Page 108 of Free Heart
Most of the parents seem to know the song, and when Sejin encourages them to sing, their voices lift up enthusiastically. I feel like I’ll burst if I don’t do something, so I start singing with them. Next to me, Rye moves his lips, but no sound comes out.
Squeezing his hand again, I sing loudly enough for both of us.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Sejin
The kids’ showis a huge success. When it’s over, every parent in attendance lines up to grab their kids and tell me how much they loved it. I feel, for the first time in a long time, that I’ve done something worthwhile. I can see in their eyes that these parents will remember this little show for the rest of their lives.
“Promise you’ll do one next year!” Byron’s mom begs. He’d stopped crying by “Last Christmas” and Heather had let him come back out on stage to finish the program. His mom strokes his hair and gazes at him fondly. “It was just so cute.”
I glance toward Dan who’s standing in the back with Peggy Jo and my dad, and I give her my best smile before saying, “I’ll have to wait and see. It depends on what Dan’s doing this time next year. We might be traveling.”
Her brow crinkles. “Oh, you can’t leave us, Sejin. We love you so much.”
“I won’t leave for good,” I assure her. “I’ll always come back. But Dan’s career is…” I don’t know how to describe it. Turns out, I don’t need to. She’s already moving on with Byron’s dad, getting him and his sister changed into street clothes to head home.
The next parent says the same thing; they want another show next year. I laugh. “We’ll have to wait and see.”
Evelyn chimes in, “Yes! Doing one every year would be wonderful.”
Mrs. Hunter says, “But hopefully your Dan will be healed and well by then, so long as he doesn’t do anything foolish. The profit from the tickets would be able to go to a different charity.”
I swallow hard, pushing down the fear that always leaps up when I think of Dan free soloing again. But who knows if he’ll even be ready to do it by next fall? The doctor initially told him it’d be a year.
He’ll be ready, my mind whispers.Way before then.
I try to let it go, focusing on the here and now.
By the time my dad reaches me, he’s got the biggest smile on his face. “Son, that was the damned cutest thing I ever did see, and your mama would’ve been so proud.”
I let him hug me. “You think so?”
“Think? I know it. She always knew you had something special to do in this world.” He nods at the room around us. “Look at all this here joy because of you.”
I start to protest that it’s because of the kids, but Peggy Jo sneaks up from behind Dad’s bulk, and says, “That’s our Sejin. Just his smile makes the world a better place.”
She pats my cheek. “But this was something else, baby. Next level, as the kids say.”
“The kids don’t say that,” Dan pipes up from behind her.
“They absolutely do. Bella does,” Peggy Jo insists.
“Bella’s not a kid.”
Peggy Jo ignores him and turns back to me. “You really made all these babies happy, and their parents too. Good job.”
“Not to mention,” Heather chimes in, suddenly at my shoulder. “The GoFundMe is nearly fully funded.” She shows me the page. “Look at that.”
Dan slips in past my dad, puts his arm around my waist, and says, “Looks like we can start living the high life now, Doc. Get that new Yeti All-Terrain blanket you wanted for the van. No more shivering for you.”
“Living large.” I laugh.
I notice Rye hovering behind Peggy Jo, his eyes focused across the room where Jeanie is in her father’s arms, being praised and adored by both sets of grandparents. “Did you get to talk with her?” I ask him.
He shakes his head.
I kind of figured. Andrew blocks Rye’s access to Jeanie whenever his parents are around, I’ve noticed.
