Page 230 of Sebastian's Baby

“Correct.” I nod.

“There’s a long gap between each verse and chorus that doesn’t make sense.” He frowns at me.

“It will. Trust me.” I smile knowingly at him.

“Ah, Sebastian Fox, king of ‘I know something you don’t know,’” Hayden laughs.

It’s not them that I’m trying to surprise as much as Lita. I look into the control room, and she seems fascinated as she watches us. I know that she can hear every word we’re saying, so I don’t want to tell the guys my plans for those breaks yet.

“All right, Heather, I’ve got the click track cued so you can just start the recording; I’m going to do the scratch track with the guitar,” I say, and Heather nods before indicating to me that I can start.

I start playing the song, and it has a soft, lilting melody that reminds me of Lita’s laugh. There’s nothing jarring in the song, I’ve written it to be smooth and calming. After I’ve recorded the scratch track, Hayden records the drums. They’re soft as well, designed to accompany the song rather than to ever take focus from it. They don’t even start until the second verse. The main beat for the beginning of the song will be Mirabella’s heartbeat.

It takes a while to get the drums right because Hayden keeps overplaying them, and eventually, I tell him, “Pretend my baby is sleeping nearby and you’re trying not to wake her up, but you still need to play this song.”

Hayden grins at me. “Okay, I think I’ve got it now.”

It takes him two more tries, but then he completely nails it, and I’m happy. We move on to Harrison’s bass, and he’s fine for the first two verses but is late coming into the chorus.

I’m about to tell him so when Gabriel says, “You were late there, Harrison.”

“Are you sure?” He asks.

“Yup, on that bit where it goes da DAH da,” Gabriel tells him.

Harrison looks over at me, and I smile, then nod at him. I’m glad that Gabriel picked it up as well, so I didn’t have to be the taskmaster.

“Cool, thanks. Okay, I’ll go again,” Harrison says.

When his track is laid, we get the piano recording from Gabriel with little effort, and I’m excited because the song is coming together nicely. I can’t wait for Lita to hear the whole thing, but I’m still nervous about how she’ll react. It’s also really personal and raw, and I wonder if this is how Gabriel felt when we were recordingHeart Wide Open.

“I’ll go delete the scratch track,” Hayden says to me. “Lord knows we shouldn’t trust Heather to do it.”

We all laugh as he heads out to the control room. He says something to the women sitting there and laughs a few times before heading back into the studio with a smile on his face.

“All good?” I ask him.

“Yeah, I just warned Heather that you’ll kill her if she deletes this song.”

I laugh and nod as I prepare to record the guitar for the song. This time, when I’ve finished recording and it’s played with the rest of the tracks, I’m a little amazed at how perfectly it’s coming together. Even though I wrote the song, it’s still awesome to hear it come to life, and I can’t wait for Lita to hear the final product.

Once the guitar has been recorded, I look up at the control room and say, “We’re ready to record the vocals. Are you there, princess?”

Lita stands up and catches my eye through the glass before she smiles her breathtaking smile at me.

Heather presses the button that allows us to hear what they’re saying in the control room and tells Lita, “You can talk to him if you want.”

“I’m here,” Lita says, and Heather lets go of the button with a laugh.

“Good. I was just checking.” I smile at her.

Lita sits on a chair next to Heather instead of back down on the sofa, and I’m glad that I can see her now. I love her so much, and she fits so perfectly in our group. I’ve never been happier. I’m trying to figure out when the best time to propose to her will be. I have no doubt that she’ll say yes, but I want it to be special for us both.

My friends are relaxed around the studio while I stand alone at the microphone to record the lead vocals before they record their harmonies.

“Okay, Heather. I’m ready to go.” I smile at her, and she gives me a thumbs-up as she starts the music for me to sing along to.

I look at Lita as I record and sing the song to her. The lyrics are all about my love for her and our baby, so this is only fitting. By the end of the first verse, Lita is crying, and my heart swells because I know they’re tears of happiness. I manage to get through the whole song before my voice cracks on the last line, and I have tears in my eyes as well.

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