The crowd cheered and Micah finally pulled away.
“To be continued,” Micah said to her.
Alex was walking out on stage with two guitars while Cameron, who’d been volunteering with the tech staff, brought out two microphones on stands. He gave Bea a high five and Helen got a one-armed hug as they both scurried out of the way.
“Hey,” Micah said into the microphone as he put the guitar strap over his head. “My brother Alex is here to help out. I hope you don’t mind?”
The crowd cheered its approval and Alex lifted his hand.
“But before we sing for you, I feel like my brother is missing something.” Micah grinned at Alex, who started shaking his head.
“No, man, come on,” Alex said.
“Bea?” Micah asked, looking back for her. “Do you think he’s missing something?”
“A butterfly!” she yelled.
“Yeah, I think so too,” Micah said with total seriousness. “Can we get some face paint and a chair up here? And I’ll sing while Bea here works her magic.”
The crowd was loving this, and Helen could only stand there with her hands pressed to her lips as Cameron came out with a chair. Alex sat down in it and Bea got to work painting his face.
“Now,” Micah said, “do we have any requests?”
“’Forgiveness,’” Helen yelled, and he turned to face her. “Play ‘Forgiveness.’”
“Anything for you,” he said and started into the first notes of the song. The crowd, her family a part of it, started clapping, keeping the beat.
This is the reward.
I gotta tell him about that, she thought. I bet there’s a song in there.
Epilogue
One Year Later
First stop was the farm. He knocked on the screen door and Daphne, drying her hands on a dish towel, came over to open it. “Micah,” she said sternly. “You have to stop knocking. You can come in.”
“Not after the last time,” he said with a wink, and Daphne blushed. When he and Helen arrived at the farm three days ago, they’d walked in and caught Daphne and Jonah kissing. Like…kissing with intent. “Who knows what I’ll walk into?”
Daphne rolled her eyes at him and he walked into the cozy warmth of the Athens Organics kitchen.
The tour was over as of the previous week, and it had been hectic but also extremely amazing. Sold out shows across North America. Bea and Helen had joined them for the European leg and it had been a real family affair with Miguel bringing his wife. Jonah and Helen came to two shows and then rented a car and drove through Italy. They took Bea with them and Helen traveled with the band. Danny made the trip for a few shows. He and Alex made up, which warmed Micah’s heart, and Danny came out for a few songs to play the harmonica. It was absolutely fantastic and Alex made a strong case for Danny joining them for the rest of the tour—and to Micah’s shock and Jo’s logistical frustration, Danny agreed.
All in all, it was a totally different vibe than their last tour through Europe. Though Alex kept their rock street cred alive by punching a Nazi skinhead in Paris. And Micah and Helen had created a very strange but completely satisfying tradition of having sex in backstage bathrooms in arenas all over Europe.
But during that week while Bea was with Daphne and Jonah, something had happened. Something big. And he and Helen were still trying to figure it out. And there were a lot of moving parts, but one thing he knew for sure.
She had to make an honest man out of him.
“How are you guys settling in over there?” she asked. They’d been put in Cabin Nine.
“Helen’s still upside down with jetlag,” he said. Which was true but also a lie. “Is Jonah here?”
“Yeah. I think he’s in the office, go on back.”
“Actually, I’d like to talk to the two of you. You wanna…?” he tilted his head towards the door that led to the rest of the house.
Daphne had not been born yesterday and her eyes went wide and filled with tears.
“Just…” He laughed. “Let me do this before you start crying.”
“Of course,” she said and led him through the dining room and the living room into the small office that she and Jonah shared. It was a big sprawling house full of mismatched furniture and too much junk that they never around to throwing away and so many memories the place nearly glowed.
It was exactly the kind of house he wanted for his family.
My family.
His throat was suddenly thick with emotion.
“Hey, honey,” Daphne said, stepping into the office. Jonah looked up as Daphne crossed the room to kiss his head and then sit on the arm of his chair. “Micah has something he wants to talk about.”
“Yeah?” Jonah asked, his face open. He and Jonah had gone through a journey together, complicated, maybe, by the fact that Jonah really was a fan of his music. But as a man, Micah had to win him over and he liked to think he had. Not by flying them around the world to see concerts. But by steadily and truly loving Helen with all of his heart. “What’s up?”