Say You Will Part 2: The Tour

Six Weeks In A Foreign Country

Birmingham, United Kingdom
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
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"This next song...well, I almost hate to make this dedication, because if there's one thing the world that this man hates, it's when the spotlight is on him..."

Stevie stood at her microphone and fondled the streamers with her fingers, bright red nails catching the stage lights and gleaming as did her slightly guilty smile because she was about to dedicate "Landslide" to John McVie on this, his fifty-eighth birthday, at home in England. John stood sheepishly behind Stevie as always, bass in hand, dipping his white hat just enough to shade his eyes from the view of the crowd, and Stevie smiled back at him and blew him a kiss. John took the opportunity to show the quiet sense of humor that those who knew him knew he had, and pretended to catch her kiss in his hand and smack it onto his cheek. The large screens on either side of the stage displayed this to to audience, and everyone cheered.

"I met this man on New Years Eve 1974...we were babies then, could barely get to the Mexican restaurant, Lindsey and I, in our old Toyota with no reverse...but by the time we left the table that night we were all family - no discussion, no...anything, really. Just us, and this man has been our quiet champion since that very evening...always there, always Johnny-on-the-spot when you need him - pun intended!" She giggled to herself into the mic at her own little joke. "He is my friend, he is my brother, he is the strong, sensitive 'base' of it all..." She turned around and smiled at John, and saw Lindsey in position with his guitar to her left. She turned to the audience and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, on his birthday in his home country tonight, I'd like you to help me celebrate the quiet awesomeness that is Mr. John McVie as I dedicate this song to him. John, we all love you more than you'll ever know, and this is for you, and it's 'Landslide'."

"I took my love and I took it down," Stevie began to sing for just about the millionth time since 1974. "I climbed a mountain and I turned around...and I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills, till the landslide brought me down...Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love? Can the child within my heart rise above? Can I sail through the changing ocean tides, can I handle the seasons of my life? Mm-mmm, I don't know...Mm-mmm, I don't know..."

Their time in Europe had been relatively uneventful so far, and Stevie thanked God for the peace. Lindsey maintained a schedule of calling home every evening before Kristen put the kids to bed, listened to her tales of woe about nausea and exhaustion and going to bed at nine, and then crawled into bed with Stevie and the dog and checked out foreign television and shoveled late-night room service dinners down their throats unabashedly, side by side in bed, each of them without voicing it to the other pretending that everything had already blown over and they were an old married couple, sharing meals and down time side by side and embracing the simple joy of being able to turn to face each other and share a smile.

And, as always, they made love. It was as good as it had ever been, usually late at night after the show but sometimes in the early morning hours, the shades still drawn and the dog awake and milling about before she needed tending to, as they came together naturally under the covers and innocent cuddling and soft, tender kisses blossomed into passion, both of them breathless and tired and happy as they finished, and then dozing off for a few more hours before the reality of why they were staying in the hotel in a foreign country to begin with featured in the forefront of both of their minds again.

Christine sat in the audience beside Julie and Molly, and the McVie women were the ones who had planned the quiet birthday dinner celebration for John after the show, which would also double as a Fleetwood Mac Thanksgiving dinner. Stevie had the dinner on her mind as she sang, "Well, I've been afraid of changin' 'cause I've built my life around you...but time makes you bolder, children get older and I'm getting older too...So..." Lindsey's guitar solo rang out through the arena, and Stevie did what she'd been doing all through the tour - She stood behind him, her tiny hands on each of his shoulders, tapping along gently. Tonight, caught up in the love and excitement of John's birthday, the Thanksgiving holiday and her general love of life with this amazing man whose shoulders she was touching, she dared herself to place a tiny, gentle kiss at the back of his neck. She was on her way back to the mic to finish the song when she saw him mouthing the words, "I love you, Stephanie." She smiled, so dizzy with love for him in that moment that she barely made it back in time to sing, "I've been afraid of changin' 'cause I...I've built my life around you..."