“Taylor.Hospital.Now,” I heard Zac say. My dad and I had been discussing the budget for the next year, trying to see just how little touring we could get away with. The past year had been hard and we all needed a little more home time.
We both walked to Taylor’s office. He looked stunned. Zac explained that Natalie’s water broke.
“Taylor, go,” my dad and I said at the same time.
Zac finally got Taylor out the door.
“Mom has the kids I guess?” I asked Dad. I knew that Natalie and Kate were going to go Christmas shopping this morning. Kate asked Nikki to come along, but she had finished most of ours in New York.
“Yep. I’ll head on home so I can help her if she decides to go to the hospital.”
“Ok. I have a conference call in a few minutes, but once that’s over I’ll call Nikki and see what she wants to do. I would like to go to support Taylor, but I don’t want to overwhelm the hospital with the whole crew. It might be better to just let Taylor have his family time and us go tomorrow.”
“That’s probably a good idea. We may not know much until tomorrow anyway.”
“Yeah, we’ve done this a few times, haven’t we?”
He laughed. “Oh, yes,” he shrugged on his jacket. “I’ll see you tomorrow, either here or at the hospital, depending on how things go I guess.”
“Ok, Dad. See you later.”
I picked up the phone and started dialing the number for our promoters in California. We did so well selling out shows there on the fall tour they already wanted to book us for next year. I hated to tell people that were so supportive of us that we might not be touring next year, but the least I could do was hear them out and bring the information to Taylor and Zac for us to make a group decision.
“Alright, Isaac, don’t keep us waiting too long,” one of them said. “We have other bands that are looking to book dates for next fall already.”
“I understand, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can,” I promised. I knew that he was only using a sales tactic, though. We had been pushed by promoters to book throughout our career, and we were always able to find a venue to play in, regardless of threats and “you must act nows” from venue managers and promoters.
“Alright, looking forward to hearing from you. Happy holidays.”
“Happy Holidays.”
I sighed and leaned back in my chair. Moments to myself were rare. Moments to myself between Thanksgiving and Christmas were even rarer. I enjoyed the quiet of the office for as many minutes as I felt I could get away with before I called Nikki.
“Hey, darling, Natalie . . .”
She cut me off. “Kate texted me already. She’s been keeping me updated. They already took Nat back for a c-section.”
“Oh wow. That happened fast. Do you know if Taylor got there before they did?”
“He did, but just barely. Kate is worried about him, says he seems off someohow. Zac is there with them now, and your mom is on the way.”
“Do you want us to go on up there with the boys? I could lock up and be home in just a bit.”
“You being home sounds great, but I think there are enough people up at that hospital already. We’ll wait and go tomorrow, or even until she comes home.”
“I think that makes sense,” I said, thinking back to my surgeries and how I was well taken care of in the hospital, but the real challenge was when I came home and didn’t have medical staff on call 24/7. Not that Nikki wasn’t a great caretaker, but even nurses get to rest after 12 hours.
“So, are you coming home?”
“There is nothing more I would love right now then to be home with you and my boys. I’ll see you soon,” I said.