The Sweetest Gift (The Gift) Page 14
“Sure Tucker,” Maggie said listlessly.
“Maggie, I have something that I bought for you when I thought we were going to get married. I’d like to give it to you now as a symbol of my friendship and respect for you.”
Tucker went over to his guitar case and pulled out a smaller case which was behind it. He handed it to Maggie.
“Open it, sweetheart.”
She opened the latches on the battered old case and looked inside. Her hands started to tremble. She pulled the mandolin out of the case and looked inside it through the f-hole.
“Oh my god, Tucker. This is a Lloyd Loar mandolin. I can’t possibly accept this.”
“No, Maggie, you have to take it. You deserve this mandolin and I want you to continue to be my partner. You’re very special to me.”
Tears started falling from Maggie’s eyes again, splashing on the surface of the mandolin like rain drops. She reached down with her hand to brush them off. Just then, Justin and the children walked in the front door of the house and came into the living room.
“What’s going on, Mama?” Belle asked.
Tucker looked at Justin and then he looked at the children.
“Your mother is going to marry your Uncle Justin,” he said.
“Oh yeah, we know,” said Belle and then the children all ran upstairs to play in their rooms.
“Well, they seem to be taking that well,” Tucker said.
Justin looked at the mandolin that Maggie was holding.
“What’s this, Maggie?” he asked.
“Tucker just gave me a Lloyd Loar mandolin,” she said and burst into tears again.
“Wow,” was all Justin could say.
.
Chapter 22
Later that afternoon, Justin moved their suitcases over to the guest house in spite of Tucker’s protestations. Maggie didn’t feel comfortable staying in the main house with Tucker since they weren’t engaged any longer. Justin was more than happy to share the smaller house with Maggie and the kids. He felt somewhat uncomfortable around Tucker too since he felt that on some level that he had lured Maggie away from him.
That evening, they all joined Tucker over at his house for dinner. Tucker had recently hired a new cook and she made a delicious dinner for everyone. Maggie noticed that the dinner was more nutritious than the food Tucker normally ate. Afterwards, they sat in the living room with some tea, and Maggie asked him what was going on. Tucker looked slightly embarrassed for a moment.
“My doctor had a talk with me while you were out in California. He told me that it was time to change my lifestyle. Cut back on the drinking, the red meat, the fat. Lose some weight, get more exercise.”
‘Well, all of those suggestions sound like good ideas, Tucker,” agreed Maggie.
“He also isn’t sure that I should continue touring right now. I was hoping to talk to you about this, Maggie.”
“Oh, so what do you want to do about the world tour?”
“The doctor thinks I should postpone it for a while until I get my blood pressure and cholesterol under control. Then maybe when I’m in a little better shape, we could make some plans to tour in Europe and Japan.”
“Is there anything else going on Tucker, that you haven’t told me about?”
“No, the doctor’s just playing it safe.”
Maggie looked at Justin and he could see that she was alarmed. Maggie had been worried about Tucker’s health ever since he had a heart attack at the Grammy awards. He had stopped doing the drugs that had precipitated the heart attack, but she had noticed that he often seemed tired. Tucker had spent most of his life living on the edge and she had the feeling that it was starting to catch up with him.
“We could always work on another album, Maggie.”
She smiled at him and took his hand.
“I’d like that. Maybe we can come back when the kids are on vacation or you could always come stay with us.”
“I’m sure we can work something out,” Tucker said.
Maggie noticed that her children were signaling her from the front hall.
“I hope you’ll excuse me Tucker, but it looks like the kids want me to go back with them to the guest house so they can get ready for bed.”
Tucker stood up and walked over to Maggie and kissed her on the cheek.
“Stay a couple minutes, Justin,” Tucker said. “I need to talk to you about something.”
Maggie and the children left the house and walked down the driveway to the guest house.
“What do you want to talk about, Tucker?” Justin asked.
“I want you and Maggie to know that you’re always welcome here. In fact, after Maggie and I were engaged, I changed my will so that she would be the main beneficiary of my estate. I’ve already settled a lot of money on my daughter Clara and she’s not interested in leaving Australia to move to the United States. I want Maggie to inherit the property here in Nashville, and the rights to my music.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to change your will now that you aren’t engaged any longer,” Justin suggested.
“No, I don’t think so. Maggie and her kids have always been like a family to me. You too, Justin. I haven’t forgotten the way you took care of me after I had the heart attack at the Grammy awards. I want you and Maggie to consider this your home in Nashville, and after I pass, it actually will be your home. Maggie is always going to need a home base here in Nashville, this is the center for her kind of music.”
“Tucker, this is incredibly generous.”
“Don’t say anything about this to Maggie, please. I don’t want to make her nervous. I’m fine and hopefully I will stay that way for a long time. I just want Maggie and you and the kids to know that you always have a home here.”
Justin patted Tucker on his back.
“It means a lot to us,” he said choking up for a moment.
The next afternoon, everyone decided to go for a walk down to the stables to feed the horses. The children ran up ahead to the barn, leaving behind Maggie, Justin and Tucker.
“So do you have any wedding plans, you two?” Tucker asked.
“Not really, we haven’t had much time to think about it,” Maggie said.
“Well, you know that I was pretty excited about putting on a big wedding, Maggie. I was wondering if you and Justin would consider having your wedding here. It would mean a great deal to me.”
“Oh Tucker, that’s incredibly sweet,” she said and kissed him on the cheek.
“You have a lot of friends in Nashville and we could invite your family from Boston and all your friends from Louisiana. Justin could invite his parents and his friends from California. I’d like to host a big celebration of your marriage, give the children something to remember for the rest of their lives.”
“I don’t know, what do you think Justin?”
Justin looked at Maggie and Tucker and smiled. “I think it’s a great idea.”
“O.k., I don’t want to interfere too much, so I’ll leave all the wedding plans to you. If you need help with anything, just let me know. I was never able to host a wedding for my daughter Clara, so I would enjoy having the opportunity to do that for you,” Tucker said smiling at Maggie.
“Thanks Tucker,” Justin said.
“Ah no problem, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Over the next few days, Maggie, Justin and Tucker started making plans for the wedding. Maggie and Justin didn’t want to wait too long, so they picked Columbus Day weekend for the date. Tucker invited a well-known wedding planner to come by to meet with them to go over the details of the reception. They decided to set up a flowering arbor in the garden for the ceremony, and tents around the lawn for the wedding meal. They settled on a preliminary menu of southern barbeque combined with some Cajun dishes like okra gumbo with jambalaya to celebrate Justin’s heritage. The caterer suggested a Bananas Foster station and New Orleans bread pudding with bourbon raisin sauce for dessert.
Then Maggie, Justin and Tucker started
working on the guest list. Maggie thought they should limit it to 500, Tucker thought he would have trouble keeping the guest list under 800. Finally Justin had to take him aside and remind him that Maggie wasn’t fond of being the center of attention at large events. He told Tucker that if they didn’t keep the size of the reception down, then Maggie probably wouldn’t show up. Justin remembered Maggie’s first wedding which barely had 100 guests, and how nervous she had been walking down the aisle.
Next, Maggie asked Tucker if he would take her to a bridal shop in Nashville so she could look at wedding dresses. Maggie was somewhat superstitious, so she asked Justin to remain behind with the children since she didn’t want him to see her in her dress before the wedding. Tucker had called ahead to warn the bridal shop owner that they were coming, and she had reserved two hours of her time to meet with them and show Maggie dresses. When they walked in the front door of her shop, the owner appeared to be flustered for a moment. For anyone in Nashville, it was a little like getting a visit from royalty, in this case the King and Queen of Country Music.
“Mr. Travis and Miss Williams, so nice to meet you,” she said and almost curtseyed. “So are you the happy couple?”
“Well, we might be happy and a couple, but we’re not the ones getting married,” Tucker said. “Miss Williams is marrying her long-time bass player, Justin Boudreau.”
“She’s going to make a beautiful bride. I think that we might have some dresses that she will like.”
Maggie was starting to feel a little left out of the conversation, so she decided that it was time to take control of the proceedings. She walked over to a rack of dresses in the middle of the room and started describing what she was looking for.
“This is going to be my second marriage, so I don’t want white. I’d like something simple, nothing too over the top.”
“What, no rhinestones?” Tucker said and laughed.
Maggie smiled and pulled out a dress that had caught her eye.
“No, something like this.”
“Excellent choice, Miss Williams. The dresses on that rack are from Vera Wang. I think we have a couple dresses that you might like.”
The owner took out some dresses and hung them up so Maggie could get a full view of them.
“They’re all pretty, but I especially like this dress. I like the way the fabric on the skirt folds to almost look like a cascade of flowers.”
“As you can see, that is a strapless sweetheart A-line gown. The drop waist bodice is asymmetrically draped and the full chrysanthemum skirt is made of organza.”
“It’s so beautiful,” Maggie murmured.
“I like it too,” Tucker said decisively. “Why don’t you try it on, Maggie?”
“O.k.”
Maggie went into the dressing room with the owner and changed into the wedding gown. A few minutes later, she emerged to show the dress to Tucker who was sitting down in a chair.
“Maggie, I’ve never seen you look so beautiful,” Tucker said. He sighed for moment. “Maybe I shouldn’t have encouraged you to marry Justin.”
“No, you were right. Our utmost consideration should be providing a family for Jake.”
The shop owner discretely went into a back room and returned with a selection of veils.
“Would you like to see how a veil would look with this dress?”
“I’m not sure that I would feel comfortable wearing a veil. They seem so….” Maggie searched for the word for a moment. “Virginal.”
Tucker laughed softly, and smiled at Maggie.
Maggie laughed too.
“It’s going to be hard to pull off virginal when I have three kids. In fact, I’m not even sure I should go for the white dress.”
“Well, it’s not exactly white, Maggie, it’s kind of off-white. And perhaps it’s symbolic of the purity of your love, if not your body.” Tucker smirked for a moment.
“Oh Tucker,” Maggie laughed.
“You could always go for something in red,” Tucker continued to tease Maggie.
He finally ended up eliciting a laugh from even the shop owner.
“Many of our older brides wear white,” she said, “it’s traditional.”
“Then maybe you should take it Maggie, it’s certainly beautiful on you.”
“O.k., I don’t think I’m going to find a dress that I like more than this one.”
Maggie quietly asked the shop owner the price of the dress and was a little shocked by her answer. The owner went to the back of the store to give Maggie and Tucker some privacy.
“Tucker, this dress costs as much as my new Weaver mandolin,” Maggie whispered.
Tucker laughed.
“Only you would think of a dress in those terms, Maggie. I would be happy to buy it for you, after all this wedding was my idea.”
“No, I can afford it. It’s just that I’ve never spent this much money on any dress before.”
“Hopefully it will be the last time you ever get married, Maggie. So splurge a little. Let me at least buy a headpiece to go with it.”
Tucker perused the veils and pulled out something that looked like a tiara made of tiny pearls.
“How about this?” he said. “It’s not too virginal, in fact it kind of looks like a crown. Perfectly appropriate for the Queen of Country Music.”
He put the tiara on Maggie’s head and much to her surprise, she actually liked it. It was unobtrusive while adding just a touch of elegance.
“It’s beautiful, Tucker.”
“O.k, then let’s get it,” he said to the shop owner who took it over to the counter. She motioned to the tailor to go into the dressing room with Maggie to make some minor alterations to the dress. He returned several minutes later, leaving Maggie to change out of the dress into her street clothes. She emerged from the dressing room and joined Tucker at the counter where she paid for the dress.
“All of a sudden I feel like Cinderella, after the ball,” she said and laughed.
Tucker picked up the package with the tiara in it and handed it to Maggie.
“Your crown, my queen,” he said and continued to tease Maggie until they reached the car. On the way home, Maggie was in a reflective mood.
“You know, Justin is going to be totally shocked to see me in that dress. He was there for my first wedding when I wore a $200 dress that I got off a department store rack.”
“I bet you looked lovely anyway,” Tucker said and reached for her hand.
“Zak said that I did.”
Maggie found that she was starting to tear up a little.
“I never would have thought on my wedding day that Zak and I would have ended up getting divorced.”
“Does that make you worry about your marriage to Justin?” Tucker asked.
“No, I know he loves me and I love him too. He is a very different man from Zak, he is so much more steady and reliable. I know he will always be there for me.”
“That’s the kind of man you should be marrying, Maggie. He’s going to be a good husband and a good father.”
“I know, I’m so incredibly happy and I appreciate it so much more because there were times when I wasn’t happy.”
Tucker reached over to squeeze Maggie’s hand.
“You deserve to be happy darlin’,” he said.
.
Chapter 23
Maggie and Tucker were in a good mood by the time they got back to the house. They felt like they had accomplished a lot and that the major decisions had been made concerning the wedding. They still had to order invitations, finalize the guest list and decide on the flowers, but with another day or two of work, the planning would be close to being done. Maggie had made reservations to return to Louisiana in two days, and she was looking forward to going home and getting the kids settled in school. Justin was looking forward to going home too, touring with his band over the last year had been exhausting. He planned on sleeping in late every day for at least a month.
The next day, Justin and Maggie went to the stati
oners to order the invitations and then to the florist to consult on the flowers for the wedding and reception. Maggie picked out a bouquet of white orchids and lavender roses with those flowers repeated in various corsages and boutonnieres. Maggie figured they might have to order additional corsages for the mothers that matched their dresses once the date grew a little closer. They also made an appointment for the florist to come out to consult with Tucker about arrangements for the house.
“I had no idea there was so much work involved in planning a wedding,” Justin remarked in the car on the way home.
“There are a lot of details, especially with a wedding of this size,” Maggie answered.
“Well, if it was up to me, I’d probably just get married on a beach somewhere,” he said.
“Actually, me too,” said Maggie with a smile. “I would much rather get married in a small ceremony with just my family around then feel like I was putting on a performance for people.”
“Maggie, maybe we should do that,” Justin said.
“And spoil Tucker’s fun?”
“Well, we could get married in a small ceremony somewhere and then let Tucker have his big wedding reception. I know it means a lot to him.”
“I like that idea,” Maggie said with a smile. “I love you so much, Justin.”
“I love you too, Maggie.”
That evening, Maggie and Justin packed for their flight back to Louisiana. Maggie decided to leave the Lloyd Loar at Tucker’s because she was afraid to fly with it on the airplane. Tucker also had much better security at his house because of his collection of expensive guitars than Justin did at his house in Louisiana. Maggie did decide to bring the Weaver mandolin and Justin was going to bring his Alembic bass. That would be enough to worry about in addition to their suitcases.
They got up early the next morning to eat breakfast and say goodbye to Tucker.
“Make sure you keep in touch darlin’, we still have some details to work out about the wedding. The invitations will be mailed out by the end of the week and hopefully everybody will be able to come. It’s a little short notice, but it’s probably a good idea to have the wedding before we start getting the colder weather.”