The Gift (30 page)

Tucker and Zak got into the limo with Maggie, Justin and
Spencer. Maggie heard the two men sniffling slightly, so she leaned over and
whispered into Zak’s ear,”Please Zak, no more coke tonight.”

Zak leaned over and kissed her on the cheek and said “O.k.
Maggie, whatever you want.”

The excitement was palpable as they arrived at the
Shrine Auditorium. The building was even bigger than Maggie had imagined and
the Moorish architecture was impressive. The limo stopped to let them out and
Zak took Maggie’s arm and led her down the red carpet into the auditorium. It
took them a long time to get into the building and find their seats because of
the large crowd. They stopped for a moment to talk to one of Zak’s friends, a
zydeco musician who had been nominated for best traditional folk recording.

“Hey Zak and Maggie, how are you doing? Louisiana is certainly represented tonight,” Zak’s friend said. “You look beautiful Maggie,
and so do you Zak for that matter. Nice threads. Looks like something you might
wear to Mardi Gras.” Zak’s friend laughed and so did Zak and Maggie. Several
women in the crowd looked over appreciatively at Zak as he talked to his
friend. Zak’s outfit was making the big impression that he had hoped it would.

They finally reached their seats which were about twenty
rows from the stage. Maggie took a seat in between Zak and Justin, with Tucker
two seats away from her. Maggie was talking animatedly to Justin when she
looked over at Tucker who was sitting on the other side of him. Even though she
couldn’t see him that well, she thought that Tucker looked ill, beads of
perspiration were running down his forehead and it sounded like his breathing
was labored.

“Tucker, are you o.k.?” Maggie asked.

“Actually, darlin’, I’m not feeling that great. Maybe I
need to go outside and get some air. I think the excitement is getting to me a
little.”

“Zak, why don’t you go outside with Tucker. Maybe you
can get him some cold water or something.”

“Sure, Maggie. We’ll be back in a couple minutes.”

The two men got up out of their seats and walked back
down the long aisle to the rear of the auditorium.

Maggie turned to Justin and said “I hope Tucker is o.k.”

Justin took Maggie’s hand and said “He’ll be fine. He’s
probably just a little wound up from the excitement.”

Half an hour later the show had started and John Denver
was announcing the first awards, but Tucker and Zak still hadn’t returned to
their seats. Maggie heard a faint siren off in the distance and looked at
Justin apprehensively. Twenty minutes later an usher came down to their seats
and whispered to Maggie,”Your husband asked me to tell you that he had to go to
the hospital with Tucker Travis. They think he might have had a heart attack.”

Maggie let out a little gasp. Justin grabbed her hand
and asked her what she wanted to do.

“Justin, let’s go to the hospital now. Tucker needs us.”

“O.k. Maggie, let me just tell Abbie and Jerry where we
are going.”

Justin whispered to Abbie and Jerry that there was an
emergency with Tucker and they had to leave, and then the usher escorted them
out of the dark auditorium.

.

Chapter 31

Justin and Maggie arrived at the hospital half
an hour later, and went to the ER and told them that they were with Tucker
Travis. They were told to go to the waiting room, and when they got there they
found Zak sitting on a couch with his head in his hands. Maggie put her arms
around him, kissed him and began to cry.

“Is there any word on Tucker?” she asked.

“The EMTs said it looked like he was having a mild heart
attack. They’re going to run some tests and then probably admit him to the
hospital. Maggie, you should have just stayed at the awards ceremony. There’s
nothing you can do for Tucker here,” Zak said.

“I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy myself knowing that
Tucker was in the ER.”

“They told me that the doctor would be out in a few
hours to let me know how Tucker is doing.”

Zak stopped speaking for a moment, he was overcome with
emotion. His eyes filled with tears which he wiped away with the back of his
hand.

“I’m sorry, Maggie. I should have stopped Tucker from
doing the coke. I had no idea that something like this would happen. I’m sorry
I ruined everyone’s big night.”

“I don’t care about the Grammy awards, Zak. I’m just
worried about Tucker. He’s been really good to me.”

“I know, Maggie. I’m sorry.”

“Zak, I don’t think I should let you off the hook
completely. I’m very upset with you, you promised me that you wouldn’t use
drugs anymore.”

“Maggie, you know what Tucker is like,” Justin said. “He
was trying to get us to do coke with him in Nashville too.”

“Yeah, but we didn’t, Justin. Zak should have said no.
Tucker is almost sixty and he’s not in the best shape. No one should encourage
him in any way to abuse drugs.”

Zak looked like Maggie had slapped him in the face.
Justin reached over and patted his friend on the back.

“Don’t worry, Zak. Tucker will be o.k. You got him into
the hospital right away. It really wasn’t your fault.”

Maggie stared coldly at Zak and Justin and walked over
to a window and pretended to look at the view. Then she sat down a few seats
away from them, and flipped through a magazine which she couldn’t see well
enough to read. Several minutes later, Zak walked over and sat down beside her.
He whispered in her ear, “Maggie, please forgive me.” Maggie didn’t say
anything, but tears flowed down her face. The evening certainly hadn’t turned
out the way she thought it would. She just hoped that Tucker would survive his
heart attack.

 “Zak, I’m worried about you too. When we get home I
want you to get some drug counseling. If you don’t stop using drugs then some
day you are going to end up like Tucker.”

Zak hugged Maggie tightly and whispered in her ear, “O.k.
Maggie, I’ll do it. I’d do anything for you.”

“Don’t do it for me, Zak. Do it for yourself. Do it for
Gabriel and Isabel. They need you.”

Zak wiped the tears off Maggie’s face and kissed her.

“I love you so much, sha.”

“I love you too, Zak. But I can’t watch you do this
anymore. Please get some help.”

Justin murmured that he was going to get some coffee and
left the room to give his friends some privacy. After he left the room, Maggie
said to Zak in a low voice, “I don’t like to give ultimatums, but I want you to
understand how upset I am about this. If you use drugs again Zak, I will leave
you and take the children. So please don’t break my heart, I love you so much.”

Zak was shocked. Maggie had never spoken to him like
this before. He could tell by the look in her eye that she was completely
serious.

“I promise you Maggie that it will never happen again. I
couldn’t live without you and Gabe and Belle.”

When Justin returned with the coffee, Maggie and Zak
were kissing each other tenderly. Justin assumed that they had made up and that
Maggie had forgiven Zak. Justin didn’t blame Zak, in fact if it wasn’t for
Maggie, he probably would have been doing coke with Tucker too. However, he
wanted Maggie to respect him, so he had decided some time ago to stop using
drugs.

Several hours later, a doctor came into the waiting room
to speak to them. He told them that Tucker had a mild heart attack brought on
by his cocaine use that evening. They were going to be doing some tests over
the next several hours, but he thought that Tucker probably had an underlying
heart condition and the cocaine had triggered a heart arrhythmia.

The doctor turned to Maggie and told her that Tucker
wanted to speak to her.

“You can go in to speak to him briefly, but just don’t
get him excited,” he said.

Maggie followed the doctor into Tucker’s room. Tucker
was hooked up to a lot of monitors and had an oxygen tube in his nose. He
opened his eyes when Maggie walked in the room, but he seemed pretty out of it
from the pain medication. Maggie stood next to his bed and held his hand.

“Sorry, Maggie. I didn’t mean to ruin your night.”

“That’s o.k., Tucker. All that matters is that you get
better.”

“Did we win, Maggie?”

“I don’t know Tucker. I left before they announced our
category.”

“Well, if we didn’t, we’ll win next year.”

Tucker looked tired from the exertion of talking. He
closed his eyes and appeared to fall asleep. Maggie leaned over and kissed him
on the forehead and then quietly left the room. Outside Tucker’s room, the
doctor told Maggie to go home and get some sleep. He told her that Tucker would
probably sleep for a long time and that she could come back the next afternoon
for a brief visit.

“Oh, and by the way Miss Williams, one of the nurses
told me that she heard that you and Mr. Travis won a Grammy award tonight.”

“Thank you doctor,” Maggie said. “Maybe you can tell
Tucker tomorrow, it would probably make him feel better if he knew that.”

Maggie walked back into the waiting room where Zak and
Justin were conversing quietly in the corner.

“How’s Tucker doing, Maggie?” Justin asked.

“I don’t know, he doesn’t look that great. The doctor
said we could come back tomorrow to see him.”

“We heard on the tv that you and Tucker won a Grammy
award.”

“I know, the doctor told me. Somehow, it doesn’t seem to
matter much right now.”

Zak walked over to Maggie and put his arms around her.  “I’m
sorry, my love,” he said.

“Thanks, Zak,” Maggie responded. “I need to go back to
the hotel now, I’m exhausted.”

Zak and Justin looked at each other, Maggie seemed
totally overwhelmed, with good reason. It had been a long, difficult night.

.

Chapter 32

The next morning, Justin met Maggie and Zak at
the hotel for breakfast. They discussed what to do about Tucker. He didn’t have
much in the way of family to take care of him and Maggie wanted to stay with
Tucker until he was discharged from the hospital. She thought it might be a
good idea too if someone accompanied him back to Nashville. Justin offered to
stay and help Maggie with Tucker so that Zak could fly back to Louisiana to take care of Gabriel and Isabel. Zak decided to fly back on the afternoon
flight to New Orleans as he had previously planned and Maggie and Justin would
fly home as soon as they could.

As they were finishing their breakfast, Abbie and Jerry
walked in the restaurant and came over to their table. After being updated on
Tucker’s condition, they described how the Grammy awards had turned out.

“As I think you already know, Maggie and Tucker won for
best country duo,” said Abbie. “I had to go on stage and accept their awards
for them. I wasn’t prepared to give a big speech, so I just told everyone that
they couldn’t be there to accept their awards due to circumstances beyond their
control. I must admit, that started a lot of wild speculation.”

“Well, it’s too bad that I couldn’t accept the award
because I spent a long time writing a speech in case I won,” Maggie said.

“Maybe you can use it next year,” Zak said. Maggie
wasn’t sure but it seemed to her that Zak’s comment had a little edge to it.

“It’s too bad that the Bayou Blasters didn’t win last
night,” said Abbie, “but there’s certainly no shame in losing to B.B. King. You
have a long career ahead of you, there will be other opportunities to win a
Grammy. But the other good news is that Little Maggie also won for best country
instrumental,” Abbie continued.

“Are you kidding? I hadn’t heard that. I just assumed
that we had probably lost to Earl Scruggs or the New South. Both of their tunes
were incredible,” said Maggie.

“A lot of people loved your album, Maggie. And people
wanted to show their support for you and your music after you had your
accident. You won’t believe how many people came up to me last night to ask
when your next album is coming out.”

Maggie felt tears come to her eyes.

“I had no idea that people felt like that. That’s really
gratifying to hear.”

“Maybe it’s time to stop living like a recluse and
rejoin the world, Maggie. A lot of festival promoters and club managers have
been asking when you’re going to start touring again.”

“We’ve been talking about doing some small gigs in Louisiana so that Maggie can get her feet wet again, and then maybe she’ll be ready to go
back out on the road for a short tour,” Justin said.

“Well, that sounds like a good start,” Abbie replied. “And
what about the Bayou Blasters, Zak?”

“I guess we will need to discuss that. I think that
Justin and Tom are ready to play again.”

“Definitely,” said Justin.

“O.k. let me know, and I’ll start making arrangements
for a tour. Why don’t you guys stop by our room to pick up your Grammy awards
on your way out. Carole, Jim and Spencer got their awards last night. They were
pretty thrilled to get them.”

Maggie, Zak and Justin followed Abbie and Jerry back to
their room. Abbie had two Grammy awards for Maggie, and Grammys for Zak and
Justin for playing on Maggie’s album. Abbie also gave Tucker’s Grammy to Maggie
knowing that she would take care of it for him until he was out of the
hospital. Maggie hugged Abbie and Jerry good bye and said she would let them
know how Tucker was doing.

Maggie, Zak and Justin went back to Maggie and Zak’s
room so that Zak could pack for his flight home. He put the Grammys in his suitcase
so that Maggie wouldn’t have to worry about carrying anything additional.