Some Things Never Change

Barbara's secret, Part I

November 1st, 1982

It was early in the morning and Barbara Nicks was sitting in the kitchen. She had just had breakfast and was now watching the news on a little TV that her daughter had given to her last Christmas.

Outside, it was chilly and foggy, there were pumpkins and Halloween decoration everywhere. Her husband, Jess, was at work, he had left an hour ago and now she was all alone by herself again.

As usual, her thoughts were with her daughter Stevie. Her Teedee-Bird was her child of sorrow since she had become one of the most successful women in music business. Day after day, she had watched her daughter fade away a little more. Sometimes, she didn't even recognize her. The pretty, funny, carefree girl with the contagious laughter she once used to be, was gone. Drugs, fame, money, men and alcohol had taken its toll!

Over and over again, Barbara had tried to get through to her daughter, tried to talk some sense into her, the result was that Stevie had stopped calling and visiting. She hadn't talked to her child in more than 7 months, hadn't seen her in over 13 months. It killed her. Stevie and her had always been so close. Every morning, she watched the newscast, praying to God that they didn't come up with any bad news about the famous Stevie Nicks, her little girl, her Stephanie.

What the hell had happened? What had she done wrong? Barbara discovered that she was crying – again! Thanks God, Jess didn't see her right now. He couldn't take it anymore.

She grabbed a tissue, wiped away her tears and started to tidy up the kitchen.

She was just about to get up the stairs and get dressed as she heard the phone ringing. She didn't hesitate and picked it up quickly.

“Nicks?”

“Barbara?”

“Yeah.. Who's it?”

“Barbara”, she heard someone crying at the other end of the phone, “this is Lindsey..”

“What happened to her?”, she asked quickly, her heart race increasing immediately.

She heard only sobbing.

“Lindsey! What happened to my daughter?”, she was screaming desperately now.

“I don't know... I...”, he started, “We were at a party, she got totally wasted... I brought her to her hotelroom and when I woke up next to her this morning, she was... I thought she was dead.”, Lindsey was crying heartbreakingly.

“Where is she?”

“In a hospital. They just picked her up. It doesn't look well, Barbara.”

“Which city?”

“Austin.”

“I'm on my way.”

She hang up, ran upstairs and got dressed as quickly as possible. Downstairs again, she grabbed her keys and her purse and got into the car.

Twenty minutes later she arrived at the airport and bought a ticket to Texas. Before she had to enter the plane, she went to a coinbox telephone and dialed Jess' number at work.

“Jess?”

“Barbara?”

“It happened. Stevie is at a hospital. I'm on my way to Austin.”

Her voice was unbelievably calm.

“What happened? Is she okay?”, he sounded frightened.

“I don't know. I'll call you when I'm there.”

The flight from Phoenix to Austin she spent quiet in her seat. She had no idea what was going to expect her. The thought of losing her daughter terrified her. She couldn't imagine a world without Stevie. The last few months without seeing her had been a living hell already, but imagining that she would never be able to take her babygirl into her arms again, was unbearable.