The Gift (7 page)

“Zak’s grandmother wanted him to have this when he
married,” Zak’s mother said. “Caleb already got silver from my husband’s
family. I didn’t want to give this to Zak until I thought he was ready to
settle down. You know, I talked to Zak last week and asked him when you two
were going to get married. He said that neither of you really believed in
marriage, that you didn’t need a piece of paper to show your commitment. He
told me that if he was going to marry anyone then it would be you, but he
didn’t see the need unless you were going to have kids, and he wasn’t ready for
that for a while.”

Maggie told Zak’s mother that she agreed with him. She
said it would be too difficult to have a family when they were constantly on
the road going to gigs. Zak’s mother looked disappointed.

“Well, I told Zak not to wait too long, I’m not getting
any younger and I’d like to see my grandchildren. In the meantime, I thought
you might enjoy having the silver. I know that Zak doesn’t care anything about
it, but I thought you might appreciate it.”

Maggie was overwhelmed by the generous gift and thanked
Zak’s mother for her thoughtfulness.  Just then, Zak walked in from the back
yard looking for Maggie. His mother explained that she wanted Zak and Maggie to
take his grandmother’s silver. Zak put his arm around his mother and kissed her
on top of her head. He thanked her, and told her that they would take good care
of it.

When they drove back home later that evening, Zak was
thoughtful.

“My mother must really like you Maggie. She’s never done
anything like that before.”

He gave her a sideways glance and told her that his
mother had been asking when they were going to get married. He was turning
thirty in a couple of weeks and his family had decided that it was time for him
to settle down.

Maggie looked a little flustered. She had only known Zak
for five months. She loved him, but she didn’t feel ready to settle down.

“I’m not sure I’m ready yet, Zak.”

“That’s o.k. Maggie, we have plenty of time.”

Maggie and Zak’s mother decided to have a birthday party
for Zak at his mother’s house. They felt that reaching thirty was a landmark
and it shouldn’t pass by unnoticed. Maggie had invited all of Zak’s friends and
Zak’s mother had invited all of their family. They invited about sixty people,
so they decided to hold the party out in the back yard. Zak and Justin bought a
keg and Zak’s brother Caleb was going to handle the barbeque. Otherwise it was
potluck, and all Zak’s friends were bringing various foods for everyone to
share. Zak and Justin set up amplifiers and microphones next to the house so
that all the musicians could take turns jamming.

It was a wonderful party, everyone contributing to the
celebration of Zak’s birthday. But there seemed to be a question hanging in the
air. Everyone wanted to know when Zak and Maggie were getting married. Maggie
found herself blushing more than once over the course of the evening and
realized that this assumption made her uncomfortable.

Finally, Zak knew he was going to have to address the
situation. He took Maggie’s hand and led her up to the microphone. He asked everyone
to come over because he had an announcement to make.

“Everyone here knows how much Maggie and I love each
other, and there seems to be an assumption that we were going to announce that
we’re getting married. You all know how I feel about marriage, and my beautiful
Boston girl has the same reservations. But you also know that I don’t like to
disappoint a crowd.”

Zak smiled a wicked grin and looked lovingly at Maggie.
He pulled a small black velvet box out of his blue jeans and kneeled down in
front of her.

“Maggie, will you marry me?” he said simply.

Maggie turned white and looked like she was going to
faint. She also looked like she was about to burst into tears. Zak got up, and
pulled her to him.

He whispered into her ear, “Maybe this was a bad idea,
you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

She replied quietly so no one but Zak could hear, “Yes,
but I want a long engagement.”

Zak kissed her and then announced triumphantly, “She
said yes!” Then he took the delicate gold ring out of the box and slipped it on
Maggie’s ring finger. Everyone cheered and gathered around them to offer their
congratulations.

Justin got out the champagne and plastic cups that he
and Zak had bought in town earlier that day. He started pouring champagne so
the guests could offer a toast to the couple. He and everyone else thought that
Maggie and Zak were perfect for each other and would be very happy together.
Holding a cup of champagne, Justin went up to the microphone to give the toast.

“I never thought I would be saying this, but
congratulations Zak and Maggie on your impending marriage. Zak told me on the
first night that we met Maggie in New Orleans, that he thought she was
something special and he didn’t want her to get away. Fortunately, she didn’t. 
I wish them many happy years of wedded bliss.”

Justin leaned over and kissed Maggie on the cheek and
patted Zak on the back. Then he raised his plastic cup and toasted them. Maggie
and Zak kissed each other for a long time as everyone cheered.

The musicians broke into a well-known Cajun waltz called
“Jolie Blonde”. Zak took Maggie’s hand and they started to dance. Zak had been
practicing dancing with Maggie over the last few months when they went out to
some of the local clubs, so they had become quite proficient. They held each
other close and looked lovingly into each other’s eyes. He whispered some
endearments into her ear in French, and she closed her eyes and gave in to the
emotion of the moment. There were other couples dancing around them, but Zak
and Maggie barely noticed.

When the dance came to an end, Justin and Tom stepped up
in front of the amplifiers and microphones and signaled to Zak to join them.
Justin had a Gibson acoustic guitar strapped around his neck and he handed
Zak’s Martin to him. Zak stepped up to the microphone and said “I want to sing
a song for my bride-to-be.” He smiled lovingly at Maggie and then started to
sing the song that Maggie had found for him, he considered it to be their song.

“I got a good reason for loving you,

It’s an old-fashioned sign  

I kinda get the feeling like, you know when

I fell in love the first time

Kind woman, won’t you love me tonight

The look in your eyes

Kind woman, don’t leave me lonely tonight

Please say it’s alright.”

Zak looked deep into Maggie’s eyes as he sang their song
for her. She had never felt such love.

When he was done, the band asked Maggie what she would
like to sing. She knew immediately what her choice would be. She had recently
come up with some ideas for songs they could play if they got wedding gigs, and
the song she liked best was “I Will” by the Beatles. So she whispered her
choice to the band and they started to play. She found that her voice was
cracking a little from the emotion, but she wanted to sing her heartfelt
feelings to Zak.

“Love you forever and forever,

Love you with all my heart.

Love you whenever we’re together,

Love you when we’re apart.

And when at last I find you

Your song will fill the air.

Sing it loud so I can hear you,

Make it easy to be near you.

For the things you do endear you to me,

Oh, you know I will.”

Maggie could see that there were tears in Zak’s eyes.
When she finished singing, they kissed each other and he held her tightly.

The crowd applauded loudly and then the band broke out
into another dance song, a Cajun two-step called “La Danse de La Vie”. The
crowd erupted into wild dancing, while Zak pulled Maggie aside so they could
finish a long kiss.

When they finally became aware of the people around
them, Zak noticed that his brother was gesturing for them to come over. They
followed Caleb into Zak’s mother’s house, where they went into a back bedroom.
Caleb had a special engagement present for them. Zak had told him two days ago
that he was going to ask Maggie to marry him. Caleb had come up with an idea
for what he thought was the perfect present for the couple. He knew how much
they loved his dog Mojo, so he bought them a yellow lab puppy. Zak was
overjoyed with the gift. He and Caleb had a wonderful Labrador when they were
young and he had missed having a dog. Caleb said that they could leave the dog
with him if they had to travel. Maggie was happy too. It would be nice to have
a large dog for company, especially if Zak was off playing with his zydeco band
without her. She leaned over to pat the female pup, who lapped her face
enthusiastically. Caleb joked, “She’ll be good practice for when you have kids.”
Zak looked happy at the thought.

“What are you going to name her?” asked Caleb.

 “I think Maggie should have the honor,” Zak said.

Maggie thought quickly and decided, “I think we should
call her Chère.”

“That’s a good name Maggie. But how will you know if I’m
calling for you or the dog,” Zak said and laughed.

 Maggie laughed at that too, but decided that she liked
the name anyway. Caleb offered to take the dog home with him so that Zak and
Maggie could relax at home after the party without any distractions. Maggie
told him she appreciated his thoughtfulness.

Maggie and Zak continued to party and dance with their
guests until the early morning. Finally the party started to slow down, and
Maggie and Zak took their leave. Justin had decided to spend the night at a
friend’s house so that the engaged couple could have some privacy. Maggie
kissed him on the cheek and whispered thanks, and then she and Zak got into the
Lincoln and drove home.

.

Chapter 9

Over the next few weeks, Maggie and Zak became
increasingly domestic. They drove to Lafayette and bought curtains and new
dishes for their house. Maggie and Zak went to some yard sales on the weekends
and found a small hutch for the kitchen where they could store the dishes and
the silver that Zak’s mother had given them. Maggie spent several days
polishing the silver so that it gleamed like it was almost new. She thought
about Zak’s mother and grandmother while she did this and how the silver linked
all the generations together.

One Sunday, Maggie and Zak invited Zak’s mother over to
their house for dinner. Maggie cooked chicken in white wine which was her
special recipe and they served dinner on their new dishes using the silver that
Zak’s mother had given them to show their appreciation for the gift. Zak’s
mother was touched. She told Maggie that she was going to make a good wife for
Zak.

That night Justin came into the living room and said
that he wanted to talk to them about something. He wanted to know if he should
find another place to live now that Maggie and Zak were getting married. Maggie
and Zak looked at each other and laughed.

“We’re not planning on actually getting married for a
while. We believe in long engagements,” Maggie said. “Besides, we like living
with you Justin. I think we would be lonely without you. So please don’t feel
like you have to move out.”

Justin felt relieved. He liked living with Zak and
Maggie too. They felt like family and it was convenient to be together so they
could work on their music during their free time.

The focus of their music had gradually changed over the
last few weeks. Zak had discovered Maggie’s notebooks when they were putting
away her things from Boston. She had written some song lyrics in them. Zak
recognized that they had potential, so he tried composing some music that would
go with them. That seemed a little difficult, so they decided to try it the
other way around. Zak would come up with some music and then Maggie would write
words that fit. Sometimes he would suggest the basic theme or perhaps the words
to the chorus and she would take it from there. That led to a much more
successful collaboration. Zak and Justin had written songs together before too,
so now they were accumulating enough material that they could put out an album
of original music.

During this time, they started getting some phone calls
regarding the cassette tapes that they had dropped off at the clubs. Maggie
knew a lot of the booking managers at the clubs in Cambridge and Boston from her days with Lost Highway. They had liked what they heard on the tapes and
were anxious to book her new band into their clubs. The fact that the Bayou
Blasters were from Louisiana made them seem a little more exotic than the usual
bands from Boston. They guessed that her new band would be able to attract a
large audience.

Because they had to travel so far to get to Boston, Maggie and Zak had to arrange for enough bookings in New England to make it
worthwhile. So they sent out some more tapes to clubs in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island. They were able to put together a nice little tour where
hopefully they would make enough money to justify the trip.

They had also heard from some of the clubs in Nashville. The manager of the Blue Bayou had called because he had decided that the Bayou
Blasters were the perfect band for his venue. He was willing to pay them very
well to headline at his club and he would also cover some of their travel
expenses as well.

Zak and Justin felt that it was time for the band to go
into a professional recording studio to make an album of their original songs,
so they booked time at a 24-track studio in New Orleans. They practiced
diligently until all the songs were incredibly tight and then the band drove
down to New Orleans for four days to record the album with a professional sound
engineer. They were pleased with the results. They made up a lot of tapes to
sell when they were out on the road and they mailed a few to some record
companies hoping get a recording contract.