The Sweetest Gift (The Gift) Page 15
“Thank you so much Tucker, we can’t tell you how much we appreciate it,” Maggie said and kissed him on the cheek.
“Yeah, thanks man,” Justin said and hugged Tucker briefly.
They walked out to the driveway and got into the car. The kids waved out the car windows and yelled, “Bye, Grampa.” As they pulled out of the driveway, Justin commented, “I see the kids are back to calling him Grampa again.”
Maggie laughed.
“I don’t think they ever felt comfortable calling him Tucker.”
“I did,” said Gabe.
“Probably because you are the oldest, but you were the only one.”
“Well, personally I feel more comfortable with it too,” laughed Justin. “I may not be as wealthy as Tucker, but at least I’m younger.”
“I guess you do have your advantages,” Maggie said with a smile.
.
Chapter 24
Justin drove the rental car down the long driveway to his house in Louisiana. He was relieved to finally be home. As he parked in front of Maggie and Zak’s house, he noticed that both Zak’s cars were in the driveway. Zak opened the front door and stood there with a smile on his face. The children got out of the car and ran up the steps to hug him. Jake threw his arms around Zak’s legs and said “I missed you, Daddy.” He buried his face against the bottom of Zak’s shirt so no one would see the tears on his face. Zak crouched down so that he could hug Jake back.
“I missed you too, son,” he said and tousled his hair fondly.
After a moment, he stood back up again and hugged Gabe and Belle.
“It’s good to have you all home, it feels like it’s been forever,” he said.
Maggie and Justin got out of the car and lifted the children’s suitcases out of the trunk.
“Are they staying here with you, Zak?” Maggie asked.
“Sure, that’s fine. They probably want to stay in their old rooms.”
He walked down to the car to help Justin carry the suitcases into the house.
“So how was your trip? I guess congratulations are in order,” he said.
Zak kissed Maggie on the cheek and clapped his arms around Justin.
“I’m glad that you’re going to make an honest woman of Maggie,” he joked.
“Somebody has to,” Justin laughed.
“How did Tucker take it when you told him that you were going to get married?”
“Pretty well, actually. Somehow he decided that the whole thing was his idea. He’s planning on having a big wedding reception for us in Nashville over Columbus Day weekend.”
“Sounds like that will be a great party,” Zak said approvingly.
“Yes, we’re hoping that you and Sarah can come,” said Maggie.
“Oh, I’ll be happy to make it, but Sarah and I aren’t going out anymore.”
“What happened, Zak?” Maggie asked with concern.
“Oh, nothing. It’s just that she wanted to settle down and I didn’t. You know me.”
“Yes I do, and I love you anyway,” Maggie said with a laugh and kissed Zak on the cheek.
Two days later, Maggie and Justin took Jake down to the school department to register him for kindergarten. For the first time, Maggie signed her name as Maggie Boudreau. Justin noticed but didn’t say anything until after they left the building.
“I thought your legal name was Maggie Mae Williams,” he asked.
“Well it is, but I’ve been thinking that I want to change it when we get married. I thought it would be a good idea if Jake’s parents both had the same last name.”
“You didn’t change your name when you married Zak.”
“I know. I’m not sure why I feel differently now. Maybe I’m tired of being a separate person and I want to be part of a family. I’m not sure, it just seems appropriate this time.”
“You don’t think it might bother Gabe and Belle?”
“No, I don’t think so. They’ve always been used to me having a different last name from them. I don’t think they would care if my last name was Boudreau or Williams.”
“You could always keep your name professionally.”
“I don’t know, maybe. I’m going to think about it. But I think when I’m here at home I just want to be known as Maggie Boudreau, Jake’s mom.”
Justin opened the door for Jake to get into the back seat. After he helped him put on his seat belt, he opened the front passenger door for Maggie. After she got in, he leaned down to kiss her.
“I love you, Maggie Boudreau,” he said trying out her new name.
“I love you too, Justin.”
Jake ignored his parents by looking out the back window at the school. He smiled, he couldn’t wait to start school with his friend Ben on Monday.
Maggie and her family tried to return to a normal life. Maggie would walk the kids to the bus stop at the end of their road in the morning while Justin slept in. Then she would return home and work on her music until the children came back home again in the afternoon. Jake attended half-day kindergarten, but he would often go home with his friend Ben after school to play. One day, Maggie and Justin drove over to Ben’s house to pick up Jake. Ben’s mother came outside to talk to Maggie for a few minutes while Justin kicked a ball around with Jake and Ben in the driveway.
“Jake is so cute,” Ben’s mother said. “The first time he came over to our house, he asked me where our recording studio was. Apparently he thinks that everyone has one.”
“I guess a lot of our friends are musicians and have recording studios,” Maggie said. “What did you tell him?”
“I told him that I have a crafts room and he seemed satisfied with that,” Ben’s mother laughed.
Justin picked up the ball and placed it to one side of the driveway. He settled Jake into the back seat of the van. They all said goodbye to Ben and his mother and then they started driving home.
Maggie looked over at Justin and raised her eyebrows.
“Yeah, I heard that story about Jake,” he said. “Maybe he hasn’t been growing up in a completely normal environment.”
“Probably not,” Maggie agreed. “That might be a good thing as well as bad.”
“Maybe we need to make sure that he doesn’t have trouble fitting in. How does Zak handle this kind of situation?” Justin asked.
“I don’t think he’s even thought about it. We’ve been lucky that Gabe and Belle are socially adept, but we might need to be more careful with Jake.”
“Well, I grew up in this town and I never had any trouble, Maggie.”
“But you didn’t have famous musicians for parents. I just hope that he doesn’t get teased by the rest of the kids.”
“Jake seems to have some good friends and Gabe and Belle are around to look out for him, so I wouldn’t worry too much Maggie.”
“You’re probably right,” she said and turned the radio on in the car to listen to the local country station. She realized that she was starting to miss playing with her band.
“Justin, let’s schedule some practices with Little Maggie. We could play while Jake is in school. I’m starting to miss playing and I’d like to work on the new album.”
“O.k. but just don’t make me get up before nine,” Justin responded.
When they got home, Maggie called up Spencer, Carole, and Jim and scheduled some rehearsals for the following week. She also called Tucker to see if he wanted to fly down for a couple of days to help them with the album. Tucker had wrapped up most of the arrangements for the wedding and was starting to feel bored, so he was more than happy to agree to lend his services. Maggie offered to put him up in the apartment in the studio, and he was fine with that.
On Friday afternoon, Tucker flew to Lafayette and rented a car to drive to visit Maggie and Justin. They were working on some new songs in the studio, when they heard the car’s wheels on the gravel driveway. Justin opened the door and went outside to help Tucker with his suitcase. Tucker entered the studio with a beat up mandolin case.
/> “Is that the Lloyd Loar?” Maggie asked.
“Yes, I thought you might like to have it when you’re recording the new album.”
“Well, thanks for traveling with it. I was afraid to fly with it since it’s probably worth as much as my house.”
“Maybe not quite that much, maybe more like Zak’s Porsche,” Tucker said and laughed. “You had plenty to worry about traveling with the three kids and all their luggage. It was just easier for me to deal with it.”
Maggie took the case from Tucker and put it down next to her other mandolins. She hugged Tucker and kissed him on the cheek. Justin walked over and shook Tucker’s hand.
“So how’s it going with the new album?” Tucker asked.
“Pretty good,” Maggie replied. “I was hoping that you would be able to play guitar and sing with me on the songs we wrote in Nashville. We’ve been rehearsing them with Carole, Jim, and Spencer, and they sound good with a full band.”
“Is Zak going to sit in with us?”
“Not on the bluegrass record, but Justin and I have been rehearsing with him and Tom the drummer. We’re thinking about reuniting the Bayou Blasters. I didn’t realize how much I missed singing with a rock band until I played with Justin’s band out in California.”
“I heard you put on a great show at the Oakland Coliseum,” Tucker said.
“Where did you hear that?”
“A friend of mine was in the audience. He called me up to tell me about the show.”
Maggie looked at Justin. Suddenly she wondered if Tucker had found out about her engagement to Justin before they had come back from California. Maybe that was the reason Tucker had called off his engagement to her as soon as they returned to Nashville. She realized that Tucker probably broke up with her first as a way of saving face.
“”Well, thanks for helping me out with the album,” Maggie said. She put her arms around Tucker and hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.
“No problem, partner. I’m looking forward to it,” Tucker said and hugged Maggie back. Then he walked over to his suitcase, opened it and took out a manila envelope and handed it to Maggie.
“I brought some extra wedding invitations with me, I thought you would like to have them.”
She looked inside the envelope and took out an invitation.
“They did a great job printing them,” Maggie said as she held the invitation close to her face so that she could read it.
“My secretary sent out all the invitations two weeks ago. We’ve already started to get responses, not too many regrets.”
“Everybody knows that it’s going to be a great party Tucker, since you’re hosting it.”
“Well, thank you darlin’. I’m going to do my best to make sure everybody has a good time. We did get an acceptance from Vanessa, your former college roommate. Wasn’t she the maid of honor at your last wedding?”
“Yes, she was,” Maggie said. She looked at Justin and started to laugh.
“I almost didn’t invite her this time since she and Justin ended up sleeping together the night after my wedding reception,” Maggie continued.
“That sounds more like something that Zak would do,” Tucker said looking surprised.
“I was pretty depressed when Maggie married Zak,” Justin said. “I ended up drinking a lot more than I should have, so I couldn’t resist Vanessa’s overtures. If it’s any consolation Maggie, I don’t remember much about it. It only happened that one time.”
Maggie kissed Justin briefly.
“That’s o.k., you’re forgiven. Just don’t let it happen again. Vanessa recently got divorced, so she’s probably on the prowl for a new husband.”
“Well, I’m single too, maybe we should hook up,” Tucker said.
“Just don’t marry her without a pre-nup,” Maggie said with a laugh. “She’ll take you to the cleaners.”
Maggie looked at Justin remembering how Vanessa wasn’t interested in him the first time they met because she didn’t think much of his financial prospects. It was ironic that he probably had made a lot more money than the anesthesiologist that Vanessa had just divorced.
“Speaking of the wedding, Tucker,” Maggie continued. “Justin and I have been thinking that we might like to have a very small ceremony here just with the children and a couple friends and then have the big reception at your place. I think that we would like to keep the ceremony as private as possible, just for us and the people that we love the most.”
“Darlin’, it’s your wedding. It should be just the way that you want it.”
Tucker took Maggie by the hand and kissed her cheek.
“Maggie, we could go down to the parish clerk’s office on Monday and apply for a marriage license. There’s a 72 hour waiting period, so we could get married on Thursday next week,” Justin said.
Maggie kissed Justin.
“Thank you, my love. That sounds perfect to me.”
.
Chapter 25
It was hot and sticky on Thursday morning. Maggie and Justin planned to get married at the parish clerk’s office at noon. Their family and friends assembled at Justin’s house beforehand so they could all go over to the clerk’s office together. Zak was there with his brother Caleb and his wife, and their mother. Spencer showed up with his new boyfriend Matt. Carole brought her husband Adam while Jim arrived with his wife Mary. Maggie put Tucker in charge of her three children.
“Now don’t tell anyone that we already got married,” Maggie requested. “We want everyone to think when we get married at Tucker’s that it’s the first time.”
“I can’t believe that this wedding is going to be even smaller than our wedding was, Maggie,” Zak said.
“You know how nervous I got the first time, Zak.”
“Do you really think that would happen again?” Zak asked Maggie.
“Actually no,” Maggie said and smiled at Justin. “I don’t have any doubts this time. I just want it to be an intimate wedding for us. I don’t want to share this moment with the world.”
“Seems reasonable to me, my love,” Justin responded.
“O.k., then let’s go over to the clerk’s office.”
Zak loaded the three children into his van. Justin and Maggie were borrowing his Porsche for the day. Everyone else got into their cars and followed the Porsche over to the clerk’s office. Maggie realized that she didn’t feel nervous about getting married this time, she was looking forward to it. As she got out of the Porsche, Carole came over and handed her a bridal bouquet that she had bought for Maggie that morning. It had some of Maggie’s favorite flowers in it - blue iris, pink roses and white daisies. Maggie was touched. She thanked her friend and kissed her on the cheek.
It was blazing hot, and Maggie was glad that she had worn a simple pink sleeveless sundress. Justin wore a light blue shirt and off-white linen trousers. Everyone else had dressed as comfortably as possible, Jake was even wearing shorts. They all walked over to the town building and filed into the clerk’s office. The office was barely big enough to hold the sixteen of them.
The clerk asked them if they were ready to get married, and when they assented he began the short ceremony which took only ten minutes. The clerk pronounced Justin and Maggie “husband and wife”, and everyone applauded as they kissed each other. Then the clerk signed the marriage license along with Maggie and Justin and the witnesses. They went outside and posed for pictures under a shady oak tree, and then got in their cars to drive back to Spencer’s house. He had planned to have a light lunch and lemon cake to celebrate their wedding. Maggie noticed that someone had placed a Just Married sign on the back of the Porsche and tied tin cans onto the bumper of the car.
She leaned out the open window of the car and said, “Did you do that Zak?”
“I had to, Maggie. Justin did it for us when we got married.”
“I remember,” she said looking over at Justin. She kissed Justin briefly and said “Let’s go over to Spencer’s.”
After a nice lu
nch of finger sandwiches and cake, Maggie and Justin sat down together on the couch in the living room. Justin was twirling his new platinum wedding band around his ring finger.
“What do you think? Do you think you’ll have any problems playing bass while wearing your wedding ring?” Maggie asked.
“I don’t think so, and if I do I can always take it off,” Justin answered.
“Well, I suppose I could always take off my wedding ring too then.”
Justin leaned over and kissed Maggie.
“Maybe we should both keep our wedding rings on. I think that was part of Zak’s problem, that he never wore a ring. It might have reminded him to behave like a married man,” Justin said.
“O.k., I will if you will,” Maggie said and laughed.
Justin put his arm around her and she snuggled up next to him.
She started to reflect on her life since she first moved into Spencer’s house with Justin and Zak almost a dozen years ago.
“Remember when we first lived here together? I was so happy living with you and Zak. I remember wishing once that we could just keep doing that forever.”
“Well, you almost got your wish Maggie. Now we all live next door to each other. We can still play together whenever we want. I think we’re going to enjoy playing with the Bayou Blasters again.”
“Yes, I know it’s going to be a lot of fun. Sometimes I think that my life has come full circle. When I started, I was singing in a rock band and going out with the bass player, and now I’m back in the same place.”
Justin laughed. “I guess that’s true. Two husbands and three children later though.”
“And several bands,” Maggie added.
“I hope you enjoyed our wedding today, my love. I wanted to get you a special wedding gift, but I couldn’t decide on anything. I was sort of thinking that we should buy a new van so that we wouldn’t have to borrow Zak’s car every time we want to take the kids somewhere.”
“That would probably be a good idea, Justin. Maybe we should get a large van because I was thinking that I would like a special gift from you.”