The orchestra played Maurice Ravel’s Carnival Overture. The audience applauded enthusiastically at the end. The applause died down but then swelled again, as Oprah Winfrey strode out onto the stage. She shook hands with the conductor and stepped up to a microphone.
“Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to An Evening Out with The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Backstreet Boys.”
Abby sat in her seat, a thrill of anticipation in her stomach. This was going to be amazing. She’d been at rehearsal all day today because Nick wouldn’t let her out of his sight. She was stunned by what they had put together. Chicago society and then the world were going to get the treat of a lifetime.
“…giving up their time for a worthy cause…” Oprah’s voice continued.
Abby closed her eyes, shutting out the world for an instant. She was the happiest woman on Earth at this moment. She knew that for sure. If she were any happier...no, there was no way she could ever be any happier than she was right now.
Nick and Abby had done the rounds of the cocktail party the night before. Abby renewed her acquaintance with Leighanne and Kristin and introduced Nick to all the volunteers and their husbands or wives. She ignored Ronni completely, but spoke to James once when Ronni’s attention was engaged elsewhere. “You met James last night, of course,” said Abby to Nick.
“We met at your engagement party too,” said James, shaking Nick’s hand.
“Of course…silly me,” said Abby and she gave James a hug.
They talked and mingled and she received three or four more hugs from AJ. She knew the other Boys were wondering what was up with that.
And then they went home.
And then they really talked.
They were awake most of the night. They piled all the pillows up on the bed and snuggled down into their nest. In between rounds of saying ‘I love you’, they talked about everything. Abby nestled in his arm and confided her suspicions and admitted how sorry she was that she hadn’t trusted him. Nick shook his head at Ronni’s tricks. How could he have ever loved such a woman? He was especially unnerved by the business about the condom. That was malicious in the extreme.
“I can’t believe she did that,” said Nick. “Like a little time bomb. Who knows when I would have pulled that out of my pocket?!”
“Well, don’t worry,” said Abby, with a smile. “I got rid of it.”
Nick asked her when she’d figured out that she loved him. He was a little unnerved to discover how close Abby had been to walking out of the wedding. “I get what you’re saying,” he said. “I thought if Kevin said the word ‘love’ one more time…”
They laughed and took a break from their discussion to kiss for a long time.
“Mmm,” said Abby, when Nick moved his head back. “And what about you?”
“I changed my mind every day,” said Nick and explained how he thought he knew how he felt, but he didn’t want to mess with the plan, since it was working out so well.
“Ah yes, the plan,” said Abby and then they both said together, “A deal is a deal.”
“Every time I’d decide for sure that I was going to tell you, you’d mention the plan or the deal or whatever. And I’d change my mind again.” He told her about his idea to tell her at the wedding in front of everyone.
“What happened in May?” said Abby, suddenly. “No, wait. You don’t have to answer that question.”
“Yes, I do,” said Nick. “Yes, I do.” He paused, gathering his thoughts. “Okay, if you hadn’t told me to give Ronni the backstage pass, none of this…”
“What are you talking about?” said Abby. She raised her head off his chest. “I never told you to do that.”
“Yes, you did,” said Nick. He explained Ronni’s phone call. “She said she was calling to see if you were alright because you’d missed a meeting.”
“Baloney!” retorted Abby. “She’d been trying all week to get a pass to the fan conference.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” said Nick. “She said that the two of you were going to go together. And so I asked you. I asked you if you’d talked to her about it.”
“What did I say?” asked Abby. She didn’t remember any of this.
“You said something weird like how you didn’t talk about it with the others, but that Ronni wanted to see Howie again.”
“I must have been delirious from the fever,” said Abby.
“I guess,” said Nick, “but you definitely told me…”
“Okay, okay. It’s my fault.”
“No, it’s Ronni’s fault. She lied about it. I shouldn’t have told her you were too sick to come to the concert.”
“Is there anything I need to know about the concert?” asked Abby, hoping that the answer would be ‘no’ but not really thinking it would be.
“She kissed me,” said Nick, shortly. “And…um…I…I kissed her back.” He explained what happened in the dressing room. “I…I didn’t know…”
“Stop,” said Abby. “She kissed you. You kissed her. End of story?”
“Yeah,” said Nick.
“Then it’s done. Anything else?”
They’d covered the emails earlier and Abby wasn’t even going to bring up the perfume. Just more of Ronni’s nasty tricks, she figured.
“Just this,” said Nick, putting his mouth over hers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~“Abigail,” whispered her mother. Abby looked to her right to see her mother giving her a very disapproving glance. She looked to her left where her Aunt Penelope was barely holding in the laughter.
Her aunt leaned over and whispered in her ear, “small animal noise.”
Abby gave a little snort and picked up her aunt’s hand. She squeezed it and turned her attention back to the stage, where Oprah was finishing her introduction.
“…Maestro Barenboim told me earlier that this week the orchestra had five new instruments. Ladies and Gentlemen, the voices of the Backstreet Boys.”
Penelope Fremont squeezed her niece’s hand and watched five gorgeous men walk out onto the stage. Holy Shit! she thought. Abby won’t be the only one here making animal noises.
The five men shook hands with the two violinist concertmasters and then the conductor. Oprah kissed each of them as she exited the stage. Nick’s eyes roamed the front row until he saw Abby. He gave her a wink and a smile. And then he went to work.
They opened with I Want It That Way. The orchestral arrangement was wonderful…deep and rich.
And I’m going to get to hear them every night, thought Abby with a sigh. Because she was going back on the road. Nick had asked her this morning. School was finished for her, he said, and the tour only had a month or so to go…and he wanted her to be there with him.
Abby didn’t hesitate. “I’d love to,” she said.
Nick talked about the new story and said how much fun they’d have working out the illustrations. As he had predicted, the Boys loved the concept and had readily agreed to the use of their likenesses.
“And after that, Florida,” said Nick. “Our other home is there. I know it will be August and that’s not really…”
“I can’t wait,” said Abby. “I want to be with you in the place that makes you the happiest.”
“That’s in your arms,” said Nick.
He was nearly late for rehearsal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~At intermission, Abby stood in the foyer with her aunt and her parents and listened to the patrons around them gushing about the concert. Candace Walker came up and hugged Abby warmly. “We did it,” she whispered into her ear. “It’s spectacular.”
Spectacular, indeed! thought Abby, as she lay in her husband’s arms later. The concert was a combination of the Boys’ hits, some old standards and some classical pieces, where the Boys did indeed use their voices like instruments, not singing words but merely syllables…bop bop ba…
They finished with Shape of My Heart. The orchestral arrangement was phenomenal with the strings making the song soar. AJ’s final “…my heart” was followed by three seconds of stunned silence and then an uproar as the crowd rose to its feet as one.
The Boys bowed from the waist, shook hands with the conductor and the concert master and left the stage. They came back almost immediately and took another bow. The musicians applauded them in the usual fashion…the string players by tapping their bows on their music stands, the others by clapping their hands. This time, the Boys applauded the conductor and he took a bow. Then they turned their backs to the audience and applauded the orchestra. The conductor gestured to the musicians to rise and they were then included in the applause.
The Boys left the stage along with the conductor. At this point, during a regular concert, the audience would watch the concertmaster carefully. He was the one who determined if the applause was such that another bow was in order or whether people could head for the parking lot. If he stood up, it meant it was over. All the other musicians would stand and exit and so would the audience. If he stayed seated, it meant there was more.
No one was watching the concertmaster. They knew there was more. They were still standing and applauding. The Maestro and the Boys took two more bows. The orchestra rose twice more for acknowledgement. Then Kevin took the microphone and thanked everyone for coming. He thanked Miss Winfrey for hosting the evening and he paid tribute to the fine musicians of the orchestra.
“And I’d especially like to thank Mrs. Abby Fremont-Carter, for bringing us here and giving us the opportunity to try something different. Thanks for sharing your city with us.” Abby smiled at him and nodded her appreciation of his words. His eyes twinkled. “In return, we’ve decided to give you…um…” He looked down the row of Boys. “…Nick. We’ll give you Nick.”
Abby nodded and laughed along with the audience.
“Goodnight, Ladies and Gentlemen,” concluded Kevin, “and thank you.” The Boys left the stage for the last time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~“…Mr. and Mrs. Nick and Abby Carter.”
Nick and Abby walked into the reception hand-in-hand. Stupid really, thought Abby, we’ve been mingling with the guests for an hour already. But she and Nick had made a pact. This was Sharon’s day, not theirs. They would do whatever she wanted them to do.
What she wanted was a cocktail reception, with a formal receiving line. This was to followed by a sit-down dinner with toasts and speeches sprinkled throughout. The evening would conclude with dancing.
Abby sat at the head table with Nick, her parents and Brian and Leighanne. Aunt P. had been invited to sit there as well, but she had declined, saying ‘no thanks, I’d rather sit with the Boys’.
Abby looked out at the guests. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Her eyes traveled across the room. The Walkers…the Howells…the Fentons…James and Ronni…
Closure.
Abby now had closure with Ronni. They had crossed paths earlier in the ladies room. Abby came out of the cubicle to find Ronni fussing with her hair. The two women stared at each other in the mirror for a moment.
“Congratulations,” said Ronni, and then added under her breath, “Ducky.”
Abby looked at the other woman for a moment. Then she spoke. “You know what, Ronni. I’m not the ugly duckling. You are. You have a big, ugly, black hole in your heart. I feel sorry for you. You need help.”
Ronni glared at Abby and shrugged nonchalantly. Abby’s jaw tightened and her eyes bore into Ronni’s. “But if you ever come near my husband again, I will ruin you.”
Ronni could see that Abby meant what she said. She tried to keep a brave face and shrugged again. She pushed past Abby and went out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Nick rose to his feet and took his wife’s hand. It was time for the first dance. On the way to the dance floor, Nick stopped at the microphone. He thanked everyone for coming. He made a joke about how sometimes you have to hang around because there’s a delay between the ceremony and the reception. He figured the delay this time was some kind of record. He thanked Sharon and John for providing them with such a lovely party.
“…and also for providing me with this wonderful woman to be my wife.” He looked down into Abby’s eyes. “You are my God’s graces. You are my ribbons of light. Please shine on me forever.”
Abby turned her face to her husband and reflected his love for her back to him with a smile. Every person in the place had the same thought…she’s beautiful.
The End
