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Tracy sat at the piano in the little studio across from her condo. Except for Kylie, who was asleep in her swing, no one was there. It was November, almost Thanksgiving. 

In fact, she was having her first Thanksgiving dinner in a few days. She'd booked the Stake Center, because her condo was too small. She had never cooked a turkey before either, but was determined not to have anything catered. Her mother would help her.

On the floor next to her were magazines. October issues. She was on the cover of each one. She stopped doodling on the piano, and glanced back at the top one. It was by far the best picture of her and the kids, the cover of Good Housekeeping.

 They were all wearing red and white stripes, she a lazy neck t-shirt and white jeans, bare feet; Danny in a red collared shirt, his strawberry blonde hair waving off to one side, his eyes energetic. Again the white jeans. The twins wore identical red and white striped t-shirt dresses, white socks and red tennis shoes, both of their long hair up in curly ponytails. 

They looked adorable, and Kylie was on her lap in white overalls, with a red top underneath. It was the perfect little picture, of the perfect little mommy and family. Inside was the perfect little article about what she customarily did for holidays, how she juggled work and play, and her take on disciplining Danny. Kind of perfect, she thought with a wry pooch to her lips.

Under that magazine were all the rag mags. Probably six of them from all over the world. 

Most of them showed her with a guy, or in a hospital getting liposuction, or in a terrible wreck. One showed her popping pills in a rehab. Another had her face on someone else's pole-dancing body. She kicked at the stack and nudged it till she came to the bottom one. Rolling Stone.

 She'd finally got more covers of the Rolling Stone than even the Beatles. There, a picture of her in blue jeans this time, her back to the camera, sitting on the sand at the beach, hair blowing back from her face, looking over her shoulder, her arms wrapped around her knees. She liked this picture, it had been taken in a relaxed moment, with a good photographer. He'd managed to catch her as she felt she really was. Her pink loose fitting top was blowing against her provocatively, and it did make her boobs look big, which they were, thanks to nursing Kylie hot on the heels of nursing the twins, but it also made her butt look small, and her hips not so wide, and her stomach nonexistent. 

Her eyes seemed to reflect the ocean behind her, or the clouds, or the rays of the sun. It was a nice shot. The article wasn't so bad either. It asked her questions about work, movies, music and finally guys. 

It didn't touch on the kids, or future plans too much. Mostly they were interested in the guys she hung out with and which one might be Kylie's daddy. It hadn't hurt Blaze to be speculated about the most, either, and he never denied it when questioned, even though now he was off filming another film.

Fortunately, he'd also been seen with several other actresses and was kind of dating one of them.

She reached down and opened the Rolling Stone magazine. Inside were pictures of her in the studio; she liked all of them. It looked like they were having a good time, working together. 

There were a couple with Eric, and Rod, several with Greg, one or two with Julian and Blaze, and one with Archer. 

The one with Julian was a little revealing, and she looked at it closer. She was at the piano in the downstairs studio at Rocks. She was nursing Kylie. You couldn't actually tell she was nursing, as the top barely lifted above Kylie's face, no skin was exposed, and her hair covered what wasn't covered by her top on the bottom side. She had one hand around the baby, supporting her, and one on the piano and she was obviously explaining something to Julian, who was leaning over her with his guitar between them. His smile was enigmatic, his eyes very light on her, her answering smile was characteristically intense.

Where was Jules tonight?

She pulled her cell phone to her and popped it open. He answered on the second ring.

"I'm home, what do you want?" he asked, and his voice was muffled and sleepy. This meant that he was in England and about six hours later than her. She glanced at the front of the phone and saw that it was about two in the morning her time, so eight a.m. for him.

But Julian liked to sleep in.

"You know I never sleep." She said casually. Which meant that she didn't really want anything except to hear his voice. If she'd had something to say, a question or comment, she'd have opened with it as if they were in the middle of a conversation.

"Trace..." This tone had a sort of warning to it, and she sat up, wondering if she had interrupted something.

"Is somebody there? Do you want me to go?" she asked quickly.

"Just Bridge." He said. "She says to tell you hi."

Tracy smiled. "You guys together?"

"For the time being."

"You mean for the night, or for the two weeks since I've seen you?"

"Trace... it's all good. What do you want?"

"You know I don't want anything, Jules. I just called to hear you talk."

He sighed. "I miss you too, baby. You okay? You still got the kids?"

"No, they went back to Austin's last week. Danny was heartbroken. Three little sisters are the most boring substitutes for three big brothers that ever existed."

He laughed. "Yeah, I can see that."

"I took him surfing. He's getting good."

"Tracy, he's six."

"Almost seven." She defended.

"Neither of us were surfing at age seven."

"Age eleven. It rhymes." She said.

"Defend it any way you want, but he's still a little young."

"When you're his mommy you can make the decisions." She quipped, a little miffed that he was challenging her, but he tended to challenge her mostly when Bridget was around. It was like he wanted to impress her with his domesticity. It didn't work; Bridget knew he wasn't the domestic type.

"So, again, why did you call?"

She shrugged to herself. "No reason. Bored. Thought I'd bug you. I'll always bug you, Jules."

"Okay." He said. "Well, then let me bug you for a second. When is Richard coming home?"

She'd known that was coming. It would be coming from all of them sooner or later. Their time with her alone was coming to a close, and they all knew it. It was obvious she'd changed as well, become more engaged... if that was the correct application. She seemed less free, more taken...since she'd made up her mind... or the Lord had....

"December 6th." She said.

"Two more weeks." He estimated. "Are you meeting him at the airport? Is he returning to his folk's house, or to Park City, or what?"

"LA." She said easily. "He technically owns a place in Malibu, so that's where his records are."

"And you're meeting him at the airport?"

"Um hm." She said noncommittally. "Is that okay?"

"Are you planning to be engaged right away?"

"Jules.... No... I don't know what the plan is. We're not necessarily planning anything yet. He's been entirely focused on his mission, even to not writing me at all these last four weeks. I have no idea what his thoughts are about me at the moment."

Julian laughed. "Well, I can guarantee you his thoughts are all about you at the moment. I think it's just a matter of a short time before you two tie the knot. Before Christmas for sure. I give it that long. So, with that in mind, and getting back to sleep for me.... I propose that we meet next Thursday at Rocks. I'll take you out to dinner, we can jam, finish up that disk you started, so no loose ends. A date... the first and the last."

"That is so sweet, Jules, of course, I want to go. Thank you so much for understanding."

"Bridget says if you want her, she'll come too."

"On the date, or to work on the disk?" she asked hesitantly. She wanted Jules all to herself. It may be the last time.

He sensed her mood, and her reasons for it. "To work on the disk." He said lightly, put a non- threatening smile into his voice. He felt her relax immediately.

"Yeah, Jules. Okay then, next Thursday, go back to bed." She clicked off quickly as her phone was beeping at her. "Hello?"

*****