The Gift (33 page)

“O.k. Maggie, I’ll look into it on Monday.”

She didn’t say anything, so he went out to his car and
drove over to Justin’s apartment. Zak and Justin had a long talk for several
hours. Zak told Justin that Maggie suggested that he go into a rehab program,
he admitted that maybe Maggie was right and he needed more help.

Suddenly, the telephone rang and Justin answered it. He
listened for a minute or two and then said “Maggie, please don’t do anything
rash. I know you’re upset, but you need to give Zak another chance. We were
just discussing the situation and he’s agreed to go into a rehab program.”

Justin listened intently for a moment and then hung up.
He turned to look at Zak.

“Zak, what were you thinking? You didn’t tell me that
Maggie said she would leave you if you did coke again. She was calling from the
airport. She’s going somewhere and she has Gabe and Belle with her.”

“How did she get to the airport?” Zak asked.

“Maggie called Carole and told her there was an
emergency back in Boston and she had to get home right away.”

“So, is she going to stay with her parents?”

“I don’t know Zak, she wouldn’t say. I assume that’s
where she would go.”

“Damn it Justin, I never thought she would actually do
this.”

“Zak, you don’t know Maggie very well. Maggie doesn’t
make idle threats. And you’re an idiot to have continued doing drugs when she
asked you to stop.”

Zak grimaced in pain. “Justin, please help me find her,
she needs to come home. I need her.”

“O.k. Zak, I’ll help you find her, but I’m doing it for
Maggie, not for you.”

.

Chapter 34

Justin got on the phone and called Maggie’s
parents thinking that they would probably talk to him if they wouldn’t talk to
Zak. Maggie’s parents told him that they hadn’t heard from her and weren’t
expecting her to visit. He explained that Maggie and Zak had a fight and she
took the children and they didn’t know where she had gone. After telling them
that he would call them when he found her, he hung up and called Carole. Carole
told him she and Maggie had picked up Gabriel and Isabel at Zak’s mother’s and
then she had dropped them off at the airport. Maggie had definitely told her
that they were going to Boston. So Justin called Spencer, but Spencer hadn’t
heard from Maggie either. Justin called Vanessa next and asked her if she had
heard from Maggie lately. Vanessa said that she had talked to Maggie a few days
ago and that she had been very excited about building the new house. In fact,
Vanessa confessed flirtatiously, “I asked Maggie if you were seeing anyone. I
always thought we had something special that night at Maggie’s wedding
reception.”

“I’m sorry, Vanessa, thanks for thinking of me, but I’m
involved with someone,” Justin told her.

“No problem,” said Vanessa. “I’ll let you know if I hear
from Maggie again.”

Finally, Justin decided to call Tucker. No one answered
the phone so Justin left a message on his answering machine that they were
looking for Maggie.

 Zak listened to Justin while he made the phone calls,
looking increasingly upset.

“Where do you think she is Justin?”

“I don’t know Zak, but I’m really worried about her. I’m
going to find her and bring her home.”

“Thanks Justin, I really appreciate it.”

Justin gave Zak a hard look.

“I’m not doing it for you, Zak. I’m doing it for me. I
love Maggie and I can’t live without her. I vowed I would never say anything
about this to anyone, but you don’t deserve Maggie. She gave you several
chances to clean up your act, but you blew it.”

Zak looked stunned for a moment.

“Please find her and the kids and make sure that they
are o.k. I just want Maggie to be happy,” Zak said.

Then Zak went home and spent the rest of the day calling
all of Maggie’s friends and acquaintances, but to no avail. By the end of the
next day, they still hadn’t heard from Maggie and no one knew where she had
gone. Zak and Justin were discussing whether they should hire a private
detective to look for her, when Justin got a phone call. The woman who was
calling had a slight Australian accent.

“Hi, is this Justin? This is Clara, Tucker’s daughter.
I’m not supposed to tell anyone this, but Maggie is staying with my Dad. I
figured that you and Zak should know that she and the kids are o.k.”

“Thanks so much Clara, we’ve been looking everywhere for
her. Why didn’t Tucker call us?”

“Maggie specifically told him not to. She doesn’t want
to see Zak, she is planning to ask him for a divorce. One of the reasons she
came to see my dad is that he knows all about that since he’s been divorced
three times.”

“Well, thanks for letting us know Clara. We’re relieved
to know that she and the kids are safe.”

“I guess it depends on your definition of safe, Justin.”

“What do you mean by that, Clara?”

“I’m under the impression that Dad is hoping that Maggie
might become wife number four. Justin, I knew when I saw you and Maggie
together in Nashville that you were in love with her. If I were you, I would
get to Nashville as soon as possible and tell Maggie how you feel.”

Justin hung up the phone with a thoughtful look on his
face.

“Who was that Justin?” Zak asked.

“It was Tucker’s daughter. Maggie is staying with
Tucker.”

“Well, that’s good. I’m going to fly to Nashville as soon as I can and persuade her to come back,” Zak said.

“You can give it a try, but Clara told me that Maggie
doesn’t want to see you and she’s planning on asking you for a divorce.”

Tears welled up in Zak’s eyes.

“What am I going to do Justin?”

“I don’t know Zak, but maybe you should have thought
about this before.”

Zak went home and called Tucker. He told him that he
knew that Maggie was staying there and he wanted to talk to her. Tucker was
quiet for a minute and then said he would ask Maggie if she wanted to talk to
him. After a couple minutes of silence, Maggie finally picked up the phone.

“Maggie, I’m sorry,” Zak began, but Maggie interrupted
him.

“Zak, I’ve heard this before. You keep making promises
to me that you don’t keep. I don’t want the kids to grow up with a father that
abuses drugs.”

“Maggie, I’ve already made arrangements to go into a
drug rehab program. I promise that I will do anything that you want. I need you
to come home.”

“Zak, I need some time away to think. We can talk about
this after you finish the program.”

“How long are you going to stay at Tucker’s?”

“We’re going to work on an album of duets. When that’s
done, I’ll figure out what I’m going to do next. I need to get off the phone
now, Gabe and Belle need me. Take care of yourself.”  Maggie hung up the phone
abruptly.

Zak had a knot in the pit of his stomach. He had never
heard Maggie talk to him in such a cold way before. He knew she was extremely
angry with him and he wasn’t sure that she would get over it.

An hour later, Justin called Maggie. When she answered
the phone, her voice sounded strained.

“What do you want Justin? I hope you aren’t going to
plead for Zak. I just talked to him. I told him that I won’t talk about it
until he completes drug rehab.”

“Maggie, I’m not calling for Zak. I want to come to Nashville to see you.”

“I’m not ready to see anyone, Justin. I need time away
to think. Tucker and I are going to work on a new album and when we’re done
with that, then maybe I’ll be ready to talk.”

“Maggie, don’t you need someone there to take care of
you?”

“Well, not really. I’m staying with the kids in the
guest house and Tucker has hired a nanny and a housekeeper for us, so we are fine.”

“Maggie, you can’t stay there forever.” Justin said.

“Well, actually, I can. Tucker asked me to marry him. I
don’t feel like I’m a burden to him. He needs someone to take care of him
because of his heart attack and he can help me too. We both enjoy making music
together and he has fun with the kids. It’s actually working out pretty well.”

“Come on, Maggie, Tucker is old enough to be your
father. He can’t give you what you need.”

“Just because we’ve had sex together twice, doesn’t make
you an authority on what I need. Justin, I care about you, but I’m not ready to
see you or anyone.”

Maggie suddenly realized that she had been too harsh
with her friend.

“I’m sorry, Justin. I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at Zak.
He’s hurt me and I don’t know what to do about it. You’ve always been a good
friend to me.”

“Maggie, if you wanted, I could be more than that,”
Justin said.

Maggie was quiet for a minute.

“I don’t know Justin. I need time to figure things out.”

“Maggie, please let me come see you.”

“You can come after Tucker and I finish the album. Maybe
by then I will know what I want to do.”

The next day, Justin went over to Zak’s house to talk to
him. Zak was sitting on the couch aimlessly noodling on the guitar. Chère was
sitting at his feet with a sad look in her eyes. Justin guessed that she too
missed Maggie and Gabriel and Isabel.

“Zak, I talked to Maggie yesterday,” Justin began.

“Really, what did she say to you?”

“Probably the same thing she said to you. She doesn’t
want me to come to Nashville for a while. She said she needs time to think.
Apparently she can’t think around me.”

Zak caught the bitterness in Justin’s tone, but he
didn’t say anything about it.

“She said that she would maybe see me after she finishes
the album with Tucker. I guess she doesn’t want any distractions,” Justin said.

“Well, by that time I should be out of rehab,” Zak said.
“I’ve been such an idiot. I can’t believe that I jeopardized my marriage and
being with my kids just so I could get high.”

“You’re a lucky man, you have a lot of incentive to stay
off the drugs.”

“Yeah, well I just hope it’s not too late. I hope that
Maggie can forgive me and trust me again,” Zak said.

Justin didn’t want to admit to his friend, but he almost
hoped that Maggie wouldn’t forgive him.

.

Chapter 35

The following week, Zak dropped off Chère and Monroe the cat at Caleb’s and drove to a rehab facility near New Orleans. He had finally
realized that he needed help when Maggie left him with their children. He
agreed to remain in the program for a month and then arrange for follow-up
counseling. He hoped that when he showed Maggie how serious he was about
staying straight, then she would forgive him and come home.

Three weeks later, Justin got a phone call from Maggie.
She said she was ready to see him and she invited him to stay at Tucker’s for a
few days. She told him that she and Tucker were planning on playing at the
Bluebird Café and she wanted Justin to come hear them play their new songs.

Justin flew up to Nashville the next day. When he pulled
into Tucker’s driveway, he saw Tucker, Gabriel and Isabel playing with a ball
in the front yard. Justin parked his car in front of the main house and got out
and walked over to Tucker.

“Hey man, how are you doing?” he said and shook Tucker’s
hand.

“I’m feeling pretty good Justin.  Maggie’s kids are
keeping me young as you can see.”

“Uncle Justin!” Gabriel yelled out and ran over to
Justin with the ball. “Play with me.”

“How about if I go say hi to your mom and then we come
back and kick the ball around with you.”

Gabriel smiled and then ran back to Tucker.

“Grampa, play with me.”

“O.k., just a little while longer.”

Tucker turned and looked at Justin and said “Maggie’s in
the guest house. She’s waiting for you. Why don’t you drive on over and we’ll
meet you there in a little while.”

Justin got back into his car and drove down to the guest
house and parked out front. He got out of the car to see Maggie standing in the
open front door. He walked up the front steps and put his arms around her waist
and pulled her close and kissed her.

“God, I missed you,” he said. “How’s it going?”

Maggie kissed him back and said “I missed you too. Let’s
go inside, I want to talk to you.”

Maggie and Justin walked into the living room and sat on
the couch. Justin put his arm around Maggie’s shoulders and then leaned over
and started kissing her deeply. He murmured in her ear, “Maggie, I’m tired of
pretending that I don’t love you. I’ve missed you so much, please come back to Louisiana with me.”

“I love you too, Justin,” Maggie said and then all
conversation stopped as their kisses became more passionate.

They were startled by a loud knock on the front door and
then Tucker pushed the door open. Maggie and Justin pulled apart quickly but
Tucker had already seen them kissing through the window on the side of the
door.

“Hey there, you two,” he said jovially. “Isabel was
looking for her mom.”

The two small children ran into the house and Isabel
flung herself into Maggie’s lap.

“Mama,” she said and threw her arms around Maggie’s
neck.

Gabriel ran up to Justin and told him that he had
learned another song on the mandolin.

“Well, I’d like to hear that dude,” said Justin, so they
all decided to walk over to the studio. When they got inside, Gabriel ran over
to a mandolin case. Maggie pulled out a brand new Gibson F-5 and made Gabriel
sit in a chair.

“Tucker bought this mandolin for Gabriel, and sometimes
he lets me use it,” Maggie said and smiled at Justin.