Falcon Song: A love story (33 page)

Once she went back out, Jason gave Kate a tired smile and said, “You know, Kate. I could have sworn I married you sometime this past week, but in all honesty, the exact logistics of the whole thing evade me. As much as I want to just enjoy being married to you, how would y’all feel about renewing those emergency vows in the church in front of our families and a minister?” He bent to kiss her again.

At length he reminded her, “You didn’t answer about renewing our vows.”

Kate thought about that for a minute and then smiled shyly as she said, “Unless it’s a huge deal to you, Jason, I’d just as soon not. We
are
married, and frankly, I want to be intimate with you more than I want wedding photos. If we do it again, isn’t that going to take a while? I don’t want to put off being together for the sake of a party.”

Jason chuckled. “My, but I like the way y’all think. But won’t you regret that someday?” He smiled as he teasingly went on, “Once the new wears off my body, I mean? Won’t you wish we had wedding photos?”

“I can’t imagine the intrigue about your body wearing off before we’re eighty, but yeah, wedding photos might be nice. How about if we do this. How about if you go find a plane that can get you to Atlanta before your concert in…” She looked at her watch. “A little over three hours. And I’ll round up a photographer and some rings and flowers, and when you come home and Kennen can come home, we’ll take those photos, have a family dinner and then take that honeymoon we talked about. We can be together and you and I and Cody and our families and that very discrete judge will be the only ones who will know exactly when we got married. Hopefully, the rest of the world won’t wonder when we conceived Kennen when the public finally finds out about us. ”

“Kate, the press comes up with so much garbage about us that hopefully the public doesn’t believe a tenth of it. We can’t let what people know or not bother us.”

“You’re good at that, Jason, but I’m still learning. Let’s don’t think about that. Let’s focus on moving on with our lives. What kind of rings do we want?”

“Honey, I’ve had your ring for about four years now. You just worry about a dress.”

“Really? You have?” He nodded and she laughed and admitted, “Well, actually, I’ve had the dress for probably about that same time, so all we need are the flowers. I’ll work on that. But what about the concert? You committed. Now that Kennen is apparently out of the woods, you should be there if there’s any way possible.”

“You’re right. Call me if he gets worse again and I’ll highjack a jet if I have to. Otherwise, I’ll be home sometime in the middle of the night tonight.”

“Jason, I’d love to have you home, but you’re already exhausted. Rest tonight and come home with the guys, and Kennen and I will be way looking forward to you getting here.”

She met his eyes and he kissed her hard again and assured her, “I’m kind of looking forward to that too.” He pulled out his cell phone and she went to get off his lap, but he stopped her. “No, stay here as long as you can. Let me call Scotty and see what he can manage and then I’ll go.” He pushed a number and as the call was taken, he asked for their manager to try to find a flight to Atlanta even if he had to charter something and then before he closed, he asked that Scotty have one of the techs rig up a feed to the band’s website so Kate could watch the concert from the hospital on a computer.

When Scotty called back twelve minutes later to tell Jason he had a plane waiting at the airport in Tulsa, Jason ended the call and then gently pushed her off of his lap, stood up and pulled her up beside him.

They embarrassed the nurse again, but not too bad and neither one of them cared.

Finally, he reluctantly pulled away and leaned in to kiss Kennen and then hustled out the door, leaving Kate feeling ridiculously lonely when he was gone. He’d been at her side almost constantly for the last week. As she thought about that, even though they had been best friends for most of their lives, this last week had cemented their friendship more than the whole rest of the time put together. He was going to be a wonderful husband and father.

The tech had indeed gotten the feed set up for the concert and then the same nurse they’d embarrassed helped her get the computer in the room interfaced with the web, and at eight o’clock that evening, the band who was opening for Aerie came on as Kate held Kennen in the rocking chair in his room.

His fever had just gone up some again and he lay asleep in her worried arms, his tiny body still exhausted from this fight for his life with this virus. She prayed for the ten thousandth time this week, wishing Jason’s calming presence was still here, but knowing he needed to honor his word. As she gently brushed the dark curls off of Kennen’s forehead, she marveled again at how much he looked like his handsome father.

Finally, the opener band left the stage and Kate wondered if Jason had, in fact, made it in time. He’d called her just minutes ago after he’d landed and she knew he was trying to get through the city to the coliseum, but it was going to be close. As she watched, the crowd began to scream and she knew the guys were coming up onto the stage and held her breath, wondering if he’d walk out there.

He didn’t. It was just Cody and the other four, but the crowd went wild anyway and the band went into one of the few songs Cody sang lead on as Kate felt silly for how disappointed she was that Jason hadn’t come out with them. The band just wasn’t the band without him, even as good as the others were.

As their first song ended and the crowd quieted, Cody stepped to the front of the stage and began to speak. He explained that Jason was somewhere trying to get there and Cody told of the last days as Jason and Kate had sat at their baby son’s bedside as he fought for his life in the hospital. Then he asked for a moment of silence for all those within the sound of his voice to pray for their child and you could have heard a pin drop in that huge coliseum of tens of thousands. Tears filled Kate’s eyes at the thought of all those prayers for her small son. How could he not pull through with that many petitioning the Father on his behalf?

When the moment was over, Cody spoke briefly about what a great friend and mentor Jason had been to him over the years and what a great respect he had for him. The love and respect in his voice was obvious as he spoke of how he felt about his friend and partner.

He was still talking as there came the unmistakable rhythmic pound of a helicopter and Cody laughed and pointed to the roof. “I’ll bet there’s our friend now! He’d given y’all his word that he’d be here, and Jason Falcon is a man of his word!” He hit a rockin’ chord on his guitar and the rest of the band took his cue and joined in as he laughed again and yelled, “Let’s get this thing started! I’d like to dedicate this next song to Jason and Kate Falcon. May they ever fly!”

The tears in Kate’s eyes overflowed and trailed down her cheeks. There had been times in her life she’d wanted to strangle Cody, but she loved him like a brother and she knew that in some ways, she owed him her life for taking care of Jason for her. Who knew what would have become of Jason without him?

Kennen began to stir in her arms and she looked down at him and smoothed the IV tubing that was taped into his tiny arm and rubbed a gentle finger across his velvety cheek. His sweet green eyes opened and he gave her the most precious tired smile and turned his face against her chest as she kissed his silken curls. He seemed to be more with it and she hoped and prayed that his fever was breaking again.

A roar went up from the crowd at the concert and she turned back to the screen just in time to see Jason come up the ramp onto the stage, still in the process of strapping on his guitar. The fans were already screaming, but they came unglued as Cody came up to him and gave him an exuberant high five. The two friends embraced as they spoke briefly and then they were back into the song, singing and dancing and entertaining as only Jason and Cody could, and Kate knew the magic had begun again.

Kennen pulled on her arm and she helped him to sit up as he looked at the computer screen and then looked back at her with a sleepy smile and said, “Daee sing to Tennen.”

Still teary with more tender feelings, Kate began to rock him gently as she said, “Yes, sweetheart. Daddy sings to Kennen. You’re his baby Falcon, and you always will be. Falcon’s mate for life, buddy. Some of them for forever.”

The End

About the Author

Kristin Cross was a mostly obedient child—unless her mom wanted her to put her book down. 

She grew up in the Rockies and traveled with her family enough to want to travel more and have adventures in all those exotic looking places on the map that she hasn’t been to—yet. Now, as an adult, she also loves relaxing at home in the mountains and coming up with stories about those places.

Motherhood has been her best time yet, and she wishes she’d had more than just four marvelous children. She loves a good storm, a beautiful sunset, the wind in her face, puppies, and fresh mangos with her shrimp. 

And her husband, DJ. She truly adores DJ. 

Author’s note

Growing up, my dad raised really well bred race horses. To that end, we trailered broodmares all over the country to the stallions. Often, the stallions resided in Texas or Oklahoma, where men are still masculine, women are treasured, and you haven’t lived until you’ve been in a horse barn where even the stall bedding glistens and sparkles.

As a small child I was too wimpy for the spicy Tex-Mex food, but I loved the sassy spirit and, of course, the smoky sexy southern accents from those places. Call me a romantic if you must, but to me, those y’alls are still the stuff heroes are made of.

                                                                                    Kristin