Out of The Box Awakening (35 page)

“I have my sources, and I’m not giving out my secrets! Here, open the other one.”

He’s also gotten her an iPhone, with a case that has the Avenue logo on it.

“I’m blown away, babe! I’ve never even had a nice phone. You see what mine looks like.”

“Well, I figured that since we’re going out on tour and everything that you definitely need a good phone to keep in touch. You can even Skype on it. And look, see the wallpaper?”

Emily puts her hand over her mouth. She’s getting teary eyed. It’s the picture we took of them when we did the tree the first night they met.

She’s gotten him a pair of Grado headphones, which I had never heard of, but apparently they are the world’s best headphones.

“Em! What the hell? These are so tight! Damn, babe. I love them! Thank you so much!”

They are both sitting on the floor by the tree. Tommy playfully pushes her over, gets on top of her and gives her a make-out worthy kiss.

“Damn guys! Get a fuckin’ room, already! Geez!” Todd says.

Kellan gives Lainey a diamond bracelet and she’s gotten him an expensive watch.

Wesley and Hayden stand up. “Well, we did a family gift. Our gift to you all is a family portrait. One of our good friends is a photographer, and we thought we’d do a family portrait and we’ll get it framed to hang in the house. Since we’re all a newly blended family we might as well capture it in a picture! Maybe late summer we can get together and have it made. We talked about it and wanted to wait until after the baby comes. He or she needs to be in it too! Oh, and little brother, don’t worry about covering up those tats…display them proudly. It’s who you are and we accept it. Merry Christmas, everyone!”

Tommy and the twins hug, and I’m so happy they’ve made amends. When all the presents are opened, Ash goes over to the tree.

“I’ll bet you were all wondering if I got Olivia anything.” They all nod yes. “All righty!”

He gets a little box off one of the tree branches and hands it to me. I never even noticed that it was on the tree. Pretty sneaky Mr. Harper!

“Merry Christmas to the woman who has brought so much love back into this house. I love you with all my heart, honey!” I open the box; inside is an exquisite pendant. “It’s platinum. See, it’s your initial and mine. O and A.”

I’m so emotional! The pendant is totally covered in diamonds. No telling how many carats it is. It is a beautifully scripted “O” with an intertwined “A.” On the back is engraved “mine and yours.”

“I had it made especially for you!” Everyone claps.

“Mom, oh, my God! Put it on!” Lainey says.

Ash comes over and fastens it around my neck. “It’s beautiful on you Olivia. Beautiful just like you! Merry Christmas, honey!” Ash says.

This gift is over-the-top gorgeous. The diamonds shine so bright and it is by far the most beautiful piece of jewelry I own. “Ash, this is really too much!”

“Oh, I beg to differ with you. It’s not nearly enough compared with the happiness you’ve brought me!”

The one gift left is mine to Ash.

“Oh crap!” Tommy says. “I left dad’s gift from you in my car. Be right back!” He runs out to his car and gets my gift to Ash out of his trunk. “Sorry about that dad!”

“Ash, your turn. Open!”

He opens the huge box and falls down on the floor in surprise. “Shit! Are you kidding me? Liv! Oh. My God! I’ve always wanted a twelve-string! Wow! Martin is the best one made! Honey, it’s awesome! How in the world did you know what to get?”

“Well, Tommy was nice enough to go with me. He played it for me so I could see what a beautiful sound it has.”

“Well done, guys! I’m one happy man! Let’s try ‘Stairway to Heaven’ with this baby!”

The sound is incredible. I am so happy that Ash is pleased with his gift. We all sit around having our coffee and everyone is happily talking about their gifts. Around midnight, Ash stands up and yawns. “Well, guys, it’s been real. I think we’re headed to bed. Been a long day. Time for us old timers to turn in. See you in the morning. Ho!Ho!Ho!” Ash takes my hand and winks at me “So, Mine, you like your gift?”

“Yours, it’s amazing! Over the top, but amazing! Merry Christmas! Just pinch me and tell me this is real.”

“Oh, honey, no doubt, this is real!”

We don’t even make love tonight. No need to. We lie wrapped in each other’s arms, warm under the covers, listening to soft Christmas music.

“Liv?”

“Yes?”

“I love you more than Christmas.”

“Ash?”

“Yes?”

“I love you more than you love me more than Christmas.”

“Liv?”

“Yes?”

“I believe you. Night-night!”

We have an amazing Christmas dinner at Ellen’s. Her house is beautiful and she’s gone out of her way to make sure the day is perfect. The kids all get along, which makes me feel so good. Lainey, Ellen, Mellissa and I talk about Melissa’s upcoming wedding. Lainey tells Melissa about her fairytale wedding.

“In addition to the Father-Daughter dance, Mom and I did a Mother-Daughter dance. It was so cool!”

“Really? What did you dance to?” Melissa asks.

“We did ‘Mama He’s Crazy’ by the Judd’s. It was the best dance ever. wasn’t it, Mom?”

“Oh my God! It was the best! My favorite dance ever with my favorite girl!”

I can tell Melissa’s thinking,

“Hey, Mom, that’s a great idea! I think I wanna steal it! Lainey, Olivia, would you mind?”

“Of course not!” we say.

“Well, we don’t know how to country western dance. Think you could teach Mom and me how to dance to it?”

“Sure thing! We’d love to.”

“Well, let’s go download it. Want to try it today?”

Ellen quickly interjects, “Melissa, it’s Christmas. I’m pretty sure they don’t want to do this today.”

“Oh, no problem! Matter of fact, I’ve got it on my iTunes.” I say.

Melissa takes Lainey’s hand. “Come on! Let’s go in Mom’s room!”

We go into Ellen’s spacious bedroom.

“This is going to be so cool! I can’t wait! Okay. Show us.”

Lainey and I start dancing. Melissa is beaming.

“Awww…Mom we’ve got to do it! That’s the perfect song, and I’ve never been to a wedding where the mom and daughter dance, too. Way cool!”

Lainey and I teach Ellen and Melissa how to Country Western dance to it.

Ash comes into the room. “What the heck?”

“We’re teaching Ellen and Melissa a dance for the wedding.”

“Uh, okay. Whatever. I’ll just go back out with the guys! I can take a hint.”

He winks at me, smiles, and exits to go back out with the guys. We hear them all laughing and having a good time. Luckily, Tommy and the guys have the day off, so Tommy is able to be at Ellen’s with us. They’re playing tomorrow night, and Ash has made arrangements again for the car to come pick us all up to go watch them. Ellen, David, Melissa, and Trey said they would come too. Ash is sending the car for them first, and then it will pick us up.

I have to admit that I’m really getting used to having Rocco drive us all to and from our destinations! Lifestyles of Ash Harper, I think to myself, as we all arrive at the club.

“So, they’re pretty good huh?” Hayden asks.

“Yes, very. You’ll see. They have a pretty big fan following. This upcoming tour is going to be huge for them.”

Tommy comes over to the table and sits with his brothers. “Really cool that you guys could come. Preciatcha! And hope you enjoy it. After the show, if you want to hang around, we usually party here for a couple of hours. Dad usually feeds the jukebox at least fifty bucks. It’s pretty fun.”

“Yeah, sure, we’re down! Besides, we’re all in one car, remember?”

“Oh, yeah! I forgot.”

Everyone has a great time. The whole family is here, and I can tell it means the world to Tommy.

I go backstage before they start and give the rest of the guys their Christmas presents to open.

“Damn! These are tight, Olivia!” Brady says.

Tommy explains that I had them specially designed for each of them by a company in El Paso that makes custom guitar straps.

“Ah, each one is different. I see now. I’m stoked!”

Brian loves his drumsticks as well. “Olivia, no one has ever given me anything like this. These are freakin’ awesome! Thanks so much!”

He gives me a kiss on the cheek and a hug. They all put their guitar straps on.

“Olivia, you nailed it girl! Here, get a picture of all of us,” Todd says.

“So, did you like your bag we got you?” Brian asks.

“Boy did I! Can you believe that’s my very first Louis Vuitton bag?”

“Seriously? Ha! We thought everyone from Texas had at least one of those!” Steve says. I can’t believe they all went in on it. Wonder who planted that idea in their heads?

Hmmmm…someone with the initials AH?

The guys put on one of the best shows I’ve seen them do. I sense that it is because the whole family is here. Tommy is like I haven’t seen him before, and everyone is having a great time.

Lainey gets a text, throws her head back, closes her eyes and shakes her head.

“What? Who was that?” I ask.

“That was dad. He and Kelly want to take Kel, the boys, and me to dinner tomorrow night. Geez! What should I say?”

“Well, I think y’all should go. We talked about this. He’s still your father. Just go and get it over with. He won’t stop calling until you do, you know.”

She talks to the boys, who are apprehensive, and they come to a consensus, agreeing that they will go.

“We’re meeting them, though. I want to have a vehicle so that we can leave when we want to,” Dalton says.

I’m really glad they decide to go. They are owed an explanation, and hopefully Alan will give them one.

When the show is over, everyone leaves but our little extended family, and Ash goes to drop his wad in the jukebox. Bradley and Dalton follow him, and I’m sure they’ll pick some of their favorite songs as well. Ross comes out from behind the bar, goes back into the stock room, and brings out sunglasses for everyone to put on. How fun!

“Here guys…these were left from a Blues Brothers party we had a few months ago. I’d totally forgotten about them, to be honest,” Ross says. He tosses a pair to each of us.

Ash plays “Got to Give it Up,” by Marvin Gay, undoubtedly one of our family dance favorites. Everyone lines up. Stepping out of the box, I decide to be brave and get it started. I grab Wesley and Hayden and pull them behind me. I’m wondering if they’ll loosen up and have fun, or just walk off the dance floor. Part of me thinks they’ll be really uncomfortable and decline. I start off and sure enough, they’re in.

Yeeessss! They do have rhythm and the ability to let loose and have fun. They have both stepped away from their reserved, military-type personalities and are comfortable with just being themselves, acting silly and totally uninhibited. Ash looks at me, shakes his head and just smiles. He blows me a kiss. Ellen, Melissa, Trey, and even David get in the line, along with my boys, Ash, Emily and the guys. This is absolutely the most fun dance!

“What a damn dancing family we all are!” Ellen says. “Olivia, I haven’t had this much fun in forever! I love to dance!”

“Me too, girl!” I call back, laughing breathlessly. The next song comes on. “Ahhhh! I love this song!” I say. It’s Stoney LaRue singing his version of “Forever Young.” The kids and I saw him at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth and the kids know how much I love his version of the song. Bradley calls it my anthem as he speaks up.

“Okay, everybody. This song is dedicated to my mom. She’s the most freakin’ awesome lady, and she is forever-young! She makes me so proud, and I just want to tell her how much we all love her!” He points at me and signals me to come over to him. He pulls me out to dance.

“You do know this is still my ringtone for you... It reminds me so much of you!” We go out on the dance floor. “Love ya, Mom!”

“Bradley, I love you too! Thanks for that! Thanks to you guys, I feel like I’m getting younger every day.”

“Yep! You’re definitely regressing, Mom!”

I’m brought to tears. I don’t know why I get so teary these days.

“Mom, don’t cry. Just dance with me. No tears now. Come on!

The next evening, the kids meet Alan and Kelly for dinner. Ash and I are having a quiet night at home—alone for a change. The twins have gone in to the city to meet up with some old friends. We’re cuddled up on the couch. Ash has a beautiful fire going, and I’m lying in his lap. We’re both reading, listening to classical music. He has reading glasses on and is sexy as hell. I look up at him.

“What,” he asks.

“What do you mean ‘what’?”

“Well, you’re staring at me, looking like you want to say something.”

“I was just thinking of how damn sexy you look in your glasses.”

He tilts his head down and looks over the top of his cute little half glasses at me. “Sexy in glasses…me? Seriously?”