♫ Epilogue ♫
The sound of soft singing awoke Nicolette. She sat up in bed, feeling for Jerith. He wasn’t there. She reached for the monitor on the nightstand and turned up the volume. Jerith’s voice came through clearly. She got out of bed and padded down the hall, stopping in a doorway not too far way. Jerith was standing in the room, his long blond hair flowing loose down his bare back. Nicolette leaned against the door jamb, watching him and listening to his voice as he crooned softly. As if sensing her there, Jerith turned around.
The small child in his arms was enchanted by her father’s singing. Her halo of blond curls made her look angelic as the green eyes that matched her mother’s gazed up at her father with obvious adoration. Angelica Marie Michaels was only four months old, but it was obvious that she loved her daddy’s voice. Jerith laid her down in her crib and turned to walk back toward Nicolette.
He noticed that she was giving him a measured look. “What?” he said, grinning.
“If over three years ago someone would have told me that I’d be standing in a doorway, watching my gorgeous, long-haired superstar husband sing our daughter back to sleep, I would have locked them up as a 5150—a nut.”
Jerith smiled, reaching out to pull her close. “And if anyone had told me that I could be this happy and have literally everything I want, I would have walked on fire for it.”
“Everything okay?” Ryan said surreptitiously from the hallway. He had just come in from a night out with friends. He had just started college and was loving every minute of it.
Jerith glanced over at him, nodding. “Angel just woke up, that’s all.”
“When doesn’t she?” Ryan said, rolling his eyes, but he walked toward the room all the same. He liked to pretend that he wasn’t absolutely in love with his little sister, but he was. He walked past Jerith and his mother, and over to the crib, gazing down at the small child sleeping peacefully there. Then he turned and looked at the people he considered his parents.
“Shouldn’t you two be getting some sleep? Big day tomorrow.” The event of the year—next to the Grammys, that is. The Grammys were the following month.
“You’re right,” Jerith said, nodding and looking down at his wife.
“I usually am,” Ryan shot back with a grin.
They went their separate ways then, and the next morning they were up late.
“Don’t get us lost, Ryan,” Nicolette said, looking back at her son.
“I’m not. It’s really a shortcut, Mom.”
Jerith grinned from the driver’s seat. “Will you two shut up? I’m tryin’ to drive here. Besides, we’re here.”
The site overlooked the ocean, and a slight breeze stirred the guests, but no one noticed an hour later when Billy Montague walked down the aisle toward Skyler. She looked beautiful in a high-low satin-and-lace gown, her jet black curls pinned up with stray stands cascading down her back. Her makeup was soft and elegant, and Skyler just about dropped dead at the sight of her. When she strolled up to him, he smiled brilliantly at her.
“You look… God…” was all he could manage, in a whisper.
“Well, Mr. Kristiani, you look pretty god-like yourself,” she said, smiling. He was dressed in black with a starched white shirt and hunter green tie and cummerbund. Skyler laughed softly as he took her hand in his. Billy thought of his comment the night before, that he was taking an extra swing at this marriage thing and that it better work out this time, or he was definitely through.
As they said their vows, the guests, which included Chelsea and Michael, couldn’t help but think that these two would really make it work. Everyone knew about Billy’s drug problem and that she had fought back valiantly.
Billy and the Kid were back on top again. Their album Free from the Fire was breaking all sorts of records. Billy and Jerith had both handled lead singing, and Billy had finally had the opportunity to take up keyboard, which was something she’d wanted to do for a long time. The album was surpassing their previous ones easily. Jerith’s own solo album seemed to have brought them even more fans than before. Billy credited the article in Rolling Stone, as well as the interviews he’d done since going solo. Jerith took it all in his stride. Becoming a father had been much more important to him, and Billy knew it. She had already been trying to talk Skyler into just one child… but she hadn’t convinced him yet.
Free from the Fire had been nominated for a Grammy for best new album of the year. And the rumor was that it was a shoo-in. Billy felt great. She’d stayed totally drug-free for almost two years now, and since Skyler had come back into her life, she hadn’t even craved the cocaine that had ruled her before. She had told Skyler about the lack of desire for the drug; he had laughed, telling her she had something far more satisfying to crave now, and had subsequently shown her what he was talking about.
At the reception, the song “If You Could Only See” by Tonic was played, and the chorus was so true for the happy couple. Skyler sang the words to her as she stood next to him, with his arm wrapped tightly around her. The song was about others seeing the way she loved him, that only then could they understand.
Billy turned to look up at him, her blue eyes searching his as she smiled.
“I do love you,” she said, feeling very sentimental. “I’ve always loved you—just too much has gotten in the way before.”
“Well, nothing’s going to get in the way again.”
“How do you know?” Billy asked, grinning.
“Because I won’t let it, that’s why,” Skyler said very seriously, his light green eyes looking into hers.
“We won’t let it.”
Later that night, in their room at the Hotel del Coronado, they stood on the balcony, looking out at the ocean. He stood behind her, wearing white pants and no shirt; she wore a classic white peignoir.
“You win,” he said softly as he leaned down to kiss her shoulder.
“Win?” she said, turning around to face him. “Win what?”
Skyler looked at her for a long moment, a lopsided grin on his face. “One baby, and that’s it,” he said, his tone serious even as his eyes danced humorously.
“And you made this decision when?”
“Today, at the wedding. Seeing you with Jerith’s baby… You looked happy. I guess I’m curious what our baby would look like.” He sounded frustrated at having to try to explain his feelings.
She stood on her toes, kissing him. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” Skyler said, shaking his head. “You haven’t seen how lousy I am with kids. I’m not good at diapers, I can’t burp them to save my life…”
“And you’re probably the most incredible, doting father alive.”
Skyler looked skeptical.
“Well, then,” Billy said, reaching up to untie her peignoir. “I think we should get started, don’t you?”
A week later, Billy, Skyler, Jerith, Nicolette, Ryan, and Chelsea sat at the Grammys, the other members of the band to one side of the group. The fans had gone crazy when Billy and Jerith stepped out of the limousine. Like a good omen, their album had gone to number one that day. Now, waiting for the announcement, Billy turned to her bandmate.
“Oh, little thing I think I should mention,” she said in a whisper.
Jerith bent his head to listen to her; little did they know that the camera was on them at that moment, as the TV personality narrating the awards talked about their meteoric rise, fall, and rise again.
“What is it?” Jerith asked, his blond hair falling over his shoulder, an ever-present grin playing at his lips.
“I’m going to get pregnant,” Billy whispered back.
“You’re what?” Jerith said loudly, startling the people around them. Sheryl Crow and the guys from Matchbox Twenty, who were sitting in front of them, all turned around to look at them, even as the cameras rolled on Jerith’s reaction. People watching the show had no way of knowing what Billy Montague had just told Jerith “Kid” Michaels, but his reaction had caused a real stir.
“Shh!” Billy said, already starting to laugh. “You heard me, you dope. I’m gonna have a child.”
Jerith leaned forward, looking around Billy, and put his hand out to Skyler. Skyler grinned as he took it, shaking his head ruefully. “Don’t even ask me how she talked me into another kid.”
“I know her, remember.”
“Thanks!” Billy said, hitting Jerith on the arm as the world watched, fascinated by the exchange.
Nicolette leaned forward then. “What’s goin’ on down there?”
Jerith leaned back over to her and whispered, “Billy and Sky are going to work on getting pregnant.”
Nicolette sat motionless for a moment, then laughed. “That’s great. I thought you didn’t want any more kids,” she said to Skyler.
Billy leaned forward with a smile. “When I set my mind to something…”
“Your mind had nothing to do with it,” Skyler assured her.
Billy looked at him for a long moment, then started to laugh again. The sound was infectious, and Jerith started to chuckle as well. Within moments, all four of them were laughing while the “young people” in the group, as well as the rest of the country, looked on.
They almost missed the announcement of their category. But Nicolette shushed them all, reaching out to take Jerith’s hand.
“For best album of the year, the nominees are…” the announcer said. Billy and Jerith looked at each other, each reflecting on how far they’d come in the past three years. They’d been blown apart, and then put back together so much the better for it. It was amazing.
“And the winner is… Free from the Fire!”
Jerith and Billy yelled in unison, and then turned to their respective spouses, hugging them. Then they were standing and hugging the other members of the band, and trying to make their way to the stage. Skyler moved to sit next to Nicolette.
“How’d we end up here?” he asked her, marveling at the curves life could throw.
“Tell me about it,” Nicolette said, shaking her head.
The band had made it to the stage by that time, and Jerith, who had always been their spokesperson, stood at the mike. He looked very handsome in black chinos, a white long-sleeved shirt, black boots, and a black leather vest, his hair flowing loose down his back.
“Well, this has been an incredible year,” he said, his grin perpetual. “Billy and the Kid has seen a lot of trouble, but I think we’ve come back from it with a vengeance.” He held up the Grammy as if to prove it. “We want to thank all our fans who put up with a lot of problems, and stayed loyal even when it didn’t look like we’d ever make another album. I personally want to thank my wife and son for putting up with me,” he said, his gaze falling on Nicolette and Ryan. Then he glanced at Billy, and she nodded. “And since Billy’s a newlywed, she wants to thank her husband for everything he will put up with in the years to come.” His smile was brilliant then, as he once again held the Grammy aloft and took Billy’s hand.
Nicolette watched with tears in her eyes. It was incredible, the hand life had dealt them, and all she could do was thank God for the day he brought Jerith into her life. She could see that Skyler was thinking along the same lines, and she leaned over, bumping his shoulder with hers.
“I guess they have their hits and we have ours, huh?” she said.
Skyler couldn’t have agreed more.