Throw Him My Way

She felt his arms around her, holding her, and it felt like being home.

“It’s all right, Heidi. I’m fine now. I’m okay now. I’ll be fine. I’ll be waiting for you. This is your chance, my love. You should take it. I’d never forgive myself if you didn’t take it. I’ll be well taken care of. You know that. You can tell me everything that happens, and I will imagine all of the audiences you will win over, completely, because that’s what you do.”

Heidi couldn’t help the tears. She seemed to be crying far more than she ever had before.

But they weren’t just happy tears.

“I don’t want to leave you,” she said, again.

“I promise not to go into a coma again until you come back,” he teased her, and it did what it was supposed to.

She sat up and glared at him.

“If you even…”

He chuckled.

“I was kidding. You should go. I’ll want videos of every night.”

Heidi could see that the conversation had taxed him. He was looking a bit pale, thought Heidi.

“I have another day to decide. We’ll see. For the moment, I’m not going anywhere, so get some sleep,” she told him, and sat there, beside him, as he drifted off to sleep.

Heidi didn’t leave.

She sat there and watched him, and saw the small movements his body made. They reassured her that he was still with her.

Finally, when his mother came in, she saw Heidi asleep beside Christian, her dark head resting beside his hand, her hand still in his.

Gina felt a pang, for just a moment.

She wasn’t first in her son’s heart any more. She could rejoice it and still feel that bittersweet pain of knowing that her son had finally found what she’d always wanted him to.

She backed out of the room, and left her son in the very capable and loving hands of the woman she had come to love very much, indeed.

Christian could definitely have done worse, thought Gina. He couldn’t have done much better.

Heidi and Christian were going to make some fine looking babies. She was going to have beautiful grandchildren.

Gina walked until she found an empty stairwell.

Finally, Gina let herself break down, and feel all of the fears she had kept at bay so fiercely for far too long.

The sobs wracked her frame, until it felt like she might break apart from them.

A hand squeezed her shoulder, making her jump.

She turned around and saw Mrs. Spinelli standing there.

“It’s all right. Your boy is in very good hands. My Heidi, she’s strong. She’s as strong as we are. We have to be, don’t we? She will need it. She will love him more than she knows she can. Your Christian and my Heidi will be happy together.”

Gina nodded, and took the strength that Mrs. Spinelli offered so generously.

“Our children. They will always be ours, Maria.”

Mrs. Spinelli smiled.

“They will, even when they have their own. Do you think they know how deeply they have fallen for each other?”

Gina smiled, finally.

“Oh, Christian is slow to make up his mind when it comes to his own life, but once he makes it up, he moves quite fast. I think Heidi is in for a bit of a surprise.”

Mrs. Spinelli laughed heartily.

“There, you’ve had your cry, and well you deserve it. Now come on up and have a meal. You haven’t tasted food in weeks. Not hospital cafeteria food. I brought food.”

Gina smiled, and gratefully let herself be led back into the world where there was color and happiness, and she ate Mrs. Spinelli’s lasagna.

Finally, she tasted food again.

Finally, she felt alive again.

*****

“One month, Dale, and I’ll want the contract reviewed. I’m very grateful for everything, but you’re right about the contract. Even to me, it seems fairly restrictive.”

Dale grinned.

“Good girl. I can point out a few things right now, but it’s better to have a lawyer do it. Now, you’ll want to retain rights so that you can upload your performances to YouTube and so on.”

She nodded, busily going through it.

She was going to go on tour. Christian had pointed out a few fair points, the best of them being that he would get so cranky in two weeks that she’d wish she’d gone on tour.

He didn’t want her to resent him for missing out on one of the biggest opportunities of her life. She didn’t, either.

Besides, it felt as if she and Christian had come to an agreement, as far as their relationship was concerned. She had never been in favor of long-distance relationships, but a month wasn’t years. A month was definite.

Whatever came after that, they could handle, together.

They were together. There were no questions of that anymore.

Heidi still hadn’t gotten used to it. She and Christian were together.

They were in love.

They had said the words. Once they started saying the words, it felt like they could never stop.

She hoped they wouldn’t.

Heidi felt as if she could sing all of the world’s love songs and mean them all.

So Heidi found a lawyer – Rick knew one, of course – and signed on the dotted line.

She spent every minute she could with Christian.

Bobby, she discovered, was even more dependable than she’d hoped he’d be. Her dogs would be in good hands.

Still, she wasn’t ashamed to admit that she’d shed a few tears when she said goodbye to them, for two whole months.

She could come back with enough capital to consider their business more seriously, she comforted herself.

She’d let her schoolwork slide a bit, but she would catch up when she was back from her tour.

She was going on tour. It was scary.

Every time she felt it get a bit too big, Christian gave her strength.

“It’s only fair. I seem to have taken a bit too much of it,” he teased her.

Finally, it was time to leave.

Saying goodbye wasn’t easy. So she didn’t say goodbye.

“See you later,” she said, and kissed Christian, long and hard.

“But not in the hospital,” said Christian, and pulled her closer to deepen that kiss.

Heidi smiled.

Christian was going home – to the home where he’d grown up.

And she was off chasing a dream that finally felt like it might be within her grasp.

Everything was changing.