Her recovery continued and she felt that need to sing and tried to decide what would be the best way to ease herself back on stage where she loved no NEEDED to be. Taking a year off could be detrimental to a singers' career but she felt confident that once she got those muscles working again she'd be show ready in no time. Her first thought was Kevin at The Old Piano Bar and she knew it was the perfect way to start. She remembered all the years they'd worked together and smiled... it would be ideal.
And on that Thursday night she went to "The Old Piano Bar" to see her old friend. The canned music was playing but she saw the piano set up and knew he was there. Kevin came around the corner and instantly she was reminded of how much she was attracted to him, still, after all these years he was still in touch with her musical spirit. They embraced and as he pulled back their eyes met and she knew he was seeing the changes in her. She was sure it was kind of shocking for him literally seeing a "Before" picture in his mind to an "After" without the gradual progression that she experienced.
"I know, Kevin. A lot has changed." She said quietly but noticed he hadn't changed at all.
"You look beautiful Dawn." He said it so softly she thought she'd just imagined hearing him say what she wanted to hear. "Where have you been, girl?"
"On another planet, my friend but now I'm back and I need to get back to my music. I was hoping to talk to you about that..." she let it trail with a smile and raised brows.
"Are you kidding? I'd be thrilled! But I thought you were off doing the opera thing?"
"Not for about a year now. I took a little sabbatical." She saw the look on his face as his eyes moved from hers across her face and down her neck; the way they opened wide and filled with pity. Goddamn it she hated that! "Yeah, that's a long story Kevin." She said feeling the need to acknowledge the scars and the time.
"Well are you ready?" he said with a huge smile "At Last in A minor, 4 measures out, if I recall?" she smiled and nodded already vibrating from head to toe when he played the first chord. She was ALIVE and her spirits soared with the music; raising her up and out of that black hole she had been stuck in.
By Friday night all the regulars knew that Kevin and Dawn were back at the Piano Bar and the place was brimming with faces she recognized including Dominic, Bella and her mom among so many others. It was one big party, not a bar with patrons and entertainment - it was family and Dawn felt so loved at that moment, but she also heard the whispers and read the questioning faces... she looked so different... and she couldn't help that so she let it all go with the strains of P.S. I Love You. Before long her career, though in smaller scale, began to thrive again and she began to truly feel like herself. The healing affect of music was always her saving grace and her body responded in its usual way... explosively.
She was back as a regular at the Piano Bar and it was exactly where she wanted to be. Endless thrills and chills as she reveled in the spotlight once again. Her relationship with Dominic also thrived and they spent their days living, laughing and loving. Life had returned to normal but with more zeal; cancer was just a memory that only crept up on her when she put her make up on and then it was gone for the day. However, there was a bittersweet twist to all the sadness, she had learned a very valuable lesson from her experience and that was...
The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.
Sounded so simple and yet it in its simplicity was her salvation. Learning to be loved again was so much harder then she had expected but Dom had been perfect and strong. Yes there were days they struggled but together they had survived the worst... together and that sealed their bond in a way that had only been hinted at before. Their fantasy nights filled all her wicked dreams, sweet morning love and afternoon naps completed the cycle.
And then IT came back and the spiral to hell began all over again. She knew just from the look on their faces and this time she was defeated before they'd even begun to fight. She was numb and didn't remember driving home but when she arrived she went directly to bed; withdrew inside herself and sobbed as she concentrated on the life line that pulsed between her thighs, she couldn't feel anything else, the only part of her still alive was aching and throbbing at the tip of her fingers.
This last round truly destroyed a part of her and she was desperate to touch something that wasn't tainted by the poison inside her and the added scars. She just wanted to BE and the sexual beast inside her was the only thing that remained untouched by illness. She often thought of her lover in California and remembered the passion they had shared and she ached for that connection. And in a weak and fragile moment she found his number and their magical, musical, sensual adventure began again. With HIM she was well and whole, still young and beautiful; even if only for those brief moments in the early morning hours.
Flash to the present, 9 months had flown by in a medicated haze and her fantasy lover Graham was coming in a week. She did finally pick up the phone and talked dangerously about being brave enough to come meet him; it made her pulse quicken and her clit twitch.
"Dawn" he whispered when he answered the phone and the heat and moisture flowed into her pussy. "I've missed you.... I need to see you... you will" they said between sighs and she cried as she came for him. This was it, she was dying, and this was her last chance to know the man who'd made love to her spirit for so long. Didn't she deserve just one night? Couldn't she live with the guilt? It wouldn't be long she told herself and she decided in that moment that she would meet him... no she HAD to meet him, to kiss and touch him, to sing with him, to feel him inside of her.
