In Your Arms

By: Lizzie

© Lizzie 2001

 

One

 

            “Amerika…where the hell are you? You are supposed to be here at my office 20 minutes ago!” Johnny yelled over the phone

            “Hmm, let me guess…where any 20 year old would be at 4 in the morning…how about ASLEEP!” I said trying to control my voice and not wake up Macy my roommate, “I told you that I would be in at 6…no earlier, no later!” I hung up the phone and went back to sleep.

            At 5 am I woke up again and took my shower and got dressed and preceded to Johnny’s office. Johnny is the manager of some really important musical groups, one of them is my all time favorite…*N SYNC. I have been working for Johnny for about 3 years and would you believe that I have yet to meet Johnny’s most famous group?! When I got to the office, there were a pile of papers for me to sort through and get to Johnny for his 7:30 meeting with *N SYNC. I had less than 20 minutes to get all of the papers ready and in his hands. As I was rushing to his office I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and I bumped into someone and all of the papers that I had in my hands went falling onto the floor. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry.” I said stooping down to pick up the mess that I made. As I looked up, I realized that I bumped in my favorite *N SYNC guy, Lance Bass. I mean this guy is totally hot and I thought that I would never get a chance to meet him. But this wasn’t the way that I planned on meeting him if I ever got a chance.

            “No, it was my fault…let me help you with that.” Lance said after a brief pause.

            “I’m so embarrassed, this isn’t the first impression that I wanted to make when I first met you.” I said

            “You know who I am?” Lance asked with a puzzled look on his face

            “Of course I do…you’re Lance Bass of *N SYNC, and my FAVORITE group member.”

            “I see.” He said, “I hope that this isn’t too forward, but who are you?”

            “Let’s walk and talk before I get you in trouble for being late for your meeting with Johnny.” I said

            “How did you know that I had a meeting with him?”

            “I’m Johnny’s right hand gal…more like the Go-For girl. I’ve been working with him for about 3 years.” I said with a laugh

            “Oh, so you took Karma’s spot when she left.” Lance said as he opened the office door to let me walk in first

            “Where have you been, Amerika? I’ve been waiting for those papers for like 10 minutes!” Johnny said

            “Calm down Johnny, it was my fault. I bumped into her and then helped her pick up the papers.” Lance said as he took his seat next to Justin and J.C.

            “Right, so let’s get this meeting started.” Johnny said

            “Johnny, before we start, don’t you think that we should know who this Amerika person is?” Justin asked, “I don’t mean to sound rude or anything.”

            “That’s ok.” I said when he looked at me

            “Right…this is Amerika. She’s been working with me for about 3 years.”

            “She has been here for that long and we haven’t met her until now?” J.C. asked as he poured some water into a glass

            “Well, she’s usually off in New York or California working but I decided to move her here.”

            “I see.” They all said

            “It’s nice to meet all of you.” I said as I passed out their itineraries for their next tour.

            “Thank you.” Lance said when I handed him the stack of papers

            “You’re welcome.” I said with a smile

            “Ok, let’s get down to business. We have a 3 month US concert tour and then you have 4 weeks off then you have a 3 month European concert tour then about 2 weeks off then the 2 part of the US tour.” Johnny said flipping through the papers that I gave him, “Any questions?”

            “Yeah,” Chris said, “When do we start and how long are we going to be at each place?”

            “Hum, look in the packet.” Justin said

            “Ok…wow, this is really detailed.”

            “I should hope so. Kay has been working on it for about 3 months and stayed up until 2 in the morning the past 2 weeks finalizing everything.” Johnny said

            “Who is Kay? Is she another new person here?” Joey asked

            “I’m Kay.” I said from the other end of the table.

            “Wait, I thought that your name is Amerika…” Joey said

            “It is, but I also go by Kay and Em.”

            “Oh ok.”

            “We have 6 months before the tour starts. Rehearsals are going to be tough and long, like usual. You also have a whole lot of press junk-its that you have to do to promote the tour and the CD.” Johnny said

            “Right…the first one is in two weeks on Good Morning America.” I said, “You leave for New York in 5 days and will then fly to California to do the Jay Leno Show and a few radio station interviews.”

            “Wow, look at Miss Take Charge…” Johnny smirked.

            “Well someone has to be the responsible one around here…sometimes your run around like a chicken with his head cut off…”

            “Ooooo, she told you!” Justin laughed

            “Wow, a take charge woman…I like that.” Lance said as he smiled at me.

            The meeting continued for about another 1 and a half and ended at 9:30. I left before the meeting was over because I had some other things to take care of.

            “Hey Johnny, can I ask you something about Amerika?” Lance said

            “I guess so…what do you want to know about her?”

            “Nothing too personal, It’s just she made a comment to me when I bumped into her and I wanted to know if there was any validity to it.”

            “Well what did she say?”

            “Something along the lines of I was her favorite *N SYNC member…have you overheard her talking to anyone else about that?”

“As a matter of fact, she was talking to Christi…you know how Christi likes gossip, but I heard Kay going on and on and on about you. Then they stopped when I walked in the room, so I didn’t hear all of their conversation.”

            “Really…do you know if she is seeing anyone?”

            “Not that I know of, but Christi would know. Why? Do you have a thing for her?”

            “She just seems really nice and I want to get to know her better. That’s all.”

            “Right…well just ask Christi, she’ll tell you everything that you want to know about Kay.”

Two

 

            “Ok, so where is Christi?” Lance asked

            “She should be at her desk, but if she isn’t, then check in the lounge.” Johnny said as he picked up his papers.

            “Ok, I’ll see you at the next meeting…by the way, when is the next meeting?”

            “Oh, I forgot to tell the other guys that we will be meeting at 10 a.m. the day before you leave for New York. Can you tell them?”

            “Sure, I’ll see you then.” Lance said as he walked out of Johnny’s office

            As Lance walked down the hall he heard Christi and me talking about when I bumped into him. “So let me get this straight,” Christi said, “You actually bumped into Lance Bass?”

            “Right, I felt sooo stupid. I was actually more embarrassed that I bumped into him than loosing the papers out of my hands.” I continued

            “So, what is he like in person? I mean, is he as cute in person than on T.V. or in the magazine pictures?”

            “My GOD, T, he is sooo HOTT!!”

            “Really? I bet you were thinking how he kisses, huh?”

            “No, I was actually telling myself to breathe.” I said laughing, “Oh man, what time is it?”

            “It’s 11:30, why?”

            “I’m supposed to meet Deborah for lunch to talk about the rest of the tour. I gotta go. I’ll see you tonight at 6 p.m. for dinner.”

            Lance stepped into an open office to hide himself as I walked passed. Then he slipped by Christi’s desk casually. “Oh, Christi. I didn’t see you there.” Lance said playing off the fact that he heard most of the conversation. “I wanna ask a favor of you?”

            “As long as it’s not for money then you can ask anything.” Christi said

            “I wanted to know something about Amerika.”

            “Like what?” Christi said shifting her position in her chair

            “Johnny told me that she talks a lot about me, and I wanted to know if…” Christi cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

            “You wanted to know how Em really feels about you? Right?”

            “Yeah, and I wanted to know if she is seeing anyone.”

            “She really likes you, but it’s more like the I want to get to know you better before I confirm my true feelings, type of things. No she isn’t seeing anyone. She actually has never had a boyfriend. I don’t even think she has really dated too much either.”

            “Oh really, why hasn’t she had a boyfriend?”

            “She’s looking for the perfect guy. I keep telling her that she will be searching for the rest of her life if she is so determined to find the perfect guy.”

            “Wow, are her standards that high?”

            “No, it’s just that…well, she is looking for someone who is more like you.”

            “What do you mean?” Lance asked with a puzzled look on his face

            “Em has a lot in common with you. Other than being one of the youngest employees here, she graduated top of her class in Business Management and she has a lot of goals set in life and tries really hard to meet them.”

            “Really, Business Management. Does she want to be a manager or something like that?”

            “Yeah, she does. She really has an eye and ear for good music. She’s always the second or third to hear your tracks when you guys finish them.”

            “Really, she that good huh?”

            “Yeah. Hey I just had an idea, I am supposed to meet her for dinner tonight and if you aren’t too busy we can make it sort of like a group thing.”

            “Well, I could see if the other guys are up to it. I’m pretty sure that they will be though.”

            “Ok, here’s the number where you can reach me at.” Christi wrote down the number and gave it to Lance, “I have to go now, but call me if you will be able to come.”

            “Ok, I’ll see you later. Thanks for the info on Em.” Lance left and bumped into Justin and J.C. on the way to the elevator.

            “Hey Lance, where have you been.” Justin asked

            “Oh, I was talking to Christi about something. What are you guys doing for dinner tonight?”

            “Nothing why?” they said

            “Christi invited us to dinner with her and Amerika. Do you wanna go?”

            “Sure.” J.C. said

            “Lance has a crush on Amerika…” Justin sang as they got off the elevator

            “No I don’t…” Lance said turning 2 shades of red

            “Then why did you turn red in the face when I said that?” Justin said

            “Can we just get off this topic…” Lance said

            “Alright…what time is dinner so that I can tell Joey and Chris?”

            “Meet at my house at 5:30…dinner is at 6. I’m not sure where though. Christi told me to call her when I knew if we would be going.”

            “Ok, see you then.” Justin and J.C. said when they got to the parking lot. They went to their separate cars and left.

 

~1 hour later~

 

            “Hey Em, guess who I talked to today after you left?” Christi said over the phone

            “I don’t know…who?” I said

            “Lance…he was asking about you.”

            “What? What did he want to know about me?” I asked

            “He asked if you had a boyfriend and how you felt about him…”

            “What did you say?”

            “I told him that you were a lesbian…”

            “WHAT?!? Why did you say that?”

            “I’m joking. I told him that you didn’t have a boyfriend and that you wanted to get to get to know him better.”

            “Oh, ok. So what are we going to do for dinner tonight?” I asked

            “I kinda invited Lance and the others along for dinner. Is that alright with you?”

            “Sure it is. Oh, and I can bring Macy along…she wants to meet J.C.” I said

            “Don’t you mean she wants to have his children??” Christi laughed

            “Yeah, that’s true,”

            “Hold on, someone’s beeping in on me…it could be Lance.”

            “Oh then call me later and tell me what’s going on.” I hung up with Christi and began to clean the house that I shared with Macy, one of my other friends from school. I have actually known her for about 6 or 7 years. Macy gets home from work and she goes straight into her room and talks on the phone to her friends that she just left like 5 minutes before. Today however, she didn’t do that. I wasn’t home when she got home because I went to get some new clothes and I left a note telling her that she was going to get a chance to meet J.C.

            “Em are you serious? I’m going to meet J.C.?” Macy asked me over the phone.

            “Yeah, we are going out to dinner with the guys tonight. Be ready to leave at 5:30. If Christi calls get the info on where we are going to meet and whatever else she tells you.”

            “Ok, I gotta get reedy. I’ll see you later.”

            “Ok, I’ll be home in like 30 minutes.”

Three

 

~2 hours later~

 

            “Macy, hurry up!! We’re going to be late.”

            “It’s not my fault that I wanna look good for J.C.” Macy said coming out of the bathroom

            “We’re only going to The Hard Rock Café…not Spagos…” I said walking out of the front door. “I’ll be in the car and if you aren’t there in 5 minutes then you have to take your own car!!”

            “Hey, wait up. I’m ready to go.” Macy said following me out the door.

            We arrived at Christi’s house and left my car there. Then we all drove to The Hard Rock Café and waited to the guys to show up. 10 minutes later Justin and Elaine arrived. “Hey T, who is that with Justin” I asked

            “That’s his girlfriend Elaine…they’ve been together for about 12 or 13 months.”

            “Don’t they look cute together??” Macy asked

            “Yeah they do.”

            “Hi Justin and Elaine" Christi said

            “Hi…where is everyone else?” Elaine asked

            “They should be coming…look here come J.C. and Joey.”

            “Macy…better make sure that your hair is alright for J.C. You don’t want to make a bad first impression…”

            “Oh, like you did with Lance?” she told me

            “Don’t remind me…”

            “Hey people, ready to go in…” Joey said

            “Not yet, we are still waiting for Lance and Chris…oh never mind, we can go in now, they’re here.” Christi said, “Hi Chris.”

            “Hi Baby.” He said as he gave her a hug

            “When did you two get together?” Macy asked

            “Last month while you and Amerika were in California we got together.”

            “And you didn’t bother to tell me…I’m hurt!” Macy continued

            “I think we should get to know everyone…there are some people that I don’t know.” I said

            “Right, that’s a good idea.” J.C. said

            “Ok, I’ll start. This is my friend Macy and I am Amerika.”

            “Ok, this is my girlfriend Elaine.” Justin said

            “I think we know who everyone else is…so let’s go in.” Christi said

We walked in side and I was about to sit down when Christi pulled me over to the side. “Hey why don’t you sit next to Lance?”

            “I guess so, but isn’t that a little too obvious?”

            “No. Look, Macy is sitting next to J.C., Justin and Elaine are sitting next to each other, Chris has the seat next to him for me, Joey is off flirting with some girl. Just go sit next to Lance!”

            “Ok fine.” We walked back to the table. Lance and Chris stood up when we got there and we sat in the remaining chairs.

            “So what do you guys want to eat?” Christi asked, “The waitress is on her way over.”

            “It doesn’t matter to me.” I said as the waitress stopped next to me.

            “2 Margaritas…” Chris said

            “I’ll have a Shirley Temple.” I said

            “Make that two.” Lance said

            “2 of anything that has strawberries in it..."Justin said

            “J.C. what do you want?” Christi asked

            “Hum…how about another Margarita…” J.C. told the waitress

            “I’ll just have a Shirley Temple too.” Macy said

            “Ok, I’ll be back in 15 minutes with your drinks.”

            “Christi, what time is that movie playing tonight?” I asked

            “Oh…wait which one?”

            “Um…American Outlaws.”

            “Oh, the last showing is at 10 p.m. do you want to see it tonight? We can all go if guys want to.”

            “Sure.” We all said. Our drinks came and we sat around talking and laughing.

            “What are you doing for your birthday next week?” Macy asked me

            “I don’t know. I’m gonna be in New York with the guys so I’ll probably find something to do.”

            “Your birthday’s next week? How old are you going to be?” Lance asked

            “The Big 2-1…” I said, “We could go to just do something at the hotel…you know just a little thing…nothing too big.”

            “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” Christi asked

“Yeah, then when we get to California, we can party in style. I know a really great club there.”

            “Ok, sounds like a plan.” Lance said as he winked at me.

“Think we should leave at 9 so that I can drop my car off at home.” I said slightly blushing.

“Ok, where do you live at…we can meet you there and leave together?” Lance said

“On 15^th Street and Orchid…”

“You live in those town houses?” he asked

“Yeah…why?”

“I was thinking about getting the one right by the beach…maybe I should.”

“Maybe…”

“Hey, look who finally decided to join us…Joey…” Justin said

“Kate…is that you?” I asked

“Amerika…where have you been gurl??” she asked as she gave me a hug.

“You 2 know each other?” Joey asked

“Yeah, we went to school together…it was me, Macy and Kate…”

“Really, that’s cool. So what’s the plan for tonight?” Joey asked

“We are going to the movies at 10...wanna come?”

“Sure. What are we going to see?” Kate asked

“American Outlaws…”

“Alright, we’ll meet you there at 9:45.” Joey and Kate left.

We left the Café and headed to Christi’s house to pick up my car and then to my house. Macy and J.C. were flirting the entire time and it was getting just a little annoying. They all came into my house and waited while I grabbed my jacket and Macy went to change her clothes. “Ok, let’s to the movies.” Lance

“I got shot gun in J.C. car…” Macy said

“What ever…I’m going with Lance, so it doesn’t matter.”

When we got to the theater Joey and Kate already bought the ticket so we just went in. We all separated into our own little sections of the room to “watch” the movie. Lance and I sat in the very back, Kate and Joey sat in the middle, Christi and Chris sat on the left side, Justin and Elaine sat in the front somewhere, and J.C. and Macy were on the right side.

 

~2 hours later~

 

“That was a good movie…” I said

“I didn’t watch too much of it…” Macy said

“Neither did I.” Lance said

“Did anyone watch the movie?” Justin asked

There were a sea of no’s as we walked out of the theater. “Em, I’m going to go back to J.C.’s…I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Ok, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I said.

Four

 

            Lance came back to my house since it was closer to the beach and we made plans to go there tomorrow. “So what do you wanna do?” I asked as I put some food away in the kitchen.

            “We could always watch another movie…” he said

            “Yeah we could…or we could…” I said as he leaned over the counter and kissed me…

            “I’ve wanted to do that since we left the theater…” Lance said

            “Really…so have I…” we kissed again I walked over to the T.V. and put on “Me, Myself and Irene”

            “I really liked this move when I saw it in the theaters.” Lance said

            “So did I…” I sat on the sofa and Lance sat next to me. He put his arm around me and I put my head on she shoulder. 20 minutes into the movie the phone rang and I got up to answer it. “Hello Johnny…” I said

            “How did you know it was me?”

            “Caller ID…I don’t mean to sound rude but I have company over, so what do you want?”

            “Can you come in tomorrow?”

“On a Saturday? I kinda made plans with Lance to go to the beach and hang out.”

“Ok, then it can wait until Monday.” Johnny said, “Have a nice weekend.” I hung up the phone and went into the kitchen and grabbed 2 sodas out of the fridge and went back to the living room.

“Johnny wanted you to go in tomorrow?” Lance asked when I came back

“Yeah…the nerve of him. The weekend is my time for fun.” I said

“I know what you mean. I really cherish the time that I have off.”

 

~The next day~

 

            Macy and J.C. came back to the house and Lance and I were kissing right by the fridge. J.C. opened the front door and slammed it close. Lance and I both jumped and Macy laughed… “Caught in the act of making out…in the kitchen no less.” J.C. laughed

            “I don’t think that I will look at the kitchen the same way again.” Macy said

            “Oh, please…the only time you go into the kitchen is to get food!” I said

            “Isn’t that what the kitchen is for?” JC asked

            “Oh, whatever. So what’s the plan for today?” Macy asked as she grabbed an orange and began to peal it

            “I don’t know about you and J.C., but Lance and I have a lot planned…”

            “Really, what?” J.C. asked

            “Stuff…whatever we want to do on our day off.” Lance said

            “Oh so you mean that you are going to sleep?” Macy said

            “Em is the same way as Lance? They are perfect for each other…Lance loves to sleep in on days off.”

            “So do you.” Lance said

            “That’s true…”

            “So what are you and J.C. doing?” I asked Macy

            “I have no idea…probably just sleep; we didn’t get too much of that last night with the party that we went to…”

            “You went to a party and didn’t take me?!?”

            “Yeah…I thought that you and Lance would want to be alone.” J.C. said

            “Well…what ever. I’m gonna go take a shower…help yourself to whatever is in the fridge.” I said as I walked out of the kitchen. Lance grabbed my arm to stop me

            “You aren’t leaving that fast…I haven’t gotten my morning kiss.” He smiled evilly at me.

            “Looks to me that’s all that you been doing since last night.” J.C. said

            “Right…” Macy said in agreement

            “Whatever…” I said

            “So, do I get my kiss?” Lance asked

            “Not in front of the children…follow me.” I took Lance’s hand and we went into my bedroom, then I closed the door behind us.

            “I wonder what they are doing in there?” JC asked, “Let’s go see…” They walked over to the door.

            “Damn, she locked the door. I should have known that she would do that.”

            “So where is your room at?” J.C. asked walking around the house

            “Over here…wanna see it?”

            “Of course I do.” They walked to Macy’s room and closed the door behind them.

Five

 

            “Ring the door bell before you walk into someone’s house…” Justin said to Chris

            “Well we know that they are home because their cars are here.” Chris said

            “Never mind, I’ll do it…” Justin said pushing the bell.

            “Did you just hear something?” I asked Lance as I opened my bedroom door, “I thought I heard the doorbell.”

            “No, I didn’t hear anything.” Lance said, “Come let’s finish this…” I closed the door again

            Justin rang the doorbell 3 or 4 times, then Christi finally found the spare key and opened the door. “Is anyone home?” they said

            Macy and J.C. walked out of her room then a couple of minutes later Lance and I walked out of my room. “Well well, what do we have here?” Joey said

            “I know…it looks like someone has been shacking up with the Boss’s helper.” Justin said looking at me and Lance

            “And…” we said. Lance sat on the sofa and I sat on his lap.

            “What about J.C. and Macy…they did stuff too…I heard them all the way in my room!!” I said

            “You mean that you heard us over all that noise that was coming from your own room??”

            “It’s called a radio!!!” I said, “You should try using it sometime.”

            “Ok enough of this porno stuff. It’s noon…time for lunch.” Elaine said

            “Ok…I never did take that shower like I said I wanted to.” I looked at Lance, “It’s all your fault…”

            “But you did have fun didn’t you??”

            “Yeah I did. Let me get dressed and then we can leave.”

            “Macy are you going to join us for lunch?” Kate asked

            “Yeah…Em, can I borrow that red top of yours?”

            “You never gave it back the last time you borrowed it…it’s somewhere in your closet. Help yourself to whatever you find in the kitchen.” I said as I went into my room

            20 minutes later we left my house and went to a little beach café for lunch and then we went to an amusement park. “What do you guys want to do first?” J.C asked us

            “I wanna play some games…” I said

            “We wanna go on some rides…” Kate and Elaine said

            “Ok, let’s meet here one hour from now to go do something as a group, then we can split up again.” Lance suggested. We all shook our heads in agreement and went about our separate ways. Occasionally we bumped into the others, but we mostly stayed on our own. At 3 p.m. we met to go on a couple of rides together then we split again.

“Sir, which stuffed animal do you want?” the man asked Lance

            “Which one do you want Em?” Lance asked

            “That one…” I said pointing to the little Dalmatian dog. “I can call him PooFu…after you.” The man handed me the dog and we went to the next game booth.

            “That’s soo sweet.” Lance said as he gave me a kiss. “Let’s go on a ride…” we walked over to this little ride called Lovers Lane and got in line.

 

~The next week~

 

            “I hope you guys had a restful weekend.” Johnny said, “But we leave tomorrow. Amerika, I want you to leave tonight and make sure that everything is in order in New York and call me if there are any problems.”

            “Ok.” I said as I took some notes

            “We have 3 extra tickets and you guys have to decide whose gonna go.”

            “The person that I want to go is already going.” Lance said smiling at me. I blew Lance a kiss.

            “Is Christi going?” Chris asked.

I could tell that the question was directed at me so I answered…“Yeah…she’s going with me tonight.”

            “Ok…then I guess that leaves Joey, Justin and J.C. to decide whose going to go with them.”

            “That’s a no brainer…their girlfriends…” Lance said

            “That’s right.” Justin said hitting his hand up against his head

            “So, Em, what are you going to do for your birthday?” Chris asked, “It’s on Thursday, right?”

            “Yeah, but I’m just going to wait until we get to California to celebrate it.”

            “Ok…so you’re going to have a party.” Johnny commented

            “I have no idea. Probably just go to a club or something like that.”

            “This is for you.” Johnny said handing me a rather large box, “Since I won’t be around for your birthday.”

            “Thanks.” I said as I opened the box, “wow, that’s a really nice bag…it even has my initials on it. Thanks.” I gave Johnny a hug

            “Your welcome.” He said slightly blushing and then glanced up at Lance and released me from the hug, “I guess I should tell you when your flight leaves.”

            “That would be nice,” I said sitting back in my chair.

            “You leave at 10 p.m. and arrive at 1 a.m. the rest of the stuff that you need to know is in this packet. I already gave one to Christi.”

            “Ok, then should get going. I have some other things to do. See you guys in New York.” I gave Lance a kiss and left out of the office.

 

~3 years later~

 

            “Hey Amerika, when were you going to tell me that you were getting married?” Macy asked me over the phone

            “What are you talking about? I’m not getting married.”

            “Carson just announced it on TRL…he said that you and Lance were getting married.”

            “What…there must be some kind of mistake. I’ll call you later when I find out what’s going on.” I hung up the phone and went into Johnny’s office. “Lance, what are you doing here? I thought that you guys were supposed to be in San Diego. Where’s Johnny at?” I gave Lance a hug and kiss

            “I came here to see you, we are supposed to be in San Diego…in fact I came back to get you to come back with me, and Johnny went to…hell, I don’t know where he went.”

            “Did you see TRL today?” I asked as I looked out the window over the Atlantic Ocean.

            “Yeah, why?” he asked

            I turned around and Lance was standing in front of me with a ring in his hand. “You mean that Carson didn’t make a mistake when he said the you and I were getting married?”

            “Only if you say yes and take the ring…”

            “Of course I will marry you.” Lance slipped the ring on my finger and Johnny came back in the office.

            “What’s going on in here?” Johnny asked

            “We’re getting married!!” Lance and I said

            “Really, so Carson was right?”

            “Yeah…I called him earlier this morning and told him.”

            “What if I would have said no?” I asked

            “But you wouldn’t…I know you too well.” Lance said as he kissed me.

Six

 

“So, when are you and Lance going to officially go public with this?” Johnny asked

“Lance and I decided to hold off on going public with our engagement, even though Carson announced it on TRL this morning. We still have our own things that we have to do and so we are going to wait.”

“I see…” was all that Johnny could manage. He was still shocked that we were actually going to get married. I mean everyone in the group saw it coming, but we figured that Justin and Elaine would be the first to get married since they’ve been together the longest.

“Are ready to go back to California with me?” Lance asked pulling me into a hug

“Yeah, I just have to go by the house and pick up a few things…what time is the return flight?”

“In 2 hours. Is that enough time?”

“More than enough. Johnny I’m gonna leave early and I don’t know when I’ll be back, but e-mail whatever needs to be done and I’ll do it.”

“Ok, have fun.” Johnny said as we walked out of his office

“I should tell Macy, but she has a big mouth.”

“Well what are you going to tell her?”

“I’ll make up something…eventually she’ll understand.”

We walked to the elevator and went to the parking lot and then headed to my house to get some things.

“What do you think our parents will say when they hear the news from someone other than us?” I asked

“They’ll dismiss it as a rumor like they do other things that they hear and they don’t come from us.”

“I guess your right.” We got to my house and Macy was gone to work. “I’ll just leave a note for her and then we can leave.”

30 minutes later we left for the airport and were on the plane to California. 3 hours later we arrived in California. J.C. and Justin picked us up.

“Hey Em…how was the flight?” J.C. asked me as he gave me a hug

“It was ok, but I am so tired. I just want to go to the hotel and sleep for a while.”

“Ok, we have about 6 hours before the sound check but we have a radio interview with KIIS FM.” Justin said

“Ok let’s go so that Em can get some sleep.” Lance said

We got to the hotel and I went to Lance’s room and I went to lie down on the bed. “We’ll be back here at about 3 p.m. and then we can leave for the concert.” Lance said

“Ok, tell everyone else I said hi. Oh and tell JoJo that I said hi too. Say that Santa Monica Toe Girl said hi…he'll know who you’re talking about.”

“Ok if you say so…” Lance gave me a kiss and then they left.

 

~The KIIS FM Radio interview~

 

            At 12 p.m. I turned on the radio and tuned into 102.7 KIIS FM to hear the interview.

“Ok people this is JoJo On The Radio and of course you know that we have *N SYNC here with us this afternoon…wow, listen to all of those girls scream…”

            “Yeah this is soo awesome!!” Justin said

            “I’m sure that you were all watching TRL when Carson made his announcement that Lance was getting married.” JoJo said, “So, man…tell us if there is any truth to what Carson said”

            “Well, before I answer that, Santa Monica Toe Girl said hi…she said that you would know who she was.”

            “Really, I haven’t talked to her in like 4 or 5 years…how do you know her?” JoJo asked

            “That’s my girlfriend, Amerika.” Lance said with a laugh

            “No way, you’re dating Santa Monica Toe Girl, she was like my number one listener.”

            “Yeah, they have a really wild love affair going on…” Justin said

            “So tell us man, are you getting married or not?”

            “Eventually we would like to get married, but not right now.”

            “That’s great man. So what has she been up to?”

            “Well, she’s here in Cali, actually in San Diego…”

            “Let’s call her!!” Chris yelled

            “Get off me Joey!” J.C. yelled

            “Man you guys gotta see this, Joey is jumping on J.C. back and Justin and Chris are playing keep away with Producer Tony with the Hacky Sack.” JoJo said, “So do you wanna call her and see if she’ll talk to us?”

Before they even picked up the phone, I called Lance on his cell phone. “Someone’s ringing…how rude!!” JoJo said

“That’s Lance going off…I think that Amerika is calling him,” J.C. said after he finally got Joey off of his back

“Well answer it…” JoJo said

Seven

 

“Ok, fine.” Lance said. He picked up his cell phone and clicked it on, “Bass speaking…” there was laughing in the background at the way Lance answered his phone. He had a feeling that I was the one calling, but he just wanted to be on the safe side.

“Hi Baby, I’m listening to you guys on the radio…tell JoJo to mind his own business, he doesn’t need to know if we are getting married.”

“JoJo, Em wanted me to tell you to mind your own business.”

“Oh, and tell him to call the hotel so that I can be on the air.” I continued, “Don’t forget to give them the room number too.”

“Hey, Lance, tell her that we are going to call the hotel so that she can be on the air…wait, isn’t she listening to us right now?” JoJo asked

“Yeah, she is. Em, they said that they are going to call you right now.”

“Ok, I love you.” I said

“I love you too.” Lance hung up the phone and then my hotel room phone rang.

I picked up the phone, “Hello…”

“Hey Santa Monica Toe Girl…what’s up?” JoJo said

“My God, JoJo, it’s like almost 6 years since I’ve talked to you. I’m doing great.”

“So, you gotta tell us how you snagged Lance here.”

“It’s a long story, but I literally bumped into him at the office that I work at and we started going out after that…it's been 3 wonderful years.” I said

“Yeah, but you should have seen them the second day that we all went out as a group with some of her other friends…” J.C. said

“Don’t even go there…my parents might be listening…” I said

“Your parents still listen to me?” JoJo asked

“Yup, they listen to you every night.”

“Wow, that’s great. Producer Tony is telling me that we have some questions from our in studio audience…let’s go with you, over there in the bright pink shirt.” JoJo said

“Ok, my question is for all of the guys. I know that Lance is dating someone, but what about the rest of you? Oh, and Amerika, I went to Santa Monica High School with you.” The girl said

“No way, really, what year did you graduate?” I asked

“The same year as you…1998.”

“Wow. What’s your name?”

“Jenny Samborie.”

“Wait, is your brother Richie Samborie?”

“Yeah. He always said that he had the hugest crush on you.”

“I know, I had a thing for him too, but it just never worked out, we just became really good friends. Ok, I’ve talked enough; I’ll let the guys answer your question. It was nice talking to you. Lance after the show, give Jenny my e-mail address so that we e-mail each other and catch up on old times.”

“Ok…” Lance said

“Ok, J.C., do you have a girlfriend?” JoJo asked

“Yes.”

“What about you, Justin?”

“Yup, I sure do…if you’re listening Elaine, I love you.” Justin said

“Chris, let me guess, you’re playing all the girls…”

“Nope, I actually have a girlfriend too.”

“Really, I bet Joey has one too, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I met her about 4 years ago.”

“Don’t lie Joey…it was only 3 years ago…” I said

“That’s right; you met her at The Hard Rock Café. She’s one you your friends, isn’t she, Em?” Lance asked

“Yeah, Jenny might remember she too…Kate.”

“I know you can’t see this, but Jenny is nodding her head up and down.” JoJo said, “So, all of you are taken? Is anyone else getting married soon?”

“Not that we know of…” Justin and Lance said.

“Well, I gotta go; I have some shopping to do before the concert.” I said, “Guys, don’t forget…sound check is coming up fast, you better leave soon to make it. It was nice talking to you JoJo. We really have to do this again in the future.”

“Ok” they all said.

“Yeah, it was nice talking to you too Amerika…I just gotta do this one last time…Santa Monica Toe Girl. Bye.”

“Bye JoJo…” I hung up the phone and continued to listen to them on the radio

 “Man…she works us hard when Johnny isn’t around…” Joey said

“Guys, I think she could still be listening…” JoJo said

“I think so too.” Lance said

“We LOVE you Em…” they all said

“I didn’t really mean that Em.” Joey added.

“So, it was nice seeing you guys again…stop by anytime you are in California.” JoJo said

“Ok we will…we won’t even call a head of time either.” Justin said with a laugh.

They left the KIIS FM studios and hopped on a plane to San Diego and arrived back at the hotel 1 hour after they ended with JoJo.

I was taking a shower and Lance came in the bathroom and turned on the hot water, which made the water that I was using get really cold. “James Lance Bass, I know that you don’t want me to kick your butt!!” I yelled, “Stop playing with the water!”

“How did you know it was me?” Lance asked

“I’m smart…I haven’t lived with you for 3 years and not know how you act.” I said, “Hand me that towel on the sink so that I dry off.”

“Ok, here you go.” He handed me the small towel

“I wanted the large towel next to this one.”

“Oh…I don’t know why you want to cover up that beautiful body of yours; you don’t have anything that I haven’t seen before.” Lance said

“Please, just hand me the towel.”

“Ok…” Lance handed me the right towel and I got out of the shower. “Is there anymore hot water left?”

“Yeah…”

“Ok, I’ll be out in 15 minutes. If the guys come by and I’m not done, just tell them that I will be ready soon.” Lance took his shower and I got ready for the concert.

Eight

 

            “Lance, is that your cell phone ringing or is it mine?” I asked him as I came back in the hotel room

            “It’s yours, I’m talking on mines.”

            “Ok…hello…hi mom…yes I was going to call and tell you that I was in town…no only for tonight’s concert and then I’m off to Arizona…how can I forget that today is my 24^th birthday? Thank you Mom. I love you too, I have to go now…ok I’ll tell Lance that you said hi and I will give him a hug and kiss for you too…give everyone a hug and kiss for us…talk to you later…bye.”

            “Ooooo, how sweet…was that your mom?” Lance said coming out of the bathroom

            “Yeah, she said hi, and for me to give you a hug and kiss.” I kissed him, “That was from my mom, and this is from me…” I kissed him again. The other guys came in the room and we were in mid kiss…

“Look, their at it again…every time we turn around they are kissing…” Justin said

            “Yeah, I still can’t get that image of them kissing in her kitchen out of my head.” J.C. said

            We stopped kissing, “That was 3 years ago…and you don’t seem to have any problem about it when you go into my kitchen and eat all of my food!”

            “That’s cause you have such great food, better than the stuff on the tour bus and in the lounge at the studio and in Johnny’s office.”

            “Hey, I buy the food for all of those places…remember…” I said giving J.C. the evil eye.

            “Huh, yeah…that’s right…” J.C. stuttered. “Can we go now?”

            “Yeah, let me just grab my jacket and we can go.” I said.

            We left the hotel and got to the concert venue. The guys did their sound check, took some pictures with the fans and signed autographs. At 7:30 the concert started. The first opening act was a new group call Warped Time…they are kind of like a boy-band and a rock band mixed together. The crowd went wild after they finished performing. The next group to perform was the group that Joey’s dad was apart of, why can’t I remember what the name of that group is, I thought to myself. Then *N SYNC finally came out on stage to perform.

“Before we sing this last song, we have a special song to sing…” Lance said

            I was standing back stage freaking out because they were totally running out of time. I was radioing to stage hands to start packing things up, and making sure that all of the costumes were getting packed, when Lonnie radioed me and said that Lance asked me to come out on stage…

            “Can Amerika Thompson please come out on stage because today is her 24^th birthday and we are going to sing Happy Birthday to her…” Justin said. I was standing on the side of the stage shaking my head no…Lance walked over to where I was standing, took my hand and walked me out on stage.

            “We want you guys to help us out too, " J.C. said

            “And if today is also your birthday…then this is for you too.” Chris added

            While they were singing to me, I was beginning to get really nervous because they standing all around me and then at the end of the song fire works exploded. Lance gave me a kiss, “Happy Birthday, Em…I love you.”

“I love you too.” Everyone cheered and wished me a happy birthday.

Then they went right into Bye Bye Bye. After the finished the entire concert, they stayed around to sign a few more autographs. The stage was already being disassembled and taken to Arizona. I was the last to get on the bus, and when I did, there was a cake with 24 lit candles on it.

            “Hurry up and make a wish and blow out the candles before the bus catches on fire!” J.C. said

“Uh fire…cool…” Chris and Joey said

I made a wish, and blew out the candles. “What did you wish for, Honey?” Lance asked

“If I tell you, it might not come true…”

“Oh, but you will tell us if it comes true…won’t you?” Lance asked

“Maybe, maybe not.” I said, “Justin, I think your cell phone is ringing…”

“Ok…excuse me while I take this call.” Justin said as he walked into the back room

“$50 says its Elaine,” I said

“$150 says it’s his mom,” Joey said

“You’re on!” I said as we shook hands

“Oh…you shouldn’t have done that…Em has never lost a bet.” Lance said

“Well, this is the first one that she’s going to loose!” Joey said looking at me while a cut a piece of cake for Lance. I was over at the table that JC put the cake on and I was laughing at something that Lonnie and Chris were talking about. Lance was on the other side of the bus just smiling at me. I looked up and smiled back at him. I walked over to where Lance and the others were and gave him his piece of cake.

“Oh yeah…then lets make this bet more interesting…if I win, you have to dress like a girl for your next T.V. appearance, and if you win, I will clean your house, car and wash all of your clothes for you, for 1 month.”

“Ok, it’s a deal!” Joey said. “Oh, man, this is going to be sooo great. I won’t have to clean for one whole month.”

20 minutes later Justin came back. “Sorry I took so long. Is there any cake left?”

“Yeah there is.” J.C. said

“So Justin…who called you?” Joey asked

“Why do you want to know?”

“Em and I have this bet going. If it was Elaine then I owe her $50 and I have to dress like a girl for our next T.V. appearance.”

“And if it was your mom, the I owe Joey $150 and I have to clean his house, car, and wash all of his clothes for one month.” I continued

“So who called?!” Joey and I said together

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Who do think called Justin? Stay tuned to find out.

Nine

 

            “Well, first Elaine called to say that she heard me on the radio…”

            “Yeeesssss,” I said

            “You didn’t let me finish…then my mom called to say that they were going to be going to Fiji for a little vacation.”

            “They were both right?” J.C. said

            “Yeah…”

            “Now what are we going to do?” Joey said

            “Well, I’ll still give you $150 and do all of that other stuff, only if you keep up your end of the bet…”

            “Ok, that’s fine with me.” Joey said

 

~2 months later~

 

            “Ok, guys” Johnny said, “next week you are doing the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

            “What?!” Joey yelled

            “Is there something wrong with that?” I asked knowing why Joey yelled.

“No…No there isn’t,” Joey said with an evil smirk on his face

            “Ok, I hope you remember our little bet from 2 months ago.” I continued

            “Yes, I do…you can start next week when we leave for California.” Joey said

            “Ok, that’s fine. Do you need any help picking out what dress to wear for the Leno Show?”

            “No, I found the perfect dress the other day…”

            “Ok, but if you need any help, you can always ask me.” I said

            “What are you guys talking about?” Johnny asked with a weird look on his face

            “A couple of months ago Joey and Em made a bet as to who called me.” Justin said

            “We were both right and decided to stick with the bet.” Joey said

            “What ever you guys say…I just hope you have a better explanation for when Jay asks why you have on a dress, Joey.” Johnny continued

 

~3 years later~

 

In a remote location, Justin and Elaine were celebrating their 7-year anniversary. They had been planning this get-away for the past 6 months and it was finally happening. Justin looked deep into Elaine’s eyes and took her left hand, “Lanie, you know that I love you so much, right?”

“Yeah…” Elaine said hesitantly, “Why?”

“Because I want you to do something for me…”

“I’d do anything for you Justin. Just name it and I’ll do it.”

“I want you to be my wife.” Justin presented Elaine with a beautiful diamond ring.

Tears started to well up in Elaine’s eyes; “Of course I will be your wife!”

“That is so great! I love you so much Elaine!” Justin said as he hugged his new fiancée

“So when do we have to leave this paradise?” Elaine asked

“Our flight is for tomorrow morning at 9 am.”

“I wish that we didn’t have to leave. I am enjoying myself too much.”

“I know. I wish that I could just freeze this moment in time.” Justin said looking deep into Elaine’s eyes. I can see directly into her soul, and it is just as beautiful as she is…Justin thought to himself.

 

~Back in Florida~

 

“Ms. Thompson, there’s a Winnie Thompson on the phone for you.” My secretary said

            “Can you please take a message and tell her that I will call her later.” I said

            “Why don’t you want to talk to your sister?” Lance asked me

            “Because we are in the middle of something”

            “Well this can wait until later…”

            “We’ve been putting off our wedding for the past 5 years. We just told our parent 2 years ago that we were getting married.”

            “Well what’s another hour going to hurt.”

            “I want to get this done soon. Don’t you want to marry me anymore?” I asked with tears welling in my eyes.

            “Of course I do,” Lance said, “Oh honey, don’t cry…you’ve been saying that you will call your sister back for the past 3 months.”

            “Well, Winnie can wait another day for me to call her back. We just have to pick a location and catering company that can have everything done in 9 months.”

            “Ok. Why don’t we do it at our house?” Lance said

            “Oh, that’s a good idea. The girls and I can work on the decorations and you and the guys can work on whatever you want to have as far as food and tasteful entertainment for the reception.” I said

            “Ok, now will you call your sister back. She might be really mad at you for avoiding her the past 3 months.”

“She won’t be mad…when I tell her all of the plans, she will be ecstatic. She’ll go and tell the rest of the family and that will cut down on the amount of people that I have to tell.”

            “Ok, if you say so.” Lance said, “When are we going to send out the invitations?"

            “Next week. I take them to be made up today and I will have them back this Friday or Saturday.”

            “Ok, I’ll see you tonight. Justin and Elaine come back from their little trip this afternoon and I have a meeting with some new clients.” Lance said. “I love you.” He gave me a kiss.

            “I love you too.” Lance walked out of my office.

Ten

 

~Back at the remote location~

 

            “Think that we should start packing?” Elaine asked Justin early the next morning

            “Yeah we should, we don’t wanna be late for our flight back to Florida…by the way…who’s picking us up from the airport?”

            “I think that Kate and Joey are.” Elaine said, “Have you seen my gold anklet?”

            “Could it be on your ankle?” Justin said sarcastically

            “No, I took it off yesterday and put it in my purse…where is my purse anyway?” Elaine asked looking around their room

            “I don’t know…have you seen my watch that J.C. gave me for Christmas?”

            “No…you know what, I think that the workers in this hotel have been taking our things…” Elaine said

            “That’s impossible…we’ve only been out of the room 3 different time since we got here 2 weeks ago.” Justin said searching all of the drawers

            “I’m gonna go and talk to the hotel manager and see if he knows what’s going on.”

Elaine left out of the room and headed to the lobby of the hotel. When she got to the front desk she rang the bell and no one came. She walked behind the counter and there was no one in the office. She went back to the room to tell Justin that there was no one around. When she got to the room she saw Justin and a young man sitting in the chairs around the little table. “Who is that, J?”

“This is Luis…he is one of the villagers here.”

“Ok, what is he doing in our room?”

“He came back to leave the stuff that his younger brother and sister took.”

“Oh really, and you believe him?” she said placing her hands on her hips

“Yes I do.” Justin said standing up

“Ok, if you believe him then that’s fine with me.”

“I think that I should give him something for him to take back to his family…would you like some food?” he asked the boy

“I don’t think that he understands you J.” Elaine said

“Yes, I understand him…really, you don’t have to give me anything. I am truly sorry for what my brothers and sisters have done.” Luis said

“No, I insist, take the food.” Justin picked up the fruit basket and gave it to the boy. Luis thanked Justin and went back to the village with the basket of food. 3 hours later, Justin and Elaine headed to the airport to go back to Florida. When they got to the airport, they found out the their flight was delayed for 2 hours due to bad weather.

“We should call Joey and tell them that we are going to be arriving tomorrow instead of today.” Justin left to find a phone to call Joey. “Hey, Joey, it’s Justin...”

“Oh hi, are you guys already back in Florida?”

“No, our flight was delayed for 2 hours…we will be in tomorrow instead of today.”

“Ok, see you then.”

 

~2 weeks later~

 

            We were all going to go to Joey and Kate’s house to have dinner. When we got there no one opened the door so we had to use the spare, which was hidden in the mailbox, to get in. We search their house to find them. “I think they are in here…” Justin said trying to whisper.

“Shhh, I wanna hear what they are talking about.” Elaine said

            “So Joey, are you going to marry me or not?” Kate asked

            “Hey, aren’t I the one who is supposed to be asking that?” Joey said, “And why do you all of a sudden want to get married?”

            “Well, you took to long to ask me, I mean it’s been 6 years and you haven’t proposed to me…what’s the deal?”

            “Shows how much you know…I was going to ask you tonight at dinner. See I even have the ring.” Joey took the ring out of his pocket and slipped it on Kate’s finger. “So, will you marry me?”

            “I asked you first…” Kate said

            “Yes I will marry you, now will you marry me?”

            “Of course I will baby…I just wanted those nosy people on the other side of the door to hear you say that.” Kate said as she walked to the den door and opened it.

            “How did you know that we were here?” Chris asked

            “I heard you laughing and talking.” Kate said

            “So I guess you already know that we are getting married.” Joey said

            “Yeah…and so are Elaine and I” Justin said

            “What?!?!” we all said

            “When did this happen?” Lance asked

            “2 weeks ago when we went to Tahiti." Elaine said

            “So you guys went to Tahiti, and didn’t take me?” Christi said

            “Then it would be a getaway if you went with us, now would it?” Justin and Elaine said

 

~Dinnertime~

 

            “So, J.C. when are you and Macy going to get married?” Lance asked

            “When we fill like it,” they said

            “Riiight…so I guess that either means you already got married or you are going to be getting married.” I said

            “How did you know that we are getting married?” J.C. asked

            “I didn’t know, but you just said that you guys are…so when did this happen?”

            “It will happen this weekend.” Macy said

            “What?” we all said

            “Yeah, we are going to have a little ceremony on the beach behind the townhouse.”

            “And when were you going to tell me? I thought that I was your best friend?” I asked.

            “We just discussed it this morning. I’m not as cruel as you are.”

            “What is that supposed to mean?” Lance asked

            “Well, you told us that you were going to be getting married AFTER you had already been engaged for a year.”

            “Ok, but who was the first person I asked to be my Maid of Honor?” I said

            “I’ll give that to you, but I was hurt that you kept the news from me for so long.”

            “You weren’t the only ones we kept it from…the only person that really knew was Johnny because he was there.” Lance said getting a little defensive at the fact that Macy was yelling at me

            “Yeah, our families didn’t even know until 2 years ago. They were just as hurt as you were, but they got over it. Why can’t you!?” I said as I walked out of Joey’s dinning room

            “Where is she going?” Joey asked

            “I don’t know, I’ll go find out what’s wrong with her.” Lance said

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

What do you think is wrong with Amerika?

Eleven

 

“Em, sweetie, what’s the matter?” Lance asked me

            “Macy just makes me so damn mad when she keeps bringing up the fact that I didn’t tell her right away. When I did finally tell her, she was like I understand, I do have a big mouth, and I can see why you wouldn’t tell me. I though that she was over it then, but I guess not.” I said wiping the tears from my face

            “I think that it’s just going to take her a while to get over. I’m sure that she will get over it.”

            “But Lance, it’s been 5 years…that’s more than enough time to get over something as trivial as not telling her about us being engaged. Christi, Kate, and Elaine got over it fast because they were truly happy for me.”

            “Just give it some time. Things will work out for the best.” Lance said as he touched my face. “Wow, your face is hot. Are you feeling ok?”

            “Yeah…I feel fine.”

            “Are you sure?” Lance asked with a worried look on his face. I looked into his sparkling green eyes and I almost melted

            “Yeah, I’m sure. Let’s go back and finish dinner.” I said standing up from the porch.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NARRATOR’S POINT OF VIEW~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

            They walked back into Joey’s house and Amerika barley made it to the door when she fainted. “Joey!!” Lance yelled. They all came running to the front of the house. “Help me get her to the sofa.”

            “What happened?” Macy asked when they laid her on the living room sofa. “Is she going to be alright?”

            “I don’t know…we were talking and then we were going to come back and finish eating then she just fainted.” Lance said, “I hope that she is going to be alright, I don’t know what I would do if there was anything wrong with her.”

            “Here, put this on her forehead.” Kate handed Lance a cold washcloth

            “The paramedics are on their way.” Elaine said, “They should be here in like 5 minutes.”

            Christi lightly touched Amerika’s face, “She’s burning up we have to get her to the hospital fast!”

            “I wish that they would hurry up and get here.” Macy said holding her hand and fighting back the tears, “Amerika just has to be alright…she’s my best friend.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~END OF NARRATOR’S POINT OF VIEW~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

~2 days later~

 

            “She’s awake…” Christi said

            “Where am I?” I asked trying to sit up, “Why am I so weak?”

            “Just lay still Honey.” Lance said

            “You’re in the hospital; you’ve been here since dinner at Joey’s…2 days ago.” Elaine said

            “Why am I in the hospital?”

            “You fainted at my house and you were rushed to the hospital.” Kate said

            “The doctor’s think that you have been working too hard and you just have to take some time off and recuperate.” Christi said

            “I’m just so glad that you are alright.” Lance said as he gave me a hug and a kiss

            “So am I.” Macy said, “I would have been lost without you.”

 

~1 month later~

 

            “I’m glad to have you back at work.” Johnny said, “How are you feeling?”

            “I’m ok I guess. I’m ready to get back to work, though.”

            “Well, Christi and Kate have offered to help you with some of the things that you have to do and we hired Macy 2 weeks ago as your assistant.” Johnny continued

            “That’s great, "I said sitting at my desk

            “Well, I don’t want you to over do. You’re an important part of Wright Entertainment.”

“Plus Lance would kill you if anything were to happened to me.” I said with a smile on my face

“That’s true. Well, I’ll let you get back to work. It’s great to have you back.”

“It’s great to be back.”

“Hey Boss Lady…what do you have planned for me?” Macy asked as she came into my office

“Well, I would like to have a quick meeting with you, Kate and Christi so that I can be caught up on what’s been going on.”

“No problem…I’ll be back in 10 minutes with them…anything else?”

“Yeah, can you call Multi-Expressions and tell them that I am free for a meeting at 9 a.m. tomorrow.”

“Ok, I’ll do that right now.” Macy walked out of my office. Then Lance called, “Hey sweetie.”

“Hi Baby, I miss you.”

“I miss you too. How is your first day back to work going?”

“Just fine, Misty is my assistant, Kate and Christi are also helping me too.” I said

“That’s good, as long as you don’t over exert yourself.”

“I promise that I won’t. So when are you going to be back in Florida?”

“In 2 months…just in time to put the finishing touches on our wedding.”

“Then that will be the 3^rd happiest day of my life.”

“3^rd, huh…what are the other 2 happiest days of your life?”

“The day that I met you was the 1st, the day that you proposed to me was the 2^nd, and the day that we get married will be the 3^rd happiest day of my life.” I said

“We’re here…” Christi, Kate and Macy said

“I’ll let you go Sweetie.” Lance said

“Ok, Baby…I’ll talk to you later. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Lance said. I hung up the phone and got right down to work.

Twelve

 

            “Ready to get down to business?” I asked

            “Yup, but first we have to talk about having Lance wait on you hand and foot…” Kate said

            “He didn’t really wait on me hand and foot.”

“Oh come on…” Macy said, “every time I came by the house he was doing something for you.”

            “Well…ok, when you put it that way, he kinda did wait on me hand and foot.”

            “That’s what I though…” Christi said

            “Oh my gosh…I just realized that I missed your wedding, Macy.”

            “Did you really think that I would have my wedding without my best friend in it?” Macy said, “We postponed it for a time when you were better. Now we are getting married next month.”

            “Ok.” I said.

            “Joey and I also postponed our wedding until you got better, seeing as it wouldn’t feel right having the person responsible for bringing us together was in the hospital.” Kate said.

            “I really mean that much to you guys?” I asked

            “Much more than you will ever know.” Christi said

            “Thanks you guys.” I said wiping the tears off of my face, “I think that we should get down to business.”

            “Right…well, Multi-Expressions said that they are glad that you are back, and they want you to be their manager!” Kate said

            “What…really. I’m actually going to be a manager?”

            “Yup that’s right…I wanna help out too, actually we al want to help you.” Macy said

            “Oh, I forgot, Warped Time also want you to be their manager.” Christi said

            “My gosh…what does Johnny think about this?” I asked

            “He was the one who actually contacted Warped Time to see if they were still look for a manager.”

            “I see. I guess that I have a lot of catching up to do.” I laughed. “But wait…hasn’t it been like 3 or 4 years.”

            “Well, they’ve been through some really hard times and bouncing from manager to manager. Johnny just called them and they were like, yeah we remember her…she’s a real take charge type of person, we could use someone like that on our side.” Macy said

            “What time is it?” I asked

            “It’s about 11:30…let’s break for lunch.” Kate said

            “Ok…I think that I am going to leave at 3:30 p.m. You guys can leave early if you want.” I said

            “Are you sure?” Christi asked

            “Yeah, we will pick it up from here tomorrow.” I said, “Now let’s go to lunch.”

            “We can definitely do that!” Christi, Macy and Kate said

 

~Macy and J.C.’s Wedding~

 

            “On a deserted cliff inside the gated community that two fifths of *N SYNC live in, Joshua Scott Chasez and Macy Myeshia Potter got married. Friends and family and those in the music industry that are close to them were present. The ceremony was very beautiful. The ceremony had been postponed for a month due to an emergency in the family.” Macy read to us, “Should anything else be put in the little blurb that I am going to send to Carson?”

            “Whatever you want to put in it is fine with us.” I said after we all talked it over.

            “Yeah, it sounds really sweet.” J.C. said

            “Thank you baby.” Macy said and gave him a kiss

            “Not to change the subject or anything, but isn’t your wedding coming up soon?” J.C. asked Lance and me

            “Yeah…it’s next month.” Lance said

            “Everything is all done. Tomorrow Macy and I go to pick up the dresses and tuxes.” I said

            “I have to go and put in the order for the flowers and make hotel accommodations for our families.” Lance added

            “Wow, it looks like you have everything under control.” Justin said

            “I hate to change the subject again…” Chris said, “But I something to say.”

            “Go ahead…no ones stopping you.” Macy said

            Chris dug in his pocket and took out a ring box, he got down on one knee, “Christi Jamey will you marry me?” he opened the box and of course there was a ring inside of it.

            “Yes I will marry you!!” Christi said, “What took you so long to ask me?”

            “Well, I was waiting for the right time. Seeing you right here, right now, made me realize the I never wanted to be apart from you.”

            “Awe that is so sweet.” Christi said kissing him.

            “Everyone is getting married and our music is doing well. I don’t think that anything can top this.” Elaine said. Macy looked at Lance and me. It was one of those if you don’t tell them, then I will type of looks. Lance and I got the hint.

            “Well…” Lance and I said together.

Thirteen

 

            “Well, what?” they all said

            “Oh, it’s nothing too big.” I said

            “Why would you say that?” Macy said

            “Yeah, it has to be important.” J.C. added

            “You know too?” Lance asked

            “Yeah, Macy told me the other day.”

            “Wait, Macy, when did you find out?” I asked

            “2 weeks ago. I was looking for something to wear from out of one of your drawers and I saw the paper.”

            “You did what?!?” I yelled

            “Em, calm down…” Lance said

            “I am calm,” I took a breath and looked at her, “Macy, why were you even going through my drawers? If you wanted something to wear you should have looked through your own closet and drawers.”

            “But I didn’t tell anyone…well, maybe J.C. but that was all.”

            “Yeah, and I didn’t tell anyone.” J.C. said

            “Wait, I missed something.” Chris said

            “Can’t you tell that Amerika is saying that she is pregnant!?” Christi and Kate said together.

            “What?!?!” Elaine said, “How did you get all of that?”

            “Is that what it is?” Joey asked

            “Yeah…in like 6 months Lance and I are going to have a little girl.” I said

            “That’s great!!!” they all said

            “Congratulations, man.” Justin said.

 

~Amerika and Lance’s Wedding~

 

            “Hey wait…you can’t go in there yet!” Macy said trying to block Lance from coming in the room, “Don’t you know it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?”

            “I just want to tell her something.” Lance said, “I promise I won’t look.”

            “It’s ok, Macy. Just open the door a little bit so that he can say what ha has to say.” Macy opened the door and Lance poked his head in the room a little.

            “I just wanted to tell you that I love you, KK.” Lance said

            “I love you too, Lancie. Now I really have to finish getting ready. I’ll see you in 15 minutes.” Macy closed the door and I finished getting dressed. My mom and sister were working on my hair; Macy, Kate, Elaine and Christi were getting dressed.

            “Show time…” my mom said

            “Winnie, can you go and tell them the we are about to start?” I asked my sister

            “Ok.” She said

            Christi and Chris walked in first, followed by Kate and Joey, Justin and Elaine, and Macy and J.C. Then I walked in with my dad. The pastor that performed the ceremony was the same pastor that baptized me when I was 9 years old. He was sort of like my second Father, someone who I could look up to and go to for advice when I was having a hard time with my parents. The ceremony lasted 2 hours. There were about 200 people present and it was just very romantic.

 

~June 2009~

 

            “Lance, how fast can you get to the hospital?” Elaine asked him over the phone

            “Why?” Lance asked

            “Oh…only the fact that your wife is going to be giving birth to your little girl.”

            “I’ll be there in 5 minutes.” Lance said, “Just don’t let it happen before I get there.”

            “You know that I don’t have any control over that.” Elaine said, “Just get here as soon as you can.” She closed her phone and came back in the room.

            “Oh…Elaine!!” I yelled, “Where is Lance at?”

            “He’s on his way. But he wants you to hold out for as long as you can.”

            “Ice…must have ice!” I said

            “Ok, here it is.” The nurse said handing me some ice chips.

10 minutes later Lance arrived and was taken to the room. “Ok, I’m here…” Lance said, “Has she had the baby yet?”

            “No, we were just about to induce her labor.” The doctor said.

They induced my labor, but that didn’t work so I had to have a C-section. Lance was sitting by my side singing to me.

3 hours later, on June 5^th, Riley Ann Bass came into the world at 6 p.m. she weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces and she was 17 inches long. They wheeled me back to my original room and everyone came to see the baby and me.

“She is so beautiful.” Lance whispered to me.

            “Let me see her.” I said. Lance handed her to me and I began to cry.

            “She is beautiful. She looks so much like you.” I said

            “No, she looks like you.” Lance said as he kissed my forehead

            “Oh, let me see Riley.” Macy said

            “She is just so adorable.” Justin said

 

~Christmas Time~

 

            “Does everyone know who they have to buy gifts for?” Johnny asked

            “Yeah…” They all said.

            “Ok, remember, we exchange them in 2 weeks on Christmas Eve.” He added

            “We remember…we’ve been doing this for almost 15 years!” Justin said

            “Well, I’m just making sure that everything goes right.”

            “Everything will be just fine.” Chris said

            “Ok…I have to go and get some of my shopping done. I will see you all tomorrow at the meeting.” Lance said

            “Give Riley and Em a hug and kiss for us.” They all said

            “Ok, I will.” Lance said as he walked out of Johnny’s office.

Fourteen

 

~Chris and Christi’s Wedding~

 

            “Lance, guess what Christi just told me?”

            “What?”

            “Her and Chris are going to Vegas to get married by Elvis!”

            “No Way! When are they leaving?”

            “They are already there!! She called me from her cell phone and I heard an Elvis impersonator in the background.” I said

            “That is so weird, cause Chris and I were joking about that the other day. I seriously thought that he was just joking about it.” Lance said “Well, when are they going to be back?”

            “Next week sometime, I think.” I said “What is Johnny going to think about this?”

“I don’t know, but I think that Johnny already knows because Chris kinda mentioned it to him yesterday.”

            “Ok, as long as Johnny doesn’t bust any buttons over it.” I added

 

~J.C. and Macy’s Baby~

 

            “On September 30^th 2010, Mariah Myeshia Chasez was born at 12:32 am. Family surrounded the proud parents at the couple’s 6 bedroom Florida home just hours after the birth.” Carson said, “This just days after the wedding of Joey and Kate.”

            “Wow, we were all mentioned on TRL.” Lance said

            “No we weren’t.” I said, “Joey, Kate, Mariah, J.C. and Macy were mentioned.”

            “I know, but were are included in the family part of the announcement.”

            “Ok, Baby, you keep telling your self that and maybe one day it will be true.” I laughed as I patted him on the leg.

            “Come here.” Lance said trying to grab my arm

            “Ha ha you missed me!!” I yelled running from him

            “But I’ll catch you!!” Lance yelled running after me

            “No you can’t, I’m faster than you!!”

            “We’ll see about that.” Lance said chasing me up the stairs. We ran all throughout the house and finally he caught me in the bedroom. He attacked me with kisses and by tickling me, which I hate because he always makes me laugh to the point where I have to pee.

 

~Justin and Elaine’s Wedding Breakdown~

 

            “Damn it Justin!! How could you tell Carson the were going to be skydiving while we said our wedding vows?!?!”

            “It was a joke honey…I didn’t really mean it.” Justin said as he went to touch her arm

            “Don’t even touch me…and to top it off you had to invite the bitch of an ex-girlfriend to the wedding too.”

            “She’s still my friend no matter how much you may hate her!” Justin yelled

            “Don’t even raise you voice at me! You have NO right, NO right at all to do that!! You are just like my father. You think that you can control every aspect of my life…well you’re wrong mister!” Elaine said as she grabbed her jacket and purse.

            “Where are you going, we have to talk about this.” Justin pleaded

            “I’ll be at Amerika’s house when you finally decide that you want to marry me in a church!!” she slammed the door and walked the 2 blocks to my house. “Amerika, are you home?”

            “Yeah…” I opened the door, “Elaine, what the matter? What happened?”

            “Justin is taking this wedding as a joke. He e-mail Carson say that we were going to have our wedding ceremony while skydiving.” Elaine said after she wiped her face

            “I’m sure that he was just joking. He is taking the wedding very seriously.”

            “But that’s’ not the half of it…he invited his bitch of an ex-girlfriend to the wedding!! And had NO plans on telling me!!”

            “Elaine calm down.” I said, “You’ll make your self sick if you keep crying like that.”

            “I don’t know if I can still marry him. He’s been harping about HER for the past 3 or 4 months. All I ever hear is Lindsay this and Lindsay that!! Sometimes I think that he still wants to be with her.”

            “Don’t say that Elaine.” I said, “Justin loves you, not Lindsay. He’s been with you for almost 10 years. Do you really think that if he didn’t love you that he would have stayed with you for that long, if he really wanted to be with her?”

            “I don’t know, maybe he has other motives…”

 

~2 weeks later~

 

            “Justin, just call her. You have to talk to her, tell her that you still love her. That you still want to marry her.” I said to Justin over the phone

            “Why should I? She said some really hurtful things to me.”

            “But Justin, she thinks that you are not going to marry her.”

            “But I do want to marry her!” Justin said

            “Then call her…even better go to her tell her that you still love her. Tell Lindsay that she can’t come to the wedding because it hurts Elaine too much to have her there.” I added “She’s also screening the calls at the house…if she doesn’t answer just try calling again.”

“Ok, I’ll call her,” Justin said. We hung up and he called her at my house, “Elaine, I know that you are screening the calls, please answer the phone. I really want to talk to you. I’ll be over tonight so that we can talk” Justin hung up the phone before Elaine could pick it up.

Fifteen

 

            ‘Oh, my gosh…I can’t believe that I missed Justin’s call’ Elaine said to herself. ‘I have to call him back.’

Just as she was about to pick up the phone to call him, he called her back. “Justin,” Elaine said, “I’m so sorry that I got so mad at you. I love you so much that I can’t stand being without you.”

            “I love you too.” Justin said, “I’ll be over, we have to talk about this.” 5 minutes later Justin went to see Elaine at my house. Lance and I took Riley and left so that they have sometime to work out their problems.

            “I am so sorry for what I did. I wrong for inviting Lindsay without talking to you about it. And it was incredibly stupid of me to tell Carson that we were going to be skydiving while saying our vows.”

            “No, you had a right to invite Lindsay to the wedding because it is just as much your wedding as it is mine. I just don’t feel comfortable around her.”

            “Well, you don’t have to worry about her being there because I called and told her that I didn’t feel right having her there and she completely understood. She, did however, wish us the best of luck with our marriage.”

            “That was nice of her. I just feel really bad that I got so mad at you. Can you ever forgive me for the way that I acted?”

            “Yes, I forgive you, but I should be the one asking you to forgive me for all of the dumb things that I did the past 2 weeks.”

            “I forgive you too. Now lets get working our wedding. I was thinking of having it lavender and white…what do you think?”

“Oh, that would go great with that flower arch way that we saw a few months.”

            “Ok, then it’s settled…lavender and white are our colors. Now who should be the Best Man and the Maid of Honor?”

            “Why don’t we just ask the guys to be in it along with Em, Christi, Kate, and Macy?”

            “Ok, that’s even better.” They sat on the sofa for another hour working on their wedding.

We returned home 2 hours later to find Justin and Elaine asleep on the sofa in each other’s arms. They looked so peaceful that we just let them sleep there until morning.

 

~Justin and Elaine’s Wedding~

 

            Justin and Elaine’s wedding was very beautiful. There were flower all around and light music playing in the background. Their backyard was transformed, in a matter of hours, into a garden-like atmosphere. They had about 250 guests and no tried to crash the wedding. After the wedding, they released a few pictures to People Magazine and that was all the media coverage that they felt others should have. Justin and Elaine honeymooned in Tahiti at the very same place that Justin proposed to her. They arrived back in Florida to a mob of screaming fans at the airport.

            “$20 says that Johnny let it slip from his mouth that we were coming back today.” Justin said

            “Oh I have no doubt that he did. But I don’t mind, I’m used to the screaming fans all over the place…remember, I’ve been with you for almost 11 years.”

            “Those have been the happiest 11 years of my life!” Justin said giving his wife a kiss

            “You better not forget it either.” Elaine said as she got in to the waiting car.

 

~Lance and Amerika’s second child~

 

            “Honey, guess what?” I said to Lance after I got off the phone.

            “What,” Lance said coming into the den

            “We are going to have another baby!”

            “That’s great!!” Lance said swinging me around. Then he placed me back on the sofa

            “The doctor will call back in a couple of months to tell us the sex of the baby…if we want to know that is.”

            “Of course I want to know!” he said.

            “Ok…well should we wait now or call everyone over and tell them now?” I asked

            “Let’s do it…they are going to be so shocked. But I think that we should tell our parents now.”

            “Yeah, I think so too. We could do a conference call and do it at one time instead of telling one first and then the other.”

            “Yeah.” Lance picked up the phone and called his parents and then I called my parents on the extension line.

            “Mom, Dad…” Lance and I said at the same time

            “Yeah,” they all said

            “We have some great news to tell you.”

            “Really, what?” Diane asked

            “Well, there is going to be a new addition to the family…I’m pregnant!” I said.

After that all I heard was lots of screaming, and I think I even heard me mom crying. “When do you find out the sex of the baby?” Theresa, my mom asked

            “In a couple of months.” Lance said

            “You’re that far along?” Bernard, my dad asked

            “Yeah, I just found out today, like 15 minutes ago that I am 4 months pregnant.”

            “I can’t believe that I am going to be a grandfather again,” Jim said

            “Well, we have a lot to do, we still haven’t told the others yet.” I said

            “You mean that we are the first to find out?” Diane and Theresa asked at the same time

            “Yup you sure are.” Lance and I said

            “Well, we will let you go, call us when you find out the sex of the baby.” Diane said

            “Ok, we will. Love you.” Lance and I said. We hung up the phone and just sat on the sofa thinking about all of the memories that we shared and how our lives changed when Riley was born. Now we were thinking of how so much different our lives will be with a second child. We were so ready for the challenge of raising 2 children. We have so much love to give and this second child will really be a blessing to us.

Sixteen

 

“Can you believe that we are going to have another baby?” Lance asked me as he pulled me toward him on the sofa.

            “I know…it’s so hard to believe that only 2 years ago we were excited that we were going to be parents for the first time.”

            “This is all so wonderful.”

“I just noticed that it is entirely too quite here…where is Riley at?” I asked

“Macy and J.C. picked her up while you were out and took her to the park.” Lance said

“So we are all alone, huh?” I asked running my fingers along his arm.

“Yup, just imagine all of the things that we can do since we are alone for a couple of hours…”

“That’s how we got here in the first place.” I teased

“I know, but it was fun.”

“I remember…” we started to kiss.

Macy and JC arrived from the park with Riley and their daughter Mariah. Macy walked to the door and opened it. “J.C.,” Macy called out to the car, “come and look at this.”

J.C. brought Mariah out of the car and walked up to the front of the house, "What…” he said looking in the house, “They just can’t seem to keep their hands off of each other, can they?”

“Hey, we are the same way…remember what we did last night?” Macy taunted

“Yeah. I say that we just take Riley up to her room since she is already asleep, then we can surprise them.”

Macy took Riley to her room and J.C. put Mariah in the other bedroom because, she too was sleep. When Macy came back, they decided that would just knock on the door and not surprise us, but we had already stopped kissing. I was in the kitchen getting something to drink and Lance was in his office.

            “Now where did they go?” Macy asked

            “I have no idea. Call out their names and see where they are,” J.C. said playfully

            “Oh, shut up.” Macy said, “Amerika, Lance, we’re back…”

            “Hey, when did you guys come back?” I asked coming out of the kitchen

            “About 20 minutes ago…I took Riley to her room because she was asleep.” Macy said

            “Ok, where’s Iah”

            “She asleep in the other room. They had a lot of fun at the park.” J.C. said, “Where is Lance?”

            “He should be in his office. If he isn’t, then I don’t know where he disappeared to.” I replied

            “Ok…so are we still on for dinner tonight here?” Macy asked

            “Yeah, be here at 7:30.” I said

            “Ok, see you then.” Macy said

            “Ok…” J.C. went to get Mariah and then they left.

 

~Dinner at Lance and Amerika’s~

 

“Lance, did you ever hear back from that recording studio about Meredith’s recording dates?” Christi asked

            “No, I have to call them back tomorrow.”

            “Well, I have a friend that works there and I could give her a call and see if she could pull a few strings and have them call you sooner…”

            “No, business talk around the dinner table.” I said

            “Yes mom,” Lance and Christi said

            “Whatever…” I said, “So, I guess you all are wondering why we actually had you to come over for dinner…”

            “Well, kinda…” Joey said scratching his head.

            “Yeah, cause if I remember correctly, you said that we eat too much and we were never allowed over again.” Chris said

            “Well, this is a special occasion.” Lance said

            “Really…what the occasion?” Justin asked

            “Wait, before you say anything, I just have to tell you about this dream that I had a few days ago.” Kate said

            “Well, what was it about?” Elaine asked

            “Ok, I dreamed about this yellow fish and it was swimming up stream…it was too weird…” I nearly dropped my glass when Kate told her dream.

            “Yeah, I’d say that is weird.” J.C. commented

            “Not if you know the true meaning of the fish dream.” Macy said.

            “Well, what is the true meaning of the fish dream?” Justin asked

            “Well, the old tale goes that whoever has the dream about the fish, someone close to them is either pregnant or going to be pregnant.” Kate said

            “Oh, that’s just an old wives tale…” Chris said

            “No, it isn’t. My mom and aunt found out that they were pregnant by their Grandmother before she died. She told them that she had a dream of 2 yellow fish swimming up stream…1 month after she died my mom found out that she was pregnant with me, my aunt found out that she was pregnant too.” Kate continued

“So…who out of us women is pregnant or going to be pregnant in the near future?” Macy asked

“Not me.” Christi said. Chris shook his head in agreement

“Not me either…at least not yet.” Elaine said

“I’m not pregnant…although who knows what could happen in the future.” Kate said

“I am,” I said under my breath

“I’m not either…wait, what did you say Amerika?” Macy said turning to look at me

“I said that I am pregnant…4 months to be exact.” I said, “Lance and I found out this morning.”

“We were going to tell you and J.C. when you came by earlier, but we decided to wait until dinner tonight.” Lance added.

Seventeen

 

            “You see…that’s what you get when you can’t keep your hands off of each other!!” Joey laughed

            “Oh get off it.” Kate said

            “Get off what?” Joey asked with an evil smile on his face

            “You know what I mean. I think that it’s great that Lance and Amerika are going to have another baby.”

            “I do too. I just knew what they did to make it.”

            “Joey!!!” we all yelled

            “What…what did I do?”

            “Did you fall asleep during 9^th grade health class?” Chris taunted

            “I know WHAT they did; I just wish that it would hurry up and work for me…”

            “Maybe if you ask your wife nice enough tonight, she just might give you a little run for your money…if you know what I mean.” Kate said winking her eye at him

            “Oh, my virgin eyes and ears…” we all laughed.

 

~5 months later~

 

            “J.C., Lance just called and told me that they are on their way to the hospital because Amerika is in labor.” Macy said as she woke up a sleeping J.C.

            “It’s 3 in the morning…couldn’t they wait for a more civilized time to have the baby!!” J.C. joked as he put his pants on

            “You know what that’s like.” Macy said as she went to get Mariah and put some warmer clothes on her, “I didn’t think that you liked it too much when I was screaming at you for putting me through all of the pain that I was going through.”

            “That’s true. You didn’t even want me to touch you the 1^st week after Iah was born.” He said jokingly. “Is everyone else at the hospital?”

            “Yeah…let’s go before we are too late to see the baby.”

Everyone arrived at the hospital just as I was being wheeled back to my room. “Did you have the baby yet?” Justin asked

“No…they said that I wasn’t ready yet…but I should be in a couple of hours.”

“You guys can go home and we promise that we will call as soon as we can if she goes into labor.” Lance said

“Well, I wanna stay here. J.C., take Mariah and you can go back home if you want.” Macy said

“Are you sure?” J.C. asked

“Yeah, I'm sure.” Macy said as she kissed JC and handed Mariah to him.

“I’m gonna stay too.” Kate said

“I'm staying too.” Elaine chimed in. Everyone looked at Christi.

“As much as I love you Em, I have to go back home and get some sleep.” Christi said through a yawn

“It’s ok; you have to go to work tomorrow. I understand.” I said. Christi, Chris, J.C. and Joey left. Justin stayed behind with Lance.

6 hours later Justin called everyone and told them that I was going into labor and it was real this time. Elaine and Kate decided that they wanted to stay in the room with me but then left when they got grossed out. Justin left long before that when I started screaming at the top of my lungs and saying things to Lance that everyone knew I didn’t mean. Kate and Elaine on the other hand thought it was very funny, but still left out of the room. 20 minutes after Justin called everyone, they arrived at the hospital. There were about 5 or 6 people from my job, including Johnny and a few of the people from the groups that I manage. At 10:15 a.m. on October 10^th, 2011, John Oliver Bass was born.

 

~3 years later: 2014~

 

            On May 9^th, 2014, Lynn Star Timberlake was born. Everyone calls her Star so that she isn’t confused with Justin’s mom, Lynn. Elaine and Justin were very ecstatic about the birth of their first child. Elaine decided to be a stay at home mom and also be a babysitter for Riley (5), John (3) and Mariah (4). Of course she said that she would watch them for free but Elaine and I always give her at least $100 a week for watching them.

On August 8^th, 2014, Manuel Robert Chasez was born. Macy and J.C. where happy that they had a girl and boy, they decided that 2 was enough for them, at least for now.

 

~3 years later: 2017~

 

            Elaine and Justin had a baby boy that they named Taylor Randall. He was born on January 21^st, 2015. They had a huge fight and were separated for almost 1 month but they got back together because they loved each other very much and couldn’t stand being apart. They also want their children to have both a mother and father present in their lives.

Eighteen

 

After 3 unsuccessful attempts at conceiving, Kate and Joey were finally going to have a baby. “Hey Joey…” Kate said one morning at the breakfast table, “I know something that you don’t know.”

            “Oh, really, what’s that?” he asked after he drank some orange juice

            “It’s not just going to be the 2 of us in this big house anymore.”

            “Why, are your parents coming over to visit?”

            “No,” Kate said with a smile on her face

            “Are my parents coming over for a visit?”

            “No,” she said getting a little annoyed

            “Then what? Cuz I give up. I’m all out of ideas.”

            “Fine, then you can wake up at 3 in the morning to feed the baby.”

            “What baby?”

            “The baby that will be arriving in about 8 months...”

            “We aren’t expect…wait…you’re…I’m gonna be…Kate that’s wonderful!!” Joey said

            “Wait, just so that we are on the same page, you know that I am pregnant, right?”

            “Yes…I finally got that! Why couldn’t you just come out with it?”

            “Because I wanted to have a little fun with you.” Kate said giving Joey a hug and a kiss.

“But I though that that there was something wrong with you…actually I thought that there was something wrong with me, but this is such great news! We have to tell everyone.”

“I know…our parents are going flip because they thought that they would never be grandparents, and now they are. Let’s call them now.” Kate said.

“Ok.” Kate and Joey each called their parents and told them the exciting news and then they told the rest of us the next day at the Valentine’s Day celebration for Wright Entertainment.

“Wait; let me get this straight…” Chris said, “Joey is going to be a father and you are happy about that?”

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be? I think, no I know that he will be a wonderful father.” Kate said

“Well, what if he decides to strap her in the front seat of his car with bungee cords and go for a little drive?” Chris added

“I would NEVER do that!” Joey said, “At least not to my children, but maybe to yours.” He laughed.

 

~8 months later~

 

At 6 in the evening on November 22^nd, 2018, Joey took Kate to the hospital. We were all right behind them in our own cars, seeing as it was Thanksgiving Day and we were at their house for dinner. 3 hours later, the newest addition to the Fatone family came into the world. Kate and Joey named her Tatianna Marie Fatone.

Since we were never able to finish Thanksgiving Dinner, we brought it to the hospital. 3 days later they left the hospital and when they got home, both of their parents were there to help take care of their new grandbaby.

2 weeks later we were all invited over for Christmas Dinner. This time, no one went into labor to prevent us for finishing the dinner. We all, with the exception of Chris and Christi, have children and they were running around playing or too little to know what was going on and so they slept. In total, there were 7 children at the dinner. 2 were Lance and mines, Riley (9) and John (7); 2 were J.C. and Macy’s Mariah (8) and Manuel (4); 2 were Justin and Elaine’s Lynn (4) and Taylor (3); and 1 was Joey and Kate’s Tatianna (1 month).

“Mommy, can Mariah and I play in the backyard? Uncle Joey said that it was ok.” Riley asked

“Yes but let your brother play too.” I said, “Be back inside in 1 hour.”

“Ok…” they said running to the backyard.

“Ok, so what were you telling me?” I asked Kate

“I was just beginning to think that Joey and I weren’t going to have any children. Is that how you guys felt?” she asked Elaine, Macy and me

“Oh, just imagine that I’m not here…” Christi pouted, “Seeing as Chris and I don’t have children.”

“Please, it’s a job just to live with Chris. He acts just like a child himself.” I said, “But any ways…it wasn’t high on our list to have children right away. It happens when it happens and we just do the best that we can.”

“I know exactly what you mean.” Elaine said, “Lynn and Taylor are at each others throats non stop.”

“But they seem like perfect angels.” Kate said

“When they aren’t around J and me. All children are ‘perfect angels’ when they are around other people. But when they are around their parents and siblings, they are completely different.”

Nineteen

 

            “Kids, time to come inside…we’re going to eat.” Elaine said, “Now, Taylor!”

            “Mariah, come inside and wash your hands.” Macy said

 

~Christmas Dinner~

 

            “You know that Santa is going to be coming soon.” Joey, “Have you kids been good?”

“Yes…” they all said

“Are you sure about that?” Elaine asked looking at her children

“I know 2 little children who haven’t been listening to their Mommy and Daddy like they are supposed to.” Justin said, “I think that we should have Santa not bring Lynn and Taylor anything.”

“No Daddy, don’t do that, we promise that we will be good.” They said. We all laughed.

“Riley, have you told Santa what you want for Christmas yet?” Kate asked

“Santa,” she said looking at Lance and me, “Said that he was going to get me a new bike and a new radio.”

“Really, Santa said that?” I asked

“Yeah, remember Mommy, you took us to take pictures with him the other day.” John said, “But I knew that he wasn’t the real Santa because Santa lives in the North Pole.”

“What about you John, what is Santa getting you?” Justin asked

“Hey what about us?” Taylor and Lynn asked

“Santa already knows what he has to get you. I told him a couple of weeks ago. He said that he would try really hard to find everything on your list.” Elaine said

“Well,” John said, “I want a lot of things, but I don’t think that Santa will be able to get it all in time.”

“I think that he will.” Lance said, “he has a lot of help from his elves and other people.”

 

~Christmas Day~

 

            “Ok, Chris, open your gift.” Christi said as she handed him an envelope

            “What is it?” he asked

            “You have to open it to find out.” Chris opened it and there was a black and gray picture

            “What is this?” he asked

            “That’s our baby?” Christi said with a big smile on her face

            “Really, I’m going to be a father?”

            “Yeah, that’s right.” Christi said with tears welling in her eyes, “And you are going to be a GREAT father.”

            “We have to tell everybody!” Chris said picking up the phone to call Justin, “Hey Justin, guess what?”

            “What, you didn’t get all that you wanted from Santa?” Justin laughed

            “No, even better! I'm going to be a father! Christi is pregnant!”

            “That’s great man, congratulations!”

            “Who is that Justin?” Elaine asked

            “It’s Chris, he said that Christi is pregnant.”

            “Wow, first Em and now Christi.” Elaine said after she picked up the other phone.

            “Wait, Em is pregnant too?” Christi asked

            “Oh, I didn’t know that you were on the line too. Yeah, she called us this morning; she said that she was going to call you next.”

            “Ok, if she calls you back, don’t tell her anything. Ok?” Christi said, “oh, Merry Christmas.”

            “Merry Christmas to you too.” Justin and Elaine said

            We called Chris and Christi to tell them our news and they also told us their news. “So when are you due?” I asked Christi

            “September 30^th, or about that date.” Christi said

            “Wow, that’s close to my due date. I’m due September 22^nd.” I added

            “That is so amazing, imagine if we had them on the same day?”

            “I know. That would be so weird.” I said, “hold on, someone is beeping in on me…Hello, hi Mom, hold on I have someone on the other line…Christi, it’s my mom, can I call you later?”

            “Yeah, Chris and I will be over later on today with gifts for the kids. Merry Christmas.” Christi hung up the phone and I talked to my mom for about 2 hours. Then Lance’s parents called and we talked to them for about 2 hours.

Everyone came over to our house and we exchanged more gifts, we had another dinner and then we sat around the t.v. like bums and watched some parades and sports games.

Twenty

 

~January 2019~

 

            “Honey, you shouldn’t lift that. Here let me get that for you.” Chris said

            “Chris, I’m only 1 month pregnant, I can still help out around the house.”

            “I know, but I just want you to take it easy. I’ll be your servant for the next 8 months.”

            “And then what, after the baby is born I can go back to doing things for myself?” Christi asked sitting down on the sofa

            “No, I’ll still help you out. Right now, I will do whatever needs to be done around here.” He said giving her a kiss.

            “You better be careful, I might just used to not having to do anything and become a lazy bum.” Christi joked, “I have a doctor’s appointment in a couple of hours; do you want to go?”

            “Of course I do. What is this appointment going to be about?”

            “It’s just a regular check up. I have to see a nutritionist so that I can be advised on what foods I can and can’t eat.”

            “Ok, then after, do you want to go and see a movie or something?”

            “Ok, but don’t you guys have a meeting or recording session coming up?”

            “Yeah, but that’s not until tomorrow. Yesterday we had that interview with some magazine and then we worked in the studio.”

            “Ok, I just don’t want you to miss anything that’s gonna cause the group to suffer.”

            “If I miss 1 thing, they won’t be too mad. The only day that I won’t be there is when the baby is born. I’m gonna be right by your side the entire time.”

            “Ok, let’s get going to that appointment.” Christi said as she walked out the door with Chris right behind her.

 

~March 2019~

 

“So mom, let me get this straight,” Riley said, “I am actually going to have to help you out with the new baby?”

“Yes, is there something wrong with that?”

“No, it’s just that it’s already hard enough having to keep John under control, now with this other baby, it’s going to be even worse.”

“Riley, you are almost 10 years old, I don’t think that we are asking too much of you to help us out around the house a little more than usual. John will do his share of the work too.” Lance added

“Ok, fine. But all of this helping out junk better not interfere with me hanging out with my friends at the mall!” Riley huffed.

“If you keep up that attitude, you won’t be going to the mall as much as you like.” Lance said. Riley went up to her room and pouted at the fact that she had to grow up faster than she wanted to.

“I think that went well.” I said with a smile on my face

“Well, all that we can do is hope that she learns from all of this.” Lance said. “What time did you have to be at the doctor’s office?”

“At 3 p.m., then Christi and I are going to do some shopping. What are you and John going to do?”

“Well, he said that he wanted to go and see those new horses at Gibson’s Ranch, by the beach. I was thinking that we would take 2 of the horses and go for a ride along the beach for a couple of hours.”

“Ok, did you ask Riley if she wanted to go?”

“We did but she said that she was going to go with Macy and Mariah to the mall and then to the movies after.”

“I didn’t know that. How did you find out?”

“Macy called and asked if it was alright if Riley came over for a while since J.C. went back to D.C. to visit his parent.”

“Why didn’t Macy and the kids go with him?” I asked as I put on a sweater

“Manuel went with him; Mariah wanted to stay to be with her friends. She said that she would go next time.”

“Ok. I will see you at 6 p.m. tonight. If you need to get a hold of me, call me on my cell phone.” I gave Lance a kiss, “Riley, John I’m leaving…have fun today and I will be home for dinner.” I walked out of the door, go tin my car and headed for my appointment.

 

~June 2019~

 

            “Hey where is everyone?” Christi and I asked as we walked into Johnny’s dark office

            “Typical people,” Kate said turning on the light.

            “SURPRIZE!!” everyone yelled

            “What is this all about?” Christi asked, “Another baby shower for us?”

            “Yes,” Chris said

            “This is like the third one that we have had in 3 months. 1^st my parents give me one, then Chris’ parents, now you guys. This is just too much.”

            “I know. What are we going to do with all of the stuff that we keep getting?” I asked as I sat in the chair that Lance brought from me.

            “Have more babies.” Chris said

            “Oh yeah right,” Christi said, “Let me have this one, then I will consider having more children.”

            “The only difference between this baby shower and the other ones that you have had,” Chris began

“Is that you only have the things that you didn’t get, or that you need more of, at the other baby showers.” Lance finished

            “We see.” Christ and I said

            “Let’s just see what we have here.” Lance said. I opened up the first box.

            “Clothes…” I said as I showed them, “These are so cute.”

            “I picked those out.” Johnny said

            “Thank you.”

            2 hours later we were completely finished at the baby shower and the guys were cleaning up. Christi and I packed up some of the many things that we got. Kate and Elaine took them to our cars and then we headed out of the building to go to dinner…all 17 of us. “I don’t think that any restaurant will take all of us.” I said

            “I don’t think so either.” Kate said

            “Well, since it is still hot out, we could have a bar-b-que at someone’s house.” Lance said

            “What about your house?” Justin asked Lance. Lance looked at me…I couldn’t say no, because whenever he looks at me with his sexy green eyes, I do whatever he wants.

“I guess we could do that.” I said, “Plus we have that new grill.”

“Ok, be at my house at 6 p.m. and don’t forget a change a clothes for the kids.” Lance said

Lance and I went to the store to pick up some extra food and then to the house to start cooking some of the food. Everyone came at 5:30 with their food and the kids went swimming in the pool. Joey took Tati to the empty downstairs bedroom because she was sleeping and Kate didn’t want her to wake up. I found the baby monitor and put on in the bedroom and the other I gave to Kate.

Twenty-one

 

~September 2019~

 

            “Chris, I hate to bug you at work,” I said to him over the phone, “But remember that little promise that you made to your wife about being by her side for the delivery of your son?”

            “Yeah, I do. Why?”

            “Well, Christi and I are on our way to the hospital right now!”

            “Ok, I’m on my way.” Chris hung up with me, “Guys, I have to go, Christi is on her way to the hospital with Amerika.”

            “Ok, I’m going too.” Lance said

            They all left and arrived at the hospital right as Christi was being taken to her room. “Christi, I’m right here. See I didn’t break my promise to you.”

            “Thank you Chris, but what I need right now are drugs, lots and lots of drugs!! The pain is so unbearable!!”

            “Dr. Putnam, is there anything that you can give her for the pain?” Chris asked with a worried look on his face

“Yes, we just gave her an epidural shot; she isn’t going to feel anything.” The doctor assured Chris

            3 hours later, on September 20, 2019, Adam Alan Kirkpatrick came into the world. He weighed 9 pounds 7 ounces and had the darkest hair that bordered on black. Chris and Christi fell in love with him instantly. Christi didn’t even want the doctors to take him and clean him up; she wanted to be right there the entire time.

            2 days later I was admitted into the hospital for my baby to be born. Just as Chris and Christi were leaving, Lance and I were arriving. “What are you guys doing here?” Chris asked

            “Must have baby NOW!!” I yelled at Lance while grabbing his sleeve

            “Can’t talk; want to live to see this child grow up.” Lance said following me into the room that was reserved for us

            “I think that we should stick around for this.” Christi said holding Adam. They walked back to the room that we went into and then right behind then were Joey, Kate, Justin, Elaine, J.C. and Macy.

            “Where are the kids at?” Lance asked

            “Johnny has all of them.” Justin said

            “Is he going to be able to handle them all?” Christi asked

            “Well, most of them were sleep and the older ones were playing video games.” Joey said

            “Ok, let’s get this baby out of you.” Dr. Putnam said, “Ok, Mrs. Bass, it seems that you are already dilated. I’m going to have to ask everyone but the husband to leave the room.” They all left out.

5 hours later, after lots of screaming and then crying, Katlyn Sophia Bass was born. Lance handed her to me and of course I began to cry. ‘Typical me’ I thought to myself as I cried more. This time I wasn’t crying because I was happy, I was crying because of the immense pain that I was going through.

“Em are you alright?” Lance asked

“No, I am having a lot of pain in my stomach.” I said handing the baby back to him.

“Doctor, what’s wrong with her?” Lance asked as he took the baby from me

“That’s what we are going to find out. Nurse, take Mr. Bass and his baby to the nursery and have her cleaned up.

“No, I want to stay here with my wife!!” Lance said

“Honey, go with the nurse, I’ll be fine. I love you.” I said through the pain

“I love you too.” He said as he walked out of the delivery room with Katlyn

“Is there any other family that you want to call?” the nurse asked Lance

“Yeah, I have to call our parents.” He said

“Ok, hand me the baby and you go and do that.” She continued.

Lance called my parent and his parents. Both said that they were on the next flight out. Lance then went and told everyone that was in the waiting room that I needed to be operated on because of some punctured blood vessels in my stomach and uterus.

6 hours later, the doctor came out of the surgery room. “Mr. Bass, I have some news about your wife.”

“Is she alright?” Lance asked standing up from the chair. By this time all of the kids were at the hospital, and waiting to see me.

“Daddy, is mommy going to be alright?” John asked

Twenty-two

 

            “Of course Mommy is going to be alright.” Lance said, “Why don’t you and Riley see it Uncle Justin or Aunt Elaine will taken you to see your new sister while I see what the doctor is going to tell me about Mommy.”

            “Ok, but you have to come and get us when you find out so that we can see her.” John said walking back to the others.”

            “I promise that I will.” Lance said. John, Riley, Justin and Elaine left to the nursery. “So, doctor. How is my wife doing?”

            “The surgery went very well. But the only thing was that she won’t be able to have any more children. I’m sorry.” He said

            “But she is going to be alright?” Lance asked

            “Yes.”

            “Ok, that’s all that matters. We will get over not being able to have more children. Just as long as she is going to be okay. When can we see her?”

            “She will be back in her room in a couple of minutes, then only you and your children can see her. In a couple of days, she can have other guests.”

            “Thank you doctor.” Lance said. The doctor left the waiting room and Lance went to tell the others the news.

            “So how is she?” Chris asked

            “She’s fine. In a couple of days she will be able to have more guests see here in the room. Right now I am going to take Riley and John to see her.”

            “That’s good that she is going to be ok.” Christi said

            “But, that’s not all…”

            “Well, what else is there?” J.C. asked

            “She won’t be able to have more children, Katlyn is the last baby that she can have.” He said sitting down in the chair

            “I’m so sorry to hear that.” Elaine said, “I know how much you 2 love children.”

            “But we will get over that. She’s fine and that’s all that matters.”

            “Does she know yet?” Christi asked

            “I don’t know. I don’t even know how to tell her if she asks.”

            “You’ll find away to tell her. God will show you the way.” J.C. said

            “Where are Riley and John?” Lance asked, “I want to take them to see Amerika.”

            “Justin should be coming back with them right now.” Elaine said

            “Ok, there they are.” Lance said letting a smile slip on his face, “Hey kids, we can see you mom now.”

            “Ok, let’s go.” Riley said taking Lance’s hand

            “Wait, you guys, before we go, I have to tell you something.” Lance said sitting them down

            “Ok, what?” Riley asked impatiently

            “You’re mom had an operation after Katlyn was born, and she not be awake when we see her, so we have to be very quiet.”

            “Ok, we understand…can we go now?” they asked

            “Yes.” Lance replied. They got up and walked to my room. Lance slowly opened the door and they quietly walked in not knowing if I was awake.

“There are my other babies!!” I said sitting up in the bed

            “Mom….” Riley and John said

            “Hey Em, how do you feel?” Lance asked me as he kissed my forehead.

            “As well as can be expected. So did you guys get to see you sister?” I asked Riley and John

            “Yeah, I got to hold her.” Riley said

            “So did I.” John said

            “When are you going to be able to leave the hospital?” Riley asked sitting on the bed next to me

            “In a couple of weeks. But Katlyn gets to go home tomorrow.”

            “Who is going to take care of her?” John asked

            “You, Riley, and your Daddy.”

            “But we can’t do it by ourselves.” Riley and John said

            “Yes we can.” Lance said

            “Are you sure that we can?” John asked

            “Yes, I’m positive. We will come back here to see Mommy everyday until she can home with us.”

            “Can we Mom?” Riley asked

            “That’s fine with me, but you have to help your father out with Katlyn.”

            “We will…” they said giving me a kiss and ran back to the others

            “Hey, where are you 2 going?” Lance asked

            “To go see Adam.” Riley said

            “I’m going to see it Uncle Justin will take me to get some ice cream.”

            “Ok, just don’t be too loud.” I said

 

~2 months later~

 

            “Hey Johnny…is there anyway that you could have someone send with my papers?”

“Amerika, you just got out of the hospital 2 months ago, I want you to take it easy for another month. Don’t worry about your work. Macy and Kate have everything under control.”

            “Well, I just have to do something. Lance and the kids aren’t letting me do anything. All I do is sit around, and occasionally someone will come and see me. That’s all I do all day!!”

            “Just take it easy and next week I’ll have Macy bring by some papers for you. Ok?”

            “Ok…” I said

            “Tell, Riley and John that I said hi and give Katlyn a kiss for me. I have to go, I’ll see you guys this weekend at my house for dinner.” Johnny hung up the phone and I turned on the TV to watch Passions, my all time favorite soap opera.

Twenty-three

 

~15^th of July, 2020~

 

            “Kate, you look like you’ve gained a little weight.” I said

            “I should hope so if I am 4 months pregnant.” she said

            “What…you’re pregnant? That’s great!!” we both screamed like little schoolgirls, it was so funny. Macy and Elaine came to see what was going on.

            “What’s up you 2?” Macy asked

            “I wanna wait for Christi to come, where is she at anyway?” Kate asked

            “The last time I saw her she was talking on the phone with Chris…so it could be a while.”

            “But this is really important.” Kate said

            “I’ll go and see what’s taking her so long.” I said as I walked out of my office, “T, what’s taking you so long on the phone? Kate has something important to tell us.”

            “Ok…Chris, I’ll talk to you later, I have to go. I love you too. See you in a couple of weeks. I love you more, bye.” Christi hung up the phone and followed me back to my office

            “Ok, now that everybody is here…” Kate said, “I have some important news…”

            “Well, out with it already!” Elaine said sitting on the arm of the sofa in my office

            “Ok, I guess that you all have noticed, or at least Em has noticed that I have gained a little weight.”

            “No, we didn’t notice.” Christi, Elaine, and Macy said with evil smiles on their faces

            “Right. The real reason that I gained a lot of weight is because I am 4 months pregnant!” Kate said pulling her shirt tight against her stomach to show the bulge that was barely visible. More screaming happened and we were acting like it was the night after meeting the guys and we were talking about it. You know how teenage girls act when they go out with a really hot guy and they have to tell their other girlfriends about everything that happened, well, that’s how we were acting.

            “Ok we have to calm down…how did Joey react to this?” I asked

            “He was bouncing off the walls with excitement.”

“And how did your In-laws react?” Christi asked

            “They were happy for us. We are going to go up to New York to visit them next month.”

            “I bet Tati can’t wait to see them.” Elaine said

            “I know. She asks about them all the time and she wants to talk to them almost every weekend.”

            “Have you told your parents yet?” Macy asked

            “Yeah we told them right after we told Joey’s parents. They said that they were going to be coming down in a couple of months to stay with us for a while. This arrangement actually works out good, because we will just have gotten back from New York when my parents come to town.”

            “So tell us…what are you going to name the baby?” I asked

            “If it’s a boy his name will be Cobi Jordan Fatone. If it’s a girl her name will be Ruth Genesis Fatone.”

“Those are nice names.” Christi said. We all shook our heads in agreement.

 

~The September Birthdays Bash~

 

Out of the 19 of people that are my family, 4 people are celebrating their birthdays in September. My birthday is on the 9^th; Adam’s is on the 20^th, Katlyn’s is on the 22^nd and Mariah’s is on the 30^th. Instead of having separate parties, we had on big one at the end of the month. Adam and Katlyn were turning 1, Mariah was turning 10, and I was turning 40. My gosh, I’m a 40 year old woman with 3 children ranging in ages from 1 to 11. I don’t know how I kept up with it all.

“Ok, you have to blow out the candles.” Riley said to me as she presented me with a cake with 40 candles on it

“I can’t believe that you guys actually put 40 candles on my birthday cake! Whose idea was this?” I asked looking around the room

“I can’t lie…it was my idea.” Lance said

“Oh, you are so going to pay for this…just wait and see.” I said with a devilish smile on my face

“Ohhh, I’m scared...my knees are shaking.”

“What ever.” I blew out all of the candles in one breathe, “Lets see you do that PooFu.”

“Now why did you have to go and call me PooFu? That is so embarrassing.” Lance said slightly blushing

“Oh my gosh…he’s blushing! Em you made a 41 year old man blush!!” Macy said

“I know.” I said giving her a high five

“Oh, but you still haven’t gotten your gift from me.” Lance said, “It’s over here…by the pool.”

“I don’t think so…” I said walking backwards away from my quickly approaching husband

“You aren’t getting away that fast.” He said. Everyone laughed as Lance chased me around the pool. Then he finally caught me and we both went splashing into the pool.

“You see that’s what happens when you eat too much cake and ice cream.” Riley said to Mariah. They both laughed. Lance and I got out of the pool and John gave us a towel.

“I’m glad my birthday is in October. I don’t have to worry about being thrown in the pool.” He laughed.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get thrown in soon enough…” Lance and I said.

Twenty-four

 

~November 2020~

 

            “This year let’s go to your parents house for Thanksgiving dinner.” Lance said

            “We went there the year before last…let’s go to your parents house for dinner.”

            “Ok, I’ll call and tell them.” Lance called his parents and they were glad that we were going to be coming to visit them.

            “It’s a good thing that we got the other car back from the dealership, there’s no way that we would have been able to get all 5 of us to Mississippi in my car.” I said

            “I know. I’m actually glad that you talked me into getting the van.”

            “I wonder what the others are going to be doing for Thanksgiving.”

            “I don’t know, but Johnny wants to know where we all are going to be incase he has to get a hold us of us.”

“Why would he need to get a hold of you guys? This is supposed to be your time off.”

“I know, be we have that CD coming out soon and we may have to do some last minute things to it.” Lance said

“That’s fine as long as it doesn’t interfere with Thanksgiving Dinner.”

            “I knew that you’d understand.” Lance said as he gave me a kiss. “I have a meeting with Meredith. I’ll be home for dinner.” Lance gave me another kiss and gave Katlyn a kiss and left out the house.

            “Mom, has dad left yet?” John asked as he came running down the stairs

            “Yeah, he just did. Why?”

            “Oh no reason. I’ll tell him when he comes home for dinner.” John said with a sad expression on his face

            “Are you sure Johnny? I could take you to see him later today when I go out to run some errands.”

            “No, it can wait. I’m gonna go out and ride my bike for a while.”

            “Ok honey. Take a jacket, it’s starting to get a bit cooler out.” I said as I walked up stairs to put Katlyn down to sleep.

            “Riley I want you to have you room clean by the time your father comes home for dinner tonight.”

            “Mom, it is clean.” Riley said closing her magazine

            “Riley Ann Bass I don’t want to have to tell you again. It better be done by the time your father comes home.”

            “Ok…what time is he coming home?” she huffed

            “About 6 or 7 p.m.”

            “Ok.” She said reading her next magazine.

I continued on to Katlyn’s room, laid her in the crib and covered her up. “Is you’re homework done?” I asked as I went back by her room on the way down the stairs

            “Geez, what’s with the 20 questions?”

            “It was a simple yes or no question.” I said

            “No, I haven’t finished it. I’ll do it later on tonight.” She snapped

            “Watch it there Miss! I’ll check to see that you have it done. You know that you’re grades are slipping and remember what you father and I told you would happen if you didn’t pass all of your classes with a C or better.”

            “Yeah. I remember. I can’t go away this summer and I have to go to summer school.”

            “Ok.” I said. I went down the stairs to the kitchen and began to make lunch.

 

~The week before Thanksgiving~

 

            “Riley hurry up.” Lance said

            “I’m in the bathroom.” She yelled

            “Riley now!!” I said

            Riley came running down the stairs, “Ok I’m ready.” She said

            We all piled into the van and stopped by the office and then headed to Mississippi. “Mom, Riley is bugging…” John whined

            “Well, he was touching my stuff.” Riley said

            “If I hear any more complaining you are going to be grounded when we get to your Grandparents house.” Lance said

            “Ha ha you got in trouble…” John said

            “1 day John…” I said

            “Ahhh man.”

When we arrived in Mississippi Riley and John were asleep and Katlyn was being very fussy. We stopped at Lance’s sister’s job to see if she was there and they said that she just left to go to her parents’ house. Then we continued on to Jim and Diane’s house. Riley and John were still sleep and we had a hard time getting them to wake up. They finally woke up when they heard Katlyn crying really loud and they saw Jim and Diane on the other side of the car.

Twenty-five

 

~Thanksgiving Dinner~

 

“Lance, did you make sure and turn off your cell phone?” I asked

“Yes, Honey,” Lance said

“And did you turn your pager off?” Diane asked

“Yes, I did that too, Mom.” Lance added

“Ok, I just don’t want any interruptions at dinner tonight.” Diane said

“There won’t be. Kate said that she would call here if she went into labor early.”

“I don’t think that she will.” I said

“Well, you never know.” Diane said

“That’s true. Riley, eat your vegetables.”

“Do I have too?” she asked

“Yes, just eat half of what’s on your plate.” Lance said

“Ok, fine.” Riley said

“Mom, can I have more turkey?” John asked

“Yes, here you go.” I placed 2 more pieces of turkey on his plate.

We finished eating dinner and the kids went out with Ford, Lance and Jim to look at the horses. Diane, Stacy and I stayed and cleaned up the kitchen and packed up left over food.

“I really wish that you guys didn’t have to leave so soon.” Stacy said

“I know, but Riley and John have to go back to school on Monday and I go back to work on Tuesday.”

“You’re going back so soon?” Diane said

“I have to. I have been leaving too much up to Kate and the others.”

“Who will take care of Katie?”

“There is a daycare right down the street from where I work. Kate, Macy, Christi, Elaine and I take our children there and then pick them up when we are done at work.”

“You actually trust them with your children?”

“They are in good hands, Mom. Johnny’s wife Pauline takes very good care of them.”

We left Mississippi the day after Thanksgiving with enough food to last us 2 weeks. When we got back to Florida I helped John with his Autumn leaf project for science and Riley went with Lance to pick up some things for Kate and Joey’s new baby.

 

~December 2020~

 

            “Hey Elaine, do you want to go out to lunch today?” I asked

            “Sure, where should we go?”

            “I don’t know, I’m just tired of the food here.”

            “I know, why did you ever stop buying the food for the lounge anyway?” Elaine asked

            “I don’t know. Think I should start buying it again?”

            “Please do!! I was seriously thinking about bringing lunch with me.”

            “Let’s go, I’m starving. We could always for to that little place on the pier for a quick bite.”

            “Sounds good to me.” Elaine and I left in my car to go to the Lobster Shanty on the pier for lunch. We got there and sat at the table by the window that had a view of the ocean.

            “Is that Lindsay, Justin’s ex?” Elaine asked

            “I think it is. Who is that guys she’s with? He looks really familiar.” I said

            “I can’t really tell. Good thing Justin and the guys are in New York on TRL. Lindsay would probably be all over Justin if he were here.” Elaine said

            “Is she still after him?”

            “Yeah, for his birthday this year she bought him an expensive silver chain.” She said with a sneer

            “She did what?”

            “I know. That’s what I said when J told me who it was from.”

            “What did he do with it?”

            “Gave it back to her. He said that he didn’t feel right accepting such an expensive gift from her.”

            “I’m gonna go to the bathroom. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.” I said. I got up and walked towards the bathroom. The person that was with Lindsay turned around and I noticed who he was. “What the hell are you doing here?” I asked him

            “Having lunch with Lindsay. Is there something wrong with that?”

            “Yeah…Elaine is here and you aren’t supposed to even be in town.”

            “Oh man, don’t tell here that I was here…she’ll be really mad.” Lindsay and Justin left out the side exit of the restaurant and I went on to the bathroom. I went back to the table. Elaine and I finished lunch and went back to work.

 

~The next week~

 

            “Hey Justin, I had a really nice time at lunch last week. Maybe we could do it another time.” Lindsay said on the answering machine, “I’m glad that Elaine doesn’t mind you going to lunch with me. Maybe we could all go out to lunch or dinner when Rodney gets back from Texas. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”

Twenty-six

 

            A couple of hours after I got home from work Lance called. “Hi Em, how are things going?”

            “As well as can be expected. John is doing really well and Riley brought up her grade in math.”

            “That’s really good. How is Katie doing?” Lance asked

            “She’s just fine.”

            “And you…how are you doing?”

            “I’m a little tired but I get by, and I miss you a lot.”

            “I miss you too sweetie. I don’t want you working too much. It’s only been 3 months since you were in the hospital and you still need to take it easy.”

            “I know I know. I was wondering something…”

            “What?”

            “Why was Justin in town last week?”

            “He was in Florida?” Lance asked, “So that’s where he disappeared too.”

            “Yeah…he was at the Lobster Shanty with Lindsay…” I said, “You guys didn’t know where he was?”

            “No, he called us and said that he had something to do, but he would be back in time for our appearance on TRL. Does Elaine know?”

            “No, but I don’t know how long I can keep this from her. She’s going to find out sooner or later.”

            “Let’s just hope it’s after we get back so that they can work through this.” Lance said

            “I know. So when are you guys coming back? I miss you a lot.”

            “I miss you more. We leave tonight and arrive back in Florida tomorrow morning.”

            “Ok. Hold on, some one is calling me.”

            “Ok.” Lance said.

I clicked over to the other line, “Hello?”

            “Hi Em, can I come over? I really need to talk to you.”

            “Sure, what’s the matter?”

            “I don’t know how much more of this lying I can take.”

            “What lying?”

            “Justin…he was here in Florida last week and had lunch with Lindsay.”

            “What?” I said knowing that I had known all along. “Sure come on over.” Elaine hung up her phone and clicked back over to Lance. “I’m back.”

            “Ok, so who called?”

            “It was Elaine. She knows and she’s pissed. Tell Justin that I’m not keeping his secret for him anymore.”

            “Do what you have to do and just hope that they will be able to work through their problems.”

            “I know. Well, I have to go. Elaine is going to be over any minute. See you tomorrow.”

            “Ok, I love you and tell the kids that I’ll see them tomorrow.”

            “Ok, I love you too. See you tomorrow.” I got off the phone with Lance and Elaine came over 15 minutes later. “Elaine, come in. Have you been crying?”

            “Yeah for the last 2 hours.”

            “Why didn’t you call when you first found out?”

            “I don’t know. I thought that I could just explain it away to myself.” She said sitting on the sofa.

            “Where are the kids?”

            “They are in the back with Riley and John. I don’t know what I’m going to do about this. They were at the Lobster Shanty when we went there last week for lunch.” She said as she paced the floor.

            “I know. I saw them when I went to the bathroom.”

            “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me that they were there?” she said as she stopped pacing the floor

            “Justin asked me not to tell you because he wanted to do it himself.”

            “But still, you should have told me.” She said sitting on the sofa

            “And betray Justin’s trust? All he did was do to lunch with her.”

            “Did you know that he told her that I was ok with them going to lunch?”

            “Now that I didn’t know.”

            “Well, he did! I don’t know if I can trust him, anymore.” She began to cry.

            “Please don’t do anything that you are going to regret later. Just wait until he gets home tomorrow to talk this out. Why don’t you leave Star and Taylor here and you and Justin just talk and work through this.”

            “Ok, but I’m only doing this for my children.”

            “Elaine, don’t lie to yourself. You that you still love Justin.”

            “I know,” she said as she started to cry more.

            “We can all leave now and I’ll take you home and get some clothes for Lynn and Taylor.”

            “Don’t worry, you don’t have to take me home we walked.”

            “All that way?”

            “Em, it’s just 2 blocks down the street.”

            “Are you sure you want to walk back?”

            “Yeah. Do you still have their clothes here from when they stayed the night before?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Ok, then I’ll just go and tell them bye and then I’m going home.” Elaine got up and went to the back yard. “Lynn and Taylor…”

            “Yes Mommy…” they said coming to her

            “You’re going to stay here with Auntie Em so that Daddy and I can have some time together. I’ll pick you up tomorrow night.”

            “Ok,” they said. They gave her a hug and went back to playing. Elaine walked back in the house, gave me a hug and left.

            “Call me when you get home.” I said

            “Ok, I will.” I closed the door and went to start dinner.

Twenty-seven

 

            “Come on kids, we have to go the airport. The plane lands in one hour.”

            “Ok, I’m helping Taylor with his shoes.” John said

            “Did you pick up the blankets from last night?”

            “Yes.” Riley and John said

            “Ok, lets go.” I said walking out the door, “John and Taylor in the back, Riley and Lynn in the middle. Riley make sure that you pull the shade over Katlyn’s carrier.”

            “I already did Mom.” Riley said

            At the airport there were lots of people and so I made sure that Riley and John held Lynn and Taylor’s hands so that they wouldn’t get lost. We went up to the VIP waiting room and waited for Johnny to come and tell us that the plane landed. Christi, Kate and Macy were already waiting.

            “Where is Elaine?” I asked

            “She didn’t come with you?” Kate asked

            “No, she said that she was going to meet us here.” I said, “I’ll be right back. Watch Katie for me while I call her.”

            “Ok.” Macy said

            I went to call Elaine at her house and she wasn’t there. I tried on her cell phone and it was turned off. The last place that I tried was the office and sure enough she was there. “Elaine, aren’t you coming to the airport to pick up Justin?”

            “I wasn’t planning on it. He knows the way home.” I could tell that she had been crying

            “What’s the matter with you?”

            “I’ve just done a lot of thinking and I realized that I’m not going to put up with Justin’s lying anymore. I’m going to go back home to California and try to figure out where I went wrong in my life.”

            “Elaine, don’t leave. I’ll be right there to pick you up and bring you here. You aren’t making any sense. Just don’t leave. I’ll be there in 30 minutes.”

            “Ok, but if you aren’t here, I’m not waiting.” Elaine said and hung up the phone

I rushed back to the VIP waiting room just as the guys were hugging everyone. I pulled Justin over to the side and told him that his wife was going to leave him if he didn’t get to the office fast. The smile on his face quickly faded and tears started to well in his eyes.

            “What about Lynn and Taylor?” Justin asked

            “Don’t worry about them. They can go home with us again.” I said

            “Ok.” Justin left and Johnny took him to the office, and when they got there Elaine was walking out of the building. “Elaine wait.” Justin yelled as he got out of Johnny’s still moving car, “Let’s talk about this.”

            “I’m done talking. We talked until I was blue in the face. Nothing I said seemed to matter to you.” Elaine said. “If you still have this urge to talk I’ll be at home until 6 p.m. if you aren’t there by then I’m gone and I won’t be back.”

            “Please Elie, I’m begging you, just stay here so we can talk about this. I should have told you that I was going to be in town for lunch with Lindsay…”

            “Just don’t…I’m tired of the excuses. Just like when you “should have” told me that you invited her to our wedding and just like you “should have” told me that she just happened to have our home phone number. I am just so tired of all the fucking excuses Justin. Give me a reason that I should stay here with you and not leave your sorry lying ass!”

            “Because I know you better than that. You would never leave your children, not for anything in the world.”

            “Oh yeah…watch me!” Elaine stood up and walked away.

            “Elaine, I love you.”

            “I’m not hearing it Justin.”

            “Elaine…” Justin said. Elaine stopped and turned around. When she did that he started to sing ‘I Want You Back’. “You’re all I ever wanted…you’re all I ever need…so tell me what to do now, ’cause I want you back, it’s hard to say I’m sorry, it’s hard to make the things I did undone, a lesson I’ve learned too well.”

Elaine still didn’t want to hear the word coming from his mouth and pouring out from his heart. She coldly turned and walked away leaving Justin standing there with tears streaming down his face. When Justin saw Elaine drive away and his whole world crumbled at his feet. He sat in that same spot for 2 hours just staring off into space until Lance came to see where he was.

            “Justin, are you alright?” Lance asked as he sat next to his friend

            “She’s gone…I’ve lost the one thing that ever meant anything to me.”

            “What are you talking about. You aren’t making any sense.”

            “Elaine left me. She just left me. Nothing I said or did made her change her mind about leaving me.”

            “I’m so sorry man.” Lance said hugging Justin, “But maybe this will help cheer you up.”

            “The only thing that would even come close to cheering me up is having Elaine back. She means everything to me. I can’t live with out her.”

            “Just turn around and see who it is.” Lance said.

            Justin turned around and a smile quickly appeared on his face.

Twenty-eight

 

 

            “Just don’t stand there. Go talk to her.” Lance said

            “I don’t know how I can ever repay you for this. You brought her back to me.” Justin said walking over to Elaine. They wrapped their arms around each other and they were both crying. “ I thought that you were leaving me for good.”

            “I couldn’t leave you. Not after you sang to me. I left because I was so mad. I actually was going to leave. I made up my mind that I was going to leave you. I drove in the direction of the airport but somehow I wound up at Lance and Amerika’s. Amerika and I talked for a long time. Lance brought me here so that we could work things out.”

            “Let’s get away from here. Lets pack up everything and move away.” Justin said, “Let’s have a fresh start at everything.”

            “We can’t leave. We have so much invested here.” Elaine said

            “Then let’s go away and rediscover what we love about each other so much.” Justin said

            “What about our children.”

            “This is just for us. We have to work on us before we can go any farther.”

            “I know.” Elaine said, “Lance can you and Em keep Lynn and Taylor for a while?”

            “Of course we can. You know that we are always here for you…no matter what.” Lance said

            Lance took Justin and Elaine back to our house. Justin and Elaine left to go to Tennessee to be alone.

 

~Kate and Joey’s Second Child~

 

            On December 12, 2020 Cobi Jordan Fatone was born at 12:12 p.m. Kate was at the hospital visiting one of her friends in the morning when she went into labor. Joey got there just as she was being taken to her room. She was in labor for 6 very painful hours. Everyone was there except for Justin and Elaine because they were still in Tennessee. Joey and Kate moved into a larger house in the same gated community that everyone else lives in. The community is actually 5 miles wide and has about 100 homes in it. 3 days after Cobi was born, Justin and Elaine came back to Florida. They were gone for 2 weeks and they looked so great when they got back to Florida. They really needed the time together.

            At J.C. and Macy’s 12-year wedding anniversary party, Justin and Elaine decided that they wanted to renew their wedding vows on Christmas Day.

“So you guys have worked out your problems?” I asked

            “Yeah.” They both said

            “So what about this Lindsay thing?” Joey asked

            “If she ever calls again…” Justin said

            “Which she wont” Elaine cut in.

“Right, but if she does, I’ll just tell her that me being friends with her is just causing too much trouble and that I’m not going to ruining my marriage.” Justin finished

            “I think that she still has feelings for you J.” Chris said

            “She can have all the feelings she wants, but she’s just fooling herself if she thinks that I’m going to go back to her.” Justin said

            “We all know that, but obviously she hasn’t gotten the hint.” Christi added

            “Then we’ll just have to take the next step…” Elaine said

            “Which is?” I asked

            “Getting a restraining order against her from both Justin and me.” Elaine said

“You would actually go that far?”  Kate asked

“If that’s what it will take to get her out of our life, then yes.” Justin said

“Hey, do what you have to do to get on with you life.” Lance said

 

~Christmas Day~

 

“Hurry, let’s go kids.” Justin said

“Dad, I can’t find my shoes.” Taylor said

“Did you look in your closet?”

“Yeah, and under my bed too.”

“Tay, I have them.” Elaine said

“Ok, I’m ready to go.” Taylor said

“Mom, can you help me with my dress?” Lynn asked

“Ok,” Elaine zipped up Lynn’s dress and they left to the church.

“Lanie, you look so pretty.” I said

“Thanks, I just need to brush out these curls. Can you help me?”

“Yeah.” I picked up the brush and brushed out a few of the curls

“Ok, ladies, we’re waiting…” Joey and Chris said

“Ok, we’ll be right there.” I said. The music began to play and Elaine walked down the aisle.

“We are gathered here on this Christmas Morning for the wedding renewal of Justin Randall Timberlake and Elaine Lanie Timberlake. If there is anyone here who thinks that they should not continue with their marriage speak…” the priest wasn’t able to finish when you know who burst through the church door yelling for Justin not to do it. We all turned around to see Lindsay stagger into the church dead drunk…at 8 in the morning.

“Justin don’t…I love you still!!” Lindsay said

“Leave now, you’re not wanted here!” I said

“You’re the one who caused all of the problems for us in the 1^st place!” Elaine said

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of this.” I said, “Latoya, can you please remove Lindsay from the church. She isn’t wanted here.”

“Who is Latoya?” Justin asked

“She is my cousin…and a police officer. I called her just in case Lindsay showed up.”

“Thanks girl. I knew that you would have things under control.” Elaine said.

Latoya took Lindsay out of the church and the priest continued on with the ceremony. After the ceremony we went to Wright Entertainment’s business hall for the reception and to open up the Christmas gifts and have lunch.

Twenty-nine

 

~Christmas Night~

 

            “That was really great what you did for Elaine and Justin.” Lance said as we were lying in bed.

            “It was nothing. I know that they would have done the same thing for us.” I said sitting up in bed to fix my pillow.

            “See, that’s one of the many reasons that I fell in love with you.” Lance said leaning over and giving me a kiss.

            “And all along I thought is was my good looks and brains that you fell in love with.” I laughed

            “I fell in love with that too.” Lance said. One arm slowly slipped around my neck and the other around my lower back. We slowly moved under the covers and I turned out the lights with my free hand.

 

            “Justin, come over here. I have something for you.” Elaine said from the bedroom. Justin walked in the bedroom to see Elaine lying on the bed in an all white silk and lace practically see through nightgown.

            “Wow…” Justin said walking over to the bed, “You look so sexy.”

            “Thanks. This is just a little something that a friend gave me for tonight.”

            “It’s looks great!! I can’t wait to take it off of you.” Justin said

“Shhh, you might wake the children.” Elaine said as Justin stripped and got into bed.

 

~December 28~

 

            “Where is the New Years Eve party going to be at this year?” Chris asked

            “I don’t know about you,” Lance said, “But Amerika and I are going to have a nice quiet night at home.”

            “You too?” Justin said, “Somebody gonna be knockin’ boots on that night.”

            “Please…they ain’t gonna be able to get rid of their children in 2 and a half...3 days.” J.C. said

            “Who said that they were going anywhere?” Lance asked, “Em and I can have a quiet night without our children bugging us. We’ve done it plenty of times.”

            “Oh we know you have.” Joey said raising his eyebrows up and down

            “You know what I mean Joe.” Lance said with a glare

            “Ok, so I guess that means every man for himself when it comes to partying?” Chris said

            “Chris, you are going to be at home with Christi and Adam.” Lance said

            “How do you know? What if we were going to go to New York, or something?”

            “Not with a 1 year old baby.” J.C. said

            “Christi didn’t even want to come over for dinner when Em invited her…I think she has something special planned.” Lance said

            “Ya think?” he asked taking a bite of his apple

            “Who knows what she could have planned. She is just as sneaky as the other wives.” Johnny said coming into the lounge

            “Hey where have you been?” Justin asked

            “Yeah, we’ve been here for 1 hour waiting for you.” J.C. said

            “Sorry about keeping you guys waiting, but I had an important meeting with a new group that I am going to be managing.”

            “I guess it’s ok this time.” Chris said, “Just don’t let it happen again.”

            “It won’t…at least I hope that it won’t.” Johnny laughed

            “So what’s the deal on the Teen Choice Awards?” Justin asked

            “Well, they have this new thing where they want the couples of the music industry to perform with their significant others…”

            “Wait a minute…they want us to perform with our wives?” J.C. asked, “I’m all for that!”

            “Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Justin said

            “You guys only have 6 months to work something out.” Johnny said

            “I don’t know if Christi is going to be up for that.” Chris said

“Oh man, we forgot about that…do you really think that they will actually want to get up on national TV and perform?” Lance asked

            “Well there’s no harm in asking.” Johnny said, “Oh look, here they are now. Why don’t you ask them?”

            “Ask us what?” I said

            “If we want to perform with you?” Christi asked

            “How did you know about that?” Johnny asked

            “You don’t think that we have worked here for as long as we have and not know all the good eavesdropping spots in this building?” Kate said

            “That’s besides the point…will you perform with your husbands or not?” Johnny asked.

            “Well, when you put it that way…” Elaine said

            “Sure…why the hell not. It could actually be fun.” Macy said sitting next to J.C., “Don’t you think Honey?”

            “Of Course I do.” He said kissing her on the forehead.

Thirty

 

            “So when do we start?” Macy said a little too excitedly

            “Like I said, you guys have six months to pick 5 different songs that you thing personify your relationship, practice that song and be ready to perform it in August.” Johnny said

            “Wait, if we are performing this in August, why do we have only 6 months to do all of that?” Elaine asked

            “I don’t know. I just think that you are all in good shape, you know all of the songs, and you are all great dancers.” Johnny said, “I wanted to see how well you work under pressure.”

            “You know how we work under pressure. We work with you everyday, but whatever.” I said

            “Come on, we can do this guys.” Macy said

            “Oh I have no doubt that we can do it, I just wish we had more time to work on it.” Christi said

            “You guys will do great.” Johnny said, “Now, you have your choice of performing all of the songs together or separately. Which is it going to be?”

            “Together!” we all said

            “Ok, then get to work. I want to have a list of 5 songs that you want to do by this time on Friday.”

            “Of this week?” I asked

            “Yes.”

            “Ok, just checking.” I said

            Christi, Macy, Elaine, Kate and I left the guys to finish their meeting and we went to check on our children at the Day Care center down the street. Riley is in the 6^th grade, Mariah is in the 5^th grade, John is in the 4^th grade, Lynn and Manuel are in the 1^st grade, Taylor is in pre-school. The rest of the kids: Tatianna, Katlyn, Adam and Cobi are taken to the day care center.

“So what song did you guys have in mind?” Kate asked

            “I know a couple of songs that are perfect for you, Elaine?” Christi said

            “Really, which ones, cuz I have no idea.” Elaine said

            “I was think something along the lines of That’s When I’ll Stop Loving You or I Thought She Knew.” Christi said

            “I was thinking of those same songs.” Macy said

            “Well, Lance and I really like This I Promise You, Something Like You and Sailing.”

            “Wow, those are 3 really good ones.” Elaine said, “Maybe Justin and I could do I Want You Back.”

            “Oh you 2 could do I Drive Myself Crazy.” Macy said to Elaine

            “That is a good one. Thanks, I’ll Tell Justin.”

            “I want to do Everything I Own. It has always been my favorite song of all the songs that they’ve done.” Macy said

            “Christi, what song do you want to do?” Elaine asked

            “Well, I don’t really know. Maybe…This I Promise You, only if Lance and Em don’t do it.” She said

            “You can do that song if you want Hun.” I said.

            We got to the Day Care center and the kids were taking their nap and so we just stayed a while and talked to Pauline. We left right before they woke up and headed back to the office to finish working on some papers.

            “Oh, you guys are still here?” I asked Lance

            “Yeah, we wanted to know if you have thought of any songs that you wanted to do.” J.C. said

            “Yeah, we have a few in mind.” Elaine said as we all made our way to my office, which was kind of like a lounge for us.

            “Well, this is going to be up to you. We will do whatever songs that you want to do.” Joey said

            “Ok then, we know which songs we want to do.” Christi said

            “What are they?” Chris asked, “Lance can you write them down so that we can give it to Johnny tomorrow.”

            “Ok.” Lance picked up a piece of paper off my desk and I handed him a pen

            “J.C. and I are going to do Everything I Own.” Macy said

            “We are going to do This I Promise You.” Christi said. Lance wrote both songs down.

            “Oh good choice” Chris said

            “I Drive Myself Crazy.” Elaine said

            “See I told you that she would probably pick that song.” Justin said

            “I see a pattern forming.” Lance said, “You guys purposely picked love songs, didn’t you?”

            “Well, what can we say…we’re suckers for love songs.” I said, “But I Drive Myself Crazy isn’t really a love song. That song really fits Elaine and Justin.”

            “I think I know which song you picked.” Lance said to me

            “Oh really, and what song is that?” I asked crossing my arms and looking at him

            “Sailing” Lance said

            “How did you know that?” Macy said

            “I know my baby.” Lance said, “She love that song more than This I Promise You and Something Like You.”

            “Wow, that’s scary.” Kate said, “Those were the other 2 songs that she picked.”

            “What song do you want to do, Katie-bug?” Joey asked

            “I want to do…maybe Something Like You.”

            “What did I tell you?” Joey said, “I had a feeling that she would pick that song.”

            “Ok, I’m gonna run down the names of all the songs that everyone is doing and tell me if I have it right.” Lance said, “Macy and J.C. are doing Everything I Own; Christi and Chris are doing This I Promise You; Elaine and Justin are doing I Drive Myself Crazy; Em and I are doing Sailing, last, Joey and Kate are doing Something Like You. Is everything right?”

            “Yes.” We all said.

Thirty-one

 

“Mrs. Bass, you have someone waiting for you in the lobby.” My secretary said, “She said that it was really important.”

“Ok, excuse me I have to see who is in the lobby.” I said getting up from my desk
“Ok, just don’t be too long, we have to make out a practice schedule.” Lance said. I walked out of the office, “Ok now that she’s gone we can work out the details of the party.”

“Well, when do you want to have it?” Kate asked

“Our anniversary is on January 12, and that’s a Tuesday. I’d rather have it the Friday before.” Lance said

“Did you get all of the pictures that I asked for?” Macy said

“Yeah, I have them here.” Lance said as he gave Macy the 2 envelopes of pictures, “But why did you want pictures of me too?”

“It’s a surprise from all of us to both of you.”

“Well, it was actually Riley’s idea, but I don’t want to give it away.”

“Then stop talking.” Kate said

“Ok, stop it you 2, we still have to put the music together.” Lance said

“I found the lyrics to a couple of songs that she liked.” Christi said, “The songs are Flying Without Wings and the other is We Are One.”

“I remember that last song.” Kate said, “Wasn’t that the song that was playing at your wedding reception?”

“Yeah. Both of those songs are by a group that she liked…Westlife, I think.”

“Yeah that’s right.” Macy said

“That was the song that was playing when Em and I went out on our one year anniversary.” Lance added

“Before or after you were married?” J.C. asked

“Both times.” Lance said

“I think she’s coming back.” Elaine said

“Hurry up and put those pictures away.” J.C. said

I walked back in my office and everyone was really quiet. “What’s going on in here?” I asked

“Nothing, just waiting for you to come back.” Lance said, “We decided that we want to start practicing after the start of the New Year on January 16th. Is that date ok with you?”

“Yeah that’s fine.” I said looking at my desk calendar, “Lance I have to talk to you.”

“Ok, excuse us guys.” He said as we walked out of my office

            “I wonder what could be wrong? She looked really sad” Macy said

~Outside my office~

 

            “Lance I have to go to California.” I said

            “Why? Is something wrong?”

            “Yeah. Mom, Dad, Winnie and Richard were in a car accident.”

            “What happened?” Lance asked as he led me to one of the chairs.

            “Well, they were coming back from a friends party and they were hit by a drunk driver.”

            “Honey, are they alright?” Lance asked, “Who told you?”

            “Remember Jenny the girl I went to school with? She was in the audience when you guys did that radio interview with JoJo.” I said

            “Yes, I remember her. Was that her?”

            “Yeah, she came here to Florida to tell me.”

~Back in my office~

            “Why is she crying” Kate asked

            “I don’t know. Something really tragic must have happened.” Justin said

            “Maybe we should go and see what’s wrong.” Christi said

            “Let’s wait and see if they come and tell us.” Justin said.

~Outside the office~

            “Richard’s dead, my brother is gone.” I said as tears starting pouring from my eyes. Lance hugged me.

            “It’s gonna be ok, we can leave tonight and be there in the morning.” Lance said

            “I just can’t believe that he’s gone. I was going to call him later on today because today is his birthday. I’ve never missed calling him on his birthday.” I said through the tears.

            Christi poked her head out the door, “Is everything alright?”

            “No…Umm, Christi we have to push the plans back for the rehearsal.” Lance said

            “Why? Em what happened?”

            “My brother was killed in a car accident yesterday.” I said wiping the tears from my face

            “Honey, I’m so sorry to hear that.” She said giving me a hug

            “Hey, what’s going on here?” Chris said as he and the others walked out of my office

            “Em’s brother was killed in a car accident yesterday.” Christi said

            “We are leaving tonight to go to California to make arrangements for the funeral.” Lance said

            “Ok. Em, I’m really sorry.” Chris said

            “You guys take all the time you need.” Johnny said, “We can have rehearsals after you come back form California.”

            Lance went to pick up John and Riley from school. I picked up Katlyn from the day care center and then we all met at home. I went to pack some things and Lance told Riley and John the bad news because I couldn’t bear saying that my brother was dead.

            “Kids, I have some really sad news.” Lance said, “Uncle Richard died yesterday in a car crash.” Riley went running to her room and I could hear her crying.

            “Riley honey, can I come in?” I asked

            “Yeah.” She said wiping the tears from her face

            “You know, it’s ok to cry, you don’t have to hide it.” I said giving her a hug. Riley started crying more and I just stayed with her until she was done crying.

Thirty-two

 

            Lance made arrangements for us while I helped Riley and John pack. “American Airlines, this is Cindy. How may I help you?”

            “I was wondering if you had 5 seats on the 7 p.m. flight to California…LAX to be specific.”

            “Yes sir we do. How many will be flying with you?”

            “2 adults, 2 children and 1 infant.” Lance said

            “How old are the 2 children?”

            “11 and 9.” Lance replied

            “Since all children flying are under 13 they fly for free. The price for the 2 adult tickets comes out to $500.” The operator said

            “Ok, can we pay when we get there?”

            “Yes you can. Just go to check your luggage and you can pay there.”

            “Thank you very much.” Lance said

            “Your flight leaves at 7:30 p.m. and arrives at LAX at 11:30 p.m. Your departure gate is L15. Will the infant be in a carrier or held?”

            “She will be in a carrier.”

            “Ok this particular airline has 5 seats available in the middle of the plane, is that ok with you?”

            “Yes that’s fine. Thank you again.” Lance said

            “You’re welcome and enjoy your flight.” She said. Lance hung up the phone and called John and Riley’s school and told the principal that they would be gone for a couple of weeks due to a death in the family. Lance finished making his phone calls and then went to pack some things.

            “How is Riley doing?” Lance asked when he got to the room

            “She ok, she was really close to him. How is John?”

            “He’s really quiet. He just sat there. I think that he is still in shock. But when I went to get up he didn’t want me to leave. So I sat next to him and hugged him. That’s when he let it all out and started to cry.”

            “I don’t know how they will react at the funeral.” I said

            “I know this is their 1^st one that they have been to.”

            We had an airport shuttle pick us up at 3:30 so that we would have some time to get there, pay and get to the right gate. The plane was 15 minutes early and by the time they were calling for Stand-by flyers, we were already on the plane. Riley sat next to me and didn’t let my arm go. Katlyn was in the carrier and Lance was sitting next to her. John was on the end because it was the closest to the window and he likes being next to the windows. We arrived in California and Winnie picked us up and took us to my parent house. There were lots of family and friends that came to console my parents. Riley took Katlyn upstairs to put her in my old room, and then she decided to stay in that room too. John went upstairs and he went into Winnie’s old room because she was staying in the guestroom and her room was close to mine, which was the room that Katlyn and Riley were in. Lance and I were going to be in the other guestroom right across the hall from the kids.

            “Hi Mom.” I said

            “Kay-Kay, when did you get here?” My mom asked giving me a hug

            “Our plane landed a couple of hours ago.” Lance said

            “Lance, I’m glad you’re here.” My dad said, “I need someone to talk to the Air Force people and see if they will pay for some of the funeral costs.”

            “Ok, I’ll do it first thing in the morning. So how are you feeling?”

            “Ok, I guess. I just never planned on having to bury my son. I’d always thought that he would out live me.”

            “No one wants to have their child die before them.” I said giving my dad a hug

            “Where are the kids?” my mom asked

            “They went upstairs to get some sleep.” Lance said, “I should go and check and see if they are alright.” Lance went up the stairs and checked on them. Riley changed into her pajamas, put pajamas on Katlyn and they were asleep. John was in bed already sleeping.

The funeral was completely paid by the Air Force and all we had to do was tell them where it was going to be and when. It had already been 3 days since my brother was killed and my parents wanted it done as soon as possible, so they planned it for the following Sunday, January 3^rd, 2021. New Years Eve just wasn’t the same with out my brother. We all went to Santa Monica pier to watch the fireworks. That was the one thing that he loved doing on the 4^th of July, and News Year Eve, so we went in honor of my brother, Richard Bernard Thompson. Over 150 people showed up for the funeral. They all said great things about my brother. There were many pictures from when he was growing up, when he got married, his children, his Honorable Discharge from the Air Force after serving 30 years and then family pictures that were very special to all of us. There were 2 pictures that I loved the most, one was of Lance, my Dad and my brother at my wedding and then the 3 of them at my brother’s wedding. We left California on the 5^th and arrived in Florida on the 6^th.

Thirty-three

 

            “Hey Justin, the party is still on for this Friday, the 8^th.” Lance whispered

            “Why are you talking so low?”

            “Em is in the next room with Riley and Katie. I don’t want her to hear me.”

            “Oh, ok. Everything is going to be set up at your house when she leaves to go to work Friday morning. Johnny said that he has a lot of “stuff” for her to do and that should keep her busy until about 5 p.m. when she leaves to pick up Katlyn and come home.”

            “Is the music all mixed?”

            “I finished it last night. It sounds really good.”

“I just have to know what Macy is planning. Do you know?” Lance asked

“Yeah, but I have been sworn to secrecy. If I tell you then I have to kill you.” Justin joked, “And I don’t want to kill you.”

“Ok, I guess I can wait until Friday night.” Lance said, “Yeah, meeting today at 3 p.m. ok. You want to tell the others or should I?”

“What was that all about?” Justin asked

“Em, just walked by. But seriously tell everyone that we are going to meet at the studio to put the final touches on the party.”

“Ok, see you then.” Justin said. Lance hung up the phone just as I was walking into the bedroom

“What are you doing?” I asked Lance as I gathered the clothes to take them to be washed

“Nothing, just looking for my shoes” Lance said looking under the bed

“They are on your feet! You are a really bad lair. Stick to the truth, it’s what your good at.” I said, “I know that you are planning something, so just tell me what it is.”

“Nothing is being planned.” Lance said, “I have to go. The guys and I have a recording session in 30 minutes.” Lance gave me kiss and left out of the room.

 

~Friday Morning~

 

            “Em, I hate to do this too you, but I need you to go a meeting for me that has to due with the Teen Choice Awards performance.” Johnny said coming into my office

            “Ok, where is it at?”

            “It’s at the Airport Marriott at 10.”

            “Ok, I can do that. Is there anything else?” I asked putting my papers together

            “Let’s see, the meeting is over at about 3 p.m., do you have to pick up the kids?”

            “Yeah, I have to pick up Riley and take her to ballet, and then Lance will pick her up at 5. John has a Cub Scouts meeting and the Scout Master drops him off. I would like to be home by 5:30. Is that going to be possible?”

            “Yeah, you’ll get home by then.” Johnny said

            “Ok, I should get going if I have to be at the meeting at 10 am. I’ll see you Monday morning.” I grabbed the last of my papers and left out of my office. When I got to the elevator Johnny called Lance at the studio and told them that I just left.

            “Ok, she’s gone…wait 30 minutes and then leave the studio and go to my house.” Lance said to the others when he got off the phone with Johnny

            “Are you sure that this is going to work?” Justin asked, “I mean she already suspects that something is going on. You told us yourself the other day.”

            “Well, she’s at a meeting and won’t be back until 3. Then she has to pick up the kids. Riley has ballet and I pick her up at 5. John has Cub Scouts and he gets dropped off at the house. Em should be back on this side of town by 5 to pick up Katie and then head home.”

            “Ok, but I hope that she doesn’t decide to stop by the house first.” J.C. said

 

~At the Airport Marriott~

 

This is such a boring meeting…I thought to myself. I wonder what the guys are doing. Should I leave now, I mean the meeting is going to be over in 30 minutes that’ll give me enough time to swing by the house to get something to eat. I grabbed my things and headed to the elevator to go to the parking structure. I walked down the many aisles of cars and got to my car. I drove out of the parking structure and headed for Interstate 4. “Great, an accident” I said out loud. I turned on the radio and listened to some music. I finally got to my exit and I went to pick up Riley and John from school. I dropped off Riley at the dance studio. “Ill see you at home Mom.” Riley said

“Ok, have fun at ballet.” I said as she walked into the building. Then I dropped off John at his Cub Scouts meeting and he ran into the Cub Master’s back yard.

“See you tonight Mom.” He said as he disappeared.

“Finally alone” I said to myself. I drove back to the office and dropped off my work and went to pick up Katlyn from the Day Care center. I then stopped to get some chips and a soda and headed home.

Thirty-four

 

            I pulled up my driveway and there weren’t any cars there. Where could Lance be, he should have been back from picking up Riley at dance practice. Oh well, maybe they stopped someplace else. I got out of the car and took Katlyn out and we went up to the house. I opened the door and set my keys of the table. I walked into the kitchen to put my soda away and then I headed to the living room with Katlyn.

            “What are you guys doing here?” I asked Justin and Elaine

            “Oh, we wanted to watch some t.v.” Justin said

            “Don’t you have a t.v. at your own house?”

            “Yeah, but you have the big screen t.v.” Elaine said

“Ok…if you say so.” I said, “Where is Lance at?”

            “I think he’s in the dining room.” Justin said

            “Ok, have fun you 2...” I said

“Katie…hi babes.” Elaine cooed. I handed Katlyn to Elaine and I walked to the dining room.

“Happy Anniversary…” Lance said when I pushed open the door

“Our anniversary isn’t until next Tuesday.” I said giving him a kiss

“I know that.” Lance said taking my hand, “Come with me.”

“Where are we going?” I asked

“Don’t ask, just follow.” He said. I followed Lance back through the living room into the enclosed patio

“HAPPY EARLY ANNIVERSARY!” everyone said

“So, that’s you guys were planning.” I said as I sat down

“Guilty…” J.C. and Macy said

“But…that’s not all, Mom.” Riley said

“Yeah, you know that room that has been locked in the back of the house for the longest time?” John asked

“Yeah, what about it.”

“Well, Dad made it to a sort of like movie room. The other part of the gift is there.” John said. We followed the kids to the room.

“Wait right here.” Riley said, “We have to see if our feature presentation is ready.”

“Ok.” I said

“What is she talking about?” Lance asked

“I have no idea.” I said. A couple of minutes later Riley opened the door and allowed us to come in.

“Rules of the Movie Room…” Mariah read, “1. No talking…it’s rude. 2. Pay extra attention to the credits, there will be a quiz after.” She laughed, “3. If any rules are broken, that person will be asked to leave. And 4. Enjoy the movie.” The lights went dim and the music started playing.

{Everybody's looking for that something one thing that makes it all complete you find it in the strangest places Places you never knew it could be}

 

“Amerika Bass was born Amerika Rose Thompson on September 9, 1980” Riley said.

“I’m so old now…” I whispered to Lance

            “But you’re still just as beautiful” Lance said

 

“Join us as we take a look back at her life before she met and married Lance Bass” Riley continued

 

{Some find it in the face of their children Some find it in their lovers eyes Who can't deny the joy it brings When you've found that special thing You're flying without wings} more picture from when I was younger were shown. There was a picture from my high school graduation and from when I graduated from college.

 

“Now lets take a look at the life of Lance Bass before he met and married Amerika” John said

 

{Some find it sharing every morning Some in the solitary lives You find it in the works of others A simple line can make u laugh or cry} there were pictures of Lance when he was a baby and from when he was in school. There were also pictures of him from when the guys first started touring.

 

{You find it in the deepest friendship the kind you cherish all your life and when you know how much that means when you've found that special thing you're flying without wings} Kate walked out of the room to start dinner, then there were more pictures

 

{So impossible as they may seem you've got to fight for every dream 'Cuz who's to know which one you let go would make you complete}

 

{Well for me it's waking up beside you to Watch the sunrise on your face To know that I can say I love you In any given time or place It's me hoping that only I know Those are the things that make you mine And it's like flying without wings ‘Cuz you're my special thing I'm flying without wings} Elaine walked out of the room to help Kate with dinner and to set up the dinning room.

{And you're the place my life begins and you'll be where it ends I'm flying without wings and that's the joy you bring I'm flying without wings... } This is where I thought that the show was over, but I was very wrong.

Thirty-five

 

 

“Now for the union of Amerika and Lance” Riley and John said. The next song that started to play was “We Are One”

“These are very rare pictures that we had to sneak and get.” John said

“Yeah, because they are from the honeymoon of mom and dad.” Riley added with a laugh, “But don’t worry, Aunt Macy took out all of the bad pictures.”

 

{Two very different people Too scared to get along Till two heart beat together Underneath one sun One very special moment Can turn a destiny And what some would say Could never change Has changed for you and me}

 

{'Cause it's all, it's all in the way you look through my eyes And when all is said and done All of the fear and all of the lies are not hard to overcome It's all in the way you look at it That makes you strong We were two (we were two) Now we are one}

{We are two very different people So much to overcome So why care for one another When there's so much to be done 'Cause sometimes it's necessary Just look how far we've come You could say my friend that it's the end Or a new tale has begun}

 

{And one moment in time is all the time we need Just to make difference to make it better for you and me if you just believe}

 

            “Oh remember that Lance?”

            “Yeah, that was the night that we saw the hula dancers on the beach.”

            “Yeah, they even taught us to hula.” I added

{Oh yeah Just open our eyes}

{Oh yeah, oh yeah we were two Now we are one}

 

While the song was playing there were pictures of Lance and I on our first date to the amusement park, my birthday in New York and California, there were also pictures from my birthday when Lance and I “fell” into the pool.  Then came the pictures from the wedding and a few from the honeymoon and of course we couldn’t forget about the pictures of me while I was pregnant with Riley, John and Katlyn. There were also clips of everyone talking about the relationship that Lance and I shared. The last picture was of the entire family…my family and Lance’s family.

The lights came back on and I had tears in my eyes. Not just little tears but big ones. I was on the verge of crying. Lance looked over at me; our eyes met and it was just like the first day when we met…21 years before.

“Wow, that was close to 42 years worth of pictures crammed into 2 and a half hours.” Lance said

“That was so beautiful.” I said when I had my composure back, “Whose idea was this?”

“John and I thought of it and we asked Aunt Macy to help us out with it.” Riley said. I gave my children a hug and then I went to thank Macy for all of the hard work that she went through.

“Dinner is now ready.” Kate and Elaine said when they came back in the room

“We have a dinner too?” Lance and I asked

“I didn’t know about that.” Lance said looking at me. We walked out of the movie room and headed to the dining room. The room was decorated with candles and dried flowers.

“These dishes came from your parent Em.” Kate said

“I noticed that. They belonged to my Grandmother.” I said

We sat around the neatly set table and then 3 people wearing all white brought in the food. “We had some caterers come to cater dinner.” Elaine said

“Really. So what’s for dinner?”

“Chicken, rice and mixed vegetables” the man said

“For dessert, we have chocolate cake.” The other man said

“Thank you. This is all so wonderful.” Lance and I said

We finished dinner and walked into the living room to talk and eat dessert. “I hate bring this up, but tomorrow we have our first practice for the Teen Choice Awards.” Justin said

“I remember. I’ve been going over the songs with Riley. She’s actually a very good singer.” I said

“Mom…” Riley said slightly blushing, “You promised that you wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“I’m sorry baby, but I just had to.”

 

~3 months later~

 

            “After working for 3 months this is all that you have come up with?” Johnny asked

            “Yeah…why?” Christi asked

            “Are we really that bad?” Elaine asked

            “No, no, you guys were fabulous!!” he said

            “Really, we were that good?” Macy asked

            “Yeah, have you ever thought about singing professionally?

            “Oh, don’t get her started on that.” J.C. said

            “I know, she may quit working for you and actually want to do it.” I added

            “Think that we will be able to do a full run through with the lights and all next month?” Justin asked

            “I think so.” Johnny said

Thirty-six

 

~April 2021~

 

            “C’mon people, let’s go the full run through this last time and then we can leave.” The director said

            “This is gonna be the 5^th time that we’ve done it today. I’m getting tried and I have other things that I have to do.” Christi complained

            “T, just this one least time then I promise that we won’t have to do it again for at least 10 days.” Chris pleaded

            “Ok, for you baby.” Christi said lightly kissing him on the lips

            “I am seriously thinking about not doing this…is it too late to back out?” Kate said

            “YES!” we al yelled

            “Ok, ok…no need to get all feisty." She laughed

            “Don’t joke around like that.” Johnny said, “You nearly gave me a heart attack.” We all laughed.

            “I know this is hard work, but it isn’t as hard as giving birth to a baby.” She said

            “Ewww, visual…nasty…” Joey said

            “Amen to that sista.” Christy, Elaine, Macy and I said

            “Ok, let’s get back to work. I wanna be done with this last run through by the time the cows come home.” Lance said

            “I know, we have to pick up the kids from school in a couple of hours.” I added.

            30 minutes later we finished the entire run through with lights, music, costumes and the different pictures on the screens behind us. We went to sit down we were incredibly sore. “I now know what you guys go through.” Elaine said

            “This is just a little of it. Just wait until it gets closer to the actual performance time, it will get worse.” Justin said after he took a drink of his water.

            “So, Chris, what are you and Christi going to do for your anniversary?” Macy asked

            “Nothing…” Chris said

            “Oh yes we are,” Christi said, “We are going to spend the entire weekend at the beach…just the 2 of us…no Adam, no cell phone or pager…nothing!”

            “Hold up…where are you sending my baby?” Chris asked

            “Over to either Justin and Elaine’s or Lance and Em’s.”

            “I guess so, but I’m not to sure if Justin and Elaine will be able to.” Chris said pointing to Justin and Elaine kissing in the background of the stage

            “Hey, at least it’s not Kate and Joey or Lance and Em…they have a hard time keeping their hands off of each other.” Christi said

            “Ok, we’re out.” Lance said, “Em and I have to pick up Riley and John from school. Guys don’t forget that Riley’s ballet performance is tonight at 7:30.”

            “Yeah, she has that solo that she’s been working on for a couple of months.” I said

            “Ok.” They all said

            “T, when are you going to bring Adam by?” I asked

            “Tomorrow at 3 p.m.” she said

            “Ok, see you tonight.” Lance and I said as we walked out of the studio.

            “What do you suppose they are really gonna do?” Macy asked as J.C. helped her up

            “Probably go home and be together.” Elaine said, “I’ve never seen 2 people more in love than they are.”

            “Hey, what about us?” Justin said

            “We’re a close second compared to Lance and Amerika.”

            “I know, it’s like they more problems that are around them, the stronger their love for each other and everyone around them grows.” Joey said

            “I’m glad that they are here for us.” Macy said, “I’d go crazy if it weren’t for them.” Everyone shook their heads in agreement

 

~May 2021~

 

            “Oh my God Lance, you have to get to the house fast.” Macy said on her cell phone.

            “What happened?” Lance asked

            “It’s John. He hurt himself really bad.”

            “Ok, I’ll be there in 10 minutes.” Lance hung up the phone in the studio. “Mer, I have to get, John is hurt.”

            “No, problem, we’ll just finish up here then lock up everything.” Meredith said, “Now get going.” She handed Lance his jacket and pushed him out the door.

            “Think that he’ll be mad when he finds out that John is alright?” Johnny said

            “I hope not, or he’ll probably hurt someone.” She laughed

            “Ok, let’s get going so that we can get there before Lance does.” Johnny said walking out the door with Meredith right behind him.

Johnny and Meredith made it to the house5 minutes before Lance did. Everyone was hiding in the den. When Lance opened the door to the den and the lights were flicked on…

“SURPRIZE!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” We all shouted

“Today isn’t my birthday.” Lance said

“Honey, today is May 4^th…” I said. Lance looked at the calendar.

“I guess you’re right. I must have been really busy and not been realize what today’s date was.”

“I told you Amerika.” Diane said standing behind Lance

“Mom, when did you get here?” he asked giving her a hug

“Yesterday. Your father and I were staying with Macy and J.C.”

“This is so great.” Lance said

Thirty-seven

 

 

~June 2^nd, 2021~

 

            “Riley, what do you want for your birthday?” I asked

            “What ever is the cheapest to get. I don’t really care.”

            “Riley Ann Bass, if you don’t tell me what you want, you may not get anything.”

            “Ok, can I go to California to see Grandma and Grandpa?”

            “Well, you know that it would only be for a couple of days because you are still in school.” Lance said

            “Then I’ll wait to go after school is out. Is that alright?”

            “Yeah, that’s fine. Now what do you really want for your birthday?” Lance asked

            “You know that puppy at the dog pound that I was looking at the other day? Well, they said that if she isn’t adopted soon that she will have to be put down. That’s what I really want for my birthday.” Riley said

            “And where do you suppose this animal goes?” I asked, “You have 2 dogs, 3 cats, some lizards running around in the backyard and lots and lots of fish.”

            “But we have to hand it to you, they are all take care of.” Lance said, “We’ll have to think about getting you another dog.”

            “Ok…” Riley said. She went up to her room

 

~June 3^rd~

 

            “Lance, I think that we should get Riley that puppy.” I said as we were shopping for some of her other gifts at the mall

            “Yeah, I would really hate for it to be put to sleep. I go by there tomorrow and fill out the paper work to adopt it. Then we can bring it home that night after she’s gone to bed.”

            “She’s really gonna love this gift.” I said with a smile on my face

            “Have I told you how beautiful you are when you smile?” Lance said brushing a strand of my hair out of my face.

            “I’m hurt…you only think I’m beautiful when I smile.” I pouted

            “Nonsense…I think you beautiful all the time. It’s just that your eyes light up every time you talk about the kids and I find that very sexy.” He said. Then he kissed me and we made our way out of the mall.

 

~June 5^th~

 

            “Hey Riley…come take a look at this.” John yelled up the stairs

            “What is it?” she asked as she made her way down the stairs

            “Whose puppy is that?” John asked

            “That’s Brownie, the puppy that I wanted from the pound.” Riley squealed with delight. Lance and I went into the den to see Riley, John and Katlyn playing with the puppy

            “I see you found your birthday gift.” Lance said sitting on the sofa.

            “Yeah. I love it!! Thanks Mom and Dad.” She gave us both a hug and went back to playing with the puppy.

 

~The Teen Choice Awards Performance~

 

            “Wow, this is the first time that we have had a standing ovation for any performer at the Teen Choice Awards.” Ashley Olson said. “Let’s hear it for the guys of *N SYNC!!!” The guys walked out on stage and took their place.

            “I know, the last time that there was a standing ovation was when they performed some 20 years ago.” Mary Kate added, “I guess they still got it.”

            “Look out teen America…make way for the wives of Justin, Lance, J.C. Joey and Chris.” Aaron Carter added, “Here are Elaine, Amerika, Macy, Kate and Christi…their wives.”

            The crowd went wild when we walked out on stage. We began to perform and we felt the same rush that our husbands talk about al the time. It was so amazing. After the performance, the music died down and the lights faded out, and again the crowd went wild. The next couple of days we were all over the news. Critics were saying that our performance was outstanding and that we, the wives of *N SYNC have a lot of sex appeal and that would take us far in life if we ever decided to go into it professionally.

            A couple of days later, Elaine made a big announcement at a dinner that we were attending. “Guys…I know that’s it’s been like 6 years since Justin and I have made any type of announcement like this but….”

            “What my wife is trying to say is that she and I are going to be having another baby in March of next year.” Justin said. Lynn, Justin’s mom almost dropped her glass when she heard Justin say that.

            “Your joking right?” Justin’s mom asked

            “No, we’re serious.” Elaine said, “But that’s not the half of it…we are going to have twins…”

            “That’s fantastic!!” we all said

            “We are going to tell the kids when they come back from camp this weekend.” Elaine said

            “Good thing you guys had those extra rooms added to your house.” I laughed

            “I know.” Elaine said, “We find out the sex of the babies next month. They also want to keep an eye on me because according to them I am too old to continue having children.”

            “What, you’re only 37 years old, that’s no where close to being too old to have children.” Kate said

            “Thank you! I tried telling them that but you know how doctors can be…stubborn as hell…like Justin.” She said

            “I’m not stubborn.” Justin said

            “Oh please.” Lynn said, “I remember when I had the hardest time potty training you.”

            “MOM!!” Justin said starting to turn red with embarrassment

            “Oh, I think that I have just lost my appetite.” Lance said pushing his plate from in front of him.

Thirty-eight

 

            “Justin, hurry up, the bus arrives back at the school is 30 minutes. I want to be there when the kids get off.” Elaine said

            “I’m coming…I just had to put something in the babies room.” He said

            “J, they haven’t even been born yet and you’re already obsessing over them.”

            “So sue me…” he said picking up his keys

            “Good thing we kept all of those baby things, now we don’t have to buy as many new things.” Elaine commented. They left out of their house and headed for the school to pick up Lynn Star and Taylor.

            “How do you think that they will react to having 2 new siblings?” Justin asked as they pulled into the school’s driveway.

            “Who knows, but they have been raised around the other kids and they are all like brothers and sisters, so I hope that is shouldn’t be a problem.” Elaine said.

            Justin and Elaine got out of their car just as the school bus was pulling into the school’s parking lot. Slowly the kids got off the bus and ran to their waiting parents. Star and Taylor were the last to get off the bus. When Justin and Elaine saw them, they looked like they were so tired.

            “Hey pumpkin…” Justin said as he took Star’s backpack, “How was summer camp?”

            “I had a lot of fun, but I don’t want to go back next summer.” She said

            “Why?”

“Cause they treated us like babies.” Taylor said after he snapped out of his trance.

“Well, you don’t have to go back to that camp if you don’t want to. Let’s go home because your father and I have some important news to tell you.” Elaine said

“Are we getting a puppy?” Taylor asked

“You are just like Riley, always wanting animals…” Justin laughed

“I’m not like Riley!!” he said pouting in the back seat of the car

“I know honey; your father was just trying to be funny.” Elaine said. They arrive back at their house and the kids run up to their room to put their things away. As they run past the open baby room Star stops in front of the door.

“Mom, who’s room is this?” she asks

“The new baby’s room.” Elaine said when she got up the stairs

“What new baby?” Taylor asks

“The one that I am going to have.” Elaine said

“There is going to be another baby here?” Star asked

“Yes, actually 2, I’m going to have 2 babies”

“Great, Riley was telling me how much of a pain having another little brother or sister is, now there are going to be 2?” Star said as she walked into her room

“Don’t sound too overjoyed about it.” Justin said joked

“How do you feel about having more brothers and sisters?” Justin asked Taylor

“I think it’s good. Now I’m not going to be the youngest anymore.” He said, “And I’ll have someone to protect and who will look up to me.”

 

~3 months later~

 

            “Mom, look at these cute dresses that dad and I bought?” Star said as she walked into the house carrying 3 bags. She set the bags down and began to show her the many pink and yellow dresses that she had.

            “The doctor called today to tell me what the babies are.” Elaine said when Justin came in the house

            “Really, so what are we going to have?” Justin asked sitting on the sofa next to Elaine and looking at the dresses

            “One boy and one girl…” Elaine said

            “Now we will have our 2 girls and 2 boys.” Justin said

            “I know. Oh, Amerika, Lance and the kids are going to stop by today so that we can finish planning Thanksgiving Dinner.”

            “Ok. Taylor and I are going to go and get some other things for the babies, call me on my cell when they come.” Justin and Taylor left. Star and Elaine took the clothes up to the babies’ room and put them neatly away.

 

 

            “Lance have you seen my light pink top?” I asked as I poked my head out the bathroom door

            “Not since this morning when I couldn’t wait to take it off you.” Lance laughed

            “Well, help me look for it.” I said walking out of the bathroom

            “Ohhhh sexy mama.” Lance said as I walked out of the bathroom with my bra and shorts on.

            “Thank you, thank you.” I said

            “Why are you in such a hurry to get over to Justin and Elaine’s?” Lance asked as he walked behind me and kissed the back of my neck leading to my shoulders

            “I’m not in any hurry,” I said turning around and facing him. We continued to kiss. The phone rang and Riley picked it up.

            “Mom, Aunt Elaine wants to know when we are coming over!!!!” she yelled up the stairs

            “Tell her in 15…make it 30 minutes, we’re in the middle of something.” I said.

Lance pushed me on the bed and began to remove my bra and shorts. He began kissing his way down my chest and stopped right below my belly button. He looked up at me as if he were asking my permission to continue further down and I smiled at him and he continued his way down, going farther and farther planting little kisses along the way that sent chills up and down my spine. I was rubbing my hands along his back and he kissed his way back up my stomach, to my chest, to my neck, and then to my lips again.

            “Aunt Elaine, Mom said that we will be over in 30 minutes because they are in the middle of something. That’s code for they’re getting it on…” Riley laughed

            “Riley, stop talking like that. I’ll have to tell what you said.” Elaine said with a slight laugh

            "Ok, I promise that I won’t say that again, just don’t tell them.” She said trying to control her laughter.

Thirty-nine

 

~Thanksgiving Dinner Preparation 12 p.m.~

 

            As planned, we had Thanksgiving dinner at Justin and Elaine’s house. Actually, they really wanted to have it at their house, so we agreed to have it there. “Ok, let’s try something different.” Elaine suggested

            “Like what? Tofu Turkey?” Justin laughed

            “Just for that remark, you and the guys HAVE to prepare the dinner all by yourselves.” She said

            “Wait, why are we all being punished for a comment that he made?” Chris pouted

            “Oh grow up…” Christi said

            “Riiight, let’s just leave that comment alone. Guys let’s get to work on this dinner before they find something us for us to do.” J.C. said

            “Ok, women, out of the kitchen, dinner will be ready at 7 p.m.” Lance said. We walked out of the kitchen and headed to the dinning room to set the table.

            “Ok, I’m gonna go over this one more time…” Lance said, “You clean everything out of the turkey, and I’ll do the rest. Joey, put the potatoes on to boil for mashed potatoes. Justin you’re doing you mom’s pie, right?”

            “Yeah…” he said taking the pie crust out of the freezer

            “What do you want me to do?” Chris asked

            “Let’s see…we have make some rolls. Justin where does Elaine keep the recipe book?”

“It’s in the top drawer next to the refrigerator.”

“Ok.” Chris took the book out and turned to the bread section and gathered all of his ingredients.

            “J.C., can you do the other vegetables?” Lance asked as he cleaned the turkey out.

            “No problem…” he said as he took them out of the freezer.

 

            “So what are we going to do for the 7 hours?” I asked

            “Let’s go look at the babies’ room.” Macy said. We walked up the stairs to the babies’ room and Elaine showed us everything they had completed

            “We still have to arrange the furniture and other things.” She said

            “Why don’t we do it now?” Christi suggested, “It’ll waste a couple of hours before dinner.”

            “Yeah, that’s a good idea. The older kids are out playing and the babies are asleep in the play room.” Elaine said. We began to push the dressers and changing tables around to the way that Elaine waited. Everything was put the way that she wanted in 2 hours.

            “That was fast.” Kate said looking at her watch. “We have like 5 hours left until dinner is ready.”

            “Let’s go and see how the guys are doing.” I said. We walked down the stairs and headed to the kitchen. The guys didn’t notice us standing there laughing at them. They all had on aprons and food ingredients were all over the place.

            “Wow, you guys are doing a fantastic job at messing up my kitchen.” Elaine laughed. “What smells so good?”

            “I know, it smells like apples.” Kate said

            “I’m making apple pie.” Justin said taking the apples out of the pressure cooker

            “And, what are you making?” Christi asked Chris

            “Rolls…” he said, “Care to help out?”

            “No, it looks like you have everything under control.” She said

            “Come on girls, we should let the men get back to work.” Macy said

 

~Dinnertime~

 

At 6:30 p.m. the kids came inside and washed up for dinner. The table was set and everything looked very beautiful. Elaine had a few candles around the room lit to add a romantic feel to the dinner. The guys walked out of the kitchen carrying the various parts to the dinner. Lance came out last with the golden brown turkey…that WASN’T tofu…

“That looks so beautiful.” I said

“Yeah, we have to take a picture of them next to the food that they made.” Kate said

Elaine handed her a camera and 3 pictures were taken. A prayer was said for the meal and then Justin cut the turkey. Dinner was very good and dessert was even better.

“How is the pregnancy going?” Lance asked

“Yesterday I went back to the doctor for my appointment and they told me that I was going to have 2 boys.” Elaine said

“Wait a minute, didn’t you say that you were having a boy and a girl?” I asked

“Yeah, that’s what they told us first, now they are telling us different.” Justin said

“What are you going to do with all of the girl things that you have?” Macy asked

“We’re still going to keep them. Maybe one of you might have another child and you have a girl.” Elaine said

“Don’t look at us.” Lance said

“Yeah, we can’t have any more children.” I added

“You never know. If God has it planned that you are going to have more children, then you will.” Macy said

“It would be nice to have more children.” I said looking at Lance

“Yeah, it would.” He said

“No one says that you can’t adopt.” Kate said

“That’s true. Wanna look into seeing if we could adopt another baby?” Lance asked me with a smile.

“Yeah, but let’s wait until the New Year.” I said giving Lance a hug

Forty

 

            “So let me get this straight…” Chris said, “you guys are going to adopt children?”

            “Yeah, is there something wrong with that?” Lance asked

            “No, I think it’s a great idea.”

            “Well, it’s getting late, we better get going.” J.C. said picking up the jackets of his 2 children

            “Ok, do you want to take some food with you? We have all these leftovers.” Elaine said standing up from the table

            “Ok, yeah we’ll take some. That way I won’t have to cook for a couple of days.” Macy said

            “Mariah and Manuel, come and give your aunts and uncles a kiss good bye.” J.C. said. Mariah and Manuel came from the living room and gave us all a hug and kiss. They took their jackets from J.C. and went to the car.

            “Guess we should leave too.” I said looking at Lance

            “Yeah, I have an early conference call to Nashville with Meredith.” Lance said, “Hand Katie to me.” Katlyn was asleep in my arms and she started to cry when I handed her to Lance but he started to sing and she calmed down.

            “I’m surprised that she isn’t running around with the rest of the kids.” Christi commented

            “I know, but she’s actually really good.” I said

            “You mean she didn’t go through that terrible 2’s stage? Kate asked

            “Nope…she’s a good little girl. Then again, she just turned 2 so there’s still time for her to go through that stage. I really hope that she doesn’t.” I added with a laugh. I got up and went to look for Riley and John. They were both fast asleep on the floor in front of the t.v. along with Adam, Tatianna, Taylor and Star. I went back to the dinning room, “You guys gotta see this.”

The others followed me to the living room and we saw our children asleep in front of the t.v. with the Thanksgiving Day Special that the guys did for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade way before they were born.

            “They really like that tape.” Justin said turning off the t.v. and picking up Taylor to carry him to bed.

            “Honey, wake up, time to go to bed.” Elaine said as she kneeled next to her daughter. Lynn Star got up and groggily made her way up the stairs to her room. I woke up Riley and John so that they could get their jackets and go to the car. Lance and Katlyn were already in the car waiting for us. We said our good byes and left. Joey picked up Tati and Kate picked up Cobi and they headed out the door right behind us.

            “Thanks for the great dinner.” Christ and Chris said as they made their way out of Justin and Elaine’s house.

            “No problem.” Justin said he gave Christi and Adam a hug.

“See you tomorrow at the park for the kids daily play date.” Elaine said to Christi

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She said. She put Adam in his car seat and then got into the car.

Justin and Elaine stood in the doorway and watched them drive off. They closed the door and turned out the lights in the house and made their way up the stairs to go to bed.

“J, I have to clean the kitchen.” Elaine said as she was half way up the stairs

“Don’t worry about it. The food has been put away and the dishes are soaking in the sink. You can do it in the morning. You’ve had a long day, time for bed.”

“But Justin….” She began to protest

“I don’t wanna hear it. You need your rest, I don’t want you hurting my babies by staying up half the night cleaning.” He said rubbing her stomach

Forty-one

 

            “Lance, were you serious about adopting children?” I asked when we got home

            “Yes. I want a large family…you know that.” Lance said as he put the food away, “What are you doing?”

            “Checking my e-mail...why?” I said

            “It can wait until morning, it’s late.”

            “I’ll only be on for a couple of minutes.” I said as Lance walked passed me, “Lance look at this.” Lance came back to where I was sitting

            “It’s an e-mail…wow!!!” he said sarcastically

            “That’s not what I’m talking about. It’s an e-mail from Jenny.”

            “Well, what does she want?” he said sitting next to me

            “Ok, she says that she is pregnant, but not to get too excited for her because her husband doesn’t want her to keep the baby and she wants to know if we know any good adoption lawyers.”

            “That’s terrible. Does she say why he doesn’t want to keep the baby?”

            “No, that was all that she said. She left her work number for me to call her.”

            “But, we don’t know any adoption lawyers.” Lance said standing up

            “Lance, this is it…let’s adopt Jenny’s baby.” I said grabbing his arm

            “Seriously, you want to adopt he baby?” Lance asked with a smile on his face

            “Yes, she is a really good friend and she knows that we are good people.” I said

            “But what about waiting until the beginning of next year to start the adoption process?”

            “To hell with waiting. Things like this just don’t happen for a reason. This is what God wants us to do.”

            “Ok, let’s do it.” He said, “I’ll call my lawyers tomorrow and you call Jenny so that we can get this started.”

            “I love you so much.” I said turning off my lap top computer.

            “I love you too.” Lance said giving me a hug, “We are actually going to have another child.”

            “I know, this is great.” I said. I turned out the kitchen light and followed Lance up the stairs to our bedroom.

 

            The next day I called Jenny at her house since I knew that she wasn’t going to go to work after Thanksgiving

            “Hi Jenny, it’s Amerika.”

            “Hi Amerika, did you get my e-mail yesterday?”

            “Yeah, that’s why I called.”

            “Ok, do you know any good lawyers?”

            “Nope, sorry, Lance and I don’t know any, but…” I heard her breathe out like she was disappointed, “Lance and I talked it over and we know a really great couple that really want to adopt your baby.” I said

            “Really, can you tell me about them?” she asked.

            “Well, the have 3 children and after the birth of their 3^rd child, they found out that they couldn’t physically have anymore children. Now they are looking to adopt.”

            “Really, do you have a number that I can reach them at?” she asked with a little excitement in her voice

            “You already have their number.” I said, “Lance and I talked it over last night and this morning and we want to adopt your baby.”

            “Oh my god, you’re serious right?” she asked. I could tell that she was holding back the tears

            “Yes, we will pay for everything…doctor’s bill, your stay in the hospital, and anything else that comes up.”

            “My god Em, you don’t know how much I was really wanting you and Lance to really adopt my baby. You 2 are really the only ones that I trust.”

            “Thank you Jenny. Ok, I’ll be flying out to California next week so that we can get the process going.”

            “You don’t have to worry about coming out.” She said

            “What do you mean?” I asked as I switched the phone to my other ear

            “Well, Carlos and I got a divorce a couple of weeks ago. I can’t raise the baby by myself and I knew that in order for the baby to have a good life, that it needed to be put up for adoption.”

            “I’m so sorry to hear that you and Carlos are divorced, but what does that have to do with me coming to California?”

            “Well, I moved to Florida last week. I just came back here to California to finalize the divorce.”

            “You live here in Florida?” I asked in amazement

            “Yeah, in Miami.”

            “Oh, then I don’t have to wait until next week to see you.” I said, “When are you going to be back here?”

            “In a couple of days. I can swing by on my way to my house…if that’s alright with you.”

            “Yeah, that’s fine. I can introduce you to my children. And I think that the guys are going to be over, so you can meet them.”

            “That’s fantastic. I’ll see you then. I’ll call before I come by.”

            “Ok, see you then” I said

            “Bye…” we both said. I hung up the phone and decided to call Lance and tell him that Jenny was going to be coming by in a couple of days.

            “Hi sweetie, what’s up?” Lance said

            “I just got finished talking to Jenny and she said that she moved here after she got a divorce from Carlos. She lives in Miami.”

            “Really, that’s great. So did you tell her about us wanting to adopt the baby?”

            “Yeah, she said that she was really hoping that we would adopt the baby.”

            “That wonderful…” Lance said. I heard a crashing sound

            “What’s going on there?” I asked

            “Mer just dropped something. I have to see if everything is ok.”

            “Ok, I’ll see you tonight for dinner.” I said, “I love you.”

            “I love you too.” Lance hung up the phone and I went to see what my children were doing.

Forty-two

~3 months later…February 2022~

 

            “Amerika, I have a doctor’s appointment and I want you to come along with me. Are you free tomorrow?” Jenny asked me over the phone

            “Sure I can go tomorrow. What time is the appointment?”

            “10 am at Parkview Regional Hospital.”

            “Ok, I’ll meet you there. Katlyn has a check up at the same place.” I said, “After, I have to drop her off at the daycare center and then we can go to lunch.”

            “Ok, sounds like a plan to me. I’ll see you then.” Jenny said as she hung up the phone

            The next day, I dropped Riley and John off at school and then headed to the hospital for Katlyn’s appointment and to meet with Jenny. Katlyn’s appointment was for 8 am and I had enough time to get to the other end of the hospital to meet Jenny for hers.

“Hi Jenny, how long have you been waiting?” I said as I walked in the doctor’s waiting room

            “Hi Em, I’ve only been waiting for about 10 minutes or so.” she said standing to give me and Katlyn a hug

            “Ms. Jenny Gutierrez…the doctor will see you now.” The nurse said. We both got up and proceeded to head into the examine room

            “Ma’am, you can’t go with her…” the nurse continued

            “It’s ok Delores, she is the one who is going to adopt Ms. Gutierrez’s baby.” The doctor said. We walked back to the examine room and the doctor set up the ultra sound equipment. “Ok, Ms. Gutierrez, you’re moving along just fine with this pregnancy. I do want you to eat more just so that by next month you will have gained about 5 to 10 more pounds.”

            “Ok, when can I find out the sex of the baby? Jenny asked the doctor, “That is if you and Lance want to know.”

            “Lance and I just want you to have a healthy baby. That’s all that matters.” I said

            “Well,” the doctor said, “Next month we will be able to tell whether you will have a boy or a girl, but since you don’t really want to know, then we will just skip over that part of the examine.”

            “Thank you doctor.” Jenny and I both said

            “Ok, looks like we are all done here. Ms. Gutierrez, please remember that it is ok to eat more food than you usually would. You and that unborn baby need it for strength and growth.” He said as he walked out of the examine room.

            “Ok, so now what do we do?” Jenny asked me as she pulled her shirt over her stomach

            “We could go get something to eat.” I said

            “Ok, I’m starving anyway.” Jenny laughed

 

~March 2022~

 

            As we were walking down the hall to leave the hospital after Jenny’s 6-month doctor appointment, I got a frantic call from Riley. “Mom, I didn’t know who else to call…” she said in one breath

            “Honey, slow down, what’s the matter?” I asked as I motioned to Jenny to wait

            “It’s Aunt Elaine…”

            “What about her?” I asked getting a little worried

            “Well, we were taking a walk and she started to complain about her stomach hurting a lot. I helped her back to the house and walked her to the sofa and she just grabbed her stomach in screamed that the pain was too much.”

            “Ok, where are you at right now?” I asked

            “At home…she’s right here next to me.”

            “Ok, what I want you to do is to call the paramedics and tell then exactly what you told me. Also tell them that she is 9 months pregnant with twins.” I said, “I will be home as soon as I can.” I hung up with Riley and Jenny and I left and headed to my house. I called Justin and told him to meet me at the house because Elaine was going into labor. We pulled up into the driveway 10 minutes after the ambulance and Justin arrived. Jenny and I walked into the house to see about 15 people standing around.

            “Why are there so many people here?” I asked.

A few people turned around, “Sorry about you’re sofa Em.”

            “What?” I asked as I pushed my way through the people, “Oh Elaine, they are beautiful and I’m sorry that I wasn’t here sooner…”

            “That’s ok, Em. Riley was a big help.” She said smiling to her

            “Mom, you’ll never guess what I did…” Riley said as she walked over to me

            “What did you do?” I asked with an interested look on my face

            “I help deliver the babies!!” she said with a big smile on her face

            “You? My 13-year-old daughter, who doesn’t like going into Katlyn’s room, helped deliver two babies? I’m impressed!” I said as I gave her a hug

            “So what did you have? I mean what are the sexes of the babies?” Jenny asked as she sat in the chair next to the sofa.

Forty-three

 

            Right as Elaine and Justin were going to introduce us to the babies, there was a loud crash and I heard someone scream. We all got up and ran to the front of the house to see John on the ground. As we got closer to them, Lance saw a black car speed off.

            “Call the police.” He yelled. Chris went back into the house and called them.

            “John…” I yelled, “What happened? John are you alright?” Riley and Lynn were crying and Mariah was on the ground holding her ankle softly crying

            “It’s ok, baby.” JC said picking his daughter up and taking her into the house

            “My leg hurts a lot Mommy.” John said

            “We tried to stop John from running after the ball but he didn’t stop.” Riley said through the tears

            “Then a car came from no where and hit him. The person stopped and then drove off.” Star added, “Daddy, I saw who it was too.”

            “Who was it honey?” he asked giving her a hug

            “That lady that was arrested on Christmas Day.” She said

            “What lady?” We asked

            “Remember she came to the wedding and tried to stop it…” she said

            “Lindsay? You mean Lindsay did this?” I asked. Lynn shook her head

            “I knew that she wouldn’t stop at anything to get you.” Christi said to Justin, “Come on honey, let’s go inside. Taylor come on.” Taylor and Lynn went inside and went to their mother.

“Justin, you have to fix this!!” Macy said

            The police arrived a few minutes later and we gave them a description of what Lindsay looked like and they took the report down. The paramedics had already started working on John leg and Mariah was inside the house and wouldn’t let go of JC so that her ankle could be looked at. After the police and paramedics left, we went back in the house to calm down. Emotions were running high and the last thing that we needed was someone to blow up at this accident.

            “Ok, so let’s see those babies.” I said after a long period of silence.

            Elaine’s face lit up as she began to introduce us to her 2 new babies. “This is Emily Jolene, and Justin is holding Ryan Mackenzie.”

            “They are so precious.” Jenny said as she looked at them and smiled

            “Having second thoughts about keeping this baby?” I asked her

            “No, I know that I won’t be able to raise this baby on my own. I know that I made the right decision in asking you and Lance to adopt the baby.” She said with a smile on her face

            “What about asking Carlos for help? He is the father, isn’t he?” Christi asked

            “Yeah, he’s the biological father, but he isn’t going to hurt this baby like he hurt me.” Jenny said wiping the tears from her face

            “Jenny, how many times has he hit you?” Lance asked

            “How did you know that he hit her?” Macy asked

            “Lucky guess, but when I asked her I could tell by the expression on her face that he had.”

            “He hit me too many times to count.” She said crying even more, “but the real reason that we got a divorce is that I found out that he was married and polygamy is illegal.”

            “Carlos was married to someone else the whole time that you were married?” I asked in amazement

            “Yeah, the whole 6 years that we were married. And you know what? I didn’t even notice it. He would go away on “business” for months at a time and I was to blind to even think that he was involved with someone else.”

            “Well, how did you find out?” Elaine asked

            “I was cleaning the closets and I found some pictures of him and another lady at a wedding, then there were pictures of him and that same lady with children…”

            “He has children? That SOB!” JC said instead of saying the real term that he wanted to say.

            “How could anyone do that when they have a family already?” Macy said, “That’s just wrong to do that.”

            “When I confronted him about it he said that it was his twin brother and family…family my ass, I slapped him for lying and he threw me into a wall. I was taken to the hospital and that’s where I found out that I was pregnant. Carlos said that it wasn’t his and he filed for divorce. When the divorce papers came I gladly signed them because I would be rid of him.”

            “Well, I guess it was for the better, but have you though about what you and Lance are going to do when the baby gets older and finds out that they were adopted?” Macy asked

            “We never really thought of that. But Jenny, you are more than welcome to be apart of the baby’s life if you want.” Lance said

            “I would love to, sort of like an honorary aunt.” She laughed.

            “Yeah, that’s not a bad idea.” I said smiling at her.

            It was getting late and little kids were falling asleep all over the place. Elaine, Justin, Star, Taylor and the twins stayed at my house along with Jenny. Everyone else went to go to his or her own house to get some sleep. As Mariah was walking out of the house, she stopped next to Justin and gave him a hug.

“I’m not mad at you for what Lindsay did to me and John. I love you Uncle Justin.” She said as she kissed him on the cheek and walked out of the house.

“I love you too Mariah.” Justin said

“Hey, Uncle J, you wanna sign my cast?” John asked

“Are you sure you want me to? I mean, earlier you seemed pretty mad at me.”

“Why would I be mad at you? You didn’t hit me, Lindsay did.” He said handing him a marker, “Plus you’re my Uncle…who else is gonna take me to play b-ball when this cast comes off.”

“I guess that’s true, your dad can play to save his life.” Justin laughed

“But he can ride a horse really well.” John added with a laugh.

Forty-four

 

[Author’s Note: this chapter is dedicated in loving memory to Lovey McCarthy…may she rest in peace…September 19, 2001]

 

~2 months later~

 

            “Amerika, I don’t feel too good.” Jenny said to me one morning

            “What’s the matter?” I asked sitting next to her on the sofa

            “I keep getting these sharp pains in my stomach. I know that I am not going into labor because I’m only 8 months pregnant.”

            “How often do you get these pains?” I asked helping her to stand up

            “About every 15 minutes or so.” She said, “And here is another one…” she squeezed my hand to the point where she was cutting off the circulation

            “Ok, come on, we’re going to the hospital right now.” I said leading her to the door, “Riley, get Katie and John, we have to get to the hospital.”

            “Mom, what’s the matter.” She asked as she came down the stairs with Katlyn in her arms and John right behind her

            “Jenny is going into labor early and we have to get her to the hospital fast.” Riley already knew that she had to call Lance and tell him that we were on our way to the hospital and John had to get Jenny’s bag from the hall closet.

            “Em, I don’t wanna go to the hospital right now…your 4^th of July bar-b-q will be ruined if we go because I just know that I will be in the hospital through out the whole weekend.” She protested

            “I don’t care.” I said

            “Jenny, just give it up, you aren’t going to win this battle.” Riley said opening the car door.

            15 minutes later we were at the hospital and Jenny was in the delivery room. Lance got to the hospital as soon as he could. The doctors came and told us that since the baby was still small there was an 80 % chance that the baby would survive if it was to be delivered. He also said that if it wasn’t delivered now then there was an even higher chance that it would be born with severe brain damage. Lance and I were in a tough position. We went to the hospital chapel to pray and ask God to us the right thing to do. While we were praying, Jenny was in the delivery room in so much pain. Riley came into the chapel with John and Katie and we all stayed there praying. We were there for about an hour when Riley grabbed my arm. It startled me because she was completely quiet and her facial expression was like she had just seen a ghost.

            “Riley, honey, what’s the matter?” I asked

            “I saw my little sister.” She said with a smile on her face

            “What are you talking about? Of course you saw her; she’s sitting right next to you.” Lance said

            “Not Katlyn…” she didn’t finish her sentence because the doctor came in the chapel and said that Jenny was asking for us.

            We walked out of the chapel and followed the doctor to jenny’s room. There were tubes and machines all around her. “Em, I can’t do this anymore.” She said. Her sweat mixing with her tears and streaming down her face

            “What can’t you do?” I asked taking her hand

            “The pain is too much. I don’t think that I can take it anymore.” She said

            “It’ll be over soon, I promise. And you won’t have to go through anymore pain because it will all be over.” I said wiping her sweat soaked head.

            Jenny had another contraction. “Push, Ms. Gutierrez.” The doctor said. Jenny pushed and pushed until she couldn’t anymore. On June 28^th, 2022, the baby was born. The nurses took her to the neo-nato/ICU and placed her in an incubator. They connected tubes to her and began to give her a check up to see if she had any bodily or internal damage. She weighed 5 pounds and she was extremely small.

Lance called everyone and told them that the bar-b-q was cancelled because Jenny went into labor early. “I’m going to put you on speaker phone.” Justin said, “Is the baby going to be alright?”

“Yeah, she’s just fine.” Lance said

“What did you name her?” Elaine asked

“We haven’t talked about it yet, but Amerika was telling me about a lady that she went to church with, Lovey, that died, but she was a real fighter, all the way to the end. She never once doubted that God would see her through the hard time that she was going through. We both know that this little baby will be a fighter too, so I’m going to suggest that.” Lance added, “You guys can come down to the hospital if you want.”

“Of course we will.” Macy said, “We’ll be there in 30 minutes.” Lance hung up the phone and went back to Amerika who was sitting next to Jenny.

“She just fell asleep.” I said looking up at Lance

“Where are the kids?” Lance asked me

“On the other bed asleep.” I said pointed to the bed on the other side of the room. Riley, John and Katlyn were all on the small twin sized bed fast asleep.

“I called everyone and they said that they were on there way here.” Lance said giving me a hug. “Now let’s go see our new baby girl.”

“Will they be alright in here by themselves?”

“Yes, they’ll be fine.” Lance said. We walked out of the room and softly closed the door. We walked down the hall to the ICU baby room and walked in.

“She is so beautiful.” I said

“I know. I think that we should name her after that lady that went to your church that you were telling me about.” Lance said looking into my eyes. Every time he looked at me with his sparkling green eyes I fell in love with him all over again.

“Ok, Lovey Jennifer Bass.” I said with a smile on my face

“Jenny will love that we are using her first name for the baby’s middle name.” Lance began to sing “God Must Have Spent” to the baby and we stood there until the hospital paged us to go to Jenny’s room.

Forty-five

 

            The next day, Jenny was able to leave the hospital. Lance took her to our house so that she could move her things back to her house in Miami. Lance and I started working on Lovey’s dedication. We planned it for the 4^th of July and then we would have a bar-b-que later on in the day. Riley and John were happy that they now had another little sister and welcomed her into the family with open arms. Katlyn was still to young to know what was going on, all that she knew was that there was another little baby and that she was a big girl now.

            “Ama…I feed baby.” Katlyn said

            “Honey, do you want to help feed Lovey?” I asked. Katlyn shook her head yes, “ok, go sit in the chair over there and I will let you feed her.” Katlyn sat in the rocking chair and I placed Lovey in her lap and gave her the bottle.

            “Mrs. Bass,” the doctor said coming in the room

            “Yes, that’s me.” I said not taking my eyes off of Katlyn and Lovey

            “We have some good news. Lovey is strong enough to go home tomorrow.” The doctor continued

            “That’s great. So she is healthy and there is nothing wrong with her since she was born 1 month early?”

            “No, she is perfectly healthy.”

            “Oh thank you doctor. You don’t know how glad I am to hear you say that.” The doctor walked out of the room and I picked up my cell phone and called Lance. “Honey, guess what the doctor told me?” I said to him on the phone

            “What?” Lance asked me

            “That Lovey can go home tomorrow.” I said with a big smile on my face

            “I know. I heard.” Lance said tapping me on the shoulder

            I turned around to see Lance standing there, “I gotta go, my husband is here.” I hung up my cell and gave Lance a kiss.

            The rest of the day, Lance and the guys got the house ready for the new baby’s arrival. Family flew in from all over for the dedication and bar-b-que. My family came from California and Lance’s family came from Mississippi. Jenny and her mother came and we had a packed house.

 

~July 4^th, 2001~

 

            “Riley, honey, hurry up. We don’t want to be late getting to the church.” Diane said

            “I’m coming Grandma. John is still in the bathroom.” Riley said as she came down the stairs

            “John Oliver Bass, get your butt out of the bathroom before I have to come up there and get you.” My father said. John went running out of the bathroom and down the stairs and out the door.

            Lance and I were already at the church with Lovey and Katlyn. Justin and Elaine were there with their kids, Joey and Kate were there with their kids. Chris, Christi and Adam were there and JC, Macy and their kids were also there. Lance’s parents and my parents arrived with Riley and John. Lance and I took our places next to the pastor with Jenny, Stacy and Ford standing on the other side of him. Lance was holding Lovey and I was holding the 2 plaques that were going to be presented to the new godparents. The ceremony was very beautiful. Afterwards, we all met at my house and partied into the night. Since we were so close to the beach, we got to see the fireworks that the state of Florida had over the Atlantic Ocean every 4^th of July. The show was so wonderful.

 

~5 years later: 2027~

 

            Lance and I have been married for 18 years. Riley is 18 years old, John is 16, Katlyn is 8 and Lovey is 5. I am 47 and Lance is 48. Riley will be starting her senior year of high school and she is Senior Class President. She attends at Emmanuelle Performing Arts High School for ballet and she is doing very well there. John is starting high school, Sophia is starting the 2^nd grade and Lovey is in pre-school. Jenny comes to see us every weekend and she is really close with Lovey. Elaine, Kate and I are the best of friends. We’ve been through so much together and we love to SHOP!!! Lance has 1 OSCAR and 3 Grammy Awards from the groups that he manages and produces for.

 

            Justin and Elaine have been married for 16 years. Lynn Star is 13 years old, Taylor Randall is 12 years old, and Emily Jolene and Ryan Mackenzie are 5 years old. After the attack on John and Mariah and Lindsay trying to ruin their wedding renewal, Justin pressed charges on Lindsay and she was arrested for hit and run and disorderly conduct. Since that time Lindsay or anyone else hasn’t bothered them.

 

            JC and Macy have been married for 19 years. Mariah is 17 years old and Manuel is 13 years old. They are ever so close in their marriage. 3 years ago Macy was diagnosed with Polio but then the next month, there was nothing there…she was completely healthy. During that month long wait for the test result, JC and Macy were incredibly close and they did a lot of things together as a family.

 

            Chris and Christi have been married for 17 years. Adam is 8. His best friends are Katlyn, Tatianna and Cobi. They spend a lot of time together and constantly e-mail and talk on the phone with each other. They are very close. Chris has his clothing line and it is doing very well. Christi is a famous manager working along side with Johnny Wright.

 

            Joey and Kate have been married for 17 years. Tatianna Marie is 9 and Cobi Jordan is 7. Kate is busy with her Day Care Center called Happy Days. It is a joint venture between her, Elaine and myself. We all work there and our children are always there to help us out. This may be hard to grasp, but Joey is a famous actor with 2 OSCARS under his belt. We were all surprised when he won his 1^st OSCAR but we were equally surprised when he won the second one.

Epilogue

 

 

~5 more years later: 2032~

 

            Justin (51) and Elaine (50) still live in Orlando where they have their own management company called Ju-Laine Entertainment. They currently have 15 groups that they manage and produce for. Lynn Star is 18 and in her last year of high school. She got accepted to UCLA where she will be studying law to become an Entertainment lawyer. Taylor is 17 and the star basketball player of his high school. One day he hopes to play professionally. Emily and Ryan are 10 and go to the same school as Lovey and they are always hanging out together.

 

            Lance (52) and I (51) are doing really well. We only have 2 children living at home but John visits us when he has free time and Riley and David stop by a lot too. I still have my few groups that I manage and I also co-own the Happy Days Corporation, with Kate, which is a series of day care centers that are currently in 16 states and over 45 cities. Riley (23) and David (24) recently got married after dating for about 3 years. They moved to New York so that Riley could continue with her dancing. Riley and David own an art gallery in Manhattan. John is in Medical School to become a heart surgeon. Katlyn is 13 and she is an honor student at her junior high school. Lovey is 10 and just enjoys spending time with her godmother Jenny, and Emily and Ryan Timberlake.

 

            Joey (55) is doing a little bit of everything, but he mostly sticks to acting and directing. Kate (53) also does a little acting on the side but she sticks to working with the children at Happy Days. Tatianna is 14 and Cobi is 12. They are best friends with Katlyn and Adam and they all have hopes of forming a musical group when they get older and hope to follow in their parents and uncles’ footsteps.

 

            JC (56) continues to produce for different musical groups. Macy (51) is Riley’s agent and she owns her own talent scouting company called Gracie-Macy Talent Firm. Mariah is 22, owns her own business in California and she is engaged to a young senator. Manuel is 18 and he’s dating Lynn Star. He too got accepted to UCLA but to become a doctor.

 

            Chris (61) still has his clothing line and now he does a little acting on the side. Christi (58) has branched out and has her own management company, but she still works closely with those at Wright Entertainment.  Adam is 13 and still an only child. He hangs out with Katlyn Bass, and Tatianna and Cobi Fatone since they are the only ones closest to his age.

 

@------/------\@------/------\ @------/------\ RILEY’S POINT OF VIEW@------/------\ @------/------\@------/

 

~Years later~

 

We all lived a long and full life. Everyone grew up, got married and started families of their own. We remained close and never forgot how it all started…the chance meeting of my parents, Lance and Amerika. As I read through her journals she knew that her life would never be the same.

She never dreamt that she wouldn’t be able to see her youngest daughter get married and start a family. Now she is in the hospital bed fighting some unknown disease that has robbed her of her very being. She am weak…oh so very weak. She is in so much pain and I don’t know how much more pain she can go through. We gave up a lot for her, but we would do it all again if we knew that she would live longer.

The days are getting shorter and it is getting harder for her to remember the days of the week or the months of the year. Daddy sits by her side everyday and promises that everything will be ok and she will get to see Lovey walk down the aisle at her wedding and that she will grow old with him, but I am not so sure.

She breathing her last few breaths and we are all around her. We know that she knows that we are here to see her knowing that this may very well be that last time that we are all together.

We walk out of the room after saying our ‘I love you’ to her. We want to give Daddy sometime to be with her. He puts his arm around her and gave one last kiss. She breaths her last breath he whispers, “I’ll always be in your arms…”

“And you in mine.” She replies. She closes her eyes and peacefully, her once radiant light has now gone out.

Beeping noises are heard through out the room and the floor that she is on. We know what has just happened but we stay quiet. Doctors rush in the room and escort Daddy out so that can attempt to save my mom. But it is too late, she is already gone…away from the suffering and pain that she has had to endure. Daddy goes back to the room when the doctors leave. He sits next to the bed and again Mommy is in his arms.

 

 

Please send me feedback