Page 54 of Baby Blue
Anne tossed her bag onto the chair by the door and toed off her shoes. “Hey, where were you before I went to work? I was going to tell you goodbye but you weren’t home.”
“I’ve got something to show you. Come over here and sit down.” Blue was so excited he wasn’t sure how he’d fallen asleep before, but now he was wide awake.
“What? Did you get a job?” Anne asked, her voice measured so as not to wake the kids.
“No. Well, sort of.” Leaning forward, he pulled the envelope out of his back pocket and handed it to her. “Look.”
She glanced up at him and chuckled, then stuck her fingers inside the envelope and pulled out the check. One look and her mouth fell open. Blue got a little concerned. He was pretty sure she wasn’t breathing.
“Well?”
She stammered a little before she squeaked out, “W-w-w-what is this?”
He plucked the check from her hand, put it back in the envelope, slipped it back into his pocket, and took her hands. “This guy came to the bar. He works for Tidal Wave Records. They liked one of my original songs, babe. They want to buy it, and they want me to write more.”
“You’re kidding!” she cried out.
“Shhhh! You’ll wake the kids!”
She swallowed hard and stared at him. “You’re kidding!” she whispered.
“No. I’m not. There’ll be more where that came from. They want me to write songs for HankChamberlain.”
Anne’s eyes went wide. Then she squinted at him. “Get out. You’re messing with me.”
“Does that look like I’m messing with you? I’m not messing with you. That’s real. The guy’s name is AlexWynn, and now that we’ve discussed it, they’ll probably fly me to Nashville to meet with Hank and sign me as one of their writers. He even said if I write a song and Hank doesn’t want it, they have other artists who probably will. I showed him my binder of songs and he liked them, Anne. He liked them all.”
She took his face in her hands and asked, “You sure this isn’t some kind of swindler?”
“I don’t know. I’m going to call the company and talk to someone.”
“I think you should have Glen call for you,” Anne said just before she gave him another kiss.
“Maybe I should.” Blue dropped back into the sofa and reached out an arm. “Come here.”
When she snuggled down into his side, Blue wrapped an arm around her and stroked her hair with his free hand. God, she smelled good, and she was so warm and soft. They just sat that way, quiet and almost completely still, until they both nodded off. Indigo woke them up about an hour later, crying and fussy. “I’ll take her home and put her to bed,” Blue told her, gathering the baby’s things up.
“I’m so proud of you, Brent.” When he stopped at the door and turned, Anne stood there, inches from him, and he reached out to touch her face. “I told you things would get better.”
“You were right?they are. See you in the morning, babe. Good night.” With a little peck on her lips, Blue ambled down the steps and across the yard to his house.
By the time he was inside with the door shut, Indigo was almost screaming, and it took him twenty minutes to get her calmed down. He fed her, changed her diaper, and dressed her for bed. When he was finished, he got himself a soft drink and sat down in the rocker with her. As he rocked her, he started to sing her song, and he smiled as he sang and watched her eyelids droop.
And what I’ddo for you
Is everything,
Everything.
We’d never be apart,
I’d give you my heart.
There’s nothing I wouldn’t do.
As he sangthe chorus the last time, he looked down at Indigo, but he thought of Anne. Then Polly and Toady slipped through his mind. The baby wiggled and he told her quietly, “You’re my family, little one. I love you.”
Family. That was when it hit him?he had a family. A strong, beautiful woman who made him stronger and three kids who loved him. Five people. That was a real family! God, he couldn’t wait until that social worker got finished working him over and he could finally be with Anne and the kids without worry.
