Chapter 78: A Tribute The next afternoon… “I knew you ladies would make the honorable decision,” Tommy smiled. “Wait a minute, we need to go over some things first,” Laura said.  “We’ve been talking and we wanna do something to honor Veronica.” “What do you have in mind?” Tommy asked. “We wanna put out a tribute album,” Elizabeth explained.  “We called a lot of artists, and they want to record or donate songs for it.  We want to put some of our songs on it, especially the last one we recorded with her, and sing a song of hers that we didn’t get to record.” “We want to donate all of the proceeds to her favorite charities,” Bianca added.  “Including SADD.” “I completely agree,” Tommy smiled.  “Sony would be happy to front the bill.” “Then when that’s completed, we want to take some time, gain a new perspective.  Then we’ll be back,” Lauralee leaned back.  “Those are our terms.”    “You ladies have really been thinking about this,” Riley said. “All night long,” Lauralee folded her arms on the table. “You got a deal,” Tommy shook her hand.  “Looks like we should get started on it right away.” ~*~ The next week… The girls stepped into the studio for the first time with heavy hearts.  “This is gonna be hard,” Laura said. “We just gotta keep thinking of Veronica,” Lauralee put her hand on Laura’s shoulder.  “Come on, let’s do this.” Lauralee went to the board, fiddling around with the track, which she played piano on and the background was laid down the day before.  The girls overlooked the lyric sheet.  “OK,” Lauralee fiddled around with the board again.  “All set.” They recorded Veronica’s song “Can’t Take That Away” with so much heart they had to stop a few times because they were getting so choked up.  They managed to finish it in a few hours.  Lauralee finished the last note with tears falling down her eyes as Laura stopped the tape. “You got it Lau,” Laura spoke from the booth. Lauralee sighed as she put the headphones onto the stand, wiped her tears away, and left the booth. ~*~ 1 month later… The girls gathered around Lauralee’s television set, watching MTV’s Total Request Live, awaiting the show.  Today was the day of the release of the tribute album, simply entitled: “Veronica.”  The girls weren’t going to make any appearances, but released a statement that was to be read by Carson Daly. “Welcome back to Total Request Live,” Carson said as the crowd cheered.  “Today is a very poignant day in the music world, especially for fans of Elegance.  Elegance has released an album in tribute to Veronica, who died so tragically a couple of months ago.  The album, and I’ve heard it, is different and real good, featuring songs donated by artists like Janet Jackson, Puff Daddy, Faith Evans, Backstreet Boys, live tracks from Elegance’s concerts, and a song the girls recorded written by Veronica herself.” The crowd applauded.  “We invited Elegance to the studio today and they declined, but asked me to read a statement on their behalf, so here goes.” Carson took out a piece of paper.  “We’re sorry we couldn’t come to the studio, but we just want some time to ourselves to gather our thoughts, especially today.  We decided to put out this album as a tribute to Veronica, our dear friend.  She was so special to us, we tried to put songs on this album that would reflect her and everything we shared with her.  Every song on this album has some meaning to us, to her, and everyone she knew.  We would like to point out that all of the proceeds are going to Veronica’s favorite charities, especially SADD: Students Against Drunk Driving.  We feel that by doing this, we can continue to keep Veronica’s memory alive, not only in our hearts or in the fans’ hearts, but to make an awareness and be responsible when drinking and getting into a car.  We hope that you all learn from someone’s mistake and how many lives can be affected by being that irresponsible.  On that day, millions of lives were affected.  God bless and we hope to see you soon.  Elegance.” Lauralee turned off the television set and sighed.  “Think it was enough?” “Yeah, it was,” Laura leaned back on the couch. “Well, now what?” Bianca looked at the girls. “Take some time, I guess,” Elizabeth sighed.  “We need it,” Laura remarked. “Yeah, we sure do,” Lauralee picked up Angel and held her close. Chapter 79 Contents Chapter 77