I Want You to Know

Part 43

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Six months after the birth of our grandson, BJ, we stood in the small garden behind Lindsay and Julie's home and watched our best friends get married.  Justin was all weepy and I of course acted as if it were just an inconvience for me to have to attend. In all actuality I was happy for them both. Plus it gave me a chance to show off little BJ. He was a beautiful child, blonde hair and his grandfather's piercing blue eyes with those pouty lips. He was a happy baby, rarely crying, and always smiling, as if he knew how much he was loved.

I stood holding him while his mothers danced, watching them made me think of Justin. As if reading my thoughts he appeared at my side and kissed me and the baby. BJ lit up when he caught sight of him, and Justin of course took him, kissing him and twirling around the dance floor with him. The sight of them together brought back so many memories of Justin with Gus and the girls.

I was still watching them when Thea took the stage. She looked breathtaking in the green strappless dress she wore. She began to sing and everyone stopped, her voice was angelic and they all stood silent as she sang to her mother. She had chosen an oldie by her standards, 'I knew I loved you before I met you', and she sang it beautifully. Thea had a voice that captivated you. When she was on stage she was a star and you couldn't tear your eyes off of her. I stood listening to her and not noticing Justin when he sauntered over to stand next to me. When the song was over and the applause died down, Justin spoke, breaking the spell I was in.

"She really does have a beautiful voice doesn't she?"

"She sure does." I muttered while watching the small, balding man approach our daughter. He spoke with her for a long while and when he finally left Thea came running over to us with a huge smile on her face.

"Dad, daddy, guess what. That was Mr. Johannsen, a record producer with Arista Records, and he wants me to come record a demo tape for him. He thinks I could be a huge star." She beamed with happiness and Justin and I just smiled and congratulated her.

I wanted to warn her to be careful but I kept my mouth closed and hoped that her dream came true. She had always wanted to be a singer since she could talk. All that child ever did was sing and dance growing up. We spent the rest of the wedding talking among our friends and family and showing off our newest family member.

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I stood on that stage and the world was mine, I loved it up here in the spotlight. This is where I belong, I thought to myself as I began the first notes of the song. When it was over they all clapped and even dad looked slightly amazed that I was that good. I was heading down the stairs when the record producer approached me. At first I thought he was just some old pervert, but considering who I grew up with as parents you can understand why I thought that. He told me that he was blown away by my voice and that it had been a long time since he had felt that way. Then he asked me to come in to the office next Monday to schedule a time to record a demo and to sing for the others there.

Of course I agreed, I mean I'm not stupid or anything. This is what I had been working for my whole life, even if no one noticed. I always seemed to be on the back of everyone's minds, what with Sara's rape and then Sascha running away. Willow, Kaelin and I were the good girls, or so they thought.  We always got pushed aside and had to take care of ourselves, well maybe not Willow so much, since she had Rick and all. Kaelin and I were best friends and we spent a lot of time together, talking and writing. She was talented, an artist by nature but she had a flair for words as well. We made a good team and I planned to tell them all about her once I sang the song she wrote for me.

After telling my fathers about the conversation with Mr. Johannsen, I ran to Kaelin.

"I just got a shot at a recording deal."

She looked at me full of pride, "NO WAY!?!"

"Yes way, can you believe it? Me a singer." I jumped up and down with her before settling down and telling her everything that Mr. Johannsen had said to me. When I finished she hugged me tight.

"I always knew you could do it, Thea. You have such a beautiful voice, they would be crazy not to sign you."

"Thanks Kae, I want to sing that song you wrote the other day, do you care?"

"Oh honey, that would be perfect. I am so proud of you." Kaelin hugged me again and we grabbed a couple of glasses of champagne and toasted to my success.

Two days later I stood in Arista Records offices and sang for Mr. Johannsen and his collegues. When I was finished they asked me to record a few songs including the one Kaelin wrote. Mr. Johannsen told me that he would be contacting me later in the week to let me know how the head of Arista liked the sound. Afterwards I called Kaelin and met her for a late lunch. I watched her walk into the diner, spotting me she bypassed the hostess and came straight over.

"So? Tell me everything," she said as she sat down.

"They loved the song and asked me to record it. Mr. Johannsen told me he was going to have it air expressed over to the CEO's offices right away and would be in touch with me later in the week. Now I just have to wait."

"Which will be next to impossible for you to do." Kaelin laughed at the thougth of me having to be patient. It was a well known fact that patience was not something I did well.

"You will just have to keep me occupied with your gossip."

"Well then lets get started," she laughed. We ordered our lunch and settled in for one of our hour long gossip sessions. Kaelin knew everything that was going on among our family and friends and she never hesitated to share it with me. I sat back and prepared myself to listen.

Kaelin took a sip of water and began with Sascha. "Well rumor has it our wild child sister has found herself a boyfriend. She has been seeing this guy from dad's office, not that he knows about it mind you. She wants to keep it quiet cause she is afraid that the 'rents will freak out that she is seeing someone right now, with her trial coming up and all. His name is, now get this, Brian. Isn't that a riot, she finds a man just like dad and his name is Brian. I about fell out of my chair when I heard that. Seems he is a bit of a player, and rumor has it he has had more than his fair share of lovers.

I laughed at the thought of dad meeting this guy, especially considering how Sascha had spent the last few months trying to behave. "Dad is going to flip when he finds out. She should just tell daddy and let him prepare dad for it."

"Yeah, we all know that dad can never stay mad at daddy for long. Remember that Christmas they were fighting over daddy buying us all a bike."

"Yes, who could forget World War 3 breaking out in our house. Dad said daddy spoiled us too much and then daddy yelled that he couldn't ever spoil us as much as dad did. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen up to that point in my life."

"Yeah it lasted for four days until dad came home and found daddy alone and naked. Remember how he sent us to Grandma Jen's for the night and then went home to make dad dinner? Well you know that they never ate that dinner cause it was still sitting on the table the next morning when Grandma Jen dropped us off."

Laughing I thought back over that day, "I had forgotten all about that.  Remember how daddy came downstairs in his robe with his hair all over the place and a big smile plastered on his face? Then dad came downstairs humming, which he never did, and he smiled the whole day. I love when they make up, it is always a happy time in the house. It's like they are together for the first time. How do you think they do it?"

"I don't know, all I know is that dad loves daddy more than any of us realize. I think that they were meant to be, that somehow they universe just knew that they were right for one another."

"Yeah, maybe. I just hope that someday I find someone who loves me as much as they love one another."

"Me too."

Kaelin and I spent the rest of lunch reminicing about our childhood. When we were leaving the waiter came over and stopped us. Smiling at me, he turned to Kaelin and nervously introduced himself again.

"Hi, ummm, I'm Evan, Evan Gold."

"Hi Evan, I'm Kaelin, nice to meet you."

"Kaelin, what a beautiful name for such a beautiful woman. I was wondering if you would like to go out to dinner with me tonight, if you aren't busy that is." He shuffled from foot to foot as he waited for her to answer him.

Kaelin smiled at him and I thought the boy was going to melt into a puddle right there. "She would love to," I answered for her. I grabbed a pen from the hostess station and wrote our number and address on the back of one of dad's business cards and handed it to him. I pulled Kaelin out of the restaurant before she could protest and started down the street.

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Brian and Justin were sitting on the couch when Kaelin and Thea came in the door, laughing and chatting about the day. When they saw their parents holding hands and kissing they laughed harder and ran upstairs, slamming the door behind them. Brian raised an eyebrow and looked at Justin, "what the hell was that all about?"

"Who knows, they're teenage girls, Bri." Justin raised his hands as if in defeat and Brian laughed. The lovers settled back on the couch to watch American Idol and eat popcorn. Little did they know that in less than a week their lives would change once again.

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