"Pop
Life"
Chapter 91
"What did he say?" daddy asks, taking a step forward.
"Basically what he's said in the letters all along...that he wants to meet Ana. He says that Ashleigh's fine, but he's going to keep her until he can at least tell Ana in person how wonderful she is."
I can hear mama crying.
I wipe the tears from my face.
"I'll go meet him," I say.
"No...no, that's not a good idea," daddy says.
"If that's what he wants, I'll go do it. You guys will be outside the door. If that's what it takes to get Ashleigh back then I'll do it."
"I'll go with you," Cody says, standing next to me.
I reach down and feel for his hand and hold it.
"We want our little sister back," I say.
Andre's cell phone rings. He looks at the caller ID and answers it.
"Andre here. Yes, she's right here." He's staring at me as he talks. "I'll put her on with you, if you let her talk to her sister."
I can feel my heart start to beat faster.
"Okay then...hold on," he says before he covers the mouthpiece.
"What do I say?" I ask, looking at the phone in his hand.
"Make sure you stay calm and act like nothing's wrong, okay? We don't want to scare him. He says he'll let you talk to Ashleigh."
I nod and take the phone from him. All eyes are on me as I turn around to face the wall.
"Hello?"
"Hi...is this Ana?"
Wow, he sounds a lot younger than I thought.
"Yes...yes it is. Who is this?"
"My name is Matt. Wow...I'm such a big fan of yours."
I shut my eyes. "Really? That's nice...Matt. I'm glad you like my music."
"Yeah. You're so talented."
"Well thanks. Hey, Andre said I can talk to my sister."
"Oh yeah. She's a great kid, by the way. Hold on, I'll get her."
I turn around and stare at mama.
"He sounds like a really nice guy," I say in a soft, confused voice, as I cover the mouthpiece of the phone.
Andre nods. "He really does. I think he might be slow and he doesn't realize the extreme of what he's doing."
"Here she is," Matt says, diverting my attention back to him. "Hey, here's your sister," I hear him say.
"Hey sissy."
She sounds so happy. I bite my lip to hold back my tears.
"Heyyyy squirt. What are you doing?"
"We're playing hide and seek. You're supposed to guess where we're at, but you're taking forever," she says in an exaggerated tone.
I chuckle, but my voice is strained.
"Well, you know I'm not good at those games. You'll have to give me a hint."
"I don't know how to give you any hints. We went down so many hallways," she giggles.
"Is Matt being nice to you?"
"Yes...he is. We've been singing your songs and he's been asking me stuff about you. He's really nice."
I let out my breath. "Well, that's good. He doesn't look like he's playing uh, cops and robbers or anything, does he? I mean he doesn't have any toy weapons, right?"
"No, we're not playing that game," she laughs. "You're silly."
"Okay, let me talk to her again," Matt says as he takes the phone away from Ashleigh.
Daddy's now standing next to me and he holds my hand.
"It's me again," he says.
"If we're playing hide and seek, I need more hints. I can't meet you if I don't know where you're at."
"I told that one guy, Andre that I'd tell him where we're at so he can bring you to us. He's going to protect you. He says that's what he does."
"Yes, that is what he does. So you don't mind if he comes along?"
"No...if that means you'll be safe."
I shut my eyes. "Okay...I'll give the phone back to him, how's that. And you tell him."
"Okay. Ana?"
"Yes?"
"It's so good to talk to you. Thank you for meeting me."
"You...you're welcome, Matt."
I hand the phone back to Andre and hug daddy. I bury my face in his chest and start to cry as his arms wrap around me tightly.
Andre walks into the other part of the room so that he can get directions to where Matt and Ashleigh are as mama walks over to me and puts her arms around daddy and me. Daddy moves his arm so he encompasses mama as well.
"He sounds so nice," I say, trying to wipe my tears. "He acted like nothing was wrong."
"How did Ash sound?" mama asks.
"She sounded good. She sounded really good...like she thought this was a game. I really don't think he's scaring her, mama, I don't."
"Thank God," she says, looking up into daddy's eyes.
"That was smart of you to ask her that way about the weapons," daddy says.
"Well, I didn't want to scare her," I shrug.
Mama rubs my back. Cody stands to the right of daddy so I move over a little so he can join our group hug. I lean my head against his shoulder as his arm wraps around my back.
"I really would like to be the one who goes there. If Ashleigh thinks this is a game, we should just keep it that way. She'll never know what happened then."
Daddy looks at mama.
"I don't know," she says.
"We'll talk to Andre about it. He'll know better than we will if he thinks this guy is dangerous."
I nod.
Andre walks over to us. "He gave us the location. We're on our way."
I grab his arm. "Please let me go. If he meets me and that's all he wants, then he'll let Ashleigh go without a fight and she'll never realize what was really happening. Then when she's out of sight you can arrest him or whatever. I just don't want either of us to be there."
Andre looks at my parents.
"What impression did you get from him?" daddy asks.
"Gut instinct is that he's not the smartest or fastest cookie in the bunch and that he just wants to meet Ana...and that he's not harmless. But years of training have to make me alert to any possibility and believe he's armed and dangerous, so that we're prepared."
"Andre, your gut hasn't been wrong yet," I say, giving him a pleading look.
"Come with me."
"I can't believe they didn't leave the building," I whisper as we walk down the hall to the room where Matt and Ashleigh supposedly are.
Daddy, Andre, a couple of hotel security guys and two policemen are with me. Before we left, the policemen went over a few things with me...on how to act around him and what to look for.
We stop a couple of doors down from the room. Daddy grabs my shoulders and looks me in the eye.
"I love you. Just stay calm and use your best judgment, okay?"
I nod. "Okay. I'll be okay, daddy. I'm going to get Ashleigh for you and mama."
He smiles and gives me a quick kiss.
"I love you too," I say.
"You ready?" Andre asks.
I take a deep breath and nod.
"We're going to be right out here. Remember, if you suspect anything wrong, you push this button. He won't hear it but we will and we'll rush in."
I feel my hands start to shake as I take the beeper from him and clip it to my belt loop.
"Okay."
I walk to the door and knock. I can feel my heart beating in every fiber of my body. I hear the locks unlocking and slowly the door opens. A guy who looks to be in his early twenties opens the door with a big smile.
"I knew it was you because I saw you through the peephole."
I try to smile back.
"Yes...it's me. You're Matt?"
He opens the door wider. "Yes, I am...come on in."
I quickly glance at the men to my right who are on guard and I walk into the hotel room.
Ashleigh's sitting on the bed, playing a video game.
"Hey sweetie," I say, trying not to sound as relieved to see her as I am.
She looks up and smiles. She sets the joystick down and runs over, throwing her arms around me. I squeeze her so tight and kiss the top of her head.
"You found us. I thought you'd be quicker than that. I don't think she wins the prize, does she?" she asks Matt.
He shakes his head. "No, it took her longer, so she doesn't win the prize."
I shrug. "Well shoot. If I had known I would have tried harder."
"Can I have you sign this for me?" Matt asks, holding out one my tour programs.
"Um, sure," I say taking the pen and program from him.
To Matt...thanks for taking good care of my
sister.
Ana
He takes it from me and reads it with a smile.
"Thanks...what about a picture?"
"Oh...uh, who will take it?" I ask, looking around.
"I have it on a stand and it's on a timer," he says walking over to the camera.
"All right...I guess."
I stand opposite of where the camera is, never letting go on Ashleigh's hand.
He fiddles with the camera and walks over to us. He stands next to me and puts his arm around me and smiles. I give the best smile I can give at the moment and the flash goes off.
"Great. This is great," he says in a giddy tone and turns to me.
"I'm glad I could make it great for you. Now, you know, I have a show tonight so we better get going. I don't want to be late," I say, starting to walk toward the door with Ashleigh.
"Wait," he says frantically so we stop. I'm too afraid to turn around so we stand there, facing the door.
"What?" I ask.
"I wanted to give you this," he says walking around us so he can give me a single white rose.
I look up at him and a single tear falls from my eye.
"Thanks," I say, trying not to look at him.
"Awww, don't mention it. You're worth so much more than that. Hey Ashleigh, it's been fun." He pats her on the head.
"Bye Matt," she says as she waves.
We walk to to door and open it. I keep waiting to feel him pull us back or to yell at me again, but he doesn't.
"Bye," he says one more time as we walk into the hall.
As soon as I shut the door behind me, I close my eyes and cry as I let the rose fall to the floor. Daddy runs over and picks up Ashleigh and then touches my cheek.
"You okay?" he asks.
I nod.
Andre and the police walk over to the door.
"Don't hurt him...he's harmless," I say.
They nod and daddy takes my hand and Andre escorts us to the elevator. I lean against daddy's side, still holding his hand as we go down to the floor the venue is on. I can hear him whisper I love you's to Ashleigh and kissing her cheek.
"Mama missed you...she's going to be so happy to see you, she'll probably cry. You know how easily she cries now, right?" daddy asks her.
"Yeah...she cries at everything, Adriana," she emphasizes to me.
I smile, but don't look up. "Then she'll definitely cry when she sees you."
We walk off the elevator and down to my dressing room. There are a couple of security guards at the door and they nod at Andre as we walk in. Mama's pacing the floor and when she hears the door open she turns around. Her hand covers her mouth as she walks over to us. She touches my face and kisses my cheek and then takes Ashleigh from daddy and holds her tight. Daddy helps her walk to the couch to sit down with Ashleigh in her lap.
"Mama don't cry. I know you're crying because your pregnant...I wasn't gone that long," Ashleigh tells her.
I'm still standing next to daddy, holding his hand. I need this reassurance right now. I need to feel like I'm ten again, because with what I just when through, I feel like I've aged ten years.
"Hey, what's going on?" Brad asks me later that night.
I'm lying in my bed in the hotel suite.
"What do you mean?"
I'm emotionally and physically exhausted, so it's hard to keep my eyes open.
"I heard you canceled the show tonight. Are you okay?"
"Yeah...I'm okay."
I tell him about what happened.
"Wow. I don't know what else to say but wow," he says. "I'm so proud of you but pissed as hell at the same time."
"Why?"
"For endangering yourself like that. You had no idea what that guy was like or what he could do."
"I needed to get my sister back," I say sternly.
"I know. That's why I'm also proud. You sure you're okay, baby?" he asks softly. "I can cut the radio promo short and fly there to be with you."
My heart does flip flops. To hear that he'll risk his career to make sure I'm okay says a lot...it means a lot.
"No...my family is here for another day and I'll see you in St. Louis in a few days. It will be okay. I think daddy's going to stay on anyway. He'll send mama, Cody and Ashleigh back because of school."
"Okay...but if you need to talk or cry...or just say nothing, you can call me anytime, okay?"
"Yes...that means so much to me."
"You mean so much to me," he whispers. "More than I thought possible."
"Me too," I say...and I mean it.