The Sweetest Gift (The Gift) (19 page)

“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 stationers
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.”

“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.