The Gift (16 page)

The guys got ready to take the stage and Zak found a
seat for Maggie at a table that was nearby. He wanted to be able to watch her
while he played, especially because there were a few songs that he wanted to
sing for her. He brought her a beer from the bar and a coke for himself, and
then kissed her briefly and went on stage.

Zak didn’t notice, but the young woman that he had met
previously at the Peacock was there that night. She was standing in the back of
the room near the restrooms. She watched Zak kiss Maggie and saw her wedding
ring and realized that this must be Zak’s wife. She could see that they were in
love, and felt guilty that she had flirted with him before. She started feeling
very uncomfortable, so she decided to leave and go to another bar. Justin saw
her as she walked out the door, and he was relieved that there wouldn’t be any
kind of confrontation involving the young woman.

The Bayou Blasters started to play, and Maggie found
herself enjoying the band’s music, much in the same way that she had when she
saw them that first night at Antoine’s. She thought that they sounded even
better than they had that night. This surprised her because she wouldn’t have
thought that there was much room for improvement. Zak had been spending a lot
of time practicing though, and it really showed. She also thought that he
looked incredibly sexy on stage. He unconsciously moved along with the music
almost like he was dancing sometimes, and he had an intense look of
concentration on his face when he played his breaks which for some reason she
found touching. He would look up at her occasionally and smile, which let her know
that he was thinking of her even while he was totally engaged in his playing.

The band played their first set to an enthusiastic
audience. Some of the people in the crowd must have seen them play before
because they were calling out requests which the band was happy to play. After
an hour or so, Zak announced that they were going to take a short break. He
walked over to Maggie’s table, kissed her and then sat down. The waitress
brought him a Coke, he was obviously thirsty from the exertion of playing. Then
he asked Maggie how she liked the music. She beamed at him and told him that
she didn’t think he had ever sounded better. Justin and Tom came over for a
couple minutes too, and relaxed for a while before starting the next set.

Then the band got up on stage to play the second set.
Zak took Maggie’s hand and led her up to the microphone at the center of the
stage. He turned on her mic and checked it for her and then announced to the
crowd “I’d like to introduce my wife Maggie. She’s going to favor us with a
couple songs.”  The audience applauded enthusiastically to welcome her. Maggie
sang “I know You Rider”, “Truck Stop Girl”, and “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down”. 
Then Zak sang “Kind Woman” and she sang harmony with him on the chorus. They
looked at each other lovingly during this song, it brought up a lot of memories
for them. Finally Maggie sat down to great applause and then the band finished
out the rest of the set.

Maggie was very happy on the drive home. It had been
wonderful to sing with the band again and she had enjoyed it when people
complimented her on her singing. She didn’t need to do this every night, but
hoped that maybe she could sing with them like this occasionally.

Zak enjoyed playing with Maggie again too. They shared
an intense emotional connection through their music, something he realized that
he had missed. He also realized that they hadn’t had fun like this in a long
time.

When they got home, they were feeling very affectionate
towards one another. They both realized that they needed to spend more time
like this together so that they could re-connect as a couple. Maggie was
grateful that Zak’s mother had suggested that she take the baby for the night.
Justin had decided to spend the night at Bonnie’s, so Maggie and Zak were alone
in the house. After bringing in his guitars from the car, Zak took Maggie’s
hand and led her to their bedroom. He had been watching her the entire evening
at the club and thought that she was the most beautiful woman in the room. He
felt lucky that he was the one to go home with her at the end of the night.

He pulled her onto their bed and slowly started to
remove her clothes. She felt a little thrill of excitement run through her
entire body. She not only loved this man, but she desired him as well. He took
his time taking off her clothes, unbuttoning her blouse, pants and then sliding
off her panties. He kissed almost every inch of her body, until she started to
tremble. Finally she was spread out in front of him, completely naked and
almost breathless in anticipation. He hurriedly took off his clothes and then
paused for a moment wondering if he should use a condom. He decided that he
would let nature take its course. He leaned over Maggie, kissed her and
whispered in her ear, “Maggie, I want to make a baby with you.”  She was
surprised by his request. She thought about it for a second, and looked up into
his eyes. She knew then that she only wanted to make him happy. So she said
yes, that she wanted that too, and he proceeded to show her how much he loved her.

The next morning, they woke up in each other’s arms.
Maggie remembered that they had spontaneously decided to make love without
using any birth control. While she had enjoyed it, she wasn’t sure if it had
been a wise idea. Gabriel was only three months old and she wasn’t sure she was
ready to go through another pregnancy. She thought about it for a while and
realized that Zak probably had his doubts that he was Gabriel’s father. He
probably wanted to make sure that the next time she was pregnant it was
definitely with his child. She could understand that after what they had been
through. She loved Zak, and felt it would be their ultimate gift to each other
to conceive a child.

Zak smiled sleepily at her. He thought that Maggie
looked beautiful in the soft light of dawn. Her long blonde hair was tousled
from the night before, which he found incredibly sexy.

“Are you having any second thoughts about last night?”
Zak asked Maggie.

She answered “no”, and then kissed him.

“I’m happy about that,” he said. “Would you like to try
again?” he asked with a sly smile.

Maggie laughed and assented, so they celebrated their
love for each other again. Maggie felt the emotional weight of the moment.
Unlike the first time that she conceived a child, this was a very conscious
decision to create a new life. She felt closer to Zak in that moment than she
ever had before.

.

Chapter 20

Maggie and Zak spent the next several hours
enjoying the luxury of sleeping in, grateful that they didn’t have to get up
early to take care of the needs of a crying baby. Zak gave Maggie a long
massage which she reciprocated, and then they got up and made breakfast
together. By the time they finished eating, it was almost noon. They started
feeling a little guilty about leaving Gabriel with Zak’s mother for so long, so
they got in the Lincoln and drove over to her house.

Gabriel was fine when they got there, he was playing
contentedly in his playpen. He seemed happy to see them, but not overly anxious
to leave. Zak’s mother had given him a bottle of formula and changed his
diapers, so Maggie and Zak were relieved that there wasn’t anything they had to
do immediately. They thanked Zak’s mother and then sat around the kitchen table
with her, having coffee and talking about how the baby was doing.

“Gabriel seems to be gaining weight nicely,” Zak’s
mother said. “And he looks so much like Zak did at that age.”

Maggie and Zak exchanged brief glances, figuring this
was just normal grandmother talk.

“He also has a birthmark on his upper thigh that looks
almost exactly like a birthmark that Zak had at that age,” Zak’s mother said to
Maggie.

Maggie and Zak were a little shocked by this
observation. It would still be another three months before Gabriel could have
the blood test to establish paternity, but this might be some sort of proof
that Zak was actually the father.

On the way home, they discussed whether or not to tell
Justin about this. It wasn’t any sort of certain proof that Zak was the father,
but they felt that maybe they should tell him so that he wouldn’t be upset when
the paternity test results came in. They knew that Justin had been getting very
attached to Gabriel. He considered himself to be at least an honorary uncle, if
not Gabriel’s actual father. So later that night when Justin came home from
Bonnie’s, they told him about the birthmark on the baby. They reminded him that
they wouldn’t know anything for certain until the doctor could perform the
paternity blood test. Justin was a little quiet on hearing this news, but
thanked them for letting him know. Several days later, he told them that he was
going to move in with Bonnie. Maggie was distressed by this, but she tried not
to show it. She knew that Justin was attached to the baby and had been secretly
hoping that he was the father. It was a difficult situation, but she hoped that
their friendship could weather it.

Unfortunately, Maggie and Zak were going to find it
difficult to pay the mortgage on the house without Justin paying rent. Zak
decided that maybe he should look for a part-time job that he could do during
the day. He called the music store in Lafayette and asked them if they needed
any help during the week and they said yes. Zak could demonstrate electric
guitars and amplifiers for customers and he could perform small repairs on
equipment. Zak arranged to start his new job the week after he got back from
playing the gigs in Nashville.

On Thursday afternoon, Tom drove down in his van from Lafayette to pick up Zak and Justin for their trip to Nashville. Zak decided to leave the Lincoln for Maggie so that she could pick up Spencer at the airport in New Orleans. Zak
kissed Maggie and Gabriel goodbye and then left for the next five days. They
were going to play three nights at the Blue Bayou.

Maggie felt a little abandoned when they left, but she
couldn’t dwell on that too long because she had to leave to go pick up Spencer.
She was extremely glad that she would have the distraction of his company for
the next few days.

Maggie found Spencer at the airport without too much
trouble. He gave her a big hug when he saw her.

“You look beautiful, Maggie,” he said.

“Oh you’re just saying that because the last time you
saw me I was still feeling under the weather from the pregnancy.”

Spencer looked at Gabriel who was sitting in his car
seat in the back of the car.

“And Gabriel is a beautiful baby. He has blond hair and
blue eyes just like you, Maggie.”

“Well that was kind of a surprise, the dark hair that he
was born with gradually disappeared and blond hair grew in its place,” she
replied.

Gabriel was a little suspicious of Spencer at first, but
gradually warmed up to him as they drove the two hours back to the house.

“I’ve made some plans for us to play with some local
bluegrass musicians,” Maggie said. “I invited several people to come over for
dinner and to jam on Saturday night. I also thought that maybe we could go over
to the bluegrass jam in Church Point the following Sunday if Zak’s mother will
babysit.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun. I’ve missed playing with
you, Maggie. It’s a shame that we live so far apart and can’t play together
regularly.”

When they got back to the house, Maggie told Spencer to
put his bag in Justin’s old room. She made them a snack, gave Gabriel his
bottle and then put him down for his nap. She brought Zak’s Martin guitar and
her mandolin into the living room so she and Spencer could play quietly until
the baby woke up. They played some of their usual tunes, and then Maggie played
a few of the original songs that she had written over the last several months.
They went over them several times working out the breaks and vocal harmonies.

“These songs would sound great being played by an entire
bluegrass band,” Spencer said.

“Maybe we can try playing them with the bluegrass
musicians that are coming over on Saturday,” Maggie replied.

Just then the phone rang. It was Zak calling to tell
Maggie that they had arrived in Nashville.

“Did you have any problems finding Spencer at the
airport?” he asked. 

“No, we found each other right away,” she said.

“The band is staying in the same motel that we stayed in
on our trip to Nashville, Maggie. Unfortunately it’s not as much fun rooming
with Justin as it was with you,” Zak said.

Maggie laughed at that.

“I love you, my darling,” he continued. “I’ll call you
later on tonight after the gig’s over.”

Maggie told Zak that she loved him too and then they
both hung up.

The phone call woke up Gabriel, so Maggie picked him up
from his crib and brought him into the living room. Maggie and Spencer put away
their instruments, they were done playing for the evening. Spencer held and
played with Gabriel while Maggie cooked dinner. She made the shrimp creole
recipe for Spencer that she had learned from Zak. Spencer liked the food and
told her that her cooking had improved a lot since they had lived together.
They talked and caught up for a while after dinner, but then decided to make it
an early night since Spencer was tired from his journey from Boston.

The phone rang again at about two in the morning. It was
Zak calling Maggie after his gig as he had promised. She answered the phone
sleepily and he apologized for waking her.

“How did the gig go?” she asked.

“The Blue Bayou was packed. There was a record company
executive in the audience and he wants to talk to us about a possible recording
contract.”