♫ Epilogue ♫
Six Months Later
Brenden sat in the studio, with his headphones on, and the mic at his lips. He began singing, trying not to watch Allex in the studio as she watched him. She made him lose his concentration every damned time! And she laughed every time it happened too.
He’d been back from his “makeup tour” for three months, and they’d been working feverishly on the soundtrack for The Living Edge since then. He’d pulled in help from Jordan, and a couple of the other acts from the label to lend some variance to the music on the soundtrack.
Allexxiss’ divorce was taking longer than they expected. Max, as expected, was fighting them tooth and nail, but Brenden was spending whatever it took to fight him. He had finally just told Allex, to “give him everything.” She had balked at that idea, but had finally conceded that Brenden was probably right. Her lawyer had just informed Max’s lawyer that Allexxiss wanted nothing from the marriage, so it would proceed without delay.
Filming on the movie was finished, so they were only waiting to release it when the soundtrack was finalized. Allexxiss was totally enamored by her fiancé’s talents. Brenden had given her everything she wanted and then some on the soundtrack. It gave the movie that final push that it needed to make it great. She was already hearing noises about Oscar nominations and it hadn’t even been released yet!
She sat in the sound studio, Brenden’s studios, and watched him work for hours. She couldn’t believe the incredibly talented man that he was. Besides being gorgeous beyond words, besides being the best friend she’d ever had, and the most incredible lover as well, he was so innately talented, she couldn’t even begin to explain it to anyone.
Her parents were still in shock over the fact that she was back together with “that boy from the bar” as her mother had put it.
“Mother,” Allexxiss had said, “that boy from the bar is a world-famous singer now, and he has more money than you, Max, and Max’s family put together, so you might want to change your thinking a bit.”
Her mother had been shocked by the frank tone, but had kept quiet after that.
****
The night of the Grammy Awards had all of them excited. Badlands Records had all of their biggest artists nominated for Grammys. Some of them had even been nominated for the same award.
Brenden and Allexxiss, as usual, caused a huge uproar when they arrived. Brenden wore a black Versace suit, with a blue-green silk shirt, matching his eyes. Allexxiss wore a black dress of beads and lace. At her throat sparkled black diamonds that Brenden had given her. Everyone was in love with them. They’d done an interview recently with Rolling Stone, finally telling the world about Tabitha being their daughter. About how they’d met and fallen in love when Allexxiss was only sixteen. How fate had separated them, and now had brought them back together for good. It had put the final nail into the coffin of her marriage to Max Putnam. And that’s exactly what Brenden had wanted.
Tabitha showed up at the Grammy Awards with Devlin and the rest of the band and was danced attendance on all night by the four men. She found it highly amusing.
Sparks swept a number of the categories as they often did, the best of which was Record of the Year. Brenden and the rest of the band went up, and as usual, Brenden was their spokesperson.
“This was a hell of a year,” Brenden said, looking straight at Allexxiss. “I found my love again, my daughter grew up a lot, and on top of that, we made a decent album,” he said, grinning. Everyone in the audience laughed. “Seriously, though, we know we wouldn’t be here without the fans’ support, so thank you, to all of you.” With that, he held the Grammy aloft and everyone cheered.
Brenden was a presenter at the Grammys for the Best Rock Female Vocal Performance award.
“Well, lucky me, I’m gonna get my ass kicked by one of the women in my life,” Brenden said, grinning. The audience laughed. “I get the pleasure of giving one woman the Best Rock Female Vocal Performance award. Interestingly enough the nominees are all women on my label or are about to be … so needless to say, I’m getting in trouble either way.” Again everyone laughed, and Allexxiss winked at him, and mouthed, “not with me honey.”
“Okay,” Brenden said, “the nominees are … Billy Montague, from Billy and The Kid, Jordan Tate, and Marra Jade.”
He was handed the special envelope containing the winning name. “And the winner is …”
All three women held their breath.
“Jordan Tate!”
Jordan went up on stage and hugged Brenden tight, smiling brilliantly.
“I can’t kiss him,” Jordan told the audience. “I don’t want Allex to kick my ass,” she said winking at Allexxiss. The two had finally made peace, and Jordan was extremely happy his best friend finally had the love of his life back. “I want to thank, well, hell, everyone. Definitely Brenden and Badlands for giving me the freedom to make the music I want to make and for being the best friend a girl could ever have.”
In an interview later that evening, Brenden summed up the Grammy wins the best way he knew how.
“What do you think it takes to make it in the business today?” he was asked.
“It takes drive, intensity, a love of the music, and a love for life, and just a few Sparks.”