Invisible Strings

Chapter Four

Delaney's POV:

It didn't take a rocket scientist to know who daddy had called to inquire about puppies, especially when we pulled up to the large iron gates at the road that kept the public off the property. There was only one person in Jefferson that felt the need to have a gate on his property and that was Brantley Gilbert, the town's superstar and Chloe's favorite music artist. She literally listened to nothing else, even his older stuff that was only on youtube.

Growing up in Jefferson, Brantley had been your typical bad boy; drinking, partying, drugs, and music had all been things that he had partaken in –all things that I had never dabbled in. Well, except for the alcohol; there was nothing better than a stiff drink or a perfectly chilled glass of wine after a rough day of working with kids. That wine was even more necessary when those kids got buck-wild near the beginning of winter break and at the end of the school year. Anyone who has ever worked in a school or with school aged children knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Since Chloe was a huge fan of Brantley's music, I had heard every song he'd ever written and watched more than a few interviews so I was no stranger to the man that he had become. I knew about the success he had found. I knew about his struggles with alcoholism. I knew the happiness that he found with Amber, his highschool sweetheart and the devastation that he had experienced after her untimely death. All of it made my heart ache for him and his kids. In the grand scheme of things, it made my sad situation with Alex and his cheating ways seem so much less significant. I guess that old adage about someone always having it worse than you couldn't be more true....

"Looks like Brantley has done good for himself." I said as the gates swung open and Daddy eased his truck down the curved cement drive.

"Brantley who, mama?" Said Chloe from the backseat, clearly having heard me and having a certain Brantley on her mind. I turned in my seat so that I was looking into the eyes of my children. They both looked at me eagerly, awaiting my answer. A smile spread across my face as I dragged out the moment. When I knew that Chloe and Colton were both about to burst, I smiled bigger and said one single word. "Gilbert."

"Oh, my GAHHHHHTTT!" squealed Chloe, her little voice quite shrill. Her hands were flapping up and down and her legs were kicking the back of the seat. Beside her, Colton rolled his eyes, something that I got on him about all the time but even I could ignore it with how shrill Chloe's voice was at the moment.

"You never told me you knew him." said Chloe, practically vibrating from excitement in her booster seat.

"Well, I don't really know him. We grew up in the same town, but he was older than me. We weren't what you would call friends. He hung out with different people than I did and had different hobbies than me." I said, turning back in my seat and looking through the windshield.

The house came into view and my breath hitched. The cabin style house that he called home was beautiful with its treated logs and massive windows. The porch looked inviting, begging for someone to plop down in one of the rocking chairs with a good book and a steaming cup of coffee on a cool fall day. It was obvious that his late wife had been a part of the design process since Brantley didn't look like the type that would care if there were various types of flowers in the yard that would bloom at different times of the year so that the landscape always looked homey.

"Yeah, he has." said daddy, replying to my statement from earlier. "He's really proven to the people here that a person can have whatever they want as long as they work towards their dreams and never give up."

"I've read a few articles about him. He hasn't had it the easiest, especially in the last year or so." I said, as daddy parked the truck in front of the massive sop off to the side of the house. "He's really been through it."