Authors: Lori Leger
A long pause followed. “Are you there?”
“
Yeah…uh...this is Drake, her brother.”
“
Oh
Drake!
The lawyer
slash
composer of that beautiful piano piece. Will you be here soon so we can practice together?” she asked, wondering why his voice sounded so familiar to her.
“
I’m stuck in traffic on I-10 just east of the state line. A tanker overturned in the median and both sides of the roadway are shut down.”
“
I hope no one was hurt,” Annie said. “Put the radio station on FM 96.5, and you should be able to hear the most updated traffic reports. Hang on, Drake.” She carried the phone over to Tiffany. “You think you could unhand
my
brother long enough to speak to
yours
? He’s stuck on I-10.”
Tiffany grinned, and lifted only one hand to grab the phone while keeping a tight hold on her husband’s right butt cheek. “Hey, what’s up brother mine?”
<>
“
Tanker overturned, Sis. Haz-mat’s here already but it could still be awhile. Does Annie suspect anything?”
“
Doesn’t seem like it,”
she answered, her voice sounding muffled as a giggle escaped.
Drake craned his neck, trying to see further ahead of him. “This is just my damned luck. I wanted to get there early and clear the air before anyone else arrived.”
“
I know you did,”
she said, sounding sympathetic,
“but it can’t be helped. If you get here too late, we’ll have to send Vivienne and Pete outside later so that you two can have at least one practice when you get here.”
“
I don’t know when they’ll let us through. It could take hours.”
“
It’ll all work out. Hey, I need to tend to some things but I’ll let you talk to Annie again. Maybe you could discuss the piano music...or something else,”
she said. “
Here she is.”
“
Hey, it’s me again. It’s pretty bad, huh?”
Drake chuckled. “Yeah-this is going to put a damper on Christmas day for a lot of people…including mine,” he added below his breath. “This is disappointing, Annie. I really wanted to get there early to cle—to, ah, practice with you.”
“
Aw, don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’ll be fine. I hope you don’t get mad but I have to ask this. Why did you write it as a piano duet?”
“
Red sent me the .wav file of the way he and Tiff sang it with each their own part, and…I don’t know…I thought it would be nice to have the same his and her piano parts.” He attempted to massage the tension from the back of his neck with one hand. “If I can’t make it there soon, you’ll have to play both parts without me.”
“
We didn’t plan to perform it until the afternoon, so you’ve got plenty of time.”
“
Maybe there is hope, then. Think you could stay on the line with me awhile longer to help the time pass?”
“
Not a problem. So, I heard you showed up at Red’s club last month. How’d you like it? Not that it matters anymore since the damn thing burned to the ground and won’t be rebuilt.”
“
What I saw of it was very nice.”
“
It’s probably not as nice as what you’re used to in Houston.”
“
Actually, it’s a lot nicer than most of them. And speaking of Red’s club, where’d you go that night I was there. Everyone said you had to leave.”
“
Oh…Uh…I get migraines that come on suddenly.”
“
That’s too bad, I hope you weren’t too incapacitated,” he said, knowing he’d have spotted that lie even if he hadn’t known
he
was the real reason she left.
“
No, it…it wasn’t a bad one,”
she murmured.
He looked into the rearview, seeing his own grinning face staring back at him. At least she feels bad about it. “So, did you have any trouble with the piano piece?” he asked, changing the subject.
“
Not at all...it’s beautiful. I can play anything that’s put in front of me, but I could never compose like that. What about you?”
“
I’m passable.”
Annie snorted.
“Oh please, Tiffany says you could have been a professional. Maybe I should play for you so you can judge whether or not you need to make any adjustments. You know, dumb it down a little so you don’t show me up too badly.”
The last comment took him off guard and he laughed. “I doubt seriously that will be necessary, but if you want to play for me, I’d like that.” After a minute or so of hearing her situate her sheet music and herself at the piano, she came back to the phone.
“
Okay, here it goes…oh, and by the way, I believe this is your old piano.”
Drake closed his eyes, visualizing her in front of the piano he’d played for years, seated on the bench he’d used throughout the same years. She began to play, and he couldn’t help but smile to himself, knowing she would have sounded just this way. He imagined her delicate fingers passing lightly over the keys, turning the notes on the page into the haunting melody that would forever remind him of Annie McAllister. That was for certain, because although he’d written it for her parents’ anniversary, the only approval he cared about had been Annie’s.
He’d agonized over the piece, working on it every spare minute and losing more sleep than usual over it. It didn’t matter what time he woke up during the night, once he opened his eyes, he had to get up and work on it. It was the first thing he thought of—that, and the way she’d felt in his arms as they’d danced, the way she’d tasted on his lips.
He opened his eyes as the last notes rang out through the earpiece, feeling cheated out of seeing the look on her face the first time she’d played for him. He heard her pick up the phone.
“
Well?”
“
That was beautiful,” he murmured quietly.
“
No adjustments necessary Mr. Could Have Been a Professional?”
“
You played it perfectly, Annie.”
Just as I imagined you would.
“
You know how it is when you just seem to connect with a piece. Well, I must have played this a hundred times since Red gave it to me. Every time I play it feels like the first time. There’s something about it that…I don’t know…speaks to me.”
A flood of mixed emotions washed over Drake. Thrilled with her reaction to the music, he felt like a giant heel. He could have done this dozens of different ways, and now it was too late. He couldn’t tell her who he was over the phone. If he did, she’d run like hell, he knew she would, and it would be his fault she missed out on the chance to perform. Any chance of her discovering his identity without being witnessed by a live audience was rapidly evaporating. No way in hell this day wouldn’t end up as a major drama fest.
“
Annie...,” he began before stopping himself.
“
What is it?”
He tapped his hand several times on the steering wheel, agonizing over what to tell her, how much to tell her. Finally he released a long sigh and spoke. “I’m glad you like it.” He couldn’t do a thing until they were face to face. “What do you for a living?” he asked.
“
Physical therapist—I just joined a practice in Kenton.”
“
Kenton, huh? Do you like it there?”
“
Yes, I do.”
“
No boyfriend or fiancé?” he drawled.
“
Nope, there is absolutely no place for that in my life right now. This is my time to do what I want to do. Work, work, work—put some money aside, and when I can get time off, I want to travel, either alone or with friends, but at my convenience.”
“
That’s very independent of you.”
“
That’s me—little Miss born on the Fourth of July.”
“
Seriously?” he asked.
“
Yep.”
“
That’s my birthday too—July 4
th
, 1974.”
“
It is not.”
“
I swear, ask Tiffany,” he insisted. He heard her cover the phone and yell the question out to his sister.
Once Tiffany confirmed his statement, Annie returned to the conversation.
“I’ll be damned! I was born in 1978 at 4:05 pm.”
“
I was born around 4 am. What are the odds?” he murmured
.
“Hey, I think something is happening. Looks like they’re going to let us through soon.”
“
Well, just be careful and get here when you can. Like I said, we’ll wait for you.”
He smiled to himself. “Okay, thanks. Annie?”
“
Yes?”
“
I’m sorry about this—I really wanted it to be different.” He ended the call before she had a chance to respond.
<><><>
By the time Drake arrived at Red and Tiffany’s, it was noon and the house was already brimming with people. Even his dad and Leah had arrived before he did, he noted, seeing his father’s Navigator parked in front of the ranch house. He parked at the end and grabbed his keyboard out of the back seat of his Denali pick up, along with the bag of gifts.
Drake paused to look around, thinking his father’s description of the place as ‘a real nice spread…perfect for raising horses,” seemed to fit. He made his way to the door and rang the bell several times. When it became obvious that no one would answer, he opened the door and entered the small foyer. He put down the keyboard and bag of gifts, scanning the living room full of children, all dressed in their Christmas finery. Every child in the room had various shades of red hair, from strawberry blonde to dark auburn, and from what he could see they all had what Tiffany called McAllister blue eyes. He glanced to the hallway as one more Annie look alike walked into the room carrying an infant wrapped in pink. She greeted him with a bright smile and walked over to meet him.
“
You must be Drake. I’m Red’s sister, Kathleen.” She held out her hand.
Drake shook her offered hand. “It’s nice to meet you Kathleen—and who’s this?” He pulled back a corner of the blanket to reveal a beautiful baby girl who happened to be staring up at him with her big, wide opened, dark blue eyes.
“
This is Brynn, and she’s a week old today.”
He gazed at the exquisite features of the child, clearly destined to be a beauty. “Tiffany said all the children in this family are beautiful and she wasn’t exaggerating. She’s gorgeous.”
“
Thank you.” Kathleen beamed up at him then held up the baby to plant a kiss on her forehead. “I’m in love with her already.”
“
Merry Christmas, by the way,” he told her.
“
Merry Christmas, Drake. Come on in, the kids took over the television, and all the adults are spread out in the kitchen and dining room. We were waiting on you to eat lunch.”
“
Oh, I wish y’all wouldn’t have waited on me. That wasn’t necessary.”
“
No way,” she said pulling him toward the kitchen. “You’re part of the family now, whether you like it or not.” She stopped in the doorway. “Hey everybody, look who I just found,” she announced.
“
There he is,” Tiffany walked up to him and threw her arms around him. “Merry Christmas, little brother, I was starting to worry,” she murmured into his ear.
“
Merry Christmas to you too, Sis—where is she?”
“
In the dining room, she can’t see you from here.”
He pulled away and shook his head. “This isn’t how I wanted this played out. She’ll be hurt.”
Tiffany gave him a sympathetic smile. “You always say you thrive on challenges.”
Drake grunted as he followed her into the kitchen and exchanged Christmas greetings with those he knew already, and introduced himself to the ones he was meeting for the first time. His father hugged him tightly.
“
Hey son, glad you could finally make it. Merry Christmas!”
“
You too, Dad—Leah,” he added, giving her a big hug.
Daniel beamed as Tiffany and Red joined their circle. “It’s good to be here together, isn’t it? My God, I feel like we’re a part of a real family.”
“
Yep, it’s a whole new life, now come on in and meet everyone else,” Tiffany gently urged her brother.
Annie’s presence drew Drake’s gaze like a starving man to a bowl of spicy Texas chili. He spotted her immediately, seated at the far end of the table, absorbed in a conversation with Bailey and Melissa. He tried to keep his gaze from gravitating to her while being introduced to Red’s other siblings…Rebecca and Kenneth, along with their spouses, then Chad. He stopped in his tracks and held his breath when Bailey turned to address him.
“
Hey Drake, it’s good to see you again. Merry Christmas!”
Annie’s gaze finally landed on him. He watched as the laughter in her eyes faded, her smile transformed into a look of shock as recognition dawned. Finally, her eyes widened with horror as she was hit with the full impact of the situation.