Yes to Everything (8 page)

Jackson pulled them out on the dance floor to Baby Girl and they all switched up dancing together. Becca held her hands up and Brooke lifted her, singing along and feeling when her littlest sister fell asleep on her shoulder. They forgot they were in a roomful of people as she twirled Molly out with one hand when Jackson took Becca off her.

“She’s getting heavier,” Brooke told him gratefully.

He patted her back and went to sit with her until Jeanette got back from the restroom. Logan bowed to Molly and danced with her as Decklan took Brooke in his arms. When another song came on, they switched partners and then took her back to the table. “You guys hungry?”

“Sis, we’ve been eating the entire time. We’re fine and having a great time people watching. I have Becca and Molly so go do your thing, Brooke. You’ve worked hard for it.” Jackson winked at her and Decklan sat beside him.

Logan took her out to dance again and held her close. “How you doing, Brooke?” She nodded with a faraway expression on her face. “Look at me, sweetheart, you okay?”

“I…I miss my parents. Tonight especially.” Her eyes filled with tears but she blinked hard and willed them not to fall. Breathing deeply, she succeeded in getting control and he wanted her more than ever. “Thank you for everything, Logan.”

“No, thank you Brooke. You’ve already done so much for us, for the band. Our sales are skyrocketing with the news that you’re joining us. Travis said the website hits have tripled since we uploaded the photo shoot and the fan club is four times what it was. You’ve also changed a lot for us personally, given us a little group of people to worry about. That means something. Your folks would be so proud of you.”

He kissed her forehead and led her to the edge of the dance floor where Decklan was waiting to take her back out. “You look beautiful, Brooke. The girls are damn adorable and Jackson looks very much like the man he’s going to be one day. You do good work. Are you having fun?” She nodded and tightened her arms slightly around him. “You’re a natural, you know. Already a hit and we couldn’t be prouder.”

Her mouth curved slightly, “Y’all are very good for my ego, I can tell you that much.”

“You’re easy to compliment, Brooke, we don’t have to fake it with you, honey.” He moved her around the floor and when a faster number came on, he two-stepped with her, loving how well she moved.

Dancing with either of the twins was fun and exciting. They were relaxed and very good. Glancing around, Brooke noted Sidney was dancing with lots of different men and wasn’t in the least interested in any of them. The smile on her face was practiced and forced though not entirely unhappy.

Jeanette sat at their table sipping water. She preferred keeping a close eye on Becca and Molly, so she was never far from them. Brooke knew she was incredibly shy around men and wondered how to pull her out of her shell. Someone so generous with herself deserved a person who loved and appreciated them.

A little while later a bonus track from their CD started playing that Brooke had never heard. Jackson listened to several notes and woke Becca up. A huge screen at the front of the ballroom showed the Kincaid family during one of their jam sessions in the studio. All four of them plus Logan and Decklan were doing a cover of The World, the little ones’ favorite song.

Jackson pulled Brooke to him tight with his hand around her waist, each of them with an arm around a little sister. All of them were shaking with emotion. As it came to an end, the place erupted with applause and Becca whispered, “Are they…is everyone clapping for us?” Brooke nodded teary-eyed and turned to the Bradshaw brothers. She hugged them hard as she cried and they hugged her back, crushing her between them.

The emcee called them all to the stage and they made their way up slowly. The brothers strapped on guitars, Jackson went to the drums, Molly the piano, and Becca took a tambourine from a stage hand with a nervous little giggle and a curtsy.

As Brooke picked up her fiddle, the brothers nodded and winked at her. They did a rocking cover of We’re from the Country and thrilled everyone in attendance. Begged to play another, Brooke had no choice but to follow Jackson’s drum intro to Devil Went Down to Georgia. She knew she had never played so hard in her life. Decklan led and all of them joined in on the chorus.

On the last note there was a moment of stunned silence before howls and cheers exploded around the room. Knowing the celebrities attending, Brooke felt a moment of intense clarity about her future with Broken Bronco. For the first time she knew she was going to be alright.

As the clock struck midnight, they sang Happy Birthday to Brooke who was at last a legal adult. The Bradshaw brothers welcomed her officially to the band and the label but more importantly to the family of country music. Then she did cry a little and her family huddled around her.

A few more rounds of mingling and she gathered her brother and sisters to head back to the hotel. Logan and Decklan walked them out to the limo and kissed her cheeks as she got in. They’d asked if she wanted them to follow her back to the hotel but she could tell they had other things on their mind and wanted to stay. She smiled and let them off the hook, trying not to pay attention to the pain in her chest at the guilty faces they wore as they turned to head back inside.

The siblings and their entourage filled the limo with happy laughter; the three women chatting animatedly and not discussing the twins in any way. The minute they entered the suite, every one of them stripped out of their party clothes, pulled on pajamas, and crashed hard.

For the first time in a very long time all of them slept late. It felt amazing.

The next morning, Brooke opened the laptop Travis had insisted on giving her. Her screensaver was the day of the photo shoot when they were all playing in the water together.

She wrote a personal check to an elderly woman back home in Idabel and tucked it into the shipping box Jeanette offered to take downstairs for her. Miss Harmon was in poor health and wasn’t wealthy but had helped Brooke on two separate occasions when she’d needed urgent repairs on her old truck. Her grandson had driven out to the ranch with the parts and repaired it in her barn. Brooke had never forgotten it and it had felt good to send her a beautiful, hand-crafted quilt and a check for double the amount she felt she owed.

Checking the news and weather, she saw a picture in the local celebrity section of Logan and Decklan leaving the party the night before with a lovely brunette with a caption that read, “Lucky Girl”. It hurt her but she pretended it didn’t and let it go. She didn’t have any claim on the Bradshaw brothers and she never would. That was reality.

She copied the picture and put it in a file labeled ‘Logan & Decklan’ as a reminder that the Bradshaw brothers could never…would never…be hers.

Eventually everyone stumbled out of the bedrooms looking groggy but happy. They went for brunch close to noon and two young women asked for Brooke’s autograph. Shyly, her surprise at being recognized evident, she gave it to them then posed for a picture. They looked about her age so she exchanged email addresses. She told them she’d welcome their emails on the road since she was bound to get bored.

They headed to the studio and she was working with the techs for almost two hours before the brothers showed up. They sipped coffee and watched her work through bleary eyes. Brooke controlled her thoughts, refusing to let them race over the many reasons they were so exhausted. Logan tried to rub her shoulders and she subtly stepped away pretending to need water.

From their first true studio session together, Brooke had known she would always work harder than they did but she didn’t mind. She had more time to make up, more people to support on the money she earned. There was more at stake for her and she had to make sure her inclusion in their band worked out.

Putting a little bit of distance between them was better for her personally and professionally.

Three days after the album wrap party the local radio stations started playing their first single. Within forty-eight hours the fan mail started arriving. The label was forwarding it from Nashville to the satellite studio in Dallas.

Brooke got Jackson to help her sort through it. There were envelopes with letters and cash, photos of potential suitors, jewelry, stuffed animals, and plane tickets to visit people she’d never met. It was surreal.

He helped catalogue everything and she created a thank you template on her computer. She returned the jewelry with a personal note, donated the stuffed animals to a local Dallas shelter that helped families with small children, and divided the cash between a charity for military veterans and the ASPCA.

On her blog on the band website, she made a list of what kinds of things she’d received and what she’d done with them. She thanked her fans and explained it looked like her days of struggling financially were behind her. That they should keep the money for their own families but if they sent it to her, she’d give it to those in need.

“Instead, why don’t you look around in your city or town and find a family like mine? People who work real hard but are hurting anyway…those people could use your help. A few dollars buys eggs and bread or a couple of gallons of gas they might not be able to afford. There are individuals and families struggling everywhere; mothers and fathers who’ve fallen victim to the financial crisis who have children who could use a jacket or a stuffed animal. Thinking globally starts with acting locally. Look around. We’re a family of human beings and sometimes a person can use a hand up, not always a hand out.

“In the meantime, I hope you’re not unhappy with my use of your gifts. I always wanted my parents to be proud of me. Maybe now I can make my extended family of fans proud of me? Maybe if I always remember that my actions reflect on your belief in me, I can always remember to use the opportunity I’ve received for the greater good. Until I see you in the stands or at autograph sessions, know I’m working hard to make you proud. Love, Brooke.”

Over the next two weeks, Jackson helped her twice more and positive comments were pouring into her blog. People who’d been helped, people she’d inspired to help others. The site was growing by hundreds of people every day.

Each afternoon Brooke made an entry using her new phone explaining where she was and what was going on with her and the band. How hard they were working to get ready for the tour. What an honor it was to be part of Broken Bronco and how talented her fellow band mates were.

She wrote about her first meeting with the roadies and support staff that kept everything running behind the scenes and how they’d welcomed her as if she’d been part of the band from the beginning. There were a dozen entries about Jeanette, Sidney, and Travis. She made it clear that she thought of them as family. She blogged about particular people on their birthday or anniversary and made a point of singling someone out regularly for praise just because. The label was taking care of her and everyone helped her now with her siblings – she made sure the world knew it.

She told her fans she’d have more time to post on the road between performances. The main website daily hits tripled again and her blog in particular surpassed the band’s hits each day. When the IT guys brought her popularity to Travis’s attention, he and the Bradshaw brothers logged on in his office and read through it themselves.

“Well shit…,” Decklan whispered when he read about everything she was doing while they partied every night.

“I feel selfish,” Logan added just as quietly. “She’s so damn…good. Wow.”

There was a scowl on Travis’s face as he scrolled through page after page of Brooke’s communications to her fans. “She does videos to the fans. She sang Happy Birthday to all the June birthdays the other day.” Reading what she’d written about him made him even more protective of her than he already was.

“She writes a lot about the two of you. Mainly, it’s about your talent and dedication to the band and your fans. Answers questions women out there have about you. She’s kinder than I’d be, I can tell you that right damn now,” there was no denying he was just plain annoyed with Logan and Decklan.

They looked at him with a frown. Logan asked, “What’s wrong with you, Travis?” They stepped away from the computer. He never really got pissed at them but it sounded like he was pissed now.

Sitting back in chair, the older man crossed his hands over his stomach and studied the brothers for a long moment before he told them, “You’re out whorin’ every night, not carin’ about anythin’ but the next time you can get your rocks off. This girl is literally makin’ the world a better place. It fuckin’ annoys me. Don’t look at me like that. Damn, go get some work done.” With that dismissal, he turned back to his computer and ignored them.

The twins left, more than a little confused. As they walked through the business offices they passed the employee lounge and saw almost a dozen people surrounding a small table. Decklan asked cheerfully, “Hey, what’s going on?”

A technician turned with a grin, “She brought in homemade cookies and banana bread for all of us. Said we all work too hard and she never sees any of us eat.”

The main receptionist added, “Jackson said Brooke cooked all day yesterday so she’d have it ready when she picked them up from school and headed down here.”

“This stuff is fucking delicious. Four different kinds of cookies, banana bread, and pecan bars. Unreal. I wonder if she can cook everything this good,” their drummer said with a look of pure rapture as he bit into a peanut butter cookie. “She’s so damn precious I can barely stand it.”

Logan nodded, “She’s a great cook. And yeah, she’s damn precious.” The brothers each snagged a cookie and headed for the studio. They threw themselves into the day with renewed energy.

A couple of weeks later the album was certified gold and CMT linked the band’s renewed success to the addition of Brooke. They showcased the tracks she’d done with the Bradshaw brothers. They did a ten-minute character piece on her and Travis couldn’t budge her on giving an interview.

She insisted she wasn’t ready to talk about herself and she was one of three people in the band. CMT interviewed everyone else they could, including Travis and the technicians who worked with her every day at the studio.