Fall From Grace: The Dance Thriller, Part 2

When The Miracle Is Happening

Santa Monica, California
Sunday, January 11, 1998
(6:00 pm)
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"Somebody wants Mommy to feed them, angel."

Lindsey carried his crying daughter in the crook of his arm into the bedroom where Stevie stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by practically the entire contents of her closet, looking for something suitable to wear to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony. Sara Belladonna was in heaven, climbing the mountain of clothing that smelled like her mom and chewing on the sleeves of a black blazer on the floor as Stevie turned around to the sight of her husband in the doorway, holding their baby girl.

"Really?" she asked, looking at the baby and reaching out to take her from him. "How long ago did I feed you, little miss piggy? Is it dinner time already?" They carefully moved Robin from her father's arms to her mother's, supporting her tiny head of soft golden wispy curls until Stevie held her completely. She wore the pink and lavender butterfly pajamas from her Auntie Sharon, and the crying stopped almost instantly as Stevie sat down in the rocking chair beside the bed and unbuttoned one of her hundreds of black chiffon blouses and undid her nursing bra, the baby immediately latching on. She smiled down at the contented tiny baby at her breast and said, "Little piggy...hungry for dinner already...when you still lived inside of Mommy you used to love to eat Twinkies and cupcakes and potato chips and Cheez-Its and all sorts of little piggy food...but it's okay. Mommy loves to feed you, baby girl."

Lindsey stood in the doorway, watching the scene before him in awe. Robin Christine Buckingham was six weeks old and had been fed from her mother's breast from the beginning, but he still couldn't quite get over it, watching his two sweet girls, as he'd been calling them, bonding in the rocking chair at feeding time and so beautiful he almost couldn't take it.

Robin Christine Buckingham had come into the world by emergency cesarean at three-thirty in the morning on December 1, 1997 after the doctor in Silver Springs, Maryland had detected fetal heart rate drop due to Stevie's age and the nature of the onset of her premature labor. She weighed in at just under five pounds and had lived in an incubator for two weeks until she was released to her parents, who'd found themselves suddenly very acutely acquainted with the town Stevie had named a song after twenty years before, and the hunt for the woman whose break with reality had led them there.

Kristen Messner had confessed her entire plan to temporarily dispose of Stevie Nicks almost immediately after the police had tracked her down in a motel across town with a male friend who was charged with aiding and abetting a kidnapping. She'd been released on bail and sent home to California to await trial, and her baby was set to be born in police custody.

"Sweetheart?" Stevie's voice broke into his thoughts. "Can you grab me a cloth out of the nursery so I can burp her when she's done? There should be plenty stacked up on the changing table."

"No problem, angel." He took off in the direction of the nursery.

They were not moving into the new house until April, leaving them just enough time, Stevie explained, to have the house in order in time for the grand, enormous fiftieth birthday party she was throwing herself in an effort to celebrate life after everything that had happened. Lindsey had the antique diamond necklace he'd chosen for her birthday gift on order from a jewelry store in Palm Springs where they'd managed to carve out a small weekend honeymoon last weekend, right after New Years, Baby Robin and Sara Belladonna left in Barbara's care before she'd returned home to Arizona, content in the knowledge that her daughter and granddaughter had survived the incident unscathed. The honeymoon had been Barbara's idea, in fact, after she'd heard that they'd gotten married at the hospital by the chaplain in case the worst happened, laughing at the obvious joke that they were getting married in Silver Springs. They could not enjoy any physical benefits of their honeymoon because it was too soon after the birth to safely make love, but they had enjoyed the desert air and the warmth and comfort of lying in each other's arms and falling asleep in front of the TV in peace, talking over happy memories of the tour and everything but the reality of the pending case and the events that had led up to it.

They were more in sync than they had ever been, going to the jewelry store on their first day there to pick out matching white gold wedding bands. Lindsey's was inscribed My Silver Springs. Stevie's was inscribed My only dream.

He'd ordered her birthday gift while she was distracted by a woman at the shop that came in holding a little yorkie that looked just like Sara Belladonna and engaged her in conversation. Stevie had told him as they'd left the shop to find a restaurant in town for an early dinner that she knew he'd been up to something, that he was always full of romantic surprises, like how he'd thought to shove into his pocket that night in Maryland the box of Animal Crackers he'd hidden as a surprise behind her second batch of red roses which she hadn't gotten a chance to find before she'd been carted away. He'd presented them to her from his coat pocket at the hospital after she'd woken up from the cesarean, and she'd burst into tears.

The phone was ringing as he came back into the bedroom with the burp cloth, and she quickly draped it across her chest before picking up the cordless phone on the bedside table next to the rocking chair where she sat. Robin was sleepily suckling away at her dinner as she cradled the phone in her shoulder and said, "Hello?"

Lindsey watched her facial expressions change several times before she said, "Thank you very much. I'll let him know." She hung up, tossing the phone onto the bed. She looked up at Lindsey and said, "That was Kristen's mother. She called to tell you that Kristen had her baby today. Healthy baby boy, seven pounds and ten ounces. His name is William."

Lindsey was frozen in the doorway, trying to think of what to say of the millions of thoughts swimming in his head.

"Linds...he's your son," she said. They had stayed up all night in Palm Springs on their last night there, talking about the son he was about to have and how he was an innocent baby, just like Robin, who did not deserve to be punished for his mother's actions. Stevie had been the one to suggest he see the baby, work out a way to be a father of two, whatever that meant for him and for Kristen as she went through her trial and sentencing and her steps towards regaining her mental health.

"Where are they?" he inquired, walking into the bedroom towards his wife and daughter, a rush of conflicting emotions coming to him at once.

"Cedars," Stevie said. "Let me finish feeding Robin and burping her, and I'll make sure she's all freshly diapered and dressed warmly and we'll go." She was smiling up at him as she switched sides and Robin latched onto her other breast. She adjusted the burp cloth to accommodate the change.

Lindsey felt tears come to his eyes. Stevie was sitting calmly in a rocking chair, safe and sound, feeding their infant daughter from her breast on a chilly winter evening as she encouraged him to go to the hospital to see the newborn son he'd conceived with another woman, a woman whose insane actions had put her and their baby in harm's way.

"You are unbelievable, angel," he said, swallowing the lump in his throat. "At six o'clock on a Sunday night you're going to pack up our infant daughter and go to the hospital with me to see the baby I had with another woman?"

"I wasn't there then, Linds. It was between the two of you." She took his hand in his over the baby's head. "I know you love me. You're my husband. This ring on my finger says that I'm your only dream, and I believe you." She smiled at him.

"I love you so much, Stephanie Lynn Nicks Buckingham." He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips over the baby, and when they pulled away, they both had tears in their eyes. They didn't have to say a word, but if they had, those words would have been to say this was their family, their dream.

They were each other's Silver Springs.

"Go get ready, sweetheart," Stevie said. "I'll get Robin all ready to go meet her little brother."

Lindsey nodded and left the bedroom to get ready to go, loving her more in that moment than he ever thought was possible.

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