hear you like to play the drums,” Jessi said to Mason.
He nodded his head. “Drums!”
“Drums are always here at my house, so you can play whenever you come visit, which I hope is often.”
“Okay!” Mason’s eyes gravitated toward Alyssa with curiosity.
“Hey kid.” She held her hand up for a high five and lowered it so he could reach it.
Mason hid his bashful smile against Jimmy’s leg, then peeked at Alyssa and giggled.
“Come on.” Alyssa waved her hand. “High five
. I don’t bite.” She gave him a crooked smile. “Not unless you want me to.”
Mason placed a quick slap on the palm of her hand, giggled once more, and then buried his face in Jimmy’s leg again.
Jimmy laughed at his son’s bashfulness and cupped the back of Mason’s head in his hand. “He’s shy around pretty girls. I don’t believe it.”
Jessi tickled Mason’s waist. “Do you want to stay with me and Alyssa while the guys go downstairs and play music?”
“No. I wanna play music, too.”
A small laugh fell from Jimmy’s mouth. “That’s my boy.” His choice of words invoked a slight panic. He had been trying his hardest not to mention the word “son” around Mason, but “boy” just slipped out. Mason didn’t react, but Jimmy realized, at some point, he needed to tell Mason that he was his father. Too much was happening in Mason’s life right now to add another layer of questions and confusion. Jimmy knew he needed to wait until Mason was settled in his new life before springing the information on him, although he really longed to hear the kid call him Daddy.
Mason tugged on his arm. “Can we play drums now?”
“Sure.” Jimmy was anxious for his friends to hear Mason play the drums again. “You’re not gonna believe how well this kid plays,” he told Angel. “Better than the first night you heard him. We’ve been playing together. Cyanide Sensation.”
“Cyanide Sensation?” Angel almost laughed. “That’s not an appropriate song for a child to play.”
“Just the music. It’s got a basic beat. Easy to follow. I didn’t want to teach him something too complicated. I got his kit in the car. Let me grab it, and we’ll get set up.”
“You put a drum set in your Lamborghini?”
“No. I took the Hummer.”
“I almost forgot you had that thing. You’ve been in that sports car since you’ve bought it.”
“Yeah, well, the Hummer is more of a family car.” He was turning into a family man. Soon he’d be driving a minivan. He laughed to himself. It was surreal how much his life had changed.
When Jimmy got to the studio in the lower level of the house with Mason’s drum kit, he found everyone surrounding his son. Jessi had Mason by the hand, and his hysterical laughter rang through the music studio as he interacted with Tommy and Damien, who were crouched in front of him.
“What’s so funny, Mase?”
“Look!” Mason’s laughter filled the room again. “His hair! Pointy! Blue!”
Damien bent his head and nudged his mohawk toward Mason like a rhino.
“Don’t poke the kid’s eye out,” Jimmy said with a laugh. His friends were having a ball with his kid, and it warmed his heart.
Tommy showed Mason a guitar riff and asked him to pluck on a string while Tommy held a chord, but Mason ran his fingers through Tommy’s long blond hair instead. The kid definitely had a fetish for hair. Jimmy imagined Mason, who already had a long shaggy haircut, as a teenager with hair past his shoulders. A teenager – it just about blew Jimmy’s mind. He still needed to concentrate on the Australian tour and what he was going to do with Mason. “Kit’s all ready, Mason. Let’s show these clowns what we can do on the drums.” Jimmy jumped behind his kit, and Mason jumped behind the miniature version to Jimmy’s left.
“Sation!” That’s what Mason called Cyanide Sensation.
Man, Jimmy loved that kid. Mason waited for Jimmy to clack out four beats on the sticks, before they both erupted into a frenzied jam.
The boy was a little nervous playing in front of the small group of people who were all staring at him, but before long Mason’s confidence soared and he pounded the hell out of his pint-sized drum kit. He was drumming as fast and hard as Jimmy. They played in time, together, to the fast, hard beat of Cyanide Sensation. A memory flashed before Jimmy – he was a few years older than Mason, sitting at a drum set alongside his famous father, and they were playing together on stage at a concert. It planted a seed in Jimmy’s head. Maybe he could bring Mason to Australia and they could reenact the father/son drum-off on stage. It was a wonderful idea for a brief moment, but in reality he knew he couldn’t take care of Mason if he was on the road.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Audra paced the ICU with Kira. Their stepmother remained at her father’s bedside, but the girls waited just outside her father’s private room. Guilt swarmed inside Audra like a plague. She blamed herself for her father’s heart attack.
“This had nothing to do with you, Audra. You know he works crazy hours and doesn’t get enough exercise. He’s under a tremendous amount of stress.”
Her sister always knew exactly what she was thinking. Kira’s statements rang true, but it was Audra who put the added stress on her father, which she knew caused his heart attack. It wouldn’t matter if a team of cardiologists swore that her strained relationship with her father had nothing to do with his heart attack, she would never forgive herself. She dabbed at the tears that stung her eyes, and sniffled. “He has to be okay,” she whispered. “He has to.”
“He will. He’s strong. It takes a lot more than a heart attack to take out Daddy.” Kira tried to sound positive and lighthearted, but Audra knew she was biting back tears.
They’d been at the hospital since early this morning. Her father had already received an angiogram, and the doctor was still in with him. She had no idea if her father needed bypass surgery or the extent of damage done to his heart.
Audra glanced through the glass windows of her father’s room. Her stepmother was nodding her head while the doctor spoke to her. Audra watched the doctor’s lips and studied her stepmother’s face. They both wore a mask of concern. Finally, the doctor left her father’s bedside, and her stepmother waved them into the room. Kira ran ahead, while Audra braced herself for bad news and walked with dread in each step. She wasn’t ready to hear an unfavorable prognosis.
“Hurry up!” Kira grabbed Audra’s hand and pulled her into the room.
Her father was awake, and Audra was elated. “Daddy?”
He stirred and moaned.
“Don’t excite him,” her stepmother warned. “He had a mild heart attack. Next time, he won’t be so lucky.”
“Does he need surgery?” Kira asked.
“No. They put in three stents. He needs to slow down and lighten his workload. You girls are a big help to him at the label. He trusts you more than anyone, and he needs you now more than ever.”
“Girls.” Her father’s voice was weak and low. It was such a contradiction from his usual booming baritone, Audra almost didn’t recognize it.
They ran to his side – Audra on his right, Kira on his left. The tears had already spilled down Audra’s cheeks and Kira was silently weeping. Each took one of their father’s hands. “Are you all right, Daddy? Are you in pain?” Audra’s eyes went to the monitor that beeped in her ear. She really didn’t know what the squiggly lines meant, but nothing looked like it was triggering an alarm, and her father’s heart rate was normal.
“I’m fine. It takes more than a heart attack to take out Ronald Timothy Abelman.”
Soft laughter broke through her tears. It was the exact thing Kira had said about their father less than ten minutes ago, and it made her believe that he really was okay. She kissed the back of his hand, careful not to disturb the monitor on the tip of his finger. “I’m so sorry, Daddy. I never meant to cause you grief.”
“Let’s not talk about that now. I’m recovering from a heart attack, remember?”
Another laugh left her throat. “I love you, Daddy.”
“I love both of you girls. You’ve made me prouder than I could have ever imagined.”
Kira kissed his cheek and tried to say I love you, but it came out without any sound.
“There’s no need to cry, sweetheart. You’re not getting rid of your old man just yet. I have a ton of paperwork on my desk to finish.”
“I hope you’re joking, Ron.” Her stepmother stood at the end of the bed with her fist on her hip. “You need to tak
e time off. Go on vacation. Or, better yet, think about retiring.”
“It’ll never happen, Claudia. Falcon Records is what keeps me alive. I’ll be fine. As a matter of fact, you can all go home. You’ve been here all day. Get back to your lives, and stop fussing over me.”
“You girls can go,” her stepmother said. “I’ll stay with him.”
“No,” Audra and Kira both said at the same time.
Kira hugged her father. “We’re all staying with you, Daddy.”
He let out a small sigh. “I’ve never encountered such headstrong women in all my years. Fine. Stay. But I think I’m going to take a nap.” His eyes started to close. “I haven’t had a nap in twenty years.”
They silently watched him as he quickly fell asleep. No one moved for fear of waking him, and they sat in silence while they waited to see who would move first.
It was her stepmother. “I’m getting coffee. Would either of you like a cup?”
Kira shook her head, but a strong cup of coffee was just what Audra needed. She was exhausted. She stared at her sleeping father, the patriarch of their family. Even in the face of death, he was unstoppable. She knew she inherited his strong will and keen business mind. He gave her and Kira everything without ever letting them lose sight of their values and morals. He taught them both about integrity and loyalty. The distress she caused him stabbed her in the heart. Her insides ached because she knew it added a mountain of stress to his already overburdened shoulders. She was killing him. He was disappointed and disapproved of her choice in a man, and she would never forgive herself. She lowered her head, and a tear slipped from her eye and rolled down her cheek.
“He’s going to be okay,” Kira whispered.
Audra quietly nodded at her sister. Kira was probably right, but what if things went differently? What if his heart attack had been fatal and she had lost her father while they were at odds with one another? They barely spoke or saw one another on a personal level anymore. When they did, the undertone of hostility between them was so apparent it was disturbing for other people around them. Betrayal shredded her conscious. She went against her father for the first time in her life – for a man. A boyfriend. Jimmy. She covered her face with her hands while the dull ache in her chest tore her heart to pieces.
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