Plain Again (13 page)

Seated beside her, Alejandro glanced over, noticing her discomfort. He reached out and touched the artist’s hand.
“Ay,”
he said, his voice commanding but kind. “She’s beautiful enough, no?”

The artist rolled his eyes and took a deep breath before moving away.

“Danke,”
Amanda whispered. “I don’t know why they need to put all of that stuff on our faces.”

Alejandro laughed as he stood up from the seat and reached for her hand. “The lights wash out the color on our faces,” he explained again. “But you are more than beautiful enough to not need so much, I agree.” He smiled at the young man, who gestured for them to follow him.

There were television monitors in the waiting area by the stage entrance. Amanda sat quietly, her eyes on the monitor as she watched the screen. It was the live version of the show, and right now, the host, an older woman with blond hair, was seated at a desk and talking to the audience. Oblivious, Alejandro was on his phone, talking in Spanish to someone when a man walked in and motioned toward him.

“You’ll go on first, and then we’ll bring Amanda,” he said to Alejandro, his eyes barely glancing at her. “OK, Viper?”

Within seconds, Amanda was seated alone in the room. It was quiet except for the television monitor, and once again, she lifted her eyes to stare at it. The host had moved away from the desk and was seated in a chair next to a white sofa. She was looking into the camera and announcing her next guest: Viper. The crowd applauded, several people calling out, as he emerged from behind the back curtain, a smile on his face and his hand lifted in the air, waving to the audience.

Despite knowing that he was just a few dozen yards from her, it felt strange to realize that he had, only moments before, left her side. She watched as he sat down in the chair next to the host’s desk on the stage, smoothing his black pants so that they would not wrinkle. The smile on his face was a genuine one, not the forced smile that she had come to recognize during interviews when he was on tour and tired. His blue eyes sparkled, and he lifted his hand one more time toward the audience.

When they had finally settled down, the host began to ask him questions, mostly about his current tour and where he would be traveling to over the holidays and into next year. Amanda listened with an attentive ear, hearing him list the countries and continents, the audience laughing when he rolled his eyes at the exhaustive list. Prior to his having read this list of the planned tour a few weeks back, she had never heard of half the countries he had mentioned. Now, listening to him recite them, she felt a flutter in her chest. Was she really ready to travel all over the world in the next four months?

“Five minutes,” someone said from the doorway.

Amanda looked up, startled by the voice. She never saw who had said it, for the person was already gone.

Her eyes strayed back to the monitor. Alejandro looked so comfortable as he answered question after question, his responses natural and charming. Amanda couldn’t help but wonder how he had learned to be so comfortable in front of so many people.

Oh, she had listened to his stories about struggling to make it, so many years ago. Back in Miami, he had told her those tales while they lay in each other’s arms, a candle flickering in the bedroom after sharing moments of intimacy reserved only for husband and wife.

He had told her about performing at clubs, often fighting with people who mocked him for his songs. Back in those days, most of his performances had been geared toward the Hispanic population, all of his songs in Spanish. Men teased him, jealous over his increasing popularity as both a singer and a star.

Still, he had persevered. Nothing was going to ruin his dream, he had whispered to Amanda, his lips against her ear and his hand stroking her bare arm.

His dedication to his career was something that she both wondered about and admired. Growing up Amish, Amanda had never seen such determination among any member of her community. There was no need. Success was a good crop of corn or a well-made quilt. Success was not something that was seen as progressive and continual; it was individual acts of obedience to parents, community, and God. That was the way of the Amish.

Her mind traveled to a verse from the book of James:
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Despite Alejandro’s success, she knew that privately he was a humble man. Unlike several other artists, Alejandro’s contemporaries in the music industry that she had met, Alejandro did not take his stardom for granted. He spent time with his adoring fans, reached out to them through social media, personalized his approach with his music. And before each performance, she had always noticed that he took a moment to pray to God, thanking him for the rewards that had followed his hard work.

“Ready, Amanda?”

Her thoughts interrupted, she turned and nodded at the man who gestured for her to follow him. With forced confidence, Amanda walked onto the set and hesitated, just for a moment, a shy smile on her face when the audience began to cheer and applaud her arrival. She glanced into the seated crowd, startled that so many were excited for her entrance. Then, turning her eyes toward Alejandro, she saw that he was standing and walking toward her, his hand outstretched for her to take.

His presence reassured her, and she hurried toward him, comforted when he grasped her hand and led her to the chairs. As always, he waited for her to sit first before he joined her.

“Amanda,” the host said, a big grin on her expressive face. “It’s quite an honor to have you here today.”

“It is?” Amanda asked back, surprised at the use of such a word.
Honor
was not a word that the Amish used lightly. And it was certainly never used in conjunction with meeting someone. After all, God created people and only God was above them.

The audience, however, laughed.

Alejandro squeezed her hand and laughed, too.

The blond woman behind the desk leaned forward, staring at Amanda with that same smile on her face. She seemed to be studying her, and it made Amanda feel uncomfortable. “The whole world seems to be watching you, Amanda. You’ve taken them by storm.”

Again, Amanda professed to not understand this. “I don’t understand why,” she replied. “I’m just a person like them.”

The audience laughed once again but seemed pleased with her humble responses.

“What is it like, Amanda?” the host started to ask, changing the direction of the conversation. “You grew up amid the Amish, but now you are traveling the world with your husband, Viper, the international superstar who seems to turn everything he touches into gold.”

Inwardly, Amanda sighed. The same questions. Everyone always wanted to know what it was like to travel with him. She wasn’t certain how to respond, not in a way that people might find interesting. So she just told the truth. “Every day is the same yet every day is different, I reckon,” she replied, her soft voice mirroring the expression on her face. “But the only thing that matters is that Alejandro is happy. If I can help make that happen, then I am happy.”

There was a collective sigh of empathy from the audience.

“Well, Viper,” the host said, a teasing tone in her voice. “It seems that you both are happy these days, especially after having been apart.”

“Sí, sí,”
he began, as he leaned forward in the seat. “It was hard to be separated so soon after our wedding, but being reunited makes it worthwhile.”

“And, Amanda, I hear that you will be riding in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year. How do you feel about that?”

Indeed, how did she feel? Amanda chewed on her lower lip and raised an eyebrow. “I . . . I’m not sure since I haven’t ever seen a parade,” she replied. “But I’m sure it will be fine. Alejandro explained that we ride on the back of a big truck, smile and wave to people, and then he sings a song at one stop. That seems pleasant enough, especially since the weather is supposed to be quite lovely,
ja
?”

“Never seen a parade?” The host stared at the audience in amazement and they laughed. “Why, your first parade will be riding in the Macy’s parade? I don’t think too many people can claim that!”

“Is it so special?” she asked innocently.

The crowd roared, laughing at her question.

Alejandro leaned over and said to her softly, but loud enough for the microphone to pick up his words, “It’s a fairly large parade, Princesa. It’s very special.”

“Oh.”

The host turned her attention back to Alejandro, asking him another question about his upcoming events in New York City. “I heard there was quite a crowd at the morning show today,” she said. “I also know that you tend to make a few surprise visits at clubs while in town. Any guest appearances at some local hot spots that you’d like to share with us, Viper?”

He squirmed in the seat, in slight annoyance, an act that he had perfected when he wanted to look as if he was put under pressure by the interviewers. Amanda smiled to herself, amused by his reaction, as she knew it was only to make the interviewer feel as though she was about to get special information out of Viper that no one else had been able to extract.

“I would be quite remiss if I did mention any special clubs where I might make an appearance,” he finally admitted.

“The crowds, eh?”

“
Sí
, the crowds.”

“Amanda,” she said, turning her attention away from Alejandro. “How do you deal with all of these fans and the crowds that follow you?”

Hesitating before answering, Amanda glanced at Alejandro first. When he nodded, she finally spoke.
“Ja vell,”
she began slowly. “It sure would be nice if they would leave my family in peace, especially with my
daed
trying to heal and all.” She lowered her eyes, hoping that what she was saying was a suitable reply. “Sure makes it hard for me, too, to return there to help with the farm.”

“Creates problems in the community?”

She nodded. “Oh
ja
! The bishop sure doesn’t care for the photographers stealing photos and asking so many questions.” She sighed, too aware that one of the cameras was focused on her face. “The things that people love about the Amish way of life seem to be the things that they are so intent on destroying in order to learn more about us.”

“Us?”

She felt, rather than saw, Alejandro stiffen at the interviewer’s single-word question. “The Amish, I mean.”

“But you are no longer Amish,” the woman stated.

“
Nee
, I’m not,” Amanda admitted. “You can be raised Amish but never join the church. There are cultural Amish, and there are religious Amish. While I have decided to not remain religiously Amish, I’ll always have more than a touch of the cultural upbringing inside me.” She smiled. “Can’t remove that, I reckon.”

The woman began to wrap up the interview before announcing a short commercial break. Afterward, Amanda knew that Alejandro would perform for the audience and then they would quickly depart the studio for their next appointment. To her relief, she realized that her part in the live show was over, so she relaxed, taking a deep breath as she shifted her eyes from the interviewer to her husband.

“And where do you go from here, Viper?”

He reached for Amanda’s hand once again, giving her a gentle squeeze. “After New York, we will be traveling around the country for holiday concerts,” he said, glancing at Amanda just briefly. He paused to smile at her before turning his attention back to the camera. “But as long as we are together, wherever we are is home.”

This time, it was Amanda who felt herself stiffen at his announcement. He knew that she had to return to her parents’ farm, that Anna and her husband were only visiting for a few weeks. She had no choice but to leave him in order to help her
daed
and
mamm
. As far as the holiday concert tour, this was the first she had heard him mention it since her
daed
’s stroke.

During the commercial break, Viper briefly walked toward the audience, shaking hands and posing for photos with the people seated in the immediate front of the theater. Amanda made no movement to join him, standing by the side of the stage as she watched Alejandro. His face lit up as he smiled for the cameras, that picture-perfect expression of delight that he had mastered for his fans.

The stage was a bundle of activity, the stagehands quickly transforming it into a concert setting for Viper’s performance. Amanda turned her attention to watch, amazed at the activity in the studio. Within minutes, everything seemed to change. Men dressed in jeans and black shirts removed the furniture and desk while others set up the sound system and speakers.

During all of this, Alejandro appeared completely relaxed, ignoring the activity as he interacted with his fans, moving among those seated closest to the stage so that they could take photos with him and shake his hand. At one point, he took a woman’s phone and turned around, snapping a photograph of himself with the woman and the audience behind them. Everyone cheered, and he waved his hand in acknowledgment before returning to the set.

Amanda stood near the host as the commercial break ended and the red light atop the camera flicked on. They were live.

“We’re back!” the host said with a big white smile plastered on her face. “And without any further ado, let’s give it up for Viper!”

Once again, for the second time that morning, Amanda watched as an audience applauded, their cheers wild and loud. The music began to play, and Alejandro transformed into Viper before Amanda’s very eyes. And once again, she found herself transfixed as she watched him dance and sing, pandering to both the cameras and the audience as he did. For a moment, she turned her gaze to the adoring faces of the women in the audience as they stood, mouthing the words to his lyrics and dancing to the music of the songs, their eyes glowing and bodies moving in time to the energizing beat.

He moved about the stage, singing and dancing, his movement so natural and fluid that she, too, found herself swaying in time to the music. When he glanced over in her direction, pausing just briefly to lower his dark sunglasses and wink at her, the crowd roared in delight and Amanda felt color flood her cheeks. He had such a way of turning every moment into one in which she felt as if she were living in a dream.