“Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed as the driver looked on with a smile.
“I figured since we couldn’t get to Time Square to see the big billboard, this was close.” The entire window was filled with the ad image of Carlee for Scarlet Poppies. “When I was talking with Manny Conti, Diego’s PR rep, she told me it would be here. And then when I was talking with Carlo, he told me the same.”
“It’s gorgeous. I still can’t believe it’s me,” she laughed, tossing her head back as she did, and Matthew kissed her neck.
“Wait!” she said suddenly. “Why were you talking to the attorney?”
He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her with a big grin. She skimmed the contents of the document and looked at him with her mouth hanging open. “Oh my,” she said once more.
“Carlee, this is huge.”
“I can see that,” she said. “But what I see that moves me even more is that they respect what a woman in radiation treatment goes through enough that they want to show that image as well as the long red locks.”
“Will you do it?”
“Of course, but we’d better be quick; my hair is growing back!”
“He pulled another piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. “This is what drove the whole idea.”
It was one of the pictures with her shaved head. “Diego saw it as he was looking through my portfolio and ‘begged’ me to use it. His mother is a breast cancer survivor and went through her own battle with radiation and chemo. He said this was important to him.”
“Who knew?” she laughed.
~ ~ ~
Back at their room, Matthew removed his jacket and tie and met Carlee on the sofa. “Now tell me what you had in mind when you asked about plans for the evening.”
She sat quietly a moment, gathering her thoughts. “I talked to Tamara about something after my last tests, and I was waiting for the right time to bring it up.”
“What is it? Is everything OK? She didn’t mention anything to me when we talked,” he said anxiously
“Calm down, and let me talk,” she said with a smile. “Remember the night a couple of weeks ago when I woke you in the middle of the night to make love?”
“How could I forget?” he laughed. And then the memory of the encounter hit him. “Carlee…”
“Remember how we couldn’t wait, and before we knew it we were deep in the act before we remembered the condom?”
He couldn’t speak; he didn’t know whether to be elated or scared to death. “I remember.”
“Remember how incredible it was?”
“I remember,” he said again, nervously.
“Well, it was a little more incredible than we even knew.”
“Does this mean…?”
“It does,” she said and waited for him to process what this meant.
“And it’s OK?”
“I think it is. I hope you do. Tamara wishes we would have waited a while, but she’ll hook us up with a good OB/GYN to monitor progress because we’re considered high-risk.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, because he was afraid he’d cry. “Matthew?”
“Carlee, we made a baby…”
“We did.” She smiled and placed a tender hand on his cheek. “I don’t want to tell anyone for a while, OK?”
“Well then, I need to go to the top of the Eifel Tower to shout it out to this part of the world because I want to tell everyone! I’m so happy!”
“Do we have to do it tonight?” she laughed.
“Can we still…?”
“Yes. I asked,” she said with a grin.
“Oh my gosh, Carlee, there’s nothing better you could have told me tonight. I’ve watched you with Kyliejo, and this was all I could think about. You will be an incredible mother.”
He picked her up from the sofa and carried her to the bedroom, where they made sweet love.
~ ~ ~
They spent three more days in Paris talking about their future. Over breakfast on their last day, Matthew shared some ideas.
“So with the new contract with Diego Aceveda and that money, do you still want to go back to school now that you’re pregnant?”
“I can’t do much else at this point, and if I take this on-line class and one over the summer, there will only be two classes left in the fall to graduate. I think we can work it out. We won’t be due until around the end of October. What do you think?”
“I think I’ll help you so you can get it done. Now, there’s something else. I tried to bring this up once before, and you kinda side-stepped the conversation, but I think it’s important…”
“I want to go home,” she interrupted. “Jacksonville.”
“Are you sure? Because I can work from anywhere.”
“I’m sure,” she said, and a new plan for their future was ahead of them.
~ ~ ~
Andy and Geni arrived in London the evening before Carlee and Matthew returned. Geni had dinner ready for the four of them when they returned. They sat at the dining room table in Andy and Geni’s flat and talked about their trip and their plans.
“You need to go to Paris before you head home for good. It was incredible when I was there with Papa, but this trip was even better. I have so much to be thankful for and to appreciate,” Carlee said as they ate.
Matthew showed them the pictures of Carlee by the giant ad. “Since we couldn’t get her to Time Square, this was a close second.”
“I love that you wore your hair natural. No scarf,” Geni said.
“They get hot sometimes, and well, this is what I’ve got, so why not flaunt it?” Carlee laughed.
“You flaunt it well!” Geni noticed that she seemed to glow more now than she ever had and not fussing over her appearance made her even more beautiful.
“That brings me to something else,” Matthew said, and he told them about the new picture deal. “We have to hurry to get a couple of pictures soon, because her hair is growing back, and we want to catch stages, starting with this one.” He placed one of the shots on the table taken of her after they’d shaved her head.
Andy listened as they talked about the ads. He knew this meant more money and career options for Matthew. Finally, when there was a break in conversation he asked, “Then what?”
“Then who knows?” Carlee said. “We can’t travel more than two and a half hours away by rail or automobile for a while yet, so we’re just going to play it by ear.”
Matthew watched her. She wasn’t ready to talk to them about home just yet.
“Well, we have some news too,” Geni said. “I already talked to Brian and Thomas and made them swear to let me tell you.”
“What is it? Matthew asked.
“I’m selling the house. I haven’t done anything about it yet, because I wanted to talk to you before I did. We’re going to look for something in the area that’s smaller, but still on the river. I don’t need that big house anymore. It was a great place to raise a family, but my babies are all grown now, married and planning families of their own.”
Carlee looked up, catching Matthew’s eye, and she knew he wouldn’t be able to keep quiet now. He asked her. “Carlee, what do you think about this news?”
Geni and Andy looked at each other, and Carlee smiled. “He can’t keep a damn secret!”
“What secret?” Andy asked.
Carlee decided to continue through the door that Matthew had just opened in her own way. “We might need a bigger home when we can come back to the states. You know, we hope to have a family someday, and I know I want to stay in Jacksonville.”
“So are you saying we should buy the house?” Matthew prodded.
“Well, like Mama Davis just said, it seems like a great place to raise a family.”
Andy watched and noticed that Carlee and Matthew appeared to be talking in some kind of code, and then it hit him.
“Carlee?”
“Yes, Papa,” she said, answering a question he hadn’t asked yet.
“Yes,” Carlee said again.
“Yes, you’re pregnant?” Andy asked.
“Yes,” she said and saw Matthew grinning from ear to ear. “I wanted to wait a while to tell you, but someone is too excited to keep it to himself for just a little bit longer,” she laughed and Matthew rose from his seat to hug her.
“I am excited! I can’t wait!”
“Me too!” Geni shouted.
“Papa?”
“And Tamara is OK with this news?” he asked, his concern evident.
“Yes. She wishes we’d have waited but it happened so she’s setting me up with a high-risk OB/GYN. I told her you’d be worried and Matthew would be over the moon!” Carlee laughed.
“I’m excited too, I just want to make sure you’ll be OK.”
“Be excited, Papa, there’s gonna be a baby around here in about eight months, and with all you hawks watching over me, I’ll be fine!” She rose from her seat and went to Andy’s, and he pulled her onto his lap, and she put her arms around his neck. “You can be excited,” she whispered.
“Grandpapa?”
“Just Papa works,” she said and hugged him tighter.
“Papa!” he laughed as Geni was hugging Matthew.
~ ~ ~
On Monday, Matthew returned to work, and Geni had errands to run, so Andy went to have coffee with Carlee. She had the laptop set up on the table when he arrived and poured coffee for him.
“What do you have going on here?” Andy asked seeing the pad and pens.
“School work!” she replied.
“Do you have five minutes before you start?”
“I have no time-table,” she told him, closing the lid on her laptop.
“I have a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about. First of all, I hope my reaction about the baby didn’t throw you. I’m so happy I can hardly contain myself! I was just…”
“Worried, I know, Papa. I was too when I found out. It definitely wasn’t planned, but nothing these last few months has been.”
“I wanted to talk to you about Geni and me. I went to the island before I went to Jacksonville because I needed to put some things where they belonged in my head.”
“Mama?” she asked and he nodded.
“I love Geni, and when she took off, I needed to get my head right before I went to her. At first, I was mad. I was angry - pissed off, but then I was just confused…”
“And you retreated.”
“I did, but Shirley made me see some things differently, and I took care of what I needed to do. When I went to Geni to fix things, we talked a lot, about a lot of things – covered a lot of ground, and I know that she’s my future.”
“I knew that.”
“She told me she wouldn’t marry me,” he laughed, “but we are going to be together. I called Kimmy to get a realtor lined up for me, and I’m gonna sell the house.”
“I figured when Geni said ‘we are looking at a smaller house on the river’ that you would be. It’s a house full of memories, Papa, but it’s just a house. Home will always be wherever you are.”
“About that,” he said, and she noticed a sadness come over him. “I didn’t tell you before now, mostly because I didn’t know how I felt about the whole thing.”
Quiet for a moment, he added, “There’s a developer who wants to buy the cottage in Eleuthera. The point makes it hugely desirable. They want to buy Shirley out too - build a resort. It’ll turn paradise into a play place, I guess. Good for the economy there. Won’t be ginormous or anything. That’d be too much change that the Government won’t allow.”
She listened to the short sentences as he spoke and waited.
“I was torn at first; that place is so beautiful as it is, and then Shirley reminded me of the history of the island. Back in the day it was a play place and then hard times hit.”
He looked up and noticed her watching him. “I’m gonna sell. But not ‘til you are able to go back.”
“I know,” she said.
“Shirley?” he asked, and she nodded.
“She called me when you left for Jacksonville and talked to me for a long time. She loves you, Papa.” Quiet in her thoughts she finally added, “Let it go. I won’t be able to go with a new baby for a while. It makes me sad, but you need to let it go.”
“Does Shirley want me to sell?”
“She doesn’t care one way or another; she just wants you to move forward, and we all know you can’t with that still behind you.”
Geni walked in with lunch, and the conversation about the cottage ended.
~ ~ ~
Another week passed, and once again, Andy and Carlee were alone. She was writing a paper, planning for the next day’s test. She and Andy were talking as she typed.
“You seem to be settling into this comfortably,” he said.
“School?”
“Uh huh. I was afraid it’d be hard for you – maybe not the brain work as much as the discipline to get back at it.”
“Desire equals drive, Papa. I want to finish what I started. Done,” she said typing the last word and closing the laptop.
“There’s been some time for things to settle down and process, and I wanted to ask you, were you and Matthew serious about buying the Davis house?”
“We’ve talked a lot about it. I’m pretty sure we are, but with the baby and my travel limitations, we’re probably a year away from being able to head back to the states.”
“Geni and I talked about it, too. You know we can make it happen whenever you want. And Geni and I aren’t going anywhere until you get an all- clear. And now, with a baby on the way, she isn’t going to leave until the little one makes her debut.”
“Her?” Carlee laughed.
“Did I say that?” he laughed.
“You did!”
“Well, maybe my gut knows something,” he smiled.
He’d brought the keyboard with him and Carlee saw it sitting there. “What are you working on?”
He went to get it and started to play, “Something that came to me a while back. Working on a few, actually.”
“I like it. Are you gonna record again?” she asked, excitement in her voice.
“Maybe; didn’t know I was still good enough until we were on stage for the concert.”
“Good enough?” she roared with laughter.
“I’m serious,” he laughed. “I wasn’t sure the old pipes could handle it. I know as we rehearsed, I struggled with some of the stuff, and we had to bring it down a notch, but I didn’t have any problems with the more mellow stuff. We’ll see; nothing is ready just yet. I sent some stuff to Marco, and he sent some notes back on tweaks and revisions. We’ll see,” he said again as Geni came in. “No touring though, I know that.”
Chapter Twenty
She’d made several trips to the hospital during the week to visit Kyliejo, and with each visit, she noticed the little girl slipping a little further away. Andy and Geni were with her at the flat having a bite of lunch when Carlee’s phone rang. Seeing it was Hatchet’s number on the display, a sense of dread washed over her. “Hello my friend, what’s up?” she asked.
“She’s not doing so well, and she’s asking for you.”
“I’ll be there as quickly as I can,” she told Hatchet. Andy and Geni rose to put the remains of their lunch away while Carlee sent a text to Matthew:
Headed to Royal, its Kyliejo meet me there after work
When they reached the hospital, Hatchet met them in the hall. “Her blood pressure is really low, breathing is shallow, oxygen mask on, and she’s very pale, bordering on a gray color to her skin,” Hatchet told her, ticking off what she should expect when she entered. “Get in there and crawl up in that bed and hold her a bit.”
“On my way.” Carlee entered the room quietly and found Johanna reading.
“She’s asleep, but you know what she wants,” she smiled.
<
br /> Carlee leaned close and whispered in her ear, “Hey there, Princess. I’m here, crawling in with you, OK?” Kyliejo reached for her hand, and curled closer when Carlee was finally beside her.
Johanna left the room with Geni and Hatchet. Andy sat back in a chair and watched Carlee with the child.
“She’s declining,” Johanna told Geni, and Hatchet nodded her agreement.
“Hospice?” Geni asked, abruptly. “Is there Hospice here in the U.K.?”
Hatchet nodded, “There is, but it’s not necessary…”
“What do you mean it’s not necessary?” Geni replied sharply, not understanding.
“The doctors are all keeping her comfortable at their expense. None of them are charging for her care; that way the father’s insurance pays the hospital bill without hitting any kind of cap.”
“The Cancer Foundation is helping with our personal bills; I can thank you and Andy for that. We’re fine. She just needs love,” Johanna said in a soft voice.
~ ~ ~
Matthew finally arrived, and they stayed until dinnertime. Carlee stayed in the bed with Kyliejo until Matthew drug her away.
“I don’t want to leave,” she cried.
“You need to rest. You have a test tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll pick you up after the test and bring you here. How’s that?” Andy asked.
Hatchet wrapped her in a hug. “You’re less than a quarter of an hour away – I’ll be right here, and I’ll call you if anything changes. You can call me too, anytime, you know that.”
Reluctantly, the group left and headed to Palmer Road. Carlee was quiet. “I can’t imagine what Johanna is feeling, because this is tearing me up. How can you become so in love with someone in such a short time?” she cried.
“I know the answer to this one,” Matthew said, slipping his hand to the back of her neck to massage as he drove. “You encounter someone with soul, and heart, and a personality with a spark, and they get in your head.” He turned to her and added, “and then they fill your heart, and you can’t imagine a day without them. It happened to me once.”
Feel Like Makin' Love (Rock and Roll Trilogy #3) Page 29
