*****043:

Aubrey

The evening had been an unequivocal success as far as the kids were concerned. I was very happy. Very. I came down the stairs listening to the sounds of the vacuum running. Rafe blowing off steam. It was time to confront whatever had got him riled up.

He saw me.

The vacuum clicked off and he started rolling the cord.

"Baby." He said looking up as he finished. I stood there watching him, leaning against the stairway.

"All is well."

"He's asleep?" Rafe put the vacuum in the hall closet and turned to me, his eyes light and tired. It was just after ten.

I nodded as he wrapped me lightly in his arms and kissed my lips once, staring into my eyes in the dim light from the kitchen. "He likes his bed, I think, and his blankets."

"He's in with Virgil?"

"Yes. But that might switch. I got Felicity down again with a back rub. She was sore from so much running."

He chuckled. "I had a nice talk with Virgil, while you were rocking Rein."

"I saw you in there. What did he have to say?"

"Well, he said he wasn't going to try and run away just yet." Rafe slipped his arm around my shoulders and took me out onto the patio---- it was quite cold. But he found us the lounge chair and several blankets to snuggle in. That was a nice feeling. We cuddled companionably.

"Did you ask how he felt about staying permanently?"

"Yeah. He said that even if he wanted to he knew we'd just get rid of him."

"That's a challenge then." I told him, tracing the lines along the side of his face.

"That's what I thought."

"So, what was up with Lance and Darnel?"

"Oh, let's not talk about them right now. Let's take the moment while we can---- again."

I grinned and lifted my lips to be kissed. Rafe's kisses were forceful, confident, controlling. Yet, under it all was this sense of humility--- of reverence and awe. I thanked God once more for this incredible man who I loved more than anything.

******

On the way to Marshall and Angie's the next day for Thanksgiving, we stopped at a Hollywood studio with Ben, Jeff, Mutt and Jeremy--- Levi was out of the state, but the others all gathered at KPWR-FM for a really quick Thanksgiving interview with DJ Jay Thomas. The kids and I stayed off to one side, although we'd been greeted warmly.

After the initial Thanksgiving messages were dispensed with, the DJ, a very nice bald, black guy--- young with a trimmed facial outline, and interested eyes started in.

"So, Rafe how did you end up with Jeremy and Levi Gunn? Where's Dylan?"

"Axis had a mutual falling out with Dylan while on tour and he went home. Levi agreed to fill in and became a permanent fixture. He fits my style really well. And the guys like him a lot."

"Ben, you guys have been in the studio since you got home from Mexico--- and we heard all about your adventures there--- how is that coming?"

"It's been a colossal failure--- but Axis is no stranger to failure. You learn from failure. We're happy when we fail--- it keeps us from getting too full of ourselves. All our very best success came from major failures."

"How do you know your studio efforts were a failure?"

"Well, you take a song out and look it over. If you throw it against the wall and it sticks you know it's a success."

"You know it's a success." Rafe said at the same time and they high-fived and said again at the same time, "Jinx, you owe me a coke." Everybody laughed.

"So you're saying that so far nothing has stuck to the wall?"

"That's about it. We take an extra amount of time making things just right." Rafe said.

"We can't just pump 'em out there like Kanye or Bruno Mars, baby." Jeff added. "We like our stuff to be tailored perfectly. Rafe's something of a perfectionist."

"What is perfect music to you, Rafe?"

"I don't know what perfect music is. It's bizarre. It's fun. It's something we aren't sure of."

"How do you know if you have a hit song?"

"I lift shit from other stuff I really like and make it my own--- convincingly." They all laughed outright--- snorting and guffawing. I showed them the money sign with two rubbing fingers. Jeff looked sheepish and turned red.

The DJ looked up at the time--- he had just a few minutes. He looked over at me sitting there with Felicity on my lap, Virgil next to me with Rein on his lap.

"So, Rafe, you've made the biggest changes since we last spoke, what can you tell us about your new life?"

"It's no secret, I got married." He held up his ring finger adorned in his new rings. "To the most beautiful, most incredible woman I've ever met."

The DJ looked over at me and I smiled and waggled my own finger at him, he nodded in that ah ha way people have. I could see a gazillion new questions forming.

"Axis will be putting out our new song--- Night of Daylight--- soon." Rafe distracted him.

"Oh, that's something. What's your release date?"

"Well, we are working with our own label, and producer, Parker Mann, it'll be very soon. Parker is known for fast releases." Rafe said this as deadpan as ever, and I saw the bizarre fascination in Ben, Jeff, Mutt and Jeremy's eyes.

The interview wound down with quite a bit of laughing and fart jokes and Thanksgiving love and good cheer. They got up and said their goodbye's to each other, promising to meet up at midnight for shopping--- this must be some kind of tradition--- Black Friday.

We went out to the BMW and strapped the kids in. I looked in the rearview mirror, and saw that Felicity was smoothing her mermaid doll's hair, which was coming loose. I'd given Virgil an old metal Ninja Turtles lunch box that had been Rafe's when he was a kid, and we'd filled it with mini- GI Joe's. Seemed to be the hottest thing in "guys" to play with. You know--- gotta have your "guys". There had also been Pokémon, but I wasn't into Pokémon. Virgil kept that box very close. His eyes were shining as he opened it carefully and got out a "guy" to check it out. He hadn't yet adjusted to having toys all his own. I don't think he'd ever owned any.

"Well, that went well." Rafe said as he backed out.

"Yeah." I still had the visor mirror down so I could see Rein's face. He wanted what Virgil had. But Rafe had given him a much bigger Ninja Turtle that had also been his as a kid. He'd tossed it after about one minute, wanting only what his brother had.

"Lance isn't coming to your dinner."

Startled, ready to discuss only the kids, I had to quickly switch gears. "Oh." I screwed up my lips. "Something that happened yesterday that you didn't want to talk about yesterday?"

"Darnel is pissed at me."

"Oh." I watched the cars going by on the other side of the freeway, swallowing hard. I had a real fear of family feuds. Since I'd known him he'd feuded with his sister and his mom. The last I wanted was to hear about a feud with his beloved brother. And somehow I knew Lance mattered a lot.

*******