Tudor Reunion Tour (3 page)

“Then you’ll listen to Julia’s idea?”

“Of course I will.”

“Promise you won’t put your manager hat
on and pick everything apart until after you’ve heard it through?”

“Yes,” I sighed, wrapping my arms around
his waist. “I promise. But please do me a favor and don’t commit to any of this
without us first discussing it?”

“I can live with that. Now how about you
and I head back to our cottage. You did say mother and Peter are keeping
Elizabeth for the night?”

“Yep, that’s what I said. All night,
just you and me.”

I heard a chuckle come out of him. “You
know if you had to give us a grade for arguing, we’d get an ‘F’.”

He bent down and his mouth covered mine
in a slow, provocative kiss. His tongue traced the seam of my mouth, coaxing it
open. Not that it took much prodding from him. Within seconds our tongues were
engaged in a passionate dance. My arms ran up his back, drawing him closer. I
heard a moan, startled that it was coming from me. But then Amadeus always knew
how to bring out the wanton woman that otherwise stayed buried inside me.

I felt his hands as he grabbed my
derriere and pulled me against his hardened cock. “I think we better go, Zara,
before I find a place out here and…” He pinched one of my butt cheeks playfully
and loosened his grip on me.

“I’m game if you are.”

“What? Out here on the beach? Zara?”

“It’s not like this is a public beach,
Amadeus. Peter rented the entire place, and if Angus and the rest are still in
front of the bonfire, he isn’t going to let anyone venture down this way for a
while. Come on, we’ve had sex by the lake in Scotland. We can add one more to
our repertoire.”

Amadeus

Getting Zara reintroduced back into
society since the shooting has been a long slow process. It has also made me
realize just how much more important my family is. My immediate family which
now includes not only Zara, but Elizabeth.

So when Peter and my Mother decided to
rent this place in the Caribbean I secretly jumped up and down. I haven’t seen
any of my family except Peter and Mother, and that was on the few times when
Mother would accompany Zara and Elizabeth to one of the European venues Peter
and I were booked into. Even that was a stretch getting Zara to even agree to
go.

Damien and Angus have kept in touch.
Damien’s wife, Julia, has the mad idea that the three of us need to do a
reunion tour. She wants to get Damien back in the spotlight. I guess she’s
tired of being nursemaid to him, not that he needs her constant care anymore.
He’s almost the old Damien again.

I’ve kept any mention of this tour from
Zara. I want for Angus, Damien, and me to check out exactly what it is Julia
has in mind before involving Zara. Knowing Zara, she’ll pick it apart, and we
don’t need that right now. Julia’s never had much interest in Damien’s career
outside of the fact that she loves the publicity. Oh yeah, and the money. Julia
loves the money, loves to spend it.

Julia has to have a reason and a motive
behind all of this. The idea of a reunion tour. I think it’s great, but I have
my hesitations about Julia wanting to be in change.

Which brings me to another touchy
subject; where to live. If this idea of Julia’s amounts to anything, I know she’s
going to want us all in Seattle for rehearsals and stuff. I personally think it
would great for Zara. To get her away from anything that reminds her of
shooting Johnny. Even if it’s just for a few months.

“Amadeus? Amadeus? Did you hear a word I’ve
been saying?” Julia is asking. I’m trying to concentrate on all her non-stop
gibberish about this tour and how we’re all going to make such an obscene
amount of money. My thoughts keep drifting back to Zara and what she would
think or do. I hate keeping things from her.

“Yeah, I’ve been listening, Julia.”

“Well, you look as though you’re a
million miles away. Pay attention.”

“I am, although I will admit it’s sort
of hard to do when we’re supposed to be on vacation in the middle of the
Caribbean and not in the middle of having a bunch of business meetings.”

“Well, you’ll have plenty of time for
that later. This is important, Amadeus.”

Yeah, it’s important. To you. I’m not
going to be able to lie to Zara. I’ll have to let her know what we suspect. She’s
pretty darn good at making out as though she is unaware of things. Besides,
this will get her mind off of the shooting and give her something to
concentrate on.

How in the hell has Damien put up with
this woman’s attitude all these years? Perhaps I just never noticed. I’d be
having a serious talk with her. There’s not one reason for her to be speaking
to Damien in the tone of voice she does. Condescending… as though he were one
of their kids.

Oh yeah…family.
Gotta
love ‘
em
.

Zara

I’m sure if it hadn’t been for the
exhaustion of jet lag and hours up, we might have slept little to none, but
sleep overtook us, creeping up on us as though we were two old farts instead of
a couple in their prime…well, somewhat.

The sound of a phone chirping pressed me
awake. Sitting up, I looked around the unfamiliar room as I attempted to get my
bearings. Seeing the phone on the bedside table next to Amadeus, I crawled over
him to get to it.

“You could have turned over and answered
it,” I whispered, my hand grabbing the receiver and pulling it my way.

“The view wouldn’t be as nice if I had.”
His hand slid up between my thighs, the other guided a breast to his lips as I
struggled to maintain some degree of dignity.

“Hello?”

“Zara, good morning. Just wanted to let
you know breakfast is waiting in the dining room,” Peter’s soothing British
accented voice replied. “Oh, and Zara, Elizabeth and her granny have become
fast friends.”

“That’s wonderful. See you in a bit
then.” I knew if I didn’t hang up I might give myself away with what Amadeus
was in the midst of doing to me. I put the receiver down in its cradle just as
Amadeus pulled me over and on to my back.

The main house was fairly quiet as we
entered, except for the sounds of a giggling baby. Most everyone had already
been up for breakfast and out for a leisurely stroll along the beach. Grace was
down on the cool tile floor playing with Elizabeth. The polar opposite from
what she had been the night before. As soon as she saw us, that all changed.
Amadeus went and scooped her up in his arms and swung her around as she
screeched hysterically in delight.

Grace got to her feet and followed me
into the dining room as we left Amadeus and Elizabeth playing. I immediately
headed to the sideboard with the coffee and tea laid out. Grabbing a couple of
the tall cups, I poured coffee into one and added cream and sugar for Amadeus.
In the other one I poured freshly brewed hot tea for myself. I swung around to
Grace to ask her if she wanted something, but she was sitting at the table, cup
already in hand.

“Thanks for keeping her last night,
Grace.” I said as I set the two mugs on the table and headed toward the
breakfast goodies. With Peter being a vegetarian there were two separate
breakfasts, on opposite walls of the dining room. Peter was becoming accustomed
to the fact that none of Grace’s family, or Grace herself, was going to become
vegetarian. Not hard core like Peter and his family, so he made allowances for
us carnivores. As long as animal products were nowhere near his meat free food,
he was fine, or at least attempting to be.

“You’re more than welcome. I figured you
and Amadeus needed some time alone, and it gave us some time with her before
the rest of the crowd comes.”

“I have to admit it was nice not to be
awakened by someone demanding something at the crack of dawn.” I sat back down
with a plate of fruit, a scone and orange juice. As I bit into a piece of
orange, Amadeus came strolling through with Elizabeth tucked under his arm.
Both were red faced and sweaty. “I think you two need a break.”

“Yeah we do, she wore me out. Where is
everyone?”

“Peter is taking care of some last
minute business on the phone before the holidays begin. As far as your siblings
and Julia, I believe they’re gathered down at Julia and Damien’s cottage.”
Grace replied with a straight face. She picked up her cup and took a drink,
eyes on Amadeus.

“Yeah, she wants to go over this tour
idea of hers with us in more detail. Zara missed the discussion last night.”

“No, I simply didn’t want to get
involved in something that detailed last night. I was exhausted from traveling.”
I added, watching Amadeus. I wondered if his actions would change after last
night when he got back to his way of thinking.

“Well, don’t jump into anything young
man. Julia has never expressed an interest in working with Damien, and she
doesn’t know the ins and outs of it like Zara does.”

“Mother, not you, too,” he groaned as he
placed Elizabeth in the high chair and grabbed a plate. I watched in amazement
as he piled it high with food. “What’s the problem with Julia having an idea
and wanting to see it through?”

“That’s the problem, Amadeus,” Grace
replied. “As long as it’s merely an idea and she lets others see it through,
fine. She’s up to something. Trust me.”

He shook his head as he began to dig in.
Elizabeth started whining, wanting whatever her daddy had. He finally relented
and gave her a piece of banana. He looked across at both Grace and me shaking
our heads in disbelief. “What? It’s fruit, it’s soft, and she likes it. She’ll
be fine.”

“Elizabeth can stay here while you go to
this meeting of Julia’s.” Grace offered.

“Thanks, Grace, but I think I want to
take her. She needs to meet her uncles and aunt. She needs to get socialized.”

“Zara, I don’t know if that’s such a
good idea.”

“She goes, A.”

He mumbled something under his breath
neither Grace nor I could make out as he went back to eating.

****

After Angus, Julia, and Damien fussed
over the baby, we all went inside the cottage. We all settled in, catching each
other up on what was going on in our respective lives. The last time we had all
been together had been here but under different circumstances. It seemed like a
life time ago so much had happened. Finally, Julia turned the conversation
around to what we had been summoned for.

“I wanted to take some time before we
all got busy with other things to go over the idea of this tour in more detail,
especially you in particular, Amadeus. Um, being that you flew all the way from
Scotland.”

“Julia, he and Zara were coming for
Christmas anyway,” Damien chided.

First note to self. She did not mention me and Amadeus in the
same sentence when she referred to traveling from Scotland.

“Yeah I am Julia, Zara and I are both
interested in what you’ve got to say,” Amadeus replied, winking at me ever so
discreetly.

“Well, I think you’ll find this makes
the trip well worth the distance you came,” she replied, flashing a half-baked
grin his way.

Elizabeth was in my lap with a bottle,
squirming to get down. I decided to let her have her way—just to stir the pot.
She quickly began trying to crawl around, bottle in one hand, babbling in
between swigs of milk. I could tell by Julia’s face she was none too happy with
the distraction Elizabeth was causing.

“How would you feel about both you and
Angus joining Damien on a tour?”

“I…I don’t know. Damien? Are you up to
it?” Amadeus quietly asked, pushing his hair back off his face.

“Of course he is,” Julia shot back. The
look on her face was one of she would not be challenged.

“Yes, I think with you and Angus there
to support me I wouldn’t have a problem,” Damien replied. He appeared to be
hesitant, as though Julia had rehearsed the entire scene with him.

“Dude, you know how grueling a tour can
be. You haven’t been out there for years now,” Angus added.

“He’ll be fine. He’s been working out,
getting his strength up for months. He’s more than ready to tour, boys. Trust
me,” Julia replied.

“What sort of tour do you have in mind,
Julia?” I asked, glancing at Amadeus.

“Oh, you don’t need to concern yourself
with that, Zara. I’ll handle everything.”

“Well, Zara’s my manager, Julia. So yes,
it is her concern,” Amadeus blurted out. Our eyes met briefly, and I could tell
he didn’t like where this was headed. He repositioned himself on the sofa,
moving closer to me.

“It’s going to be a comeback tour for
Damien with you and Angus co-headlining. I really can handle all the details of
the tour.”

“That’s all well and good, Julia. But
before you get the entire thing planned, I think you ought to ask if Amadeus
has anything in the pipeline as far as upcoming concerts,” I added. No matter
how she spun it, I was still Amadeus’s manager, and I still would have a say in
it.

“Well, he’ll just have to work his own
personal concerts around this,” she snarled.

“I like that,” Angus quipped, trying to
soothe the growing tension in the room. “A reunion tour featuring Damien’s
comeback to the stage. That has a nice ring about it.”

“Yeah,” Amadeus added. “We could do a
set together, the three of us. During that set we could each do our own music
or solos, and if Damien got fatigued or something, Angus or I could cover for
him.”

“How long a tour are you thinking,
Julia?” I asked as I got up to fetch Elizabeth, who had decided she needed to
take her own tour of the house.

“About six to eight weeks.”

“Whoa! That’s way too long for Damian to
start with, Julia. No offense, Damien. I think what would be more appealing for
everyone here, and for the fans, would be a ten city tour. I think something
short and limited like that would create more hype and demand. If it works,
which I think it would, a longer one could be considered.”

I didn’t want to cause a conflict, but,
seriously, Julia had no idea what went into a tour, and Damien needed to start
with baby steps. I could tell she didn’t like it and thought I was meddling.

“I like it, Zara,” I heard Damien chime
in. “Supply and demand sort of idea.”

Julia momentarily left the room and
returned with two manila envelopes and handed one to Angus and the other to
Amadeus, who in turn passed it to me. Rather than open it up, I placed it
behind my back trying to keep it out of Elizabeth’s reach.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“An outline of the proposed tour. There’s
also a contract and other papers for Amadeus and Angus to go over and sign,”
she replied smugly.

“Interesting…” I started to reply, but
the look I got from Amadeus, who was grabbing his daughter, told me to cool it.
I knew he was right, but I wasn’t going to back down. Something didn’t smell
right, and I was going to let her know about it right now. “But as I just told
you, Julia, you need to slow down. Amadeus has things being planned, and they
come first, and I’m telling you this as Amadeus’s manager. As for this
contract, well, I’ll turn it over to our attorney first, of course.”

“Not for this, Zara. I’m in charge of
this tour, and that includes each of these three.”

“Then there’s nothing more to say. Amadeus
won’t be participating,” I replied.

“Zara…” I heard Amadeus’s voice next to
me, firm in its diction.

“Well, why don’t we take a break? You
boys can catch up while I get lunch ready,” Julia announced, glancing
disapprovingly over at Elizabeth, who was attempting to walk around the coffee
table in front of the sofa with her bottle in one hand and holding on with her
other.

I took Elizabeth into one of the
bedrooms to change her, and when I returned, I found Julia placing deli trays
and bread among the bags of chips and condiments on the table. Julia never was
much on cooking, but this was fine. All she had to do was pick up the phone,
and the main kitchen filled her every whim. I secretly hoped that Amadeus would
want to leave soon. I’d had enough of Julia for one day.

“You know, Zara, I don’t know what you’ve
got against my running the tour. I’m not trying to be mean about excluding you
on the running of this tour. You have your hands full with the baby, and I
thought you’d relish the idea of not having to jump back into work.”

“Like I told you, Julia, I’m Amadeus’s
manager. End of subject.”

“Well, you can just kick back while
Amadeus is on this tour.”

“Did you not just hear me, Julia? You do
know that Amadeus will not agree to any of this without my approval or my going
with him.”

“You didn’t go with him on the tour with
Peter McNichol ,so why would he all of a sudden want you and the baby to tag
along this time?”

“I didn’t go the last time because I had
to deal with other issues. Besides, he was with Peter, and he runs a
professional tour and has top notch people handing every detail. Unlike this
one.”

“Ah, yes, the shooting. Well you can
just do the same thing this time and perhaps meet up with him from time to
time.”

“All the way from Scotland?”

“That’s the choice the two of you made
when you moved there.”

“Like I said, Julia, there’s nothing
further to discuss until you can come to terms with my position as Amadeus’s
manager and the fact that his commitments come first.”

The three brothers sauntered back into
the house and immediately began their assault on the food. Julia quickly
reprimanded them into washing up first and sitting down like civilized folk
rather than renegades.

Talk over lunch was light banter, mainly
about Elizabeth, who was making her way around the table checking out what
everyone had. Then she got to her daddy and it all changed. When he wouldn’t
pick her up, the wailing began. Of course, once he relented and bent down to
pick her up all the noise stopped.