| |
DAVID
––––––––
TWO WEEKS FLY BY, AND before I know it, we are standing in front of the rocks. I see my dad looking skeptical, and I can only imagine it’s how I looked when I was here the first time.
“Okay, here are the rocks you need. It only lasts a few seconds.”
Dad looks at me. “You have done this?”
I nod. “Several times.”
He nods, and Ivy offers her hand to him. He takes a deep breath and takes it. We walk into the center of the stones before stopping. My dad looks at his skin.
“You feel it?” Ivy asks, and my dad nods.
She counts to three, and they both touch the stone, and I watch them be pulled in. I take a deep breath, count to ten, then touch the stone myself.
The familiar sensation of being pulled, then pushed surrounds me before I end up on the other side.
I look up and see my dad looking around and relax when he sees me.
“It doesn’t look much different, but it sounds different.”
I smile. “Wait until you see the TV.”
***
WATCHING MY DAD WITH his grandkids was amazing. Anna never lets him do anything with Scott, but with Adam and Clara, he was able to be as hands-on as he wanted, and I caught him crying a few times. He is their only living grandparent, and he wants to spoil them as much as possible, so he was learning everything he could. He hated having to come back here just as much as I did.
That was eight months ago. Today, I am heading back through the rocks, back to my Ivy with a huge surprise for her that I have been putting in motion. This is another time the world thinks I am in rehab, so I have six weeks with not only my girl but also my kids.
Once back in 2019, I take in the new changes on Ivy’s street. There is a new house getting ready to be built, but otherwise, it looks almost the same as the first time I was here.
I knock on the door and hear the kids yelling, “Daddy!” and the sound of running feet, making me laugh.
When Ivy opens the door, she takes my breath away. She looks even more beautiful than the day we met; maybe it’s because I love her more today. Or maybe it’s because she has Clara on her hip and looks like everything I always picture as a mom.
“David, you don’t have to knock. This is your home. You are always welcome, announced or not, but keep in mind, I know you are coming most of the time.”
“I can tell.” I laugh as I swoop Adam in my arms and head inside. I help Ivy put the kids to bed, and Brian and Kevin come home just as we are sitting down on the couch.
“So, I have good news.”
Ivy’s face gets so hopeful that I almost wonder if she already knows.
“I found a way to take care of you and the kids.”
“David, we have everything we need.”
“I know, but I can’t explain it. There is this need to take care of you three and any future kids we may have. They will never be tied to the Miller name or legacy, and I feel like they are getting gypped because of it. Come on, I want to show you something.”
I pull her into our bedroom. Brian and Kevin follow but stop at the door.
“Umm, is this some sexy ‘got to show you’? Because we need a ten-minute head start to get downstairs,” Brian asks.
I laugh. “Come on.”
I walk over to my footlocker. “Remember when I asked you about the footlocker? It’s because it drew my eyes. It looks just like the one I had in the Army, scratch on the side and all. I opened it and look.” I show them the small D. Miller in the corner, and all three gasp.
“But it belonged to my grandparents!”
“Because I was up there a few months ago and gave it to them with instructions to pass it down to one of their grandkids but not tell them it was mine, knowing they will only have one, you.”
“David, that may be so. Now it just means so much more to me, and I could never get rid of it.”
“I know, sweet girl, but did you know it has a false bottom?”
I see the confusion on her face, so I know she didn’t. I start to pull out the items she has in there and then pull out the false bottom.
“Knowing you had it and about the bottom, I filled it with some things after I talked to Brian last time I was here.”
I pull out some signed records, a letter to my son, and the missing gold record album that no one could track down. It included a letter addressed to Ivy’s grandparents, thanking them for their hospitality, advice, and home cooking. The names are a bit smudged and no last names were used, so this will eliminate any doubt about why it has gone missing.
I hear three gasps behind me when I pull out the gold record.
“David, is that... is that the missing record?” Ivy whispers.
“Yes, with a letter to your grandparents. Names smudged with no last name as to why I gave it to them. Well, the public reason.”
I made sure to smudge the names so if the letter gets in the hands of the public, it can’t be traced back to Ivy.
“If Ivy shows up with that anywhere, the press will surround her and dig into her and her family, the kids, us,” Brian says with his eyes still on the record.
“I figured, so I have a plan for that too.”
“Care to share it with us?” Kevin asks.
I place the items back and close up the footlocker. “Let’s go to the living room.”
As we sit down, I pull Ivy onto my lap, needing her close.
“I need you guys to trust me on this. My son is getting a letter right now from the trust of the estate. It explains who I gave the album to and why, which will match up to the letter in the footlocker. It says not to ask questions but to come to this address. He will buy the items from you and place them in the museum, and it will be listed as an anonymous source who found it in their grandparents’ things they were going through after they died.”
“He’s going to have questions, and what if he remembers me!”
I laugh. “Ivy, he’s five now. Was four when you saw him last.” I shake my head. “He’s how old now? In his fifties? You think he’s going to remember you?”
“He’s fifty-seven, and I guess not.” She sighs.
“See, trust me, I’ve thought this out. You will see. Now tell me everything I have missed.”
We talk and chat the rest of the night before I take Ivy to bed and make up for lost time.
The rest of my time in 2019 seems to fly by. I fall into a routine helping with the kids, meals, nap times, bath times, bedtimes, and hours of making love to Ivy.
I find out the house being built down the street is Brian and David’s in preparation for me coming to live here. This way, they’ll be close, but they give us our space. I hear Adam will be starting kindergarten in September, so I make plans to come back to be here for that. I am so excited that it is a first I get to see in person. I’m sure my dad will want to be there for that as well, so we plan to make that happen.
I will be finishing up my last tour. No one knows it’s my last, but it will be. I made sure I will be home working on my next album during August of 1969. I am making plans and wrapping things up. It’s weird to plan your own fake death, hoping it won’t be your real one, but as I watch my kids dance to one of my songs, I know it’s the right move for them and me.
