Standing in front of a floor length mirror, Lindsey stared at his own reflection and hardly recognized himself. Wearing a black suit, with a white dress shirt showing and a bow tie, he had to laugh. This wasn't him. He hated dressing up, but that was what people usually did for weddings, especially their own.
Had he given up? Absolutely. Lindsey hadn't heard from Stevie for almost two years now. Of course he still wondered where she'd gone to and how much had he affected her decision to leave. He was never the one to read trashy celebrity magazines, but he'd occasionally look through them just in case Stevie was spotted somewhere. None of her friends gave him any information either, so he had no other choice but give up on trying to find her. Maybe it was her way of sending him a message, telling him that she had no desire to return and she especially had no desire for him.
A knock on the door brought Lindsey back to the present moment, his brother Jeff coming in. "Look at you, all grown up!" Lindsey smiled half-hearted, shrugging his shoulders. He didn't really have any answer to that. "You're making the right decision, brother. It's about time you settled down."
"Yeah, settled." Lindsey sighed.
"Oh, come on. Kristen's a pretty girl."
"So, I'm doing the right thing marrying her because she's pretty?" Raising his eyebrow, Lindsey asked.
"Not what I meant." Jeff shook his head. "You're a family. You're going to have another baby together. I can't see any reason why you two shouldn't get married. If you ask me, you should have put a ring on her finger before Will was born."
"I barely knew her back then." Lindsey said, adjusting his bow tie.
"And Stevie was still in the picture."
"Yeah, that small detail." Lindsey scoffed, giving his brother a look.
"Hey now..." Jeff put his hands on Lindsey's shoulders, locking their eyes. "That's your past. You won't be happy if you can't move on. Lindsey, she's been gone for years now."
"Two. Two years." Lindsey corrected.
"Right. And what makes you think Stevie is going to come back? She hasn't called you once, she hasn't shown any sign of wanting to reach out to you. I'd say she's over you, Lindsey. Sure, under different circumstances, I would have loved to see you and Stevie getting married today, but sometimes life isn't fair." Jeff shrugged. "However, don't look at it that way. Think about what your life is going to be from now on. You'll have a beautiful, young wife, who's the mother of your son, who's carrying another baby of yours. It's exciting, isn't it?"
"Without Kristen, I wouldn't have become a father." Lindsey had to agree with that. "I'm just... having a moment, you know. This is serious, this is meant to be for life."
"I understand." Squeezing Lindsey's shoulders in support, Jeffrey smiled. "Everything's going to be fine."
Jeff walked out with that, giving Lindsey a couple more minutes alone before the ceremony was supposed to start. Lindsey felt grateful to have his brother, he definitely needed some encouragement. And Jeff was right, Lindsey and Kristen were a family already. It seemed logical to make it official.
What Lindsey didn't know, however, was that Stevie was coming back. She spent nearly two years in Maui, with Mick and his wife at her side for support. But she couldn't hide for the rest of her life. Lately, she found herself wanting to return to her life she had left behind in California. She missed being, who she was. She missed her music, she missed work. Thankfully, due to Mick's various side projects, Stevie was able to gather a group of wonderful musicians, who helped finish recording her album. Well, almost. There was still work left to be done on it, but the majority of the album was finished. Stevie knew it wasn't going to be easy. She couldn't expect to just ease back into it. People were going to be interested in her absence from the public eye and she wasn't sure how she was going to deal with that yet.
"Well, have a safe trip back home." Mick wished, standing outside the airport. Feeling quite emotional, he pulled Stevie in for a hug.
"Thank you. Thank you for everything, Mick." Stevie said, looking up at him as they held each other at arm's length. "And you, Lynn. I couldn't have done any of this without you."
"It's nothing." Lynn smiled, waving it off. "And goodbye to you, little man." She beamed, gently pinching Theo's cheek, who sat comfortably in Mark's arms. "I'm going to miss your beautiful smile."
"You're always welcome to visit, you know that." Stevie assured, exchanging kisses with Lynn, before she looped her arm through Mark's.
"Get ready, Nicks. A wild ride awaits you." Mick said, doing little to encourage her.
