Songbird

And I Wish You All The Love In The World (Finale)

Maui, Hawaii
Friday, May 26, 2023
(11:30 pm)
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"Birthday girl...wake up, angel...you'll be more comfy in the bed."

Lindsey was smiling down at the pile of golden curls that were his wife's hair. She had curled up in his lap and quickly fallen asleep halfway through the movie they were watching in the living room of their bungalow in Maui, the one Stevie had been renting for years when she visited Mick. It was her first trip back to Hawaii since Christine's passing, the first time they'd all been together since their Valentine's Day wedding, which had been a small ceremony on the sand outside Mick's restaurant followed by dinner, drinks and dancing inside.

It felt good to be together again, and there had been an empty chair at the table for their dear friend all evening so she could attend the wedding she would have adored for the couple she'd rooted for all along.

The long weekend in Maui for her seventy-fifth birthday had been Lindsey's idea, and so had the small surprise birthday party at the restaurant at which everyone from her brother to her pack of lifelong girlfriends had hugged and kissed her a bunch, danced with her to old disco songs all evening after dinner, and toasted seventy-five years of Stevie Nicks being awesome. Every toast had made her cry tonight, but it was Lindsey's that had been the most memorable for her, and made her corner him near the restrooms of the restaurant shortly before ten and pull him into a long, passionate kiss.

"Mmmm...carrot cake," Lindsey murmured against her lips as she pulled away slowly. "Tasty...like you." He had his arms around her waist, and she was smiling up at him in a sort of daze that was either from champagne or love or both. "What was that for, angel?"

"For being the sweetest man ever and making the best toast of the night," she said, fiddling with the buttons on the front of his shirt. She looked up into his eyes and said, "You were right, you know...she was with us tonight...and she would have been the first one up to toast us and say she was happy that we finally got it right and she was leaving me in good hands."

Lindsey's mention of Christine during his birthday toast had led to many a tear from the party guests. He'd spoken of how Christine had been a friend to both of them through the years, and how without even being there, she had still been watching over them when she'd brought them together. He'd looked upward towards the sky out the window and told Christine not to worry, that Stevie was in good hands, and was going to be loved for the rest of her life.

"You ARE in good hands," Lindsey said, pulling her closer. He looked down at her seriously. "Stevie...you know I love you, right? I mean, you know that this is it...us...and I'm never going to let you go again for the rest of our lives...don't you?"

Stevie smiled and reached up to wrap her arms around him, her hands clasping together behind his head. "I do, sweetheart...I know. You know what I've been thinking tonight, as this whole thing's been going on?"

"What, birthday girl?" He had leaned in and was placing tiny kisses along the top of her head until she lowered her head to rest on his chest. He felt her exhale against him.

"I was thinking of my very first birthday that I knew you for," she said. "My twentieth birthday, 1968. You gave me the stationery that said Stephanie with the gold angel on it, and a bootleg of Joni Mitchell's Song To A Seagull...and I nearly cried...I mean, it was so sweet...like you paid attention, like you knew me already so well."

"I would have kissed you right then and there in the garage if Javier hadn't started yelling that we had to start practice," Lindsey recalled. He felt her smiling below. "I didn't get to kiss you until you were twenty-two...but not because I didn't want to."