Untamed (Thoughtless #4)(141)
One thing I’d learned throughout this whole mess was that I’d been given a gift that first go-round, and most people weren’t so lucky. Listening to the other contestants on that show, watching them struggle to make something of themselves…it had moved me, and I wanted to help them. I wanted to keep the dream alive, give people a reason to keep going, even when the obstacles seemed too high, the odds too big. I wanted to give people hope for their future.
At first, I’d had no idea how to do that. The task seemed too big, the different ways to go about it too vast, the overall idea too vague. But then Anna suggested I focus in on one aspect of my vision, and then, when I had it, that I start out small. Made sense to me, so I decided to start with the youngest dreamers and my favorite occupation. Anna and I were in the beginning stages of creating our charity—Strength Through Sound. Our goal was to enrich, encourage, and empower children through music. Our hope was to expand band and choir in schools, and offer activity centers where kids could go to express themselves in healthy ways. Even I could admit our plan was an ambitious one, but it meant something to me, so I felt like it was worth it. No, I felt like I was meant to do it.
Once Kellan heard our plan, he was 100 percent on board. Music had shaped his childhood, same as it had mine. The other guys quickly asked to be a part of it once they heard us talking, and pretty soon, Strength Through Sound was officially being sponsored by the D-Bags. Our first center was opening next year.
I could have happily stayed at home, planning my new charity while holding my new baby and playing with my girls, but the D-Bags had a job to do, and before I knew it, our summer tour was starting. When I asked Anna what she wanted to do, I fully expected her to say she wanted to stay home with Linken. I was shocked when she said she wanted to come with. “Are you sure? I mean, I know we’ve done it with a newborn before, but we only had one kid at the time.”
Anna gave me an unworried smile. “It will be fine. Linken’s a dream baby. He’s already sleeping through the night. And I’m already on maternity leave with work, so now is really the perfect time for me to go.”
Grinning, I gave her a quick kiss. “I’m glad you said that, because I really wasn’t looking forward to not seeing you guys for three months.” With a sigh, I placed a kiss on Linken’s forehead. “I don’t want to miss that much time with them. I don’t want to miss any time with them.”
Anna cupped my cheek. “You don’t have to. We’ll find a way to make this work, just like we do with everything else. And we’ll do it together.”
I nodded. “’Cause we’re a team.”
“Exactly.” She gave me a deep, lingering kiss then, and we put Linken down for a nap in his room, so we could benefit from one of the many perks of being partners.
Kiera and her kids ended up coming on the tour too, and so did Jenny and Rachel, so there were no shortages of people to help with the kids. And maybe it was my changed attitude, or my new position with the band, or quite possibly my brother’s overabundance of excitement, but that tour was by far the best one we’d ever done. We adjusted some of the classic D-Bags songs for me, adding a second line for my guitar, or just having Matt and I play together. There were ramps on the stage set up in an X pattern that let us run up and down, back and forth, burning off adrenaline and engaging the crowd. We even had pyrotechnics for one of our songs. It was f*cking amazing, and when the tour finally wrapped up at the end of the summer, I was sad that it was over with.
And then, once the tour was done and the album was a monstrous smash and all the expected babies had been born, the D-Bags had wedding after wedding after wedding after f*cking wedding. Okay, it wasn’t that many, but it felt like it.
Matt and Rachel started it off by renewing their vows. It seemed unnecessary to me, since they hadn’t been married all that long, but after talking to each of them, I got the feeling they were doing it just so Anna and I could see the ceremony. That moved me, and I didn’t even give him crap about the fact that his tuxedo had tails. Who the hell wears tails anymore? Jackass. I made a mental note to get him a cane and a monocle for Christmas. I might not tease him on his “special day,” but the other 364 were fair game.
Matt and Rachel had the ceremony at the restaurant inside the Space Needle, which was pretty awesome. They bought out the entire place for the night, and after their brief vows—both whispered to each other with bright red, embarrassed cheeks—we spent the night eating, drinking, and watching the city below us slowly revolve into view.
It was a great night, and as I slow danced with Anna, I asked her if she’d like to do something similar. “Do you think we should renew our vows and shit? We never really had a party.” No, we’d pretty much taken the leap, then continued on with life: had a baby and finished up the D-Bags tour.
Anna bit her lip while she thought. “I don’t really need the ceremony part, but we could have a barbeque to celebrate? Cook some burgers, drink some beer. That would be great!”
I wrapped both arms around her, giving her a tight squeeze. “I f*cking love you.”
She laughed as she squeezed me back. “I f*cking love you too.”
While we made plans for our shindig, Evan and Jenny finally took the plunge. They got married at their house—the old auto body shop with the loft on top. They did it a week before Christmas…and they let Abby decorate. Her outlandish design put every Santa’s Village to shame; it gave new meaning to the words “Winter Wonderland.” Shimmering snowflakes were hanging from the ceiling, fake snow lined every flat space in sight, and bright red roses were mixed with holly and mistletoe to create one-of-a-kind flower arrangements that had everybody kissing. Once the dorkiness of it wore off…I kind of dug it.