The Gift (17 page)

“That’s great, Zak. I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks, we’re all pretty excited about it,” he said. “I
love you, Maggie and I miss you.”

“I love you too, Zak.”

“I’ll call you again tomorrow,” he said and hung up.

Maggie hung up the phone and rolled over and went back
to sleep.

Gabriel was up early the next morning, and his crying
woke up Maggie and Spencer. They decided to make breakfast and then go into
town to pick up some groceries as Maggie was going to make dinner for the
bluegrass musicians that were coming over that night. Spencer enjoyed going to
the store with Maggie and Gabriel and the intimate domesticity of shopping
together.  They came home and put away the food and then relaxed for a while.
While Gabriel took his afternoon nap, they picked up their instruments to
practice Maggie’s songs a few times. They then decided to save their energy for
later when the other musicians would be there.

After Gabriel woke up, Spencer took him into the living
room to read him a story while Maggie started to prepare the jambalaya for
dinner. She was looking forward to playing with the musicians from the jam
again, especially the women. Maggie hadn’t had the opportunity to play with too
many women before. She had invited a woman named Joan who played bass, and
another woman named Carole who was a fiddle player. She had also invited a man
named Jim who was excellent on banjo. She was very curious to hear how they
would sound together.

The musicians showed up around 6 and got to know each
other over dinner. Spencer set up Gabriel’s playpen in the studio so they could
watch him while they played. Fortunately some of the other musicians were
parents too, so they didn’t mind the baby making a little noise occasionally.
Gabriel seemed entranced by the whole proceedings however. He watched them
quietly for a while and then fell asleep with the stuffed teddy bear that
Spencer had brought for him from Boston. Everyone was surprised that Gabriel
could sleep through the music, but Maggie explained that he was used to it. He
often slept while Zak and Justin rehearsed and that was even louder.

Spencer had noticed that the studio was set up for
recording, so he set up a central mic so he could record the whole group and
then put a tape in the cassette deck. They started off by playing some
traditional tunes that everyone knew. They played some instrumentals like “Forked
Deer”,  “Napolean’s Retreat” and “Angeline the Baker”. Then they tried some
songs, Spencer sang “Little Maggie” and “Footprints in the Snow” and Maggie
sang “I Still Miss Someone”. Maggie and Joan sang a duet, “The Sweetest Gift”,
and then they all sang the gospel tune “Working on a Building”. Maggie
mentioned that she had written a couple of original bluegrass songs, and the
other musicians were enthusiastic about learning them. So Maggie ran through
them a couple of times until everyone was familiar with them. Maggie found it
exciting to hear her songs played by an entire bluegrass band. Spencer looked
pleased too, and he made sure that he recorded the tunes so that Zak and Justin
could hear them later.

Finally, Gabriel woke up and was hungry and restless, so
the musicians decided that the evening was over. They all agreed that it had
been a lot of fun, and arranged to get together again the following week.
Maggie had invited Spencer to stay for a couple weeks, so he would be playing
with them too. After the musicians left, Maggie and Spencer sat around the
living room and discussed how the evening had gone. Spencer had brought in the
tape from the studio and they played it on the stereo while Maggie was giving
Gabriel his bottle. They were both surprised at how good it sounded, especially
considering this was the first time they had all played together.

“How come we’ve never tried to put together a bluegrass
band before, Maggie?” Spencer asked.

“Probably because we were both busy playing in Lost Highway.”

“We could have played in two bands. I like playing
acoustic music. I’m starting to have some hearing problems from playing loud
rock music. Acoustic music is a lot easier on the ears.”

“Well I can hear myself sing a lot better when I’m not
being drowned out by electric guitars,” Maggie said and laughed. “Of course I
don’t mean you, Spencer.”

Spencer laughed too, especially because he knew exactly what
she meant. After listening to the tape a couple of times, they decided to get
some sleep because they guessed the baby would get up early the next morning.

Maggie was able to get some extra sleep the next morning
because Gabriel didn’t get up until 9. She got up with him and fed him
breakfast and then Spencer emerged from Justin’s room, his long hair tangled
from restless sleep.  Maggie handed him a cup of coffee and asked him what he
wanted to eat. He requested scrambled eggs and toast, and enjoyed having Maggie
wait on him. He didn’t get to experience that too often at home. After they
finished their breakfast, they decided to go into town to buy some wine to have
with dinner that night. Maggie didn’t like to drink when Zak was around because
she knew he was struggling to remain sober. But she thought she’d take the
opportunity to enjoy a glass of wine with her friend while Zak was away.

They packed Gabriel’s stroller in the trunk of the Lincoln, and put the baby in the car seat and then drove into the center of town. The town
wasn’t too big, but there were a couple of restaurants, a small food store that
carried a selection of Cajun spices and specialties, a book store and a gift
shop. It was a beautiful day and the town was quiet and peaceful. Maggie let
Spencer push the stroller which he seemed to enjoy. Spencer told her that he
wanted to try to find a cookbook with local recipes, so they took Gabriel out
of the stroller and brought him into the food store while they looked around.
Spencer found a cookbook called “Recipes and Reminiscences of New Orleans” that
had been put out by the Ursiline nuns in New Orleans. It was filled with Cajun
and Creole recipes that had been handed down through the generations. Spencer
said that he looked forward to trying them when he got back to Boston. He also picked up some packages of Cajun spices thinking he probably wouldn’t be
able to find those in Boston. Then they bought some coffee with chicory and
some wine.

Gabriel was getting a little bored with shopping by this
point, so they decided to walk over to the playground at the local elementary
school. Spencer sat on a swing with Gabriel in his lap. Gabriel enjoyed this
tremendously and decided that Spencer was a fun playmate. While they were at
the playground, Bonnie happened to drive by on her way to the store. She knew
that Zak and Justin were in Nashville, so she wondered what Maggie was doing at
the playground with this incredibly handsome man. They obviously knew each
other well because as they were leaving the playground the man put his arm
around Maggie’s shoulder as he pushed Gabriel in his stroller. Bonnie thought
that maybe she would call Justin and find out if he knew the identity of the
stranger.

Maggie, Spencer and Gabriel drove back to the house.
Gabriel was tired from his excursion and was happy to take his afternoon nap.
Maggie and Spencer had a light lunch and then decided to play quietly in the
living room. They practiced Maggie’s songs some more and worked out some nice
vocal harmonies. Spencer enjoyed this and realized how much he had missed
playing with Maggie. He started to wonder if there was some way that they might
be able to play together on a regular basis.

Their practice was disrupted by the shrill ring of the
telephone. It was Zak calling Maggie to find out how she and the baby were
doing. After listening to her describe their day, he finally told her that
Bonnie had called Justin and told him that she had seen Maggie walking around
town with a handsome stranger and he had his arm around her.

Maggie laughed at that. “Zak, that was Spencer of
course. You have nothing to worry about there.”

Zak replied a little testily, “Well, I know that, but I
guess that other people don’t understand the situation, so maybe you should be
a little more circumspect in public. It’s easy for rumors to get started in
this town.”

“I don’t really care what people think,” Maggie said.

She was surprised to hear him respond, “Maggie, I do
care what people think. This is my hometown and everyone knows me. I don’t want
any gossip circulating about you or Gabriel and what goes on when I’m away.”

Maggie thought about it for a minute and apologized.

“I’m sorry, Zak. I’ll be more careful in the future so
that people don’t get the wrong idea.” Maggie thought it would be a good idea
to change the topic. “So when are you coming home?” she asked.

“I thought we would start driving back on Monday
morning, so we probably won’t get in until eight or nine Monday night.”

“I can’t wait for you to get home,” Maggie told him.

They exchanged goodbyes and hung up. Maggie looked over
at Spencer who was sitting in a chair on the far side of the room and realized
that he had overheard the entire conversation. She blushed with embarrassment.

“Spencer, I’m sorry. I don’t know what is going through
Zak’s head. He knows that we’re just friends.”

“I don’t know, I can understand Zak’s point of view,”
Spencer said. “I’m sure that Zak would feel humiliated if people started saying
that you were cheating on him while he was on the road. We should be very
careful about our behavior in public in the future so that people don’t
misunderstand our relationship.”

Maggie was annoyed about this phone call and it affected
her mood for the rest of the evening. She couldn’t believe that Zak was so
worried about gossip and she was irritated with Spencer for supporting him. She
thought it was ridiculous that her friend couldn’t put his arm around her in an
affectionate way in public without it being misinterpreted. This was one of the
disadvantages of living in a small town in the South, she thought.

Spencer had volunteered to make lasagna for dinner and
told Maggie to sit back and relax. Maggie enjoyed having him cook for her, but
ended up drinking a little too much cabernet with her dinner. It lifted her
mood temporarily, but afterwards she felt even more depressed. She had always
thought that she could count on Zak for emotional support, so she was upset
that he had chastised her. Later on that night when Zak called her after his
gig was over, Maggie refused to answer the phone. He called back a couple of
times, but she was angry with him and didn’t want to talk. Finally, she just
took the phone off the hook so she didn’t have to listen to it ring anymore and
then she went to bed.

.

Chapter 21

Maggie and Spencer got up early the next day
and decided that they would take Gabriel on an excursion. Spencer wanted to go
on a bayou tour, but Maggie was worried that Gabriel wouldn’t be able to sit
still in the boat, so they decided to visit a local bird sanctuary and gardens.
Maggie wasn’t expecting Zak to get back until after dark, so they decided there
was no need to rush to get back.

They had a fun day and enjoyed seeing the herons and
egrets and the beautiful camellias which were in bloom. They were in a great
mood when they returned and pulled into the driveway, only to notice a strange
car parked in front of the studio. Maggie and Spencer looked at each other as
they got out of the car, wondering who was there. Suddenly the back door of the
house opened and Zak came out.

“Zak, what are you doing home already?” asked Maggie.
She could tell that he looked angry.

“Maggie, why didn’t you answer the phone last night? I
was worried about you. I had Justin and Tom drop me off at the airport in Nashville so I could fly back to Lafayette. I didn’t get any sleep last night.”

“I’m sorry Zak,” said Maggie. “I didn’t think that you
would worry about us. I guess that was a stupid thing to do, I was just kind of
mad at you for lecturing me about my behavior.

“Maggie, you’re a married woman and a mother now. You
just can’t go off and do anything you want anymore.”

Maggie burst into tears at that and ran into the house
and locked herself in the bedroom. Zak frowned and apologized to Spencer for
having to witness their marital spat. Zak lifted Gabriel out of his car seat
and brought him into the house, Spencer following after them.  Spencer and Zak
could hear Maggie sobbing in the bedroom and weren’t sure what to do. Finally
Zak went and knocked softly on the door.

 “Maggie darling, I’m sorry” he said.

He realized that he hadn’t been total honest about his
motives for rushing home. Although he had been worried when Maggie didn’t
answer the phone, he actually had been feeling extremely jealous ever since he
heard that Spencer had been seen with his arm around Maggie. He wasn’t worried
that Maggie was physically cheating on him, but he didn’t like her close
friendship with Spencer. He wondered why he had never been jealous of her
relationship with Justin, and realized that it was because their friendship had
always included the three of them. He and Justin had been best friends and then
they expanded that friendship to include Maggie. Maggie’s relationship with
Spencer was something that was completely separate from Zak and didn’t really
include him, so he felt threatened by that.

“Maggie, please open the door, I want to apologize.” Zak
said.

He heard Maggie unlock the door. He pushed the door open
and saw her standing forlornly, tears streaming down her face. He walked in and
hugged her close to him.

“Zak, one of the reasons that I married you was that you
were always so open and accepting. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but
you seem to be changing lately. I want our relationship to be the same as it
was before we got married.”