Tudor Reunion Tour (4 page)

I had to grin to myself at what a mirror
image she was of Amadeus. Grace had given me some photos of Amadeus at that
same age to frame side by side with Elizabeth’s on her first birthday. Except
for the sex, they could almost have been twins.

“She wouldn’t be a daddy’s girl would
she?” Damien chided his younger sibling.

“That obvious, huh, Damien? Yeah, she
already knows who to go to,” I replied. Amadeus flashed me a cocky grin. He
knew I might kid him about it but that I would never deprive him of spoiling
her. He’d waited far too long for children—we both had, and she might be our
only one. If she got too spoilt, I could always blame him.

Julia was bent on winning Amadeus over
in pursuit of launching this tour on her terms. She turned the conversation
over her way once again. It appeared she didn’t like Elizabeth getting all the
attention.

“I was telling Zara, since she has the
baby to look after, she should simply relax and let others handle the tour. I
mean, so much has happened over the past year or so with you two. It’ll be less
stress for her staying at home with Elizabeth.”

I had been subtly eyeing Amadeus, trying
to get a read on what he was thinking. He knew better than anyone what we’d
been through and didn’t need someone throwing the past year in particular up in
his face. He was fiercely protective of Elizabeth and me, especially now. It
had only been with a lot of pressure from Peter, his mother, and me that he
even toured with Peter. He relented once Grace offered to spend a lot of the
tour with the baby and me.

“Like Zara and I both said earlier,
Julia, we’ll see. And no offense, Julia, but Zara has years of experience, and
you have little to none,” Amadeus retorted taking a bite of his sandwich while
tiny hands tried to take it from him. Somehow he managed to grab hold of both
her hands and keep her restrained as he attempted to eat.

“Zara, after what you went through, I’m
surprised you’re not going to be in therapy for the next decade.”

“Why?” I asked, knowing full well where
the conversation was headed.

“Why? You shot and killed a man, Zara!
One of Amadeus’s band mates if I remember correctly.”

I saw Amadeus start to say something,
but I shot him a look, letting him know I had everything under control.

“Yes, I killed a man, an intruder who
broke into our house. Someone who was bent on doing harm to Elizabeth and me.
Plain and simple…end of story. Yes, I’ve been in therapy over it, but frankly
it’s in the past, and it’s no one’s business.”

“I don’t know how…”

“Julia, that’s enough,” Damien cut in. “Like
Zara said, it’s in the past. Leave it alone.”

“Thank you, Damien,” I replied. Amadeus
had gotten out of his chair and stood behind me. I felt his hand on my
shoulder. I turned and looked up at him holding the baby and couldn’t help but
laugh. He gave me the strangest look, as though I’d lost my marbles.

“Um, you’ve got mustard streaked all
down the side of your face, and she doesn’t look much better.”

“Elizabeth! I’m not a canvas to paint
on!” he exclaimed, tickling her. She howled in laughter.

“Nice look, bro. It’s so you,” I heard
Angus remark.

“Here, you sit down. Don’t let her near
anything while I go get some wipes.”

I turned to leave the room, noting Julia
watching my every move. The look on her face was one I did not care for. When I
returned, box of wipes in hand, Julia was cleaning off Elizabeth’s hands with a
paper towel. I dropped the box on the table, saying nothing. Amadeus and I
locked eyes for a second… he knew I was at my limit of nice.

“I need to get her lunch and put her
down for a nap. I trust we’re through, Julia?”

The tension in the room was so thick you
could cut it with a knife, and Amadeus knew it. He gathered Elizabeth up in his
arms, motioning for me to get my stuff. “Yeah, we need to go take care of her.
We’ll see you guys a little later.”

Everyone grunted their goodbyes, Julia
standing there, arms folded over her chest, a smug grin on her face, as though
she had won some prize. I ignored it, choosing to arm myself first before I
swooped in with my assault. But then she had to have the last word. “I should have
the rehearsal schedule finished by then, Amadeus. I’ll drop a copy off when it’s
ready.”

“Just email it, Julia,” I replied,
raising my hand as I walked out the door.

We walked back toward our cottage next
to each other. Elizabeth was nodding off to sleep. The day was gorgeous, as
most Caribbean days were. I silently hoped we could have some time to ourselves
so we could take Elizabeth down to the water’s edge. Amadeus interrupted my
thoughts.

“While Elizabeth’s asleep, I want us to
read that contract. Don’t worry, I’m not signing anything; I just want to get a
grasp on whatever it is she’s up to.”

“You think she’s up to something?” I
replied, moving closer to him. “That makes me feel better, because I’ve been
thinking the same thing since last night. We’ll read it, then perhaps the day
after Christmas, we can scan and send it to Scott. Let him give it a good once
over.”

“I like how you think, babe. One step
ahead.”

“Told you a long time ago, we made a
good team.” I wrapped my arm around his as we approached the front door to our
cottage. I opened the door and let the two of them pass, following behind.
Taking the baby from him, I took her to the spare bedroom where a crib had been
set up.

I returned to the main living area to
find Amadeus already comfy on the sofa, beer in one hand and the envelope
containing Julia’s contract and other information on his lap. He hadn’t opened
it. He patted the cushion next to him. “Come, I got you a beer. Let’s see what
she has in mind.”

Sitting next to him, I took the beer he’d
had placed next to him, opened it, took a sip, and placed it on the floor in
front of me. Taking the manila envelope out of his lap, I slowly opened it and
pulled the papers out. The contract was lengthy. Julia had either done her
homework or had someone assisting her. I set aside the other papers and
envelope and placed the contract where we could both read it. It didn’t take
long before Amadeus began spewing his dislike of what little we’d read.

“Is she nuts, Zara? If she thinks either
Angus or I will accept these figures, she needs to think again.”

What figures Amadeus was referring to
was the split Julia proposed the three take, giving Damien, of course, a larger
piece of the pie. A much larger piece. I wondered if Damien had even seen this.

“Either she splits it even three ways or
there’s no point in talking any further. She evidently has someone helping her
with this. This didn’t come from Julia. She knows nothing about event
contracts, much less anything else surrounding a tour.”

Amadeus grabbed the contract and showed
me the paragraph he’d just read. “She’s formed her own management corporation,
Zara. Do you see the fee she’s demanding before expenses and our payment?”

“Yes, I see it. Well, to form a
corporation, you have to have more than one person involved. Once we finish
going over this, I’ll see if I can’t find something about her newly formed
company.”

“Well, I see no point in any further
discussions. Not with this.” He tossed the papers to the floor.

“Did you read that with this tour she becomes
yours and Angus’ manager, voiding any prior management contracts?”

“Yes, I read it. I knew she had to have
something like that included, or she wouldn’t have been telling me what she
did.”

“Well she’s fuckin’ nuts if she thinks
either of us will sign on to this pipedream.”

“Don’t get all excited. I have a plan.
Let me go up to the main house and use Peter’s copier. I want to make a copy of
this.”

“Scan it, too, while you’re at it, Zara,”
he replied, gulping down his beer. “You’ve got something in mind, I can tell by
the look on your face.”

“Let me go do this. While I’m gone, why
don’t you get on the internet and see if you can find anything about this
company she’s formed. Once Elizabeth wakes up, you and I are going to get
theatrical.”

Hearing him laugh, I knew he was okay.
We had worked together far too many years for someone like Julia Tudor to come
between us. I’d tried it once, quitting. It didn’t work.

I walked up to the main house and found
no one around, but the house was open. Knowing Peter wouldn’t mind my coming in
and using the equipment, I made myself at home while I copied and then scanned
the documents. I left them a note letting them know I’d been by, figuring they’d
gone for a walk or something. I chuckled to myself as I peered in the main
salon. Grace had an enormous Christmas tree on display even though it was
artificial. It looked out of place in such a tropical setting.

Elizabeth was awake when I returned, and
Amadeus was attempting to feed her with little success. She wasn’t having any
part of anything he tried to tempt her with.

“She’s not going to eat, A. Her little
body clock is all screwed up. Just fix her a bottle of juice and let’s go.”

“Got everything done?”

“Yep. Let’s go give a show.”

“I didn’t have a chance to get online.
Someone woke up as soon as you left.”

“That’s fine. We’ll do it later.”

Amadeus, Elizabeth, and I all marched
toward the cottage Julia and Damien occupied. I held Elizabeth while Amadeus
carried the dreaded contract. He had a plan laid out. She wasn’t going to like
it, but we’d certainly get our point across.

Julia answered the door, making our job
oh so much easier. Amadeus held the contract out in front of her. As she
reached for it, he drew back his hand. Taking the papers in both hands he
ripped it in half in front of her and threw it at her.

“You must think I’m a complete idiot
when it comes to the business end of my career, Julia. I’d have to be out of my
mind to sign this piece of crap.” He turned on his heel towards me, leading me
by the elbow towards the beach.

“We can discuss it. I didn’t say it was
final.”

“No,” Amadeus replied. “You made out
like it was the final deal. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing more to
say. Either the split is equal and you lower your so called fee to industry
standards, or you can forget it.”

“Damien’s who they’ll be coming to see,
Amadeus, and therefore I can demand a higher fee. Take it or leave it. I don’t
care.”

“Yeah, I bet your business partners,
whoever they are, won’t be singing the same tune, Julia, once they find out I’m
not on board. I read the fine print. In fact, a copy’s already at my attorney’s
for his review.”

She started to say something else, but
we walked on toward the beach. “Let’s take Elizabeth out for a while, then I
want to get back and online. I want to see who her business partners are.”

“We did good, didn’t we, Zara? She didn’t
see that one coming.”

“Yes, we did. But then we always do.”

As we started down the beach we ran into
Angus, who was sitting at the water’s edge. Literally, sitting in the water,
gazing out at the horizon. I noted he looked a bit like a lobster and wondered
how long he’d been out. Seeing us, he stood up and greeted us. He drew near
Elizabeth, making faces at her. She refused to warm up to him, which was
unusual given Angus’ good nature. He finally gave up, walking on the other side
of Amadeus, but sticking his tongue out every time he caught Elizabeth glancing
over his way. And every time she saw him making a face at her she turned her
head. It wouldn’t be long before they were best buds.

“So did you two get a chance to look at
Julia’s contract?”

“Yeah, we did,” Amadeus replied. “And we
told her to go to hell.”

“You didn’t! That’s so cold!”

“Have
YOU
looked at it Angus? She wants Damien to get a larger cut and
wants to give herself an even larger piece of the pie.”

“Yeah, I know, but I’m
gonna
have to probably go along with it. I’ve got to work.
I need the money what with Ashleigh and me living apart.”

“Don’t sign anything just yet, okay?
Zara and I are going to do some fact finding first. Plus, we emailed it to our
attorney.”

“Okay, I’ll give it a couple of days. If
she pushes, I’ll tell her to give it a rest until after Christmas day.”

“Good. Look, if you need a loan or
something, come talk. We can help you out. I know you’re going through a rough
patch, but Zara and I can help. Don’t let Julia snake charm you into a bad
deal.”

Realizing that perhaps the two should
talk without me along, and the fact that the sun was really hot and the baby
didn’t need to be out much longer, I used it to my advantage.

“Why don’t you and Angus hang out for a
while? It’s too hot for the baby, and she’s had enough middle of the day sun
for her first time out. I’ll take her inside and see if I can’t get online.”

“You sure you don’t mind, Zara?”

“Yeah, you sure, Zara? I don’t want to
take you and Amadeus away from anything you might have planned.”