Righteous Obsession (72 page)

“Why yes, I am,” she replied.

Liam and Colin looked at each other, their mouths
open. Liam found his voice finally. “How far along are you?”

“Almost five months,” Amanda replied. She took Peter’s
arm. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you guys until now, but I wanted to wait until I
was through the first trimester.”

“And this isn’t something we wanted to tell you over
the phone,” Peter added.

“That’s why you were feeling so rotten the morning we
left,” Colin said.

“Yes, but I’m feeling much better now,” Amanda
replied.

“So, everything’s okay then?” Liam said.

“Yes, I’m fine and so is the baby,” She assured them
both.

We’re looking forward to relaxing without any
interruptions from phones, e-mail or faxes,” Peter added.

“When are you due?” Liam asked.

“July twenty-fifth is my due date.”

Liam looked over at Colin. “We’ll be home by then
won’t we?”

“Yeah, we’ll be done with the American leg of the tour
and we’ll have two weeks free before we start touring Europe.”

“So we’ll know before we leave again whether we have a
new sister or a new brother. Cool!”

Later in the afternoon Colin was standing on his
balcony that overlooked the beach.  His view was fantastic – the blinding white
of the sand and the brilliant blue of the ocean were breathtaking!

“Colin?”

He looked over his shoulder and called, “Out here,
Alethea.”

Alethea got out of bed, wiggled into Colin’s discarded
T-shirts and joined him.  “What are you doing?”

“I was admiring the view.”

“It is beautiful!”  She agreed.

“So is this view right here!”  Colin declared,
caressing her ass underneath the T-shirt.

She giggled and leaned over the balcony.  “Look!”  She
tugged his arm to get his attention.  “There’s Peter and Amanda.”

Even though the band was on the tenth floor, Peter and
Amanda spotted them on the balcony and waved before continuing on, walking with
their arms around each other.

“God!  They look like a couple of teenagers!”  Colin
remarked.  “When I watch them it’s hard to believe they’ve been married for
almost thirty years.”

“I think it’s so romantic! They act as if they’re
still on their honeymoon,” Alethea commented, drawing Colin back into the
bedroom.

“They’ve been that way as far back as I can remember.”

“Were you surprised at the news of Amanda’s
pregnancy?”

 “To say the least!  I guess I thought she was at the
point where it wasn’t too likely anymore.”

“I guess she thought so, too.  I’m sorry I couldn’t
tell you about it.  Amanda confided in me in early January that she’d gotten a
positive result from a home pregnancy test, but she thought it must be wrong.”

“I’m glad she had you to confide in.” Colin chuckled
suddenly.  “I just thought of an added bonus!  It will give Grandma Eileen
something else to think about for awhile.”

The next day was a busy day for the band.  They did an
in-store and did two call-in shows at Honolulu’s two top rock stations as well
as their usual sound check. The band arrived at the arena psyched to perform. 
While Peter, Amanda and Alethea accompanied Russ to the place from where they’d
be watching the concert, Colin and Liam disappeared into the dressing room to
get ready.

“Boy!  You guys are sure talkative tonight,” Mace
remarked as they were getting ready.

“Yeah!”  Jake chimed in.  “It’s so noisy in here I can
hardly hear myself think!”

Steve noticed how quiet they were, too, and it was
unusual for them.  “Is there something you guys aren’t telling me like you’ve
both lost your voices or Father Michaels has been released?”

Colin’s head jerked up at the mention of Father
Michaels.  “What!”

“Earth to Colin!” Jake joked.

Colin shook his head as if to clear it then said, “I’m
sorry we seem so spaced out, but we just found out mom is pregnant.”

“Jesus!”  Mace exclaimed.  “That would be a shock!”

Jake laughed.  “Wow!  You’ll be an old goat by the
time that kid’s twenty!”

“Speak for yourself, Jako, we’re the same age!”  Colin
replied pointedly.

The concert that night was among the best of their
tour so far.  The audience was mega-enthusiastic!  They were on their feet for
most of the concert, cheering, clapping and singing along with the band.  They
called Unforgiven back for four encores.

“Whew!”  Colin sighed, setting the guitar case,
containing the guitar Alethea had given him beside the bed.  Even though he
trusted Clem implicitly he never let this guitar out of his sight.  He
collapsed on the bed with a groan of relief.

“Tired?”  Alethea asked, stretching out beside him.

“Yeah, that was really a major blow-out of a concert!”

“Have you heard from Caitlin?”

“Yeah, and she told me about her decision not to visit
Father Michaels anymore.  I think she’s doing the right thing.”

“I do, too.  I hope she can eventually convince Jeff
to get into therapy.”

“From what grandpa and grandma said at Christmas; it
sounds as if he could really benefit from it.”

“I think so too.  I just hope things can get back to
some semblance of normality for them.”  Alethea said.

“Me too,” Colin said, pulling her closer to him.  “Can
you believe in seven months we’ll have been married a year?”

“I know.  It doesn’t seem possible, does it?”

“I took a couple of days off so we can celebrate
properly.”

“Not too properly, I hope.”  Alethea replied, giving
him a passionate kiss.

“Not too properly at all!”  Colin replied, rolling
over on top of Alethea.

The band left the next morning.   Colin held Alethea
tightly while waiting the band's jet to be readied.  “God!  I hate to let you
go!”

“I know, but it’ll only be a short time until we’re
together again for Deb’s and Alison’s graduations.”

Colin groaned.  “Right now it seems as if it’s a
century away!”

“You have almost back-to-back concert dates coming up
so the time will pass really fast.”

“It can’t pass soon enough!”

Liam gave his mother a hug.  “Now, you take good care
of yourself, Mom.  Don’t overdue it at work, hear?”

“Don’t worry, darling.  My staff will barely let me
lift a finger,” Amanda confirmed then laughed.  “By the time this baby does
arrive I’m going to be really spoiled!”

“Well, you just let everybody spoil you, Mom, because
you deserve it,” Colin replied giving her a hug.  He and Liam gave their dad
hugs.  “Don’t worry, guys, I’m going to take good care of your mother.”

“And your father always keeps his word,” Amanda added,
touching her husband’s cheek affectionately.  He smiled and kissed her hand.

Colin gave Alethea a final kiss, swung his flight bag
over his shoulder, picked up his guitar and reluctantly headed out the door to
Unforgiven’s jet.  Liam headed out the door after his brother and then called
back, “Tell Deb we said hi!”

 “We will,” Peter and Amanda called back, waving.

Unforgiven’s tour took them from Hawaii to the Eastern
seaboard where they played concerts from Maine to Florida.  Colin’s biggest
thrill, on this part of the tour, was playing Madison Square Garden because it
was where all his rock idols, Hendrix, Joplin and Led Zeppelin, had also
played.  Colin and Liam flew back to San Francisco for Debbie’s graduation
after playing a concert in Salt Lake City.  Mace and Jake were heading to Los
Angeles where Jake was meeting up with Vanessa and Mace was planning some
serious R&R.

Colin and Alethea met the rest of his family at his
parent’s home.  Coming with them to Debbie’s graduation were Diana Conrad and
her mother, Monique.  Diana had been accepted at Berkeley and had come out
early to find a job and a place to live.  Colin greeted his parents with a hug
and a kiss then held his mom at arm’s length.  “Mom, look at you!”

Amanda giggled and said, “I know!  I look in the
mirror every morning and I can’t believe it’s me!”  She looked very attractive
in a two-piece maternity outfit made from a silky material in a deep amethyst
color.

“Well, you’re certainly the prettiest pregnant woman
I’ve ever seen!”

“I concur,” Peter agreed, putting his arms around her.

“Thank you both for the compliment, but we’d better go
in so we can get good seats.”

Debbie had scored very high on her ACT test and was
graduating in the top five-percent of her class.  She had decided to major in
pre-law at Berkeley and after law school she planned to be an advocate for
troubled teens.

Colin was very proud of her.  He’d felt from the first
that she had a lot of potential if only somebody would take the time and effort
to tap into it.

Debbie, attired in her cap and gown, hurried over to
them after the ceremony.  Peter and Amanda engulfed her with hugs and kisses. 
“Congratulations, Deb!  We’re so proud of you!”  Amanda said.

“Thanks, Mom, dad, but I couldn’t have done it without
your support.”  She turned to Colin.  “Colin, I’m so glad you came!”

“Well, I promised you I would and I always keep my
promises.  Congratulations on being accepted at Berkeley.  I knew you could do
it.”

“Thanks, but I had a lot of help a long the way,”
Debbie replied modestly.  She gave her diploma to Amanda.  “Could you keep my
diploma for me while I turn in my cap and gown, Mom?”

“Sure, Deb.”

Debbie grabbed Diana’s hand.  “Come with me, Din.  I
want you to meet Cody.”  The two girls hurried off arm-in-arm, talking and
giggling together.

“Deb certainly has come a long way from the person she
was when I first met her,” Alethea remarked.

“Yes.”  Peter nodded.  “It hasn’t been easy for her
either.  Mandy and I are so proud of her.”

They all returned to the house.  Mrs. Calhoun, the new
housekeeper, had a delicious buffet laid out.  Very soon the house was packed
with relatives and friends of Debbie’s.  Mrs. Calhoun kept the food replenished
with help from the two grandmothers.

Colin was attempting to dodge any prolonged
conversation with Grandma Eileen, but there weren’t too many places he could
hide from her.  He avoided his first encounter with her when Monique came over
to talk with him.  “Colin, I never got a chance to thank you for what you did
for Deb.  Lord only knows what might have happened to her if she’d stayed with
us.”

“I’m just glad there was something I was able to do,”
Colin replied.  “It’s great that Diana was accepted at Berkeley, too.  I know
how much Deb’s missed her.”

“When Diana was accepted she wanted me to move out
here, too.  Fortunately, Transamerica had an opening in their San Francisco
branch so everything worked out for the best.”

“My biological father, Jeff Michaels works for Transamerica
too.”

“I know. I’ve worked with him on a temporary basis on
a couple of occasions.  He’s very nice.  You resemble him a great deal.”

“I know.”

“I feel sorry for him.  He’s been so sad since the tragedy. 
He’s the first one there in the morning and the last one to leave at night.”

Colin grimaced.  “I heard from my sister he’s been
having problems, but I didn’t know how bad it was.”

“You don’t keep in touch?”

“No, we’ve lost contact since Father Michaels’s
arrest.”  Out of the corner of his eye he could see Grandma Eileen approaching
again.  He excused himself from Monique, saying he wanted to check on his
mother.  He made his way over to the couch where Amanda was talking to Alethea.

He gave them a kiss and sat down next to Alethea who
smiled mischievously.  “I see your grandmother heading this way.  Do you want
me to distract her?”

“Would you?”  Colin implored.  “I’ll be eternally
grateful!”

“I will, but you’re going to owe me big-time, Mister!”

“Well, I’m more than willing to pay up for this
favor!”  Colin laughed.  He watched her intercept Grandma Eileen and steer her
aside.  He turned to his mother.  “How are you doing, Mom?”

Amanda patted her bulging abdomen.  “We’re both doing
fine.”

“Have you and dad decided on names yet?”

“That’s still under discussion,” She replied with a
laugh.

“Alethea told me that you swim together every
morning.  I’m glad you’re keeping her company.”

“I enjoy our times together.”  She was silent for a
moment then asked, “Do you still talk to Jeff?  Your father and I were
wondering because you haven’t mentioned him in quite awhile.”

“No.”  Colin shrugged.  “Jeff’s got this major guilt
complex going about Father Michaels.”

“And he’s blaming you?”  Amanda said indignantly.