Elvis woke up overcome by overwhelming anticipation and dread over Priscilla's daily report about the children. He would be barely lucid when she took it upon herself to tell him that Roxanne had brought home a note from school or Little Elvis refused to nap. Then he remembered- Priscilla was still at Loretta's house. Or at a hotel. Wherever she was, she wasn't here. Peace settled over Elvis at the knowledge. When he went downstairs, he found Little Elvis sitting on the stairs with a toy truck clutched in his hand.
"Hi." Little Elvis grinned at his father.
Elvis swung his son up in his arms on the way downstairs. He could hear guitar strains from the living room. He approached slowly, standing in the doorway until they became aware of his presence.
"Guess what Loretta just showed me?" Roxanne thrilled.
"Good things I hope." A crooked grin formed on Elvis' face. "I can't show her much on the guitar these days," he admitted, his smile fading.
"Oh, I don't play so well," Loretta said.
Roxanne frowned. "You play better than me and Daddy does too."
"Now Roxy." Elvis crossed the distance between them, releasing his son on the way. "It's not always about who is best at something. It's hard to tell who is anyway."
"Everyone at school is better than me at everything."
"Even at music?" Loretta asked.
Roxanne mulled this over for a moment. "No. Not at that."
They all turned when Little Elvis whimpered. The little boy held up one of his trucks wheels, looking close to tears.
"Daddy will fix it," Elvis assured him. He grabbed the truck and wheel while Loretta pulled Little Elvis into her arms and cuddled him. Elvis gritted his teeth, trying not to curse under his breath at the way the wheel refused to click back into place.
He glared up at Roxanne when she let out a giggle. "Does your husband ever say bad words?" she asked Loretta.
"Yes," Loretta said simply.
"Which ones?"
"Roxanne," Elvis scolded. "Don't you start."
"My daddy says bad words sometimes," Roxanne went on.
"Well," Loretta said, "That's just somethin' men do sometimes, I suppose. Elvis, she gets outta school early tomorrow so I was thinking that we could go to the thrift store?"
"Sure," Elvis agreed. "Don't see why not cause I already said that you could."
Elvis fiddled with his son's toy for another while.
"I can do it," Roxanne volunteered and Elvis handed the truck to her without any thought.
"You do it then," he said as Roxanne moved to the floor. Elvis went to sit beside Loretta, sweeping an arm over the back of the couch. "Had a good day?"
"Yeah, we did."
Little Elvis crawled from Loretta's lap into Elvis'. He pointed toward Roxanne with a pout, causing the adults to exchange smiles.
"You let Roxy try and fix it," Elvis said. "Maybe she can do better than your daddy."
"My boys had some of those that didn't have no wheels at all," Loretta said, smiling at the memory of her children's younger years.
"How old are they now?" Elvis questioned.
"Jack Benny's fourteen and Ernest Ray just turned thirteen. Ernest's the one who...I'm sure he went and gave Priscilla a hard time though I warned him."
"I kept warnin' her to be nice to you," Elvis said, pointing toward Roxanne who scowled at him in response.
"Well, it worked out alright when we was here without you."'
Little Elvis released a string of words, gasping for breath in between. He looked from one adult to the other with a wide grin on his face.
"What did he say?" Loretta asked Elvis.
Elvis laughed. "I got no idea." He looked down at his son. "You slow down, honey. Try that again."
"No," Little Elvis mumbled around the finger in his mouth.
"Well, as long as it wasn't important." Elvis brushed back his son's hair, trying to smooth down his cowlick. "I might be going to the Memphian with the guys tonight, that okay with you?"
"Sure. I ain't all alone here with em anyhow."
"Did it!" Roxanne exclaimed, holding up Little Elvis' truck, its wheel now once again firmly attached to the vehicle.
"What do you say, buddy?" Elvis prompted his son.
"Tank you," Little Elvis chimed, hands already reaching for his beloved toy. He jumped off the couch, crouching down beside Roxanne. "Roxy, give."
Once Roxanne handed the toy to him, he squeezed himself between Elvis and Loretta. Seconds later Roxanne joined them, sitting down beside Elvis and pulling her guitar in her lap. For a brief moment they all sat in amicable silence.
Elvis wondered if they were supposed to be as comfortable as they were. Something about the moment struck him as odd- if anyone unfamiliar with them would have spotted the four of them, that person would have surely assumed them to be a family.
"Daddy?" Roxanne was the first to speak. "I really want a guitar with my name on it."
~*~
Loretta thought that the words of a song had come to her, after Little Elvis had been tucked into bed and Elvis went into Roxanne's room to spend some time with her. But once she sat down to write it out, her mind was suddenly blank. The interruption, which came in the form of a grinning Elvis Presley, was welcome.
"What are you doin'?" Elvis asked, shoulders digging into the doorway.
"Nothin' really."
"Roxy wants you to come in and say goodnight."
Loretta's eyes widened at his words. "She does?"
"That's what she said to me."
Loretta got to her feet. "Then that's what I'll do."
"You wanna come to the movies with us later?" Elvis asked.
"I do have to get up with the kids tomorrow..."
"I wouldn't keep you out all night."
"You don't gotta feel like you have to take me along. You can go have a day with the boys. Doo does it all the time."
Elvis crossed his arms as he regarded her. He had to look down at her due to their height difference. "And how do you know that I'm not just asking cause I want you to come? You don't get Loretta Lynn spending two whole weeks at your house every day."
"I'll come then," Loretta said before taking off toward Roxanne's room. The little girl turned toward her at the sound of the door opening, a wide grin on her face.
"Look what I got." Roxanne held up a few crumpled dollar bills and a collection of coins.
"That sure is a lot of money for a little girl."
Roxanne beamed. Her smile faded away and she asked, "Can I tell you somethin'?"
"Anything you want." Loretta closed the door behind her and walked further into the room.
"I found all that in the couches around the house. Cause the Mafia, they got money in their pockets and it falls out."
Loretta tried not to laugh but couldn't help it when she took in the serious expression on Roxanne's face. "Why you cannot tell a lie, can you?"
"You're not supposed to anyhow."
"No, you ain't," Loretta agreed, watching as Roxanne put the money away in her desk drawer. "Now let's go to bed, okay?"
"Okay." Roxanne heaved a sigh but trotted over to her bed.
"Did you want me to sing?"
"Yeah." Roxanne bounced onto her bed, allowing Loretta to tuck her in. Loretta didn't have to ask what she was to sing- she already knew. And Roxanne listened as intently as she did the first time.
"Alright then," Loretta said as she finished. "You sleep tight now. I'll see you in the morning."
"Yeah," Roxanne mumbled. Her words were tinged with a palpable sadness.
"Now what's wrong?" Loretta asked gently. "You look like you got something on your mind."
"Do you...you know when you said that I never have to see you again ever if I don't want to."
"Yes..."
"Well, what if I want to. See you again, I mean."
"I was hopin' that you would cause I would be very sad if we never got to see each other again."
"Can I come to your house someday?"
"Of course you can. I'd love for you to come in the summer and meet my kids..."
Roxanne frowned. "You think they'd like me?"
"I sure do."
Roxanne reached up for a hug . Though taken aback at first, Loretta pulled the girl tight against her chest, allowing Roxanne's arms to lock around her neck. Loretta stroked Roxanne's head and back before releasing her and laying her down on the bed. She pulled the covers up to Roxanne's shoulders.
"You know what?" Roxanne said. "When I grow up I wanna be just like you."
Loretta's heart swelled at the words. Mere days ago Roxanne had considered her no more than a disturbance but somehow she had become a role model in less than a weeks time.
"Honey, I'm so glad that you feel that way but there's already Loretta Lynn, so you just gotta be Roxanne Presley. Cause you're a special little girl." Loretta smiled. "Don't let the bed bugs bite."
Roxanne laughed. "We don't have no bed bugs at Graceland."
Loretta found Elvis standing in the hall outside his daughter's room. She gave him her best expression of shock. "Are you eavesdroppin' now?"
"Wouldn't dream of it, ma'am."
"You know what your little girl said to me? She said that she wants to be just like me when she grows up."
A smile warmed Elvis' mouth. "That would be a good thing but I don't want her to grow up that fast. Four more years ain't too long."
"It goes so fast, don't it? My little girl that was my youngest is twelve."
"So we're gonna be goin' to the Memphian in about that hour. That sound good?"
"It does to me." They parted ways, Loretta making her way into her guest room. She figured that going to the movies didn't require of her to wear one of her stage outfits (not that she had brought any of them along) but there had to be something better than the jeans and western shirt she was wearing.
She wondered what Doolittle would think if he knew- of course the guys were coming along but she was still going to the movies with another man and Doolittle had a jealous streak. Doolittle wasn't her keeper though. It wasn't as though she approved of his recent activities.
When she stepped out of the room almost exactly an hour later, Elvis was already waiting. He wore a blue button down that matched his eyes and a wide smile. "Ready to get goin', ma'am?"
"I sure am."
Together they descended the stairs and walked out of the house. A group of Memphis Mafia members was already crowded together in the car parked in front of Graceland.
"Come to see old Elvis off?" Lamar cackled.
Elvis shot him a glare. "No. Loretta is gonna come with us to see the picture and you better be happy about it."
"Gonna sit on E's lap?"
Elvis' glare intensified but Loretta simply looked at Lamar and said, "I don't ever sit on any man's lap in public. Not even my husbands."
"Ain't he really short?" Lamar asked. Both Elvis and Loretta looked at him as though he had gone mad. "Well, I've seen a picture of him and he looks short to me. So if you're about the same size-"
"Shut up," Elvis snapped. He opened the passenger side door, where Red West was currently seated. "You squeeze in the back with the rest of em. The lady gets shotgun."
Loretta raised a brow at him in response. Elvis motion toward the seat that Red had vacated.
"When I say the lady gets shotgun then the lady gets shotgun," Elvis said. He got into the driver's seat and twisted his head around to look at the car's occupants. "Maybe you can go and sit on someone's lap now, Lamar."
The Mafia members broke out into a fit of laughter while Lamar sat there, squeezed in between Joe and Billy, with a sour look on his face.
"Wanna drive?" Elvis asked. He laughed when her jaw dropped. "Do you know how?"
"To drive?" she managed once she snapped out of it. "Yes. Yeah, I know how."
Red West hollered, "For gods sake, E, don't let a woman drive." The Mafia, being the rowdy bunch that they were, laughed yet again. Loretta did not pay them any more mind that she would Doolittle's drinking buddies. Men were all the same in some ways after all.
"I'll drive," Elvis declared and he wasted no time revving the engine. They drove past the hordes of fans still camped outside of Graceland and toward the Memphian theater. "You go to the movies with your man a lot?" he asked Loretta.
"No," Loretta admitted. "Not really. We don't really ever find the time."
"Guess I wouldn't go so much if I had six kids," Elvis chuckled.
"I wonder how you got six kids anyhow?" Charlie Hodge spoke up from the backseat.
Loretta turned to face him. "Well, you do know how it goes."
"You really don't look like you got six kids," Elvis said. His eyes locked with Loretta's and a slight blush had crept onto his cheeks. "You got such tiny little arms."
"Not everyone can be your size."
"I hope that you wanna see Casino Royale."
Loretta frowned at him before letting out a small laugh, somehow perplexed by the fact that they hadn't even spoken about this previously. "That's fine by me," she said.
They soon reached the Memphian, which had been closed to the public for Elvis and co. The group filed into the theater, wasting no time getting loaded up with popcorn before moving on to watch the movie. Elvis sat beside Loretta, his guys surrounding them on all sides. Loretta found herself glad that the movie didn't interest her too much because she couldn't have heard most of it anyway with the Mafia's incessant talking. Elvis told her that he had once been in a movie with Ursula Andress, who played Vesper Lynd. He also made sure to let her know that the picture hadn't been worthwhile (she hadn't seen it).
Once the movie was over, the ground was littered with leftover popcorn and though it hadn't been much, Loretta felt a strange happiness.
Elvis checked on the children when they got home. His eyes were twinkling when they stood in the hallway moments later. "Goodnight, honey," he said to Loretta. "We'll be downstairs if you can't sleep and want some company."
Loretta found herself grinning after his retreating figure.
~*~
I thought that this was kinda adorable though not much of anything happened. I want Elvis and Loretta to enjoy some peace and quiet before Mooney and Priscilla are back in the picture.