Chapter Nine
Since Joanie had reassured him that she would contact him once she met Lara’s friend, Ben finally took some time to stroll through the crowd once he was through working with the auctioneer.
Despite the snow that had fallen early this morning, there was a record turnout this year. Amazingly, they’d never cancelled the event despite numerous years of less than ideal winter weather raging through northwest Wisconsin.
All day long he’d been searching the crowd for a glimpse of the girl he’d seen through the window yesterday. If only he’d recognized any of the people in the boutique besides Rene. Rene was one of Mom’s closest friends and if Ben had asked about the girl, Rene would have undoubtedly said something to Mom. Ben needed to have a few secrets from his parents. Sometimes he felt like an open book.
He could tell that some of his friends were surprised at the fact that he wasn’t wearing a quirky tux, one of his trademarks. Of course, only a few of the guys he hung out with were here this late in the day since they were approaching the dinner hour and the formal banquet, so they weren’t even wearing suits. It was an unspoken rule that the family would all dress formally as representatives of the Inn. Tonight’s entertainment as well as the secondary auction would now be televised locally as well as live-streamed on the internet, like it had been the entire day.
Mom was onstage right now, performing. Ben stood back in the corner for a while just watching as she lit up the stage. She sure didn’t look like a grandmother, he thought, smiling widely as his phone suddenly vibrated.
‘Lara is here with her friend. She’s so sweet,’ texted Joanie. ‘ I just wanted to warn you, your family is in for a surprise. Be sure that both your mom and dad as well as Eve are all watching the final afternoon performance.’
‘What’s wrong?’ Ben texted back.
‘Not a thing. To the contrary, you’ll be happy I gave you a heads up. I promise,’ she texted. ‘Gotta go.’
“I guess I’d better go find Eve,” Ben muttered, glancing at the wall clock. He’d seen her arrive about an hour earlier when she’d been bombarded by fans. She had to be around here somewhere. The final afternoon performance would begin in another twenty minutes, he figured. There’d be a short break immediately after Mom was finished so she could return to introduce the act. Ben had heard they were a couple of musicians from New Orleans who were members of a band called Starlight Blues . In fact, Dad had worked with Marc Theroux, the lead vocalist, on some domestic terrorism cases, which was a pretty good indication that Marc wasn’t just a musician.
Catching a glimpse of Eve across the room near the table where the family would be seated later for the ceremony, Ben started walking her way, taking time to look around while he did. He saw Dad talking to one of the Generals who was attending to hand out some awards, but as hard as he tried to find her, he couldn’t locate the girl he’d seen yesterday anywhere. She probably just wasn’t here tonight, he decided.
Ah, well, he was probably being stupid, longing for a girl he’d never even met, he said to himself, wearing a rueful smile.
“Evie,” he called out.
“Ben. What in the heck are you wearing?” Eve replied, smiling widely.
“Everyone’s gotta be a smart aleck today just because I went traditional,” he muttered.
“Well, I’ll have to admit—I’m not sure that you could’ve topped the purple striped vest that you wore last year. Maybe it’s time to retire your statement pieces,” Eve answered.
“Haha,” he answered dryly. “Hey. Joanie says that all of us need to be there to watch the final performance that Mom’s going to be introducing onstage in about twenty minutes. She claims we’re all going to be surprised in a very good way.”
“Hmm. I wonder what’s going on?”
“She wouldn’t tell me more when she sent me a text.”
“I guess I’m curious enough to walk back through the crowd to find out what Joanie wants us to see,” Eve replied, standing. “Harry’s not going to be here for another hour anyway. He’s driving some of the family over since it started to snow again.”
“I was wondering why you were here alone. I thought he might have decided to stay home and keep an eye on Cam,” Ben said, grinning.
“He sure doesn’t let him out of his sight for long, I’ve got to agree,” Eve answered, giving him an impish smile. “He behaves more like Cam’s mother than me. Sometimes, I even have to ask if Harry will let me hold him.”
Ben laughed. “Well, let’s go get Dad. It looks like he’s having some trouble stepping away from his conversation with General Pierce.”
“What’s going on?” Dad asked quizzically, as Ben and Eve finally succeeded in pulling him away from the Colonel, steering him through the room.
“Don’t ask me,” Eve answered, smiling. “I’m clueless. Ben’s the one who’s been advised by Joanie to catch the last act on our late afternoon entertainment schedule.”
“Isn’t that supposed to be Marc and Desiree Theroux? They were only added to the list last evening since they’re here in town for a family wedding on Christmas Day. I’ve actually seen them perform several times in the past,” Dad observed. “Is there something going on that I don’t know about?”
“Apparently,” Ben muttered. “But what, I don’t know. I’m just as much in the dark about what we’re supposed to be watching for as you are.”
“Well, let’s see if we can find a place to view the stage. It’s pretty packed right now. For once, the weather’s been cooperating with us for Christmas,” Dad said. “Your mom is nearly finished with her time in the spotlight.”
“She still sounds great, doesn’t she?” Eve said. “Wait until you see what we came up with for our Christmas duet after the award ceremony this evening.”
“Let me see if I can get someone to set up a few extra chairs for us,” Dad suggested, pulling out his phone as they reached the audience. “There doesn’t appear to be any open chairs available right now.”
“Make sure you include one for Mom too,” Ben said.
“Okay. So, I’ll have them round up four chairs. Have you seen Lara around?”
Rather than rehash everything with Dad, Ben answered, “She and her friend are helping out in the dressing rooms.”
“That’s right. I forgot your mother gave her a few jobs to handle today,” Dad replied, the expression on his face definitely guarded.
By the time one of the maintenance people showed with the extra chairs, Mom had just finished her song.
Once the three of them were seated, Mom had returned to the stage to introduce Starlight Blues . As she gave her introduction, Ben could tell she was most definitely surprised to see her family seated near the edge of the audience.
As the stage went dark, Mom took the short staircase down from the stage, quickly approaching to sit beside Dad.
“What’s going on, guys?” Mom asked. “Why are all of you here watching the show instead of preparing for the awards ceremony?”
“We’re all trying to figure that out,” Eve answered. “Joanie told Ben that we should watch the performance but wouldn’t tell us why.”
“And all of us are just curious enough to try to find out what’s going on,” Ben muttered, holding up a staying hand. “I know what you’re going to ask Mom. And Joanie was reassuring. Supposedly, whatever it is we’re waiting for is something good.”
They sat back as the two performers appeared, backlit by a blue smokey haze, and sang a slow sultry duet which must have been one of their trademark songs.
“They’re really good. Aren’t they?” Ben asked softly.
“Yes. Sexy too,” Eve admitted, waggling her brows. “They dominate the stage when they dance.”
“That’s something new that they’ve added since I saw them last,” Dad confessed.
“Maybe they felt like they needed an additional routine since they’re performing with some of our musicians and not their regular backup band,” Mom said.
Eventually, the atmosphere changed. Marc sat with his guitar, with Desiree opposite, as they both began singing about Christmas.
After an upbeat rendition of Silver Bells , Marc stood with his microphone. “Tonight, we have the honor of introducing a new up and coming vocalist who’s going to be performing a couple of Christmas songs.”
Suddenly, a silvery blue spotlight flooded over a lone figure standing in the middle of the stage, a microphone set up before her. Dressed in a clinging reddish-purple colored gown, with ash brown hair swept back from her face, the girl looked incredibly put together wearing just enough makeup to define huge soulful eyes.
“Who is she, Mom?” Eve asked. “Isn’t she lovely?”
“I don’t…” And then Mom went silent, seemingly staring at the stage in disbelief.
Marc continued, “Most of you, I’m sure, are very familiar with the other two famous performers in her family. I’d like to introduce Lara Loughlin. This will be her first appearance, but I’m sure it won’t be her last.”
“Holy sh…,” Ben started to broadcast loudly until Dad punched him with an elbow.
Dad was looking a little bewildered himself, which was kind of surprising. There wasn’t much that could ruffle Dad’s cool composure.
Marc took a seat with his guitar and began strumming the introduction for A Christmas Song.
And there it was, the voice Lara had been hiding for years, probably scared to have anyone else hear her sing because she didn’t sound like Mom.
No, it wasn’t a powerful voice. But what it was was unique, with a beautiful rich breathy undertone, perfectly in key. It was a voice that no one would ever forget once they heard it, no matter what she sang.
“Mom—can you believe her range? Why didn’t you tell me that my little sister had such a distinctive voice? Her tone is amazing,” Eve said, obviously mesmerized.
Ben studied Mom, who couldn’t seem to quit crying because seeing Lara like this was a relief. Mom was also someone who never seemed to lose her cool, so it was obvious that she’d been much more worried about Lara than she’d ever let on.
And geez his sister had some really great moves for such a scrawny little thing. Well, he supposed he’d better take that back. She didn’t look scrawny at all in what she was wearing. She looked…beautiful. Graceful.
Confident.
She was using her hands and eyes to connect with the audience, even more than Eve had ever seemed to do.
And when she finished, there was silence, before startlingly loud applause roared through the ballroom.
There was a word Ben had never once used in his life to describe anything or anyone. But it was appropriate to describe Lara as she stilled.
She glowed.
And then she began performing another Christmas song.
Momentarily, Ben’s eyes scanned the audience before he focused in on a familiar face.
It was her —the girl he’d been searching for all day. Her eyes were zoomed in on Lara, and she was smiling widely.
Darn. It wouldn’t exactly be a great time to leave his seat.
Besides, he couldn’t believe how proud he was of his sister. He was pretty sure that if he was in her place, he wouldn’t have the courage to stand in front of an audience to perform. The fact that she was the girl he’d always thought the most unlikely to do so just proved how brave she really was.
Once Lara finished performing a second chorus of White Christmas on her own, Marc and Desiree joined her, complete with special effects. Ben grinned as snowflakes began flying through the air from above and some of the other entertainers, including Mom and Eve rose to join Lara onstage.
The first thing Mom did was pull Lara into her arms.
And Ben got kind of teary eyed himself because it seemed like Mom wasn’t going to quit crying. It was kind of crazy. Lara was the one who seemed to be holding Mom together for a change.
“Ben?” Dad asked softly. “Lara’s gone through an amazing transformation tonight. I’m so happy to see that my baby suddenly seems to be getting better. But do you have any idea what could have happened to Lara to change her so drastically this past year?”
“No,” he admitted. “And I’m feeling pretty guilty that I didn’t realize just how miserable she’s been. If I had to guess, I’d say something might have happened at school.”
Dad nodded, still looking thoughtful. “Maybe she’ll be willing to talk to someone now. Mom didn’t want to scare her off by suggesting it. She’s been so distant, and we didn’t want to make it worse.”
“I’ll have a talk with her too. Okay?”
Dad slapped him on the back.
“Thanks, Ben. Let’s go greet the ladies, shall we?” he suggested, standing.
Ben stood, following Dad toward the stage.