Allison lifted a single brow.
“I don’t mean Ethan. I meant the loser who stole my car and left me stranded in Alabama.”
This time both of Allison’s brows flew high on her forehead.
“I’d made a terrible mistake taking off with him. We’d barely crossed the state line when I’d changed my mind about him. Still regret even a minute wasted with that creep.”
“Hang on.” Eyes drawn close together, Allison’s brows were getting a workout today. “When did you change your mind about leaving Brittany with Ethan?”
“It was always a hard choice, but it wasn’t until recently that I believed I could give her a good life too.”
“So, those texts you sent me and Ethan. From Alabama. They were about—”
“The creep.” Fancy nodded. “I was starting to feel a bit desperate. Desperate enough to ask you to come get me.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Garrett. I’d been singing karaoke the night the creep took off. They’d just lost a backup singer and they offered me the job.”
Allison sat back in her seat. “Looks like you have a knack for finding knights in shining armor.”
“At least twice, yeah. I guess.”
“How close are you and Garrett?”
Fancy waved her sister off. “It’s not like that. He’s just a good friend. My best friend actually.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely. But he’s definitely a good influence. If not for him I don’t know that I would have ever come to think—hope—that maybe now I could be more of a mother to Brittany.” Fancy startled at Allison’s sharp intake of breath and shaking her hands quickly explained. “But I realized today she can have two mothers, even if one is her aunt.”
Relief washed over Allison’s face. “I’ve seen how the kids love Eileen. Hell, I haven’t been a part of this family for very long and yet that woman has shown me more love and affection than Aunt Millicent ever did. Having Brittany grow up to love me like that would be a good thing.”
“About that. I was thinking, it means a lot to me to be a part of my daughter’s life. Visit when I can. Have her visit me when she’s a little older. Do the internet chatting like military parents do when they’re deployed.”
Allison nodded. Silently waiting for the next shoe to fall.
“But…” This was hard for her to formulate the words. “I think it would be good for her to think of you as her mother. I can be the crazy talented aunt who swoops in from time to time with elaborate over-the-top gifts and spoil her rotten.”
“You want me to pretend to be her mother?”
“Not pretend exactly. Just be. After all, you already are for all intents and purposes.”
Allison shook her head. “I can’t do that.”
“Which part?”
“You’re her mama. Aunt Eileen may have been a mother to Grace all of her life, but Grace knew who her mother was. No matter what she calls me now, so will Brittany.”
“But—”
“So. Will. Brittany.” Allison sighed. “There’s a photo of you I got from the internet. It’s in Brittany’s room. We’ve taken to calling you Mama Fancy.”
“Mama Fancy,” she repeated under her breath. She liked the sound of it.
“When Brittany’s old enough, we’ll find the words to explain.” Allison leaned back, her head briefly leaning against her seat. “But you’re her mother and nothing is going to change that.”
No, she blinked back tears, nothing she did, good or bad, or would ever change that.
****
The long hot shower wasn’t enough to undo the tightness in Eileen’s back. Sure, she’d been on a horse from time to time, but it had been eons since she’d made an hours long effort to help move cattle. Her designated job at the ranch—if she worked the cattle—was gate keeper. She couldn’t get into much trouble with that assignment. Though today she was rather proud of herself. She’d come a long way from the woman who couldn’t even climb onto a horse, never mind work on it.
“Thanks.” Showered and changed, Sean came down off the bottom step. “I can’t believe how quickly we rounded up the missing cattle.”
“We were even able to separate our stock from Luke’s without his help. Those dogs were amazing. They must belong to someone.” Eileen stretched her shoulders and opened the back freezer door.
Sean walked up behind her, his hand gently touching her arm. “First, I can’t believe anyone with dogs that smart, that valuable would just allow them to wander around the county all this time. And second, it’s been a long, hard day for you. Why don’t we go have dinner at the pub? I think a good corned beef and dark ale are in order.”
There wasn’t much to throwing a casserole in the oven to warm, but the idea of not doing another blessed thing the rest of the night did her aching back good. “Sounds great.”
Apparently they weren’t the only ones with the idea of heading to the pub. Finn and Joanna drove the ranch truck and she and Sean drove Glenn’s car. By the time they crossed the threshold Eileen could already see most of the tables were occupied. “Oh, I hope this keeps up after opening week.”
“Ditto,” Sean added. “Anyone know how the café is doing?”
“Business as usual.” DJ walked in behind them, his eyes scanning from one end of the pub to the other.
“Good.” Sean nodded. “None of us want to hurt Abbie’s business. You getting off duty?”
“Just making rounds, checking on everyone.” DJ’s gaze narrowed. “Awful lot of new faces.”
The door behind them opened again and this time Fancy and her crew, with Glenn in tow, squirmed their way in. “Standing room only is always a good thing,” one of the group said on a laugh.
“We’ve got plenty of space,” Beverly, the wife of the new craft brewer, smiled at the group. “How many will that be?”
Eileen counted over her shoulder quickly. “Looks like eight of us. For now, at least.”
“Follow me.” Beverly smiled and waved them forward.
“I didn’t know you’d be working here,” Eileen said.
“Only this week. Though it if this keeps up, Jamie may have to consider hiring a full-time hostess.”
Eileen stopped at the table and Glenn and Sean both grabbed for the back of her chair. “Thank you.” She smiled to her left then right.
“This seriously reminds me of being in Ireland.” Rick took in his surroundings as if it had been the first time.
Eileen leaned forward. “You’ve been to Ireland a lot, have you?”
“Nope. Only seen it in movies.” He eased back in his seat. “And this place looks like every movie I’ve ever seen with a pub.”
The comment got a chuckle from a few folks at the table, but Glenn merely rolled his eyes. “I’ll give you it certainly looks like the only Irish pub I’ve ever been in. That is, the only Irish pub in Ireland.”
“When would that have been?” Eileen asked.
For a moment Glenn seemed to almost regret his words before regaining his casual expression. “The group played in Dublin one night during a European tour. Before the girls were born.”
That would have been with Sally as lead singer after the group had become rather well known. Around that time Eileen was probably baking cupcakes for kindergarten class or helping with someone’s fifth grade science project.
“Well, that would explain your kinship with that piano.” Garrett tipped his head toward the stage across the way. “Who’d you play with?”
Glenn smiled and shook his head. “No one you’d know. Just a little jazz band.”
It was Rick who looked from Glenn to Eileen and back. Blinked. Dropped his mouth open then snapped it shut. “Holy Sassafras.”
“What?” Garrett leaned forward, his expression dripping with concern. “What is it?”
“You’re Glenn Baker.” Not waiting for a reply, Rick turned to her. “And you’re Eileen Callahan. I should have realized it the minute you started singing, but I admit it’s
been a while since I’ve heard your album.”
“You’ve heard our album?” Surprise showed easily on Glenn’s face.
“My dad wore the thing out. I was weaned on all the jazz greats. Mom was more the country fan. Probably why I love music so much myself.” Rick turned to face Eileen. “Please forgive me for not recognizing those golden pipes.”
When she sang with the group, the band hadn’t been well known enough for folks to recognize her. This was a first. “Golden pipes?”
“Those vocals. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you.”
Eileen almost laughed. “Not as much as I can’t believe you did.” All in all, this was proving to be a rather surreal week. Deep inside she wondered if when she woke up in the morning she was going to discover all of this had been an odd, inexplicable, crazy dream.
As the waitress walked around the table taking orders, Eileen watched the young band set up. She hadn’t realized that Jamie had hired entertainment for the entire week as well. They did a sound check and she ordered the corned beef, immediately returning her attention to the group. A simple five-piece band. Piano, base, drums, saxophone and singer. If she considered the fiddle beside the singer as well, maybe it was a five-person, six-piece band. Though she didn’t know that many bands that had fiddle and saxophone players.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to O’Fearadaigh’s.” A pretty brunette who looked to be about Grace’s age stood microphone to her mouth. “For our first number we’d like to do a fan favorite.”
It took Eileen all of three notes to recognize “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” By the end of the first verse the entire restaurant was tapping their toes and singing along. The woman had a great way with the fiddle and bow.
“She’s good.” Garrett leaned into Fancy. “Very good.”
“Do you have a fiddler in the group?” Eileen asked.
Garrett nodded. “We do, but Jim is growing tired of touring.”
“I don’t know that I’ll ever grow tired of it.” Fancy kept her gaze on the band members, singing along softly under her breath.
When the song came to an end they slid immediately into another tune that Eileen recognized as a recent hit of Fancy’s group.
“Okay, she may be better than good.” Garrett leaned into hearing distance of Eileen and Fancy, reaching for Fancy’s hand, but quickly pulling back before anyone else had noticed the aborted effort. The simple gesture caught Eileen’s eye. She’d noticed similar efforts from time to time. The two shared a comfortable familiarity. One she very much understood.
By the time dinner was served the group had taken a break and Garrett and Rick walked over to talk to them. Eileen wouldn’t have minded being a fly on the wall in that corner of the pub. She watched heads bob, jaws drop, smiles broaden and finally hugs and handshakes before the two men made their way back to the table.
The next time the musicians took the stage the young singer / fiddle player was beaming like a New England lighthouse. “Folks, we have a special treat for you tonight. In our audience we have a few of the members of Tow the Line.”
Several hoots and hollers escaped from around the room.
“And perhaps with a little audience encouragement we can persuade them to join us for a song.” She clapped her hands together and within minutes the thunder of applause and whistles could probably have been heard all the way in Dallas.
Fancy shook her head, but Garrett patted her shoulder and nodded. Maybe they’d come to some agreement before. Perhaps this was a live audition of sorts for the young band. How well could they blend without practice. Or maybe it was just a star struck kid’s enthusiasm at having a chart-topping band in the audience.
Fancy took hold of the microphone, kicked the cord behind her and Eileen swore that woman lit up from within. “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is what we call a Texas foot stomping and hand clapping kind of song. So put your hands together for me.” She clapped her hands in front of her until the audience kept rhythm with her. Then Rick at the piano started to fiddle with the keys. When the base guitarist played a few notes, the entire room recognized the tune and the foot stomping began in earnest as Garrett and Fancy sang the namesake first line of “If You’re Going to Play in Texas.”
The group played two more songs together with Fancy and the others before flushed, breathing hard, and glowing brightly, Fancy took her seat, not caring her supper had grown cold.
“I can see you love what you do.” To Eileen, until now Fancy had looked mostly content, but now, on stage, Eileen recognized the look in Fancy’s eyes. She relished every second of it.
“I do.” Fancy cut into her meat and smiled. “There’s nothing else like it in the world.”
Eileen nodded. The electricity in the air was palpable. She could feel the adrenaline rush from merely having Fancy seated beside her. No, she thought, there’s nothing like it in the world.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
How could he compete with this? Sean had watched the look on Eileen’s face with every note Fancy sang. From one song to the next he could feel the energy rise in the room, see the pleasure on Fancy’s face and debated did he have the right to try and deprive Eileen of that pleasure, that joy, her dream.
Rick stood from the piano and reached for the mic. “Folks, there’s one more surprise for y’all tonight.”
Forks clanked on plates and smiling faces turned to the man on stage.
“I grew up in a house filled with music. Two of the stars from one of my father’s and my favorite jazz groups are here tonight. Please put your hands together one more time and help me welcome Glenn Baker and Eileen Callahan to the stage.”
The unified gasp from the locals in the audience could have been heard across the street. Butler County in on the recent news of Eileen’s singing past or the return of her one-time fiancé.
Glenn stretched his hand out for Eileen and when she slid it into his and smiled, Sean asked himself one more time, how could he compete?
Rick shifted to the drums as Glenn squeezed Eileen’s hand then slipped away to take his seat at the piano. Eileen’s smile grew shaky and she sucked in a slow, deep breath before closing her eyes to the sounds of Glenn playing. The drums and the piano worked together with Eileen’s snapping fingers. They were going to do her signature song, “Somewhere.” The hairs on his arm stood on end. This would be the first time Sean would hear her sing it live. His heart rate picked up speed. Lord she looked beautiful under those lights. He swallowed a soft laugh. Who was he kidding? She looked beautiful under any light.
She sang the first line and the five simple words “there’s a place for us” squeezed his heart. Would there be? Could there be? Had his own blindness to see what was in front of his nose all these years cost him a second chance at true love and happiness?
“You okay, Dad?” Not Finn this time but Joanna leaned over and touched his arm. “You look a little peaked.”
“I’m fine.”
His latest daughter-in-law studied him carefully before nodding acceptance of his statement and leaning back slightly. “Aunt Eileen really is amazing.”
That word seemed to be popping up rather often the last few days. She’d been amazing for a lot longer than that. Stepping in to take care of his children when Helen left them so unexpectedly. Working with him side by side on anything from crossword puzzles and Sudoku to wrangling cattle or waiting up all night for a child to return from a first date, or one who was sick with the flu or chicken pox. Through thick and thin. Good, bad, happy, sad. She’d always been amazing. And wasn’t he the biggest idiot for not saying so a hell of a lot sooner.
****
Glenn was in the groove. Once he’d made the decision to give up the business to spend what time Sally had left with her, he’d hardly ever sat down at a piano. After she passed, that world had seemed so far behind. He’d actually forgotten the feel of real keys beneath his fingers. The tingling thrill of each note shattering the silence. And this.
The arrangements t
hat were all theirs. The voice that was irreplaceable. Yes, Sally was the strongest of the backups, and yes, the group did well with her, but her voice didn’t stand out the way Eileen’s had. What had the other kid said… golden pipes. Now Glenn had gooseflesh listening to her belt out the tune that so many remembered. The song that Sally refused to sing no matter how many pleas from the audience. Eileen’s song.
Breathtaking wasn’t strong enough to describe the range in Eileen’s voice. Having hit the high notes in the middle of the song, she pulled the mic from the stand, walking across the stage allowing for Rick and Glenn to have their instrument solos. On cue with no evidence that this routine hadn’t been practiced or played in over twenty-five years, she practically made love to the mic, her voice dropped low in her chest, the words coming out a near whisper, slowly building the chorus again, louder, stronger. “Somehow.” The note carrying out so powerfully he could almost hear the audience’s intake of breath. “Someday.” Again, the notes Sally never could hit. Not a murmur in the audience. Eileen had every last person’s full attention. Eyes closed, cradling the hand-held mic, her free arm open to the crowds in front of her, smoothly, easily, she delivered the last lyric. “Somewhere.”
On the final note the entire house sprang to their feet. Glenn hadn’t heard applause like that, well since the last time they’d performed the song. Pushing to his feet, he bent slightly at the waist, gave a short wave to Rick who had handled the drums admirably. The kid knew exactly what the arrangement had called for. Then Glenn moved his arm to Eileen and the place erupted in a second wave of ovation. This, this was why their group was wanted on the television special. This iconic performance was seared in the hearts of generations of jazz fans.
Smiling, Eileen scanned the crowd from left to right. For a few seconds she almost seemed to have forgotten where she was. Her gaze landed on the table off to one side where her family and friends sat. Lingering, her smile lifted and a genuine sparkle reached her eyes. She took another bow and, sliding the mic back into place, hurried off stage, not back to the table as he would have expected but to the side and around the corner. Out of sight of the still applauding audience.
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