Caught in the rush
Chapter Five
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Penny woke up suddenly from her nap when another driver, probably desperate to break the monotony, honked their horn. She looked over to make sure that little Silvia, who had successfully gorged herself silly on cookies and orange juice, had not been woken up as well. She fell back into her seat and closed her eyes, still shaking slightly from the sudden jolt. As she did, her favorite memory of Dirk flooded back to her in full force.
She didn't want to remember this, not now. But, it came anyway.
The night she had come home from her trip to New York and found him asleep in her bed.
She crawled into bed next to him, wearing only a small tee shirt and panties, and wrapped herself around him completely, and gently woke him by lightly nibbling on his neck.
There wasn't a lot said at the moment he opened his eyes and saw her there. There wasn't anything that really needed to be said. There was only a lot of smiling and touching of one another's faces.
They made love until dawn, and fell asleep, exhausted, and completely tangled in each other. Again, without a word having to be spoken.
Penny opened her eyes and sat up straight. She took a deep breath, leaned over, put her hands over her face and sobbed.
One car in front, and two cars over from Penny's limo, Christine Sawyer also felt like crying. Not because she was upset about anything, she was just frustrated and restless. Christine was never the patient type. Yet, she wasn't the one who honked the horn. She thought about it, but someone else had already beat her to it. Christine looked over at her passenger, who was reaching for a pack of cigarettes. "Hey, don't smoke em all," Christine protested, "we need them to last.."
"We'll be out of here before you know it," Nichole shrugged. Christine frowned. Not only was Nichole very blonde and very thin, which annoyed her, she was also an incurable optimist.
"Yeah right. I wouldn't be surprised if we were stuck here all day…"
"Hey, I heard on the radio that Penny and Dirk Monahan were in this jam too. Do you have your binoculars?"
"They're in the back seat, why?"
"I'm gonna get on the hood, and see if I can see them. Maybe we can get their autograph."
As Nichole reached into the backseat and grabbed the binoculars, Christine scowled. Leave it to Queen Optimism to try and make the best out of a bad situation. As Nichole got out of the car, Christine figured she had nothing to lose, and decided to join her.
The source of the honking that jolted Penny back to reality, actually came from behind Penny's limo, three cars down and two cars over.
It was Kathy Parker's taxi.
The driver, Darshan, didn't honk the horn out of impatience. It didn't matter much to him how long he had to sit there, as the meter was running.
He did it because he thought it was too quiet. He looked in his rearview mirror at his passenger to see what her reaction was.
And it was the same as when she first got in the car.
Kathleen Bernice Parker was 20 years old and hailed from Oklahoma City. In her brief time on this planet, Kathy accomplished something so remarkable, so wholly important and worthwhile, that if she never did anything else for the rest of her life, she wouldn't mind too much.
For Kathy Parker was the founder and president of the first American Dirk Monahan fan club. She was also editor of the fanzine, and she was prouder of all this than she was of her Garbage Pail Kids trading card collection.
Her family chipped in for the plane ticket out to California, as a birthday present. Dirk (with a little nudging and other unmentionable acts from Penny) gave her the ticket to the concert and the backstage pass so she could conduct the interview.
And because her interview on Letterman was regarded by the fan club as a direct result of the attention Dirk and the band got before the album was even released, Penny was dubbed "Our Goddess, Angel Heroine." And for that, Penny put the girl up in a nice hotel room.
Kathy got to meet with them for a little while the day before after she arrived. She had no problem talking to Penny; Penny was like the big sister she never had. Dirk, however was another story. He asked her how her flight was, and she responded with a series of "mmmm's", "uhhh's" and unintelligible mumbling.
Now, here she was, stuck in a cab on the freeway, twirling her hair, chewing on her nails, and completely oblivious to anything going on around her. She was trying to think of something clever to say to stop him from walking away from the tour. Suddenly she stopped and looked around. She didn't know what made her want to start looking around, but she just did. "What was all the honking about?" she asked, suddenly aware that they weren't moving. "We're stuck," Darshan replied curtly.
"Interesting," she replied, reaching into her purse and pulling out her cell phone. She quickly pressed a few buttons and held the phone to her ear. "I'm stuck in some sort of traffic jam on the freeway," she announced as the other end answered the phone, "I'm sorry I couldn't meet you at the airport."
Meanwhile, in Penny's limo, she stared at her cell phone briefly and placed it back to her ear. "Kathy?"
She had forgotten all about Kathy.
* * *
After only two weeks being home and doing all the local talk shows, Penny was sent overseas to England to do Parkinson, Graham Norton and Top of the Pops.
In her dressing room at the Graham Norton show, just prior to the taping, she was going through her day planner. She always marked the day her periods were due to start (more of a warning to Dirk to keep a clear distance for about 5 days) and realized that she had gone two weeks past her due date. She immediately placed an overseas call to Dirk at the recording studio.
"Hello Love," Dirk greeted her as he picked up the phone, "is everything okay?"
"I suppose," she replied, "what's going on over there?"
"We've already been booked on every major talk show to promote the album, and it isn't even done yet, I mean, its done, but there's still some touches to work out, you know, art work and that.."
"That's good though, you've got a pre-album buzz going, that's going to work great for you guys, your reputation over here must have preceded you.."
"I doubt that, it was you on that Letterman's show that got people talking, he's the first show we're doing."
"That's cool, he's really nice, but he's got an odd sense of humor, so take him lightly."
"Noted. How has old Graham Norton been treating you?"
"He's really sweet."
"Yes, he is a rather nice chap, for an Irishman."
"I happen to be part Irish you know."
"I won't hold it against you, now, I know you didn't call to talk shop, is everything really okay?"
"I miss you."
"I know pet, what's wrong?"
"Maybe its nothing, stress or whatever, my period was due a week ago."
Dirk got quiet. He covered his mouth and looked around the studio, trying hard to contain himself. "Are you pregnant?" he asked. There was a heavy sigh at the other end. "I don't know," she replied quietly, "like I said, maybe it's just stress or whatever.."
"After the show, go see a doctor, and let me know when you get back."
"What if I am?"
"If you are, then we can argue what color to paint the nursery, but just relax and we'll work this out when you get home."
"Okay."
"Penny?"
"Yes?"
"I love you, I'm not going anywhere, no matter what happens. Don't let anything otherwise into your head, okay?"
"I love you."
"I know you do Love. Knock 'em dead."
As he hung up the phone, Dave walked over and put his arm around him. "Was that Penny?" he asked. Dirk looked up at him and smiled. "She's having my baby," he replied, as he walked away, grinning like a maniac.
On the flight home, Penny kept running over the nice British doctor's words in her head. One of Mr. Norton's associates directed her to a doctor that worked with the studio, and they ran all the necessary blood tests. He called her two days later at her hotel room and gave her the news.
"You are pregnant Miss Breslin, my guess is about 3 to 4 weeks, but you'll have to see your regular doctor in the states to be sure. Congratulations."
For the entire flight, that was all she thought about. The baby. Was it a boy or a girl? What was he/she going to look like? How would she work out the upcoming tour? Just travel the states, she supposed, and do Europe after the baby was born and she recovered her strength. Or, she could have the baby in Scotland, and Dirks parents could keep him (or her) until she was done, then rest, then do the U.S. tour. Naturally, she would need a house. A three bedroom, with a studio so Dirk could rehearse by himself without being disturbed. They could make it sound proof so that he could still have parties with his band. The baby's nursery would be mint green, no arguments. Mint green was a nice neutral color, no matter the sex of the baby. And she could call Faith Hill and Shawn Colvin, they were working show biz moms, they could give her tips. And her own mother, she was a single mom, she would know what to do…
That brought up Dirks involvement. Sure, he sounded supportive on the phone, but what about his career? How supportive was her father, what promises did he make to her mother before he abandoned them both in favor of his career? What did he promise to buy, did he promise to marry her? Dirk had just become an international star, would he be willing to stop for a while and risk losing it to stay with her and be a family? She had been with him for only a couple of months, would he think it was a little too soon to get this serious? What if he did offer to marry her, would he be doing it out of obligation or because he really did love her?
Before she knew it, the plane landed at LAX. Marvin, her studio bass player and Val, the keyboardist for Dirks band greeted her, as she got through customs. On their way to baggage claim, Penny was suddenly struck with an odd, contracting pain in her abdomen, and as she doubled over in pain, felt what seemed like a balloon popping in her womb. Val helped her to the bathroom as she felt what seemed to be a loss of bladder control.
One minute after slamming the door to the stall, Penny started crying for her mother. She hadn't lost control of her bladder. She lost her baby.