Chapter 49: Who’s Ready To Party?

I walked into the kitchen with the moisture of Erins lick on the inside of my underwear still wet on my balls and holding hands.

Erin and I had just finished a nice round of good morning hugs and kisses with the wives and children when the bell rang from the front gate. Lynn took off to open the gate and then wait by the open door for the cab to drop Bonnie off at the front of the house. Lynn paid and tipped the driver and then welcomed Bonnie to our home.

“Welcome to The Savannah! Let me get that for you.” Lynn got Bonnie’s guitar out of the cabs trunk and led her to the house.

“I saw that on the gate. Where does that come from?”

“You’ve seen the number of kids we have. We call them the Herd. A herd on the savannah came to mind and voila the name of the estate and the band. We’ve had thirteen babies and now we are having five more. Erin wants to keep going, she says, until she can’t have anymore.”

“Damn!” Bonnie’s eye almost popped out of her head.

“Yeah,” Lynn said as she led Bonnie into the kitchen. “Hey everyone, Bonnie’s here.”

The five girls got out of their seats and with a handshake and a smile they each introduced themselves to Bonnie. Lynn then reintroduced Blossom and then Erin for the first time.

“So you’re the one having all the babies?” Bonnie said to Erin.

“I don’t know about all. I’ve had two sets of twins and one of triplets and I have twins on the way,” Erin answered proudly.

“So many twins?” Bonnie was amazed and it was apparent that our other friends had not given Bonnie a heads up.

“Yeah, we’re thinking of contacting the Guinness Book,” Erin said.

“Lynn? You said thirteen children and I only see twelve,” Bonnie asked.

“My sister was killed,” Margaret offered.

“No!” Bonnie actually took a step backwards.

“Yes, it was a home invasion, Bonnie. Paul and Taylor Erin were shot and she didn’t make it.” Lynn explained.

“She is buried in the back yard under our big tree. If you want, I’ll show you later.” Margaret said.

“I think that I would like that, Margaret.” Bonnie said.

After breakfast, and the visit to Taylor Erin, the girls all disappeared up the stairs followed by Blossom. I knew that meant that Blossom was going to be sure that the Herd didn’t make their next appearance in the nude. Bonnie and I went to the ballroom and went over the set list for the band’s first set, if Bonnie wanted to sit in, and for the third combined set. She had a lot of ideas and I took almost everyone of them.

“Now, Bonnie, what do you want to do for the second set? The band is very good and should be able to join you for almost anything. Ronnie might have to work on it if you want to cover Chopin or Rachmaninoff.”

She chuckled over that one before beginning to make a list of songs that she would want to do for her set.

It had a little more country and rock than I would have thought. Some of the country was very country and a couple of the rock songs were going to require her to be a shredder. We talked about it and about her personal musical loves.

“Did Lynn talk to you about the wedding on Sunday?”

“Yes and I’ll still be here. My flight out isn’t until Sunday night.”

“Do you want to stick around and play the wedding with the band? Blossom is going to BBQ and I’m sure that it would make the whole thing memorable for them. Maybe for you too! When was the last time you played a wedding?”

“Not since I was a girl! This could be a lot of fun! I would like to stay and play. Besides, who knows when I’ll get to play with you and your voice again.”

“Great! Bosco and Teri are the family’s two greatest friends.”

“Bigger than your wives’ doctor?” Bonnie asked.

I laughed at that.

“Yeah. James Grand is a great doc and we picked him because he had extensive experience with multiple births. When we found out that Lynn and Erin were both pregnant at the same time and then found out that they were both going to have twins, well, it just seemed like the way to go.”

“It has to be some sort of record to have this many sets of twins.”

“It would be, Bonnie, if it were to one woman. But with three women in the mix it isn’t really out there.”

“How about as the father?”

I paused and had to stop and think about that one.

“I don’t know that we ever thought about that one. That might be fun to find out.” I said.

We talked about music some more until the bell for the front gate rang.

“I got it!!!” Lynn said as she ran through the house.

A few minutes later Ronnie and Carla came in and greeted Bonnie. We moved to stand around the piano and Ronnie played some licks that Bonnie wanted for the song in her set. Carla leaned on the piano watching her husband ply his trade. She and I were both in awe of Ronnie’s talent at the keyboard. He could play fast or slow, loud or soft. When he cut his right hand loose things got downright funky.

Bonnie pulled out her guitar and slide to follow along and fill some things. Carla looked at me and smiled. I knew that meant that she was making mental notes on what she wanted to do with Bonnie’s ideas when she played bass. Over the next thirty minutes the rest of the band showed up as well as other friends of the family.

Bonnie had the biggest smile on her face when she met James Grand.

“So you are the doc delivering all these kids.”

“Yeah, it’s an amazing bunch,” he said shaking his head.

“Herd.” I corrected my good friend.

“Sorry Paul. Excuse me. It’s an amazing HERD, Ms. Raitt. This family alone is sending my kids to college! Heck if Erin does what she says, I may be able to send my grand kids to college!”

Everyone in the room laughed, but one of the voices laughing was out of place. I turned and smiled.

“Margaret Erin, would you like to sing with us?” I asked my eldest.

“Can I?” Margaret Erin’s eye opened really wide.

“I think so. Should we ask?” I asked her like it was a secret between us.

Margaret nodded, a lot! She came to me and when I sat next to the piano, she crawled up and sat on my lap.

“Bonnie, earlier Margaret caught me working on the duet that you did with Delbert,” I began to explain. “She had never shown interest in music before, but she jumped in and tried to sing with me. She got lost in the lyrics a few times, but she was in tune the entire way.”

“Really? Margaret do you like to sing?” Bonnie asked.

“Yes ma’am,” Margaret answered quietly.

“Do you sing in the shower?” Bonnie asked.

Margaret looked at me and the rest of the band and blushed before she began to slowly nod her head.

“Margaret Erin! You never told me that,” I said with an almost proud grin.

“Don’t worry about it Margaret. I love singing in the shower,” Bonnie said.

“You do?” Margaret said, finding out that she was not alone.

“Yup.” She said with a nod and smile.

“I sing kind of quiet,” my little blonde admitted.

“Well then we need to sing a lot more often. Maybe we can make music a part of the school lessons,” I told her.

“Really?” My little girl’s eyes got really big.

“Yeah. Let’s go talk to Blossom Mom,” I said.

Margaret jumped off my lap and grabbed me hand, dragging me towards the door out of the ballroom almost before I could stand. She continued to drag me behind her until we were in the kitchen and were surprising my little Latina wife.

“What’s all this?” Blossom asked us.

“Daddy wants to know if we can study music in school!” Margaret asked enthusiastically.

Blossom looked at me for a clear and concise explanation.

“Yeah!” I said as clearly and concisely as I could.

“Baby, would you please clear up that answer for me?” Blossom asked in her amused wife voice.

“Sure. Margaret told me that she likes to sing and has been singing in the shower. We sang a song together earlier and she sounded pretty good. I ... er ... we were wondering if you could add music to the subjects you are teaching in school?”

“Oh. I guess so. I don’t know much about music and I can’t play an instrument,” Blossom’s answer seemed to upset Margaret.

“That’s OK. I was thinking about just adding singing, maybe we can get a karaoke machine or the software for a computer. You could even have one of the kids sing while you teach the others to dance to the music.” I explained some ideas that were just then popping into my head.

“This is starting to sound like it could be a lot of fun,” Blossom began to beam that smile she gets.

“Blossom Mom, you can do it,” Margaret encouraged her.

“Thank you for believing in me Margaret. What you said is very nice,” Blossom leaned over and kissed her eldest step-daughter on the head.

“Come on Margaret, let’s go back and sing with Bonnie and the band.

That night at the Club-Club the band opened and had a great set. Our last song was our trademark, “Oh Well” and there was an off stage slide guitar solo that brought the crowd to a frenzy. Bonnie walked out as she was ripping the end of the solo.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Bonnie Raitt! Bonnie Raitt!”

Bonnie played and smiled and goofed with Ronnie and Rodney Strong, and at one point they played the exact same notes in time and had everyone in the band excited. We built the song to a great crescendo and ended the song.

When the applause died down, I stepped to the mic.

“Thank you! Bonnie and the Savannah Band will be back after the break. Be generous with your servers and see security if you need a ride home.”

I walked up to the green room to find Bonnie and the band in a great mood.

“That was a lot of fun! Paul, you have one hell of a voice,” Bonnie said.

“Thanks Bonnie. I’ve just got what I got. There is water and cola in the refrigerator, we don’t usually drink when we play. Hey, I wanted to ask you about the wedding.”

“Yes, I had some questions about that myself,” Bonnie said.

“The band will play with you and there have been requests for three songs,” I explained. “Bosco and Teri are our family’s closest and dearest friends and they have asked for three songs,”Something To Talk About”, “This Thing Called Love”, and if you don’t mind singing with me, “Good Man, Good Woman”.”

“Ok, that’s no problem,” Bonnie affirmed.

“We might even have a guest singer,” I said with a smile thinking that Margaret would go crazy.

“Guest singer, Paul? Who have you got up your sleeve?” Ronnie asked.

“Ronnie, the other day I was practicing “Good Man, Good Woman” and guess who joined in and was in tune for the entire song?”

“No!” He looked at me as I busted out my biggest, proudest daddy smile and nodded my head. “Margaret?”

“Yup.”

“Really Paul? That is awesome!” Carla chimed in.

“She’ll have to read the words, but we ran through it several times. I had her listen to the song, then listen and read along with the words, then talk through the song and then sing. She hit every note! She got lost a couple of times, trying to keep up with reading the words, but came right back in and was still in tune.”

“Does Erin know?” Carla asked.

“Nope, I don’t think so. Margaret and I were singing in the ball room and Erin was with the rest of the kids. It would make Bosco and Teri’s day even more special. I’ll see if Margaret Erin would be interested or scared or what.”

“Ready to get back to it?” I asked the gang after we had been talking and prepping for about 20 minutes.

“Let’s do it. Bonnie you want to start off with anything special?” Ronnie was up and ready.

“Yeah, let’s start up where we left off with Ronnie and Rodney, and then break into “Let The Good Times Roll.”

“Which one?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah, B.B. King’s version,” Bonnie replied.

“Ok, it wouldn’t be cool if you took off with BB and we went with The Cars!” Ronnie laughed.

We walked back down onto the stage. Ronnie went straight to the piano, sat down and began to tickle the keys. Rodney walked on while doing some great finger work on the guitar. I walked on third and went to the mic, as the rest of the band filtered onto the stage and took their places.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Others! Welcome back to the second set. Please welcome our friend, the great, Bonnie Raitt!”

The crowd went nuts. Bonnie walked out and began to pick and slide and the band took off on our signature song, “Oh Well” again. After several minutes, Bonnie looked at me and nodded. I stepped to the mic and sang the last verse. Then the gang played the song out with Bonnie just shredding the slide guitar.

The second set was outstanding, with Bonnie playing a mix of blues and country, and even some Broadway show tunes in honor of her father. Bonnie wowed the house with the variety of her choices. Overall it was a great friends set.