EMBRACE YOU Lone(liness Book Two)(15)

Dad's response:





To: JohannaH


From: GWilliams


Subject: Re: Re: Measures


Thank him for us. Anything we can do to ease the stress on you. As long as you three are secure and safe, that's all we want for you. We'll see you tomorrow night. Go to bed.

That night, we all sleep the sleep of the just. With no messages belting out into the silence of the slumbering house, Lizzie sleeps uninterrupted. This means my sleep is unbroken. I wake up feeling more refreshed than I have in days. This means I'm able to discuss Tim's idea with Marcus and understand everything.

"...You do know that we're either going to have to reconnect the house phone or use a public phone, don't you?" I ask.

"I knew that yesterday. Probably set up our phone just for the one call, then unplug it one more time and stash it back in the closet. I'll leave Lizzie with you today and go talk to the barrister about Tim's idea. All this relies on his eventual decision, you know."

"Yes, I do." I look down at Lizzie as she feeds. She's alert and calm. Her eyes are deepening to the same emerald green as Marcus' eyes. Her small hand rests on my breast, patting and kneading it. "Talk to him, let him know this would be a one-time effort and that the press would be required to comply with the gag order once our interview is over."

"Got that. I'll let you know when I get to the studio - ahh, that's another thing. I'm going to continue taking you to practices and home. No way in hell am I going to allow you to be vulnerable to those jackals," he growls.

I stand slowly and move over to Marcus, giving him a slow, searching kiss.

"I love you, you know?"

"I love you," Marcus says, gazing solemnly into my eyes.

"I am perfectly okay with you continuing to take us to practices. I don't know how I'd handle those 'jackals,' as you call them. One-on-one, I think I can handle them, but not in a horde as they've been rushing us!"



At the studio that day, we tell Tim that we're in for his idea, depending upon the decision of the barrister.

"I'm going to go visit him in a while and see what he says. Oh, before I forget, we have unplugged the house phone and voice mail. We're temporarily deactivating our cell phones as well - the hacking scandal - and communicating with everybody only through emails. I need to see everyone's computers so I can put security on them. I wouldn't put it past them to try and steal someone's computer and find out what's up with us regarding Cara," Marcus says.

"Spooky! Boys? Bring your lappys here tomorrow and we'll have Marcus do his thing," Tim says. "So, until after the trial - and a sentencing decision - no phone calls. Only emails using our secured computers. Now. Onto the CD and planned European concert...the CD will be ready for release before year's end. Plan for some big CD release parties, here and in the U.S. After that, we'll go on the European concert tour, which should last roughly three months. That said, we will continue to practice and get ready for both events. Johanna, it's going to be very busy, so I hope you get the rest you need."

"I slept better last night than I have in days," I say.

Marcus leaves and we begin practicing. We focus on our newest songs and play sets today. Tim works with us on rough areas. As we practice, we take each song in the order in which we will play it in our concerts.

Marcus returns close to lunch time, bearing lunch bags. We retreat to a room of the studio where the press cannot see in, and we discuss the barrister's and magistrate's decision.

"Okay, he thought our idea was...unique, to say the least. I told him everything and, at first, he wanted to say "no," outright. Then, when I told him about the non-stop phone calls interrupting Lizzie's and our sleep, unplugging and chucking the phone and voice message machine into a closet, deactivating our cell phones and communicating with everyone only via email from security-protected computers, that's when he realized that the press are completely intruding on our lives. We talked about your idea, Tim, and how we could make it work - especially after we give them a big build up and then give them, basically, nothing. That's when we started to talk details. In the end, he called the magistrate and discussed your idea with him. Here's what we have. As long as we meet in a neutral spot; comply with the gag order post-interview and tell him if the press are violating the terms of the gag order, we can move ahead with our plan."

I don't know what I had been hoping for, but when I hear Marcus' words, I freeze. This means we have to sit across a table from them and interact with them. "Oh, my God, Marcus! You mean we're going to sit across from a table and feed them something we've decided upon beforehand?"

"Exactly. With protection from the court. The magistrate is going to call all of them into a hearing and enjoin them from contacting us in any way, shape or form. We are going to continue to communicate with others only via email. Until the case has been decided, we are going to be in the press at least once a week. Now, I think we need to set up a plan as to what exactly we're going to 'share' with those, erm, 'jackals.'"

From there, we discuss what we would share with the reporters - of course, the barrister gave us a whole laundry list of things we couldn't touch upon or reply to. So, it would be limited to our thoughts and feelings about what had happened.