Chapter 25

On the flight home on Sunday afternoon, I sat between Maureen and Mom and quietly spoke about the future as Ali dozed in my arms.

Mom said that she was going to push Dad into being in Fort Lauderdale by Easter and Maureen said that this would be a traditional weekend for Jordan and me to wed.

We batted it around a bit, and, between us, we thought about an Easter Sunday wedding, at the farm, with a big marquee set up. It would be kept quiet from the press, just for invited guests.

I remarked that I didn’t want a band at the reception, just a DJ. Having a band would be too much of a chance that we would want to get up and play. There was only one thing I wanted to play with that night. Before we landed, we had told Allan about our idea so that he could keep the period clear. In the end it worked out differently because in April we all went to Europe to start a four-month tour.

One of the best things about the trip to Boston was that Josie and I spent a lot of time together and developed a sisterly connection. She was becoming one of Ali’s favorite Aunties.

I told her that I didn’t mind if she knew where she stood. She assured me that her own baby would take up all her time when it arrived. She said she was determined never to walk away from this one and having Ali to spoil was a bonus.

One morning after we had returned home, Josie and Jordan were taking turns to read a story to Ali and Maureen was sitting next to me looking on.

She turned to me and asked me if I would like to take a walk. When we were some ways from the others she said. “Josie plays with Ali as if she was her mother. I wondered why she had been so uptight when I first met her. Did she leave Ali with you?”

I told her that she was right, but that Josie wanted Tony to have no idea of that.

“So, who are you to Ali, you certainly act as if you’re her mother and Jordan looks the part for the father. Did he and Josie do something they shouldn’t?”

I stood still and faced her. “Maureen,” I said seriously. “I’m the father. Alicia is the baby that Josie and I produced while I still had the means to make it happen. I transitioned not long after. That’s what drove Josie away. She needed a man in her life and, unfortunately, we had one playing bass with us who fitted the bill. She parted from him before she met Tony. I’m happy for the two of them now that I have seen them together. Josie was very mixed up, but I think that the Swan saved her life.”

Maureen hugged me. “You poor thing, being left with a baby. I can see that you and Josie still have a lot of love for each other as friends. I thank you for telling me this. It will be our secret but knowing the truth will let me divert any questions that may come up. I’m looking forward to having my own grandchild to spoil but now I have one already it’ll be fun to shop for them both as they grow up. Are you and Jordan going to adopt?”

“Perhaps after we formalize Alicia, but we had not spoken about any others yet.” I then laughed. “First, though, we must get married. We were holding off until he graduated but I can’t see any reason we should wait now. I think I would like to be a spring bride, but the problem is that I don’t know where I’ll be when spring comes around.”

She then asked who else knew the truth and I told her that Pet, Emily, and Janet were in the band when this happened and that my parents and Josies’ family knew, as well as Allan and Helen.

“Right” she said “That gives me several people I can call on if needed. It certainly isn’t in the media that you were a boy.”

I chuckled. “When I first played on stage with the Pixies, we all wore jeans and boots. I already had long hair. I’ve been told since that most people thought I was a tomboy and that a certain witch costume brought out the girl in me. Even Jordan told me that he thought that Josie and I were in a lesbian relationship, and it shocked him to know the truth.”

That morning Maureen became the “Granny” that I had never experienced before. She took a position where she was very protective of us all.

Allan had started to use our studio for his own acts and Martyn was kept busy with Tony helping him in the control room. As Allan had some established singers on his books that were serious about their output it was a win-win for everyone. The results of their labours would be heard next year when the new albums hit the airwaves. Allan had put Martyn and Tony on the payroll, and I knew from hearing what they did for us that it was money well spent.

Of course, with Tony working with his father, Josie was now a permanent fixture around the farm. After Boston trip, she took on a paid position of managing the farm property. That would be overseeing the hydroponic and other production, making sure the workers were happy and keeping the books for the studio hire.

The workers had finally come around to the fact that she was back and ashamed of what she had done. Her relationship with them was back to normal. With this agreed, it freed Jordan to go full-time as a vet when his course ended in the middle of the year. He and the retiring vet were getting on well together and business was good, so much that we needed to mark out specific parking spaces for their customers.

The clients for the studio had parking set aside in the front of the studio and we had some more covered areas put in for them. Brad had also built a toilet block which would be needed for strangers using the studio. We registered Stable Studio as a business, and it eventually earned enough to cover the costs.

The downside to this was that the Sisters didn’t have a place to work on new songs unless we paid for the studio time. We got Brad to build a soundproof room inside the rear of the third shed, behind the clinic. It was reverse-cycle air-conditioned, with the pump outside to minimise any extraneous noise. Because it was already inside, it just needed stud walls and plenty of insulation as well as the sound proofing.

It was big enough for more than a dozen players and had easy chairs to relax in. I moved the old upright into it as well as all our own kit. It had enough power outlets to run a show. It turned out good enough to rent out as a rehearsal room for the acts using the studio, when we weren’t using it ourselves.

December was a busy time for us in the main studio, organizing a new album which was on a master before Christmas, so we all deserved some time off. Allan presented us with our preliminary timetable for the following year. We had free time to relax or record up to early April and then went on tour in Europe. It was not a pop tour, as such, but dates had been saved in case a promoter wanted to have us put a pop show on.

Allan said that some of our back catalogue would go on the market there, alongside the jazz album. It depended on the take-up of the other discs. That gave Martyn an excuse to remaster the later Pixies and our early Sisters albums to improve the quality. Allan also organized the different language covers with the old pictures, all as Stable Sisters releases. We would be doing all the jazz dates as “The Stable Sisters AKA Instability” which would let us go on as simply the Stable Sisters if required.

He gave us a list of places where we would be playing. We started in Paris, then on to Orleans, Dijon, Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse in France, Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, and Seville in Spain. There was a ferry ride to Italy where we had Naples, Rome, Milan, and Turin, and then Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Hanover, and Hamburg in Germany before our final show in Berlin. There were no big halls or arenas, just big night clubs, jazz clubs and dance halls.

The money offered wasn’t the greatest, but Allan considered it a good investment. We would have to rely on album sales to make up any shortfall. This meant a pared-down travelling group, flying without the first class, reasonable hotels instead of top-of-the-range and coach travel between most of the gigs. Such sacrifices we were making for the sake of our music!

This meant that the wedding had to happen in the beginning of March. Josie was now showing a pronounced bump, and the expected delivery was the third week of that month. Mom, Alicia, and Maureen took on the wedding planning with gusto which would allow me time to get with the Sisters, to work out a “Postcards” album before we left. It would just need three songs from each country to make a reasonable album and Pet had already started on those, given that some of the places we would visit were a no-brainer. But first, it was Christmas to celebrate.

The band had no commitments this year. We were not performing in any Christmas or New Year show, and it was very much a time of rest for us. Pet and I had split the task of the “Postcards” album and she was writing the French and Spanish songs, and I had the Italian and German places.

With the internet it’s easy to look up a town, get details and places nearby, and get an idea of what a visit to the town may look like. We were both creating like mad. Emily was our editor of the lyrics and the tunes as we wrote them out. In the middle of January, we planned to use the rehearsal room when it was finished and had booked the Stable Studio for a recording session at the end of February.

In the week before Christmas, we had two deliveries from couriers. One was a box of twenty DVDs of our jazz show from Cleveland as well as twenty double CDs of the remastered audio, with the picture of us in the water and looking up at the camera on the cover. The other was ten sets of the Boston orchestra season.

Each set was a CD of each of the performances and Martyn must have pulled all the stops out to get the Rodrigo one as the last CD. With that one we got cards from Kelly, one from the whole orchestra and one from Algernon, Fiona, and daughters. I had posted them cards earlier but had baulked at buying any gifts. What can you buy a billionaire?

Josie and I had gone into the city a couple of times and had bought up big for the family. It was lovely to be walking the shops with her again, sometimes arm in arm but never holding hands. We had also bought festive produce packs for our workers who would get them with their Christmas pay and bonus before having two weeks off. She and Tony also went into the city for him to choose his gifts for his parents.

The festive season was certainly out of the picture books. The countryside was white and the only clean roof around was on the hydroponic sheds due to the hot lights. Alicia and Brad came over in his work truck which had four-wheel drive.

Once again Ali was showered with gifts but was not the only one this time. Mom and Maureen oversaw the Christmas dinner with Josie and me helping as needed. Ali was given a few little jobs that kept her interested, and she had been really looking forward to the Christmas day, the first that she was able to experience and remember. She still loved a pink bunny that she had got last year but had no memory of getting it.

It was a lovely day with the family. We had done a lot of different things since the previous Christmas. The four Prentices were here for the first time. They enjoyed a Christmas Dinner with snow outside but none of us had any thoughts of going out there. It was the first Christmas dinner I could remember where we ate turkey instead of chicken.

We ate too much and drank some wine and sat about in the lounge in the afternoon. Dad put the Cleveland DVD into the player so we could watch it. It was so smooth both Ali, in my arms, and I, went to sleep! I woke up as the credits were running and Mom was bustling around to see if anyone wanted drinks.

Josie was almost in tears, saying that it had been so wonderful. Martyn looked at me and winked. “Well Edie, first you produce a piece of music that clears fears and hang-ups, and now you’ve done one for those with sleep disorders.” I looked around and saw Jordan with his head back and his mouth open and Dad in a similar position, and I laughed.

We were all too full for much else that day and everyone woke up in time for a cup of hot chocolate. Jordan took Ali out to the animal cages to check with the few that were being kept over Christmas to recover and give them some food. She liked that little job. The cage area had some flame heaters to keep it warm, and these needed to be monitored for fuel and turned low for the night. When the lights were turned off the animals would settle down.

That night both Jordan and I couldn’t sleep having had a couple of hours in the afternoon, but it didn’t matter. We had other things that we could do that had not diminished in enjoyment. I really did love that man and our lovemaking was just that, all love.

In the week between Christmas and New Year we sat down and worked through the plans for the year to come. I was going to be away for some months and Jordan couldn’t get away because he was up for his final exams. He was good to look after Ali and I knew that Maureen would help after Mom and Dad had gone south.

Josie would be busy with her own little Prentice. Allan had promised Tony and Martyn some interesting sessions but hadn’t told them who was coming to the studio. We had a very quiet New Year, and, in January, I worked on my “Postcards” songs.

One of the things I investigated was a piano teacher for Ali. It was one thing for an eight-year-old me learning the piano by playing but was another for a two-year old. Any bad habits she learned now would live with her for ever. I had enough bad habits on the keyboard for both of us.

Pet knew of someone who had taught her and brought her over one day. The lady listened to what Ali could do now and said that it would be an honor to give her lessons, if only to be listed as her early teacher once she had become world famous. I paid her, and she came over twice a week to take Ali through the standard tutorials.

By the end of February, the “Postcards” album had been recorded for release while we were away.

We were now using the rehearsal room to work through which songs we would be playing should we get asked to play as a pop group.

Another thing that happened at that time was a very serious visit from Allan.

He told us that Kelly had sent her classical CD sets to friends in her field and Allan had received some requests from a few orchestras. He had negotiated dates and payments.

Some of us were involved in several classical concerts across Europe.

I was now flying out to Paris, on my own, some ten days before the others. I was booked to play the Warsaw and the Tchaikovsky One in Paris with a famous orchestra after a few days of rehearsal and then would join the rest of the band to start the tour proper. That would be a four-night stint in a large jazz club, also in Paris.

We would be doing two nights in Orleans, another two in Dijon and Lyon and four in Marseille then two in Toulouse. Allan had factored in a weekend break in case we were needed to do a pop show but now Joyce and I would be doing the Rodrigo in Seville in the first week of June while the others had a break.

The longest stop in Spain was a four-night stint in a dance hall in Madrid and then we were off to Italy. He had put in a free weekend on the first week of July there as well which was now filled with Pet and I doing our double violin concert in Vienna, of all places, the spiritual home of all violinists.

The week after our last show in Berlin, near the end of August, I was now going to be doing the Rach 2 with an orchestra there before being allowed to fly home. It looked as if it was going to be one hell of a summer for us and especially for me. I talked it over with Jordan and Ali and told her that Mommy was going to be away for a few months playing her piano. She said that she understood and would be a good girl while I was away, and that Auntie Mo and Aunty Jo would help her if she needed it. She told me that she was learning so much now and would play me some new pieces when I got back. I hugged her with tears in my eyes.

I rang Kelly in Boston and thanked her for her recommendations, and she told me that it was so that I could grace her stage again as a world-famous soloist and then laughed, saying that it would cost more to book me then. She then told me that Allan had emailed her with our tour dates and that Algernon was taking his family to Paris to see me play and will stay on to see us in the jazz club.

She then told me that the “For those who Served” concerts were kicking off in April with a range of artists booked to perform. Pet and I should get an email about that. We were not listed on any concert this year but there were some spots after we came home that we could fill in at if we wanted.

March came around all too soon and with it my wedding. We put a marquee up next to the hydro sheds, and it was decorated, and seats hired. We were having a civil ceremony with a celebrant and Dad would be giving me away. Pet and Emily were my bridesmaids, Ali was the Flower Girl, and Tony was standing with Jordan as best man.

We used the blow heaters to warm up the marquee. Our dress supplier came up with glorious dresses for us in a medium pink. Seeing that Jordan and I had been living together for quite a while I didn’t think that white was being honest.

The guests were by invite only and we had a security service at the gate. The only press allowed in was a national woman’s magazine that had made us an offer we couldn’t resist. The reception was in the number three shed where the animals had been relocated to the vet clinic for a few days. It was well lit, the floor now well rolled, and the caterers were able to set up the tables and chairs. The DJ could tap off the power from the rehearsal room.

It was a full house. We had the entire band, their partners, and families, plus Kelly, Algernon and his family, Allan and Helen and the girls from his office. Then there were several principals of our major sponsors, our workers and their families, and Dianne and the other five Swan administrators. Not forgetting the Prentices and Donna with her family.

It was a lovely day for me, being pampered and dressed in the morning for a lunch-time ceremony. Ali looked wonderful in her very pretty dress, and she told me that she felt like a princess. I told her that this was because she really was a princess and that one day, she would meet her own Prince Charming.

Pet and Emily also looked wonderful, and the photographers had a field day with us before we were allowed to walk over to the marquee, me on the arm of my father with my daughter carefully carrying the flowers in front of us. As we walked down the aisle, I could see Jordan looking handsome and a very buff guy in a suit standing next to him. I could see now just what Josie had seen when she had married him.

After the ceremony we went into the shed for the reception. This was a lunch followed by dancing and drinking. Jordan and I would be leaving around three to go to the airport for a flight to the Niagara Falls for just three days. He needed to be back for his work, and I needed to be back for mine. The lunch was good, the company better and the DJ kicked us off with the bridal waltz.

Donna and Jack came along with her little boy, now pushing three, and Jack and Algernon were soon in a long conversation about looking after the geriatric population. My parents were up from Fort Lauderdale with very new tans. I was hugged and kissed by just about everyone, and then Jordan and I went to change for the limo that would be taking us to the airport. When I threw the bouquet, it was caught by Pet which prompted Anton to drop to one knee and propose, much to the enjoyment of everyone. We were driven away to the sound of applause and, for once, it wasn’t for me.

We had a lovely time in Niagara Falls, just being tourists and spending a lot of time in bed, like every other newly married couple in the place. When we got home, we found that we had missed some of the fun.

After Anton had proposed to Pet and she said yes, Ian had followed suit with Emily and then, with all the excitement and some dancing, Josie had started to break waters a couple of weeks early. She had given birth to Georgina Odette Prentice very early the following day, followed some thirty minutes later, by Martyn Jordan Prentice. Ali laughed when she described the scene. “Mommy, you should have seen the water run down Auntie Jo’s leg, it looked so funny.”

We had kept some of Alis’ things, but Maureen needed to go and buy a second set which went into the second bedroom over the surgery. Jordan and I went to see Josie in hospital as soon as we got back and saw her twins in their cribs. They were not that much smaller than Ali had been and were quite active in their movements.

She told us that it hadn’t been as bad as Ali and to tell her that she was going to have a couple of cousins as playmates in coming years. I asked about it being twins, and she said that she had kept it quiet. “Just in case there were problems”.

She then thanked Jordan and me for being such good friends on top of being family.

“I hope you had a lovely time on your honeymoon, it’s going to be tough for you in Europe, Edie. Make sure you look after yourself and don’t push it too hard. I know that once you’re on a roll you don’t stop until you run out of steam; just take it easy for a change.”

The next day a small container was delivered, and we loaded all our instruments and spare stage outfits. When a customs guy came and inspected it, he watched as we packed the spaces with old blankets and sealed the doors. The truck came back the next day and our stuff was then on its way to Paris.

Jordan drove me to the airport the day after and we kissed. I kissed Alicia and told her that she should look after her Daddy. She promised that she would “keep him in line” and we sniggered together before I gave her a kiss and made my way through the emigration to wait for the plane to be loaded up.

I had been bumped to business class for this trip, so it wasn’t too bad. I spent most of the flight snoozing and daydreaming about how my life had evolved is such a different track to what I had expected in senior school.

When we arrived in Paris I was greeted by a representative of the orchestra and taken to a hotel where I was allowed the rest of the day to relax and get over the trip. I was visited by a French journalist and photographer who had reasonable English and answered a few questions about my musical career. He was very interested in the fact that I was a concert pianist who also played jazz on stage as he had never heard of such a thing.

“Some play jazz for fun,” he said. “You, Madam, do it as business.”

I told him that as far as I was concerned it was all music. The odd thing about the interview was that, as he finished, his photographer pulled out a couple of the French release Sisters CDs from her bag and asked me if I could sign them for her. I did so and said, “You like?” and she smiled, “Tres bon!”

Marianne Gregory © 2023