Here we go. Thanks for reading so far.
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We played for a few more months, adding songs as we found them. We did our version of Galway Girl, with me on accordion, and I got to sing it. The crowds started recognizing it, singing 'day-I-ay-I-ay' at the top of their lungs.
We did a version of 'Some Nights' that Robbie and I arranged. Three microphones, my pipes, a floor tom tom for Molly, and Robbie with his snare drum, giving it an almost martial air, everyone singing, and I faked the auto tuned voice with my pipes.
Dave was a big fan of Rapalje, and he had us all listening soon. He suggested we do 'Loch Lomond', and we did, just the guys, no instruments until the last, with Dave singing lead, and at the end Molly and I did a five minute mournful Fiddle/Pipe exchange, that usually left the crowds quiet. We also broke down, after a lot of begging from our fans, and did a version of 'Danny Boy' that was well received.
I was a Rod Stewart fan, and saw him several times while in service, and one day I was sitting in our living room, doing the slow sweet intro of 'Rhythm Of My Heart' on my accordion. It was one of my favorite songs, and was about a soldier returning home to his family. Amanda sat down and put her head on my shoulder, listening to me play for a moment. I knew she wanted to talk, as I put the accordion down and snuggled.
"What's up babe?"
She looked at me with scared eyes, so I knew it was something serious. "Honey, can we talk about having a baby? My residency is almost over, and now would be the perfect time."
I looked at her intently until she got nervous. "We don't have to, baby. It was just..."
"The best thing you could ever say to me! I wanted to bring it up before, but was waiting until you were established. You would make an excellent mother, and I hope I would be an adequate father."
Amanda was crying now, the tears getting bigger. "Really?"
"Seriously. Come with me." I led her to the bathroom, pulled her birth control pills out of the medicine cabinet and flushed them down. "There. Think I'm serious now?"
"Yes, and you are so wrong, mister. I see you with kids, and I know you'll be one of the greatest fathers of all time. Now, let's practice for the big event."
She was almost late for work. Doctor Krall could be a real asshole, and she got together with the women under him and compared notes. If you were lily white, or a little flirty, you were treated better. Make waves and your life was hard for a long time. I would be very, very glad when she no longer had to tolerate him.
She didn't say much, but I knew she was nervous about employment opportunities, very few freshly minted doctors stay local, their grades and reviews have a great deal to do with the offers they got. Amanda had excellent credentials, despite a few negative reviews fro Dr. Krall, so she would get the best interviews.
She had studied to be a pediatrician, as she loved to work with children, but there weren't a lot of local opportunities. I knew it was laying heavily on her mind, so I took her for a drive, parking in an empty driveway. You could just barely make out the ruins of a foundation. it was what we in the South called a 'homeplace', the foundations were from my old house. The land had been in our family for a hundred and fifty years. I knew I would never build on it, most of the land around it was zoned industrial now, and I'd had many offers as the economy had improved. It was time to let go, found our own homeplace.
"What is this place?"
"This place is your freedom, baby. Originally twenty three acres, I added another seventeen when the economy crashed. The house burned down while I was in Scotland. I put the insurance money into a trust the Colonel set up for me, where no one can touch it. Kim had a cow when it came out in disclosure of assets. She couldn't touch it anyway, and I just didn't want to hear her nag me to sell it, so I never told her I owned it. I'm giving it to you baby, to do what's best."
"Thank you honey, but what am I going to do with forty acres?"
"You're going to sell it. The property has gotten really hot lately. Look around, count the new businesses and construction you can see from here. One developer is sniffing around, hinting at eminent domains proceedings. This way, if he wants it, he'll have to put in a bid like everyone else. The lawyers say it'll go for between two hundred fifty to four hundred thousand, depending on how bad someone wants it. That ought to be just enough to open your own office or buy a partnership. Your choice. The auction is in three weeks, so we should know how much you have to work with then."
I'm glad I was standing close, because her eyes rolled back and she would have fallen if I hadn't caught her. I kissed and nuzzled her hair while she woke. Her hair was now in a riot of short curls, that I really liked. Amanda said she wanted it just a little longer, but not as much as before. I liked it any way she wore it, but I really was not a fan of bald. She promised me she would never do it again.
She came to with a start and a scream, before jumping up and down, kissing any part of me she came into contact with. She calmed down but the tears kept coming.
"Thank you, honey. You don't know how worried I was."
"Oh, I had a pretty good idea. you don't live and love someone as long as I've loved you not to notice things."
She held my hand on the way home, relaxed, before she suddenly sat up. "We can't spend that money on me! That would buy a really nice house."
I surprised her even further. "No worries, love. Fifty percent of everything I made while I worked for the Colonel, plus that pension and insurance money I told you about, has been in an account in the Sechelle Islands, guided by the Colonel. He assures me we can buy any house we desire, within reason. So concentrate on your career, and when you're not, start house shopping."
I thought for a minute she was going to faint, but instead she just smiled. "What would you do if I told you I wanted to live on the Moon?"
"I'd start shopping rockets. You need to understand that you are the most precious thing I've ever held, and I would do absolutely anything to make you happy. Any children, and I hope there is at least two, will be extensions of that love. Do you understand?"
She sighed, leaning back again. "I'm starting to," she said in a dreamy voice.
After that, Rhythm Of My Heart was our song,and we sang it to each other as a lullaby, practicing it for our children.
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Of course, we added it to our shows, using it as a closer, making it longer and softer, and we ended up singing the last verse over again, standing with arms locked in front of the microphones, without our instruments.
I think back now, and those was probably my favorite times in our whole history as a band. When we wanted to add a song, we would get the words and sing them together, working on vocal arrangements before we even brought the instruments into play. We usually sat on stools, shoulder to shoulder, over one mike. I felt it kept us close.
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While Manda dealt with her career and started house and practice shopping, we were working more and enjoying it less. I was starting to think the group may have an expiration date.
Manda and I had a favorite restaurant, the Mexican one we went to on one of our first dates. I knew the mariachi band, and one day I noticed Juan was missing, and asked about him.
"Juan is pretty sick, he has cancer. They caught it, but his hospital bills are enormous. He had to quit the band, and work extra shifts at his regular job. It's really hard on him, and Maria is scared to death he's going to collapse."
I thought about it, and talked to the band. We called in a few favors, rented the local high school football field, lined up the security and first aid the permits required, and we held a benefit.
Twelve bucks bought you six bands and ten hours of entertainment. The local Hispanic churches set up food booths, all trying to outdo the other with spicy and tasty offerings, all profits going to help Juan. We were the headliners, so we went on last. There had a rock group, a country group, a solo blues man a lot of us sat in with, a young Mexican group that tore the crowd up, a beach band, and us. Juan's band sat in and played a few numbers as each group tore down and set up.
We'd gotten together and practiced a few times for the big finish, and after our set, I spent a couple of minutes talking to the crowd.
"On behalf of Juan and his family, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. His family have been part of this community for the last thirty five years, and Juan and I played high school football together, so our friendship goes back a long way."
