"I'm so happy for the both of you. Savor this moment. Remember this feeling, because it won't always be like this. You'll have ups, you'll have downs." He laughed. "You'll drive each other crazy. But it's worth it if you stick through it. I had so many good years with my wife before she died."
His amused smile settled into a peaceful one; it was also eerily similar to Kellan's. I didn't condone what Kellan's mother had done to him, but I could understand how being around Kellan had been difficult for her-he looked so much like his natural father.
Kellan grasped Gavin's hand with both of his. "Thank you, Dad."
Gavin's eyes widened. Kellan had never called him anything but his name before. Maybe not wanting to break the moment, Gavin simply nodded his head. Or maybe he was too choked up to speak. I know I was.
For the reception part of our wedding, chairs were brought in for everyone to sit on, and we had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Even though it was my idea to get married on Thanksgiving, it was humorous to me, and I had a serious case of the giggles when the nurses started bringing in trays of turkey dinners complete with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry salad, and green bean casserole. And for our "wedding cake," we had pumpkin pie. I guess a potluck with baked beans wouldn't have been so far off the mark after all. But the food didn't matter-just the company did.
Gavin and my father had done an outstanding job with securing the meal. The turkey was tender and moist, the potatoes were rich and buttery, and the pie was to die for. Everyone was celebrating as they ate-celebrating our marriage, and celebrating a day for thanks. Mom and Dad were chatting with Anna and Griffin, Mom securely holding Gibson. Gavin was alternating between catching up with his son and talking to Carly, who seemed very interested in everything Gavin had to say. Evan and Jenny were cuddling in side by side chairs while they ate. Rachel and Matt were sitting next to each other, both of them all smiles. Abby and Denny were discussing something in the corner, while Cheyenne asked Hailey and Riley about the Avoiding Redemption concert. Kate and Justin were sitting on the windowsill with their heads close together as they talked and flirted; their food looked like it hadn't even been touched. Kellan wasn't eating much, but in between giving me a peck or two, he was taking small bites of the potatoes.
It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.
But eventually the good feeling and camaraderie had to end, and people started filtering out. Gavin gave Kellan a warm hug before he left with Hailey and Riley. "As I've said before, son, my home is always open to you. Maybe after your tour is over?"
Hailey bumped his leg. "You promised," she reminded him.
Kellan laughed at his sister. "That would be great. Kiera and I would love to do that." I nodded in agreement when Kellan looked at me. A quiet vacation sounded nice after all of the craziness we'd had lately. Gavin looked happy and at peace as he left Kellan's room. I couldn't be sure, but just outside Kellan's door, I swear I saw Carly writing down her number for him. It made me laugh a little. He was so much like Kellan.
My bridesmaids were next to leave. Giggling, Jenny, Rachel, Kate, and Cheyenne descended on Kellan and me all at once. We were swarmed by arms, hair, laughter, and tears. Jenny gave me a kiss on my head. "Don't you ever wind up in a hospital again, got it?" She looked over at Kellan. "Either one of you."
Kellan's lips curled up in a devious smile. "Guess you're having the baby on the bus, babe."
Jenny's eyes bulged so far I thought they were going to pop out of her head. I immediately reached over and smacked Kellan's arm. "I'm not pregnant! He's joking!" Nobody believed me, and I spent the next several minutes convincing them I was not going to have a baby in nine months. Mom even threatened to make me take a pregnancy test right there at the hospital. Kellan was in a lot of pain as he struggled not to laugh. Served him right. Jackass.
Evan and Matt eventually pulled the girls away. Just as they started ushering them toward the door, Justin said, "Hold up, guys. I'll come with." Kate's topaz eyes sparkled with delight at the idea of spending a few more moments with her rock-star love interest.
Walking up to Kellan and me on the bed, Justin extended his hand to Kellan. "I'm glad you're doing all right, man." As they shook hands, Justin's face grew more serious. "What the label did to you with Sienna was crap. Pure crap. I wouldn't blame you if you dropped 'em." Kellan didn't answer him; I don't think he'd decided what he wanted to do yet. Seeing an answer in Kellan's non-answer, Justin smiled and added, "Next tour, when the D-Bags are headlining arenas, we'll open for you." He pointed over at Deacon and Holeshot as they were leaving the room with the other members of Avoiding Redemption. "We'll both open for you."
Kellan smirked at him. "I'm all for going on tour with you, but we're not going to be headlining stadiums anytime soon."
Justin laughed as he ran a hand through his wildly layered hair. "You sure about that? The D-Bags are on top of the world right now. I'd say your days of playing anything but the large venues are long behind you."
Kellan shook his head, but told him, "Yeah, let's make it happen." Satisfied, Justin headed out with Evan, Matt, and the girls; his fingers were entwined with Kate's as they left the room.
Yawning, exhausted from the day and probably the tryptophan in the turkey, my parents left next. Anna and Griffin went with them. They really didn't have much of a choice, since Mom wasn't relinquishing their child. Anna complained about it as she tried to get Mom to put Gibson into her car seat before they headed downstairs. "Mom, if you hold her nonstop, she's going to get used to it, and I'm never going to be able to put her down!"
Mom rocked Gibson back and forth, clearly not going anywhere near the car seat yet. "She'll be fine, Anna, and I have to hold her. I just have to. I don't get to see her as much as you."
Griffin nodded as he agreed with my mom; I never thought that would happen. "Babies should be held. It helps them form bonds and shit."
Aside from the swearing, I thought he made a good point. But Anna's point was good too. For the first time maybe ever, I wasn't sure which one of the two parents was right. Grinning at Kellan, I was grateful that I didn't have to deal with any of those kinds of questions yet.
After the five of them left the room, closing the door behind them, Denny and Abby were the only ones remaining. Noticing how late it was getting, I asked him, "You guys heading back to the hotel soon?"
Relaxing back in a chair, he nodded as he grabbed Abby's hand beside him. "Yeah, in a minute. Now that everyone is gone, there is something that Abby and I wanted to talk to you guys about."
Remembering what he'd said earlier, I sat up on the bed. "What is it?"
Denny opened his mouth to answer me, but Kellan's phone started ringing. I was going to ignore it, but I recognized the personalized ringtone that meant Sienna was calling him-it was the song "You're So Vain." I'd programmed it into Kellan's phone after the last time Sienna had called him, when she'd ticked us off by refusing to help quell the rumors. Kellan thought it was funny, so he'd left it that way. Plus, I'm pretty sure he didn't know how to change it.
We all looked over to the nightstand where I'd stuffed Kellan's belongings. "Sienna," Kellan muttered. "I wonder what she wants."
Standing up, I hurried around to the other side of the bed. I wondered what she wanted too. Finding the phone in Kellan's plastic bag, I quickly answered it before it could go to voice mail. "Sienna?" I asked.
"Oh, is this Kiera?"
A little bit of heat seeped into my voice upon hearing her accent. Aside from the flowers, this was the first we'd heard from her. "Yeah, Kellan's a little out of commission right now, so I answered his phone for him."
Her voice was instantly remorseful. "I am so sorry. So very, very sorry. I never meant for anything bad to happen to him, to you." She sniffled, and my anger faded a bit.
"You played with people's heads, drummed up a juicy story that wasn't even real. What did you think would happen?"
I heard the light sounds of crying, and my heart softened. "I just wanted to make a splash. I just wanted a little bit of a spotlight. I never wanted him to be chased or hounded. You have to believe me. I never wanted this."
I sighed. I did believe that she didn't want him hurt. I did not believe that she "never wanted this." The circus that we'd found ourselves in was just what she'd wanted. "Hold on, Sienna. I'm going to put you on speaker."
I switched the sound setting on the phone as I placed it on Kellan's lap. "Go ahead," I told her.
Her tinny voice immediately started gushing. "Kellan, love, I'm so sorry about what happened to you. I feel awful, just awful. I don't even know how to fully express how horrid I feel."
Kellan smirked at the phone. "Yeah, I got your flowers," he dead-panned.
Sienna sighed. "Look, I know you don't understand, but everything I'm doing, I'm doing for you, for the both of you."
Denny looked thoughtful while Kellan narrowed his eyes. "You're right, I don't understand."
Voice soft, she told him, "You will never have to worry about being manipulated by me again. I give you my word. And you won't have to worry about Nick either. My contract was up after that last album. I've threatened to walk if he bothers you again."
Shocked, Kellan looked between Denny, Abby, and me. "You . . . what?"
Sounding more put together, Sienna added, "I also spoke with the president of the label, Nick's father. He's none too happy about how his son has been handling things lately. He doesn't want the label associated with scandals. You calling the label out on the radio got his attention. My admitting to him what Nick helped orchestrate . . . well, let's just say that Nick will probably have to get permission to take a piss from now on."
Denny laughed at her comment; Kellan was still floored. I was just . . . confused. "Why would you do that?"
Sienna took a moment before answering. "Because I wronged you-both of you. And I'm trying to make it up to you. I've been stewing about this for days, but I'm going to give a public apology. I'm going to confess my part in what was done to Kellan."
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I stared at the phone, shocked. "You'll lose fans. They'll turn on you. Your career . . . ?"
"I'll bounce back. I always do." Her tone was so sure that I believed it.
"Well, thank you for helping us," I murmured.
In a quiet voice, she confessed, "If you knew everything I did to hurt the two of you, love, you may take that back."
I shook my head. "It's probably better that you never tell me, then."
A throaty laugh escaped her. "Agreed. But I give you my word that I will completely leave your relationship alone from now on."
Kellan frowned at Denny, and I knew the two boys were wondering what I'd already wondered. Had she orchestrated every seemingly random event that had led us to where we were now? I didn't want to give her that much credit, but I knew she was behind a lot more than she'd led us to believe. I highly doubted that any of those photographers who had randomly found us were really random.
As the room processed that, Sienna said, "Is your book done, Kiera? May I give it to my agent?"
I bit my lip. That was a really big question. One I'd been pondering during my brief moments of peace when I could think about my life and what I wanted to do with it. Did I want help from Sienna? She probably could get me places, and it was all about who you know, after all. But, like before, I wondered if that would bite me in the ass. She said the games were over, and she wasn't playing us anymore, but for how long? Walking away from her help felt like the right thing to do. Like Kellan, I wanted to succeed or fail on my own merits. With a knot in my stomach that was surely causing internal damage, I told her, "It's finished, but I, uh . . . I want to do it on my own."
Kellan and Denny both beamed at me. Sienna seemed genuinely shocked. "Really? You think you'll get anywhere that way?"
Happy with my decision, I laughed and said, "I don't know . . . guess we'll see." Maybe I was making a mistake by not letting her crack open a door for me, maybe not. But either way, success or failure, at least I would feel good about the journey.