| Chapter 48: Questions Answered “I know you are definitely confused Mom.” “I just can’t believe this! Here I was in work watching in the staff room, and all of a sudden there you are!” Sandy exclaimed. “I know you have a lot of questions for me,” Lauralee said. “But I will be home the day after tomorrow, and we can have a long talk.” “My baby is a superstar… this is a lot to take in.” “And it will all be explained, I promise. Listen I have to go. I need to get ready for Alex.” “OK honey. But know this, I love you with all of my heart.” “I love you too Mom, bye.” “Bye.” Lauralee hung up her phone and laid on the bed. She left her cell phone in the room, and checked to find she had literally 50 messages on her voicemail from practically everyone she knew either congratulating her or asking questions. She planned to answer all of them, but there was one person in particular she needed to talk to. ~*~ There was a soft knock at the door, and Lauralee knew who it was. “Come in,” she said. Alex walked inside slowly, and saw Lauralee stand at the far end of the room. “Hey.” “Hey,” Lauralee walked over to him when he gave her a soft kiss. “Here, have a seat.” Lauralee and Alex sat on the bed. “I’m sure you have so many questions for me.” Alex took in a deep breath. “Dozens.” “OK, I’m ready, shoot.” “OK, first one. When did all of this start?” “Remember when we went on tour with you guys and Lou said we couldn’t go with you to that party?” “Um… oh yeah and you went to that karoake bar?” Lauralee nodded. “We did a number to just goof off and everyone just… loved us. Then I had an idea just to practice when we were together and bored. Well, we were in the studio when Riley overheard us singing when were waiting for you guys in a meeting, and he told us to give him a call. We recorded a snippet of a song in his office.” “And how exactly did you get a deal?” “Your birthday party, Riley said he gave the song to Tommy Mottola who was there and he set up a meeting with us when we got back to New York. He offered to let us record a demo, so we did when we got back from Sweden. At my birthday party, Tommy came by and gave us a contract.” Alex was sitting there trying to let this all sink in. “So you guys signed and recorded an album in secret?” “It was Riley’s idea, for the reasons that I said on the show.” “So you guys made up a whole story,” Alex was starting to look hurt. “That’s what hurts me.” “Listen to me,” Lauralee cupped his face in her hands. “We didn’t do it because we wanted to hurt you. There was so many times I just wanted to blab it out, and we almost did, especially when we were fighting. I… we wanted to do this to show that we could do it on our own. We could have just come up to you guys, gave you a tape and say ‘hey, think you can show it to some contacts?’ You always said you wanted to be respected as an artist, and I do, but we wanted the same for ourselves.” “And boy, you all did.” “It was very hard, but I guess we did. I couldn’t have done any of this without you. I wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for you.” “But why didn’t you tell me you could sing?” “Alex, the musical side of me was something I always did in private. It was something my father and I did together; it was our special time. When he died, I thought I couldn’t sing or play another note again. But when I saw that piano in that studio, I knew it was something that I couldn’t let die too. My father gave me those gifts for a reason, and I think this was why. He always said it was a gift I would treasure always, but he told me never to try to make a career out of it, because I might spend my life being rejected; he didn’t want me to live a life of that.” “I understand.” “All of it?” Alex nodded. “I have to admit, the word ‘shocked’ was an understatement when I saw you on stage. But as I was watching you girls, it was like, natural. You girls seemed like you’d been on stage for years. And it seemed that it was natural to be watching you. I also admit that I was hurt about all the lying at the same time.” Lauralee looked down. “I am, and always will be sorry for that.” “But I completely forgive you for it.” “You do?” “I was so proud of you Lau. My heart was bursting. All at once, everything just fit in. I knew for all those months why everything was happening.” “But we can be completely honest now. I don’t ever want to hide anything from you ever again.” “Me either. So,” Alex put his arm around her. “Now we can talk about so much more.” “Yup we can.” “But like my grandmother always said there’s a time for talking and a time for…” he pushed her on the bed. “I love how your grandmother thinks,” Lauralee whispered as Alex was kissing her neck. Chapter 49 Contents Chapter 47 |