Another Chance Book I of III

Another Chance-Book III, Chapter 8, The Afterglow

When Bella and Elaine took their seats, all, including Prince were enjoying healthy sized slices of Baklava. It was delicious. Mr. G said that tomorrow was Prince's birthday and he had a little something special planned so he asked if all would be available to stay after the show again the next night. All said they would and with that the evening began to come to a close. Elaine would spend the night with Bella tonight and the band would go back to the hotel. Mr. and Mrs. G would stay until cleanup was completed and then set the alarm on the club and go home to some much needed rest. All of Prince's family and friends would stay through Sunday and go home after the brunch performance, but they would all sleep late tomorrow and Sunday morning too. Hey Mr. G said, if any of you that are sleeping in want to go worship, you are welcome to join us at the 12:00 mass at St. Benedicts on Sunday. David and Kendra and of course Bella are members there too. We have the best Choir in the area and that includes all Denominations. Prince and Carlos, who was Catholic said they would be there as did the rest of the band. Carlos's parents said they would join them too. What the heck Royal said if Savannah was willing they would be there also. Savannah was as she did not want to get up for a 10:00 service at the closest Methodist church to them if they were going to be up late again tomorrow night. Only Prince's grandparents said they would play it by ear. After thanking Mr and Mrs. G for the great meal and hugs all around, all left and went to their places of rest. As the girls rode home with Bella's parents, she pulled out the piece of paper that Prince had written his number on and looked at his beautiful handwriting in which his name was written. It was another thing that had not changed. Putting the piece of paper back in her bra, Bella put her head back on the headrest and thought they had a lot to work out, but in both her mind and her heart, she knew that they would. She fell asleep, thinking of his beautiful eyes. Prince and Carlos rode the few blocks to the waterfront hotel where they were staying. Prince drove his Air Jeep and finding a parking place right near the side door closest to their room felt that it was a good sign of things to come. They got out, used their thought pass to enter the building and did the same to enter their room. Prince took a shower and putting on his lavender lotion thought of the many nights Bella had done that for him and then given him a massage to help him relax. He also remembered how he felt when she held him and sang to him. He would do whatever it took to have that be a nightly thing...their thing... in their lives. He waited a little while to let her get home and get showered and then called her. Bella picked up the phone on the first ring. "Are you in bed" he asked. "Yes" she said. Picture in your mind my cuddling you close", she said. Close your eyes and smell my Vanilla Coconut fragrance and then she began to sing Lullaby and Goodnight. His eyes welled up with tears...it had been so long, but as she sang he relaxed and felt safe and loved in her heart and Prince fell asleep. When she heard his even breathing she whispered, "good night my Prince" and disconnected the call. Elaine had laid still and not said a word when she heard Bella's phone ring and heard her speaking to him and then singing to him. This was going to be some story when Bella was ready to tell it she thought and turned over and went to sleep.

Bella's POV

Bella woke but laid still in her bed for a little while rather than getting right up. She thought about the last few days and how seeing Prince again had been bitter sweet. He loved her and she loved him but the gulf between them was as wide as it had been when she was on earth and he was in Paradise...only this time it was age. She had no choice but to let the story play itself out as the only alternative was to walk away from it altogether and the only reason she had returned to earth was to be with him and serve God through her love for him. She sighed and got up and went to the bathroom. When she came out to get her clothes out of the closet Elaine was no longer in bed and had gone into the guest bathroom. Bella put on her robe and looked at the clock. It was 11:00 AM Saturday morning. She waited on Elaine to come out of the guest bath and threw her one of her robes to put over her pajamas. The air conditioning was on even though it was only June. It helped with the awful Michigan humidity of summer, but sometimes it made the house really cool. They went downstairs to get some breakfast. As they walked into the kitchen they could hear Bella's parents laughing and talking. David had on an apron and a chef hat...oh boy...her father was going to cook breakfast...that meant omelets. Fortunately both she and Elaine liked them. They went into the breakfast nook and turned on the television. Bella moved to the refrigerator to get some juice out. The weekend version of the Morning Show was on and after some inane banter about an antique muscle car show Elaine started screeching "Bella look"! There for the world to see, at least the Detroit World was the Royal Prince singing his heart out on 4 The Tears in Your Eyes. Then they saw themselves harmonizing with him on Future Soul Song and then the clip cut to Prince dancing with Bella, Elaine, his parents and others from the audience. The commenter was the shows music critic who had a reputation for knowing talent. He gave some stats on when Prince and started to play and the number of instruments he played and said that the Royal Prince was a huge talent with a very bright future in music. He noted that his father was a local boy who had remained in Chicago after graduating from the University of Chicago and that he was a Music History Professor at the same and that his mother was a minister of music at St Stephens A.M. E. church. He closed saying that the Royal Prince would be performing for 2 more nights at the Stork Club on the Waterfront in Detroit. Bella's parents had come into the breakfast nook to see what the screeching was all about and had caught most of the story. The one that came on immediately after though got Bella's attention even more so. The city desk story said that Crime had taken a holiday on a Friday night in Detroit. The most dangerous of Precincts in the city had reported no murders or aggravated assaults from about 7:30 PM last night and as of the time of the current broadcast that was still the case. Something had brought a sense of peace to the city and while no one could explain it, all thanked whatever God they worshipped, if they did, for it. Bella sat there after the story concluded. Something about that seemed familiar. She wanted to remember what. It was hiding just outside of her conscious memory. She knew that in time she would remember. She would just have to be patient. Everything in God's time. She went into the kitchen and helped her dad by cracking the eggs into a big silver bowl and buttering the toast to go into the oven. Elaine was on the phone with her father telling him about the story they had just seen. He said he knew he had seen it too and the phone at the club was ringing off the hook with people trying to get reservations for dinner and the show tonight or for brunch and the show tomorrow or just for either show if there were any of those reservations left. Antoine was already at the Club preparing for this evening and had called to report what the reservationist had told him. They should open the second dining room tonight and Cloud Stream the show in that room once the Performance Hall was booked to capacity Andy said to Antoine. It was already to capacity and that is why he was calling to let him know he was opening that room. Further he had doubled the delivery of certain meats and ingredients for desserts. He had to pull in a few blue chips but they would have what they needed. He had called in not only the assistant chef, but also his close friend who was a retired chef. It would be incredibly busy over the next two days...and before Andy asked, he said he would work this Sunday even though it was his Sunday to be off!