Chapter
14
Three years later
“Daddy! Look, Daddy!” called a little voice. AJ grinned and got up from his chair in the
living room just as four year old Madison tore into the room, holding a piece
of construction paper in her hand.
“Lookie what I made in school t’day!” she cried, holding up the piece of
paper. AJ took it from her and smiled
when he saw what is was. She had drawn a
picture of three stick people. Her name
was written across the top in her lopsided handwriting.
“Very
good, honey!” AJ cried, bending to kiss the top of her head.
“Know
who it is?” she asked, beaming.
“Um…
who?” AJ asked uncertainly. All of
Madison’s stick figures looked identical.
“It’s
me, Mommy, and you!” cried Madison, pointing them out as she said their names.
“Oh,”
AJ said knowingly. “Very good,
princess.” Madison grinned again. AJ loved her smile. It looked just like Tara’s. In fact, Maddie herself looked very much like
Tara. She had Tara’s golden blonde hair
and bright blue eyes. AJ thought she was
just adorable.
Just
then, Tara walked in the room.
“Hey,
baby,” AJ said, striding over to kiss her.
She grinned up at him.
“Hi,
sweetheart,” she said, sighing.
“What’s
wrong?” AJ asked her.
“Oh
nothing, I’m just tired,” she replied, yawning.
AJ gazed at her lovingly, taking a strand of her fine hair and twirling
it in his fingers. He and Tara had been
married for over two years now, and those two years had been the happiest of
his life. He had never known how
wonderful it was to have a family like that, but now he knew. His life seemed perfect.
The
Backstreet Boys had released another album earlier that year and had finished
touring already. They were still as
popular as ever, even though they didn’t do as much together. Now that three of them had families of their
own, it wasn’t as easy to go on tours and travel, so their tours were a lot
shorter. Although Nick and Howie hadn’t
yet gotten married, they both had steady girlfriends. Kevin and Kristen didn’t have any kids yet,
but Brian and Leighanne had a three-year-old son named Thomas. When they weren’t touring, the five guys and
their families didn’t see each other often, since traveling with small children
was too much of a hassle. But that was
okay. AJ was perfectly content with his
own family. He loved Tara and Madison
more than anything else in the world.
***
AJ
was awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of loud coughing. He turned over, squinting through the
darkness and saw that Tara was not in bed next to him. He saw a crack of light across the room,
coming from beneath the closed bathroom door.
Once again, there was a loud cough.
It was Tara. AJ climbed out of
bed and knocked on the bathroom door.
“Tar, honey, are you okay?” he asked, concerned about his wife.
“Yeah,”
came her hoarse whisper. A few seconds
later, she emerged from the bathroom.
The light flooded the room, lighting up her face. She looked completely drained. Her skin looked pale, and there were dark
circles around her eyes.
“Tara,
you look like shit!” AJ exclaimed.
Tara
rolled her green eyes. “Gee, thanks,
Aje,” she replied dryly.
“No,
Tar, I didn’t mean it that way. I meant,
you look sick, and you don’t sound so great either. Are you okay?”
Tara
saw how concerned her husband was. “AJ,
babe, I’m fine. I just have a cold or
something. I’ll be fine.”
“But,
Tara, what about-“ AJ started to ask, but Tara cut him off.
“AJ,
I’ll be fine,” she assured him firmly.
“You
should go to your doctor tomorrow and get some medicine or something,” AJ
said.
“I
can’t tomorrow,” Tara said. “I have some
Christmas shopping left to do, and Madison’s preschool Christmas program is at
1:00. I can’t miss that.”
AJ
smiled fondly. “You’re right, can’t miss
that,” he said. “But couldn’t you go
afterwards?” he asked.
“No,
the doctor’s office closes at 2:00,” she replied, sighing. “I’ll try to set up an appointment for
Saturday morning.”
“Ok,”
AJ said with a sigh. “But you need to
get some sleep now, ok?”
Tara
smiled. “Ok, honey,” she said, kissing
his nose. She shut off the bathroom
light, and they both got back into bed.
“Goodnight, baby,” Tara whispered.
“Night,
sweetheart,” AJ said, turned over, and fell asleep.
***
