On With The Show (Original Series Part 4)

Love Is Knowing You Won't Let Go

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Santa Monica, California

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Robin was holding her baby granddaughter in her arms, sitting in the old Bentwood rocking chair that had been Barbara's once upon a time. Barbara had given it to Robin when Matthew was born years ago, and she'd rocked him to sleep in it every night, waiting for Kim to get home from work, singing "The Circle Game" to him before placing her infant son in his crib. Stevie watched from a distance as she did the same with her little granddaughter, which Stevie thought was weird because she looked too young to be a grandmother; she looked just as she had when Matthew was born.

"I can't believe it's a whole new generation," Stevie said to her best friend, but Robin just went on singing to the baby...

"Yesterday a child came out to wander...caught a dragonfly inside a jar...fearful when the sky was full of thunder...and tearful at the falling of a star..."

"She looks just like you, Robin," Stevie tried again. "It's actually scary sometimes."

"Yours look like you," Robin said. "All except the last one...she has blue eyes and her hair is as curly as her father's."

"Who's watching them?" Stevie asked, suddenly worried about the babies she'd lost so long ago.

"They're fine," Robin said. "They're better than fine...Barbara took them all to the park today. She's been a big help, actually."

"That's my mother." Stevie smiled, relaxed now. "I miss her...I miss you too."

"You'll see us at the wedding," Robin said. She smiled, then looked down at her baby granddaughter. Stevie tried to ask her what wedding, what was she talking about, but she couldn't speak. All she could do was listen to Robin go on singing as she rocked in Barbara's old chair...

"And the seasons, they go 'round and 'round, and the painted ponies go up and down...We're captive on the carousel of time...We can't return; we can only look behind from where we came, and go 'round and 'round and 'round, in The Circle Game..."

Stevie woke up slowly in bed, turning over to her side and opening her eyes to find herself totally alone - no Sulamith, no Lindsey. She'd awakened just for a few minutes at six-thirty to find she was still wrapped up tightly in his arms, and when she'd pushed him awake to tell him he'd fallen asleep and had to go home, he'd merely pulled her closer to him with a gentle kiss and told her it was fine, he'd fixed it and he was staying. She'd been too sleepy to ask him to elaborate, and her eyes were closed again about two minutes later, turned towards him with her face buried into his chest and their legs entwined under the covers. Now she was fully awake, it was nine o'clock, and when she saw his phone charging on the nightstand and his sneakers kicked to the corner of the bedroom and realized he'd stayed the night, she sprang out of the bed in terror. What the hell was he thinking? He was in so much trouble!

There was music coming from her kitchen, she discovered as she made her way from the bedroom to the sound she heard, realizing then that she'd slept in her clothes and broken her rule about removing her makeup before going to sleep. As she got to the doorway of the kitchen, she recognized the song as "Got To Get You Into My Life" by the Beatles, and Lindsey was standing in the middle of her kitchen, a microphone that was a spatula in his hand, singing along.

"You didn't run, you didn't lie, you knew I wanted just to hold you...and had you gone, you knew in time we'd meet again, for I adored you...Ooh, you were meant to be near me, ooh, and I want you to hear me...Say we'll be together every day..."