Page 11 of Born To Be My Baby

His grin reminded her of those times long ago. He grinned all the time. She remembered how happy he always seemed when she was around and that stabbed at her heart once more. "Yes. Initially, that's what we did. We sang other people’s songs. We did very well with that, actually. We've gotten big gigs that paid us well. We've traveled and have seen many places."

"What made you change to writing your own music?"

He cleared his throat and shifted in his chair. "Jami and I had a conversation one night after rehearsal, along with Tony, our manager. He was feeling restless. Jami was, and didn't know why. He has this big barn that he's converted into a studio. It's actually a studio and lounge. We have a bar and a sitting area with four big sofas. It's where we can unwind in private. We sat on the sofas and mulled over Jami's discontent. The music was great. Business was great. Tony got us gig after gig. We were making money. Jami said he wanted more. Tony nodded and leaned forward. He said, 'If you want more, you need to write your own music.'

"Jami stared at him for a long time. Then his eyes slid to mine. I leaned forward and said, 'I've written some songs. I'll bring them with me tomorrow.' Jami nodded and said, 'I've written some too.'

"What I didn't say to Jami and Tony was I could have played one song in particular, right then and there. I've sung it to myself so many times. So many. But I wanted to pull it out of that drawer, and mull it over. I mulled all night long. The following day, we each pulled out the songs we wrote. We both had a notebook full of them. We went into the studio, and, man..." He inhaled a deep breath and swiped his hand down his face. His eyes welled with tears. "That day...I'll never forget that day. We're a good fucking band. A great band. If I ever had a doubt, which I haven't, but if I ever had a doubt, that day it was wiped away. My bandmates blended their instruments and voices to our individually written songs and made them come to life."

Sean ran his hands up and down his arms. "I still get goosebumps remembering the first time I heard my songs come to life. It was surreal. I think I even cried listening to them. That's living a dream right there. That's when a creative's art is made a living thing, that's..." He swallowed. "That's everything."

Violet watched Sean's face as he remembered that day. He was transported back in time and relived that moment right in front of her. She'd never seen him with that faraway look.

She swallowed to wet her throat and replied, "What's your favorite song that you have written and recorded to date?"

Sammy stared at her for a long moment. It was almost as if he couldn't say anything. She saw his shoulders stretch back, and he fidgeted slightly with his hands on the arms of his chair. His fingers tapped the armrest, and he took a deep breath. He swallowed multiple times. Finally, he responded. "Born to Be My Baby”."

Gloria waited a moment. Something tightened in her chest. "Why is that your favorite song?"

Sammy cleared his throat slightly and licked his lips. She saw him swallow several times before saying, "About twenty-one years ago, I was madly in love with a woman who was madly in love with me. But I broke her heart. I told her I had to break up with her because I needed to focus on my music. She had such promise for her own future and I didn't want her to hold back because of me. So I let her go. But I never forgot about her. I thought of her all the time. I fought the urge to look for her. I used all of my power to not find her, to let her shine. And I just dove into my music career. But her face, the tears dripping from her cheeks when I told her I was moving on without her; I saw her sad, hurt face all the time. Every night when I closed my eyes, every morning when I woke up, that beautiful woman who I had grown so accustomed to smiling at me, and dancing to my music, and enjoying my company..." He took a deep breath and wiped tears from his eyes. "To see her crushed because of the words I spoke to her... It never left me. So the words to, “Born to Be My Baby”, came to me in a dream. I woke up, and I wrote it. I sat in my living room, alone with my guitar, and I wrote that song. And then it was too painful for me to share with anyone. So I held on to it. I put it away in the back of a notebook, the bottom of a drawer, and I didn't look at it again for years, until two years ago, when Jami, Tony, and I were talking."

He reached forward, and with a shaking hand, he picked up his water glass. Gloria felt like her world was spinning out of control. Her mind went blank. All she could do was wait for Sean to finish his story. "And Jami's response was, 'Why the hell have you not shown me this before?'" He chuckled nervously and swallowed.

"So we brought it to our studio, the Barn, and I shared it with the band. And within a half an hour, that song came alive. The beat was there, the music was there, we sang together, and the feelings that I got when I listened to my friends sing the song that meant so much to me…I'll never forget it."

Gloria stared at Sean. She couldn't say anything. Speechless, she was stunned speechless. Not great for a television reporter. From the corner of her eye, she saw Boon look over the camera at Mina. Mina rushed forward. "Boon, stop recording."

Boon moved behind the camera and touched some buttons. He softly said to Dylan, "Cut it."

Mina blew her nose and huffed out a deep breath. "I think we need to take a break. I'm sorry guys, but can you give us fifteen minutes?"

Boon nodded. "We'll step outside."

He and Dylan exited the room, and Violet took a drink of water to give herself some time.

10

Sean sat numb as he relived what he had just told Gloria. His voice shook as he told the story of her song.

He swallowed the emotion at the back of his throat. He sniffed and swiped gently at the tears at the corner of his eyes. Her bottom lip quivered. Her eyes glistened with moisture.

When Boon and Dylan left the room, they all sat silent for a long moment. Mina was the first one to break the silence.

"Okay, we're going to have to get through this interview. And to be honest with you, I'm not ready for the world to know I'm Sammy Fender's daughter."

His eyes darted to Mina's. He swallowed the lump in his throat. She didn't want anyone to know she was his daughter. He kind of knew what she meant, but it punched him right in the gut. He wanted to tell the entire world she was his daughter.

Mina stepped closer to them, into the light, so he could see her. She looked between the two of them and huffed out a deep breath.

"Okay, so let's do this." She looked at her mom.

"Mom, I think we have to recognize what’s going on in your interview. This is getting emotional, and you need to change the questions to something less personal. Talk about a place he visited or something new that the band might be working on, or some funny anecdote about traveling to give yourself, both of you, a break."

Mina looked at him. "We can splice this out later so that it doesn't look like a jumbled mess of an interview. We can go back to personal questions. The TV audience wants to know about you, Sammy Fender. We have to give them some personal things. But for us, this is so fresh. We're all struggling with emotions and feelings, and we can't do that now."

Sean nodded. "That's a good idea. I'm going to try and compose myself so that I don't get so emotional. I've never.” He took a break and blew out a breath. “I've never done anything like this. I've never..." He paused.

He looked into Mina's eyes. "I've never had a daughter."

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