Blue Christmas (The Moody Blue Trilogy | Book One) (29 page)

Kylie exhaled. “Oh
Hannah, what in the world are you going to do?” She sat there quietly for
several more minutes thinking over the strange story she had just absorbed. Finally,
her eyes grew weary and she began to drift off to sleep as well. Tonight she
would dream of famous people and impossible situations.

“That was an
impressive walk you made down that hall, Jax,” Sergio said, helping Jackson
back into bed. “How’re you feeling? Did we wear you out?”

“I’m exhausted. I
can’t believe a few steps like that can wear me out so much.” Alli fluffed the
pillows behind him. He grabbed her hand and kissed it.

“Just give it some
time,” Gevin added. “You’ll be outta here in no time.”

“You still think
you’re up to the press conference?” Marissa asked.

“No, probably
not,” Jackson answered. “But we’re going to do it anyway.”

“Are you sure, Jax?”
JT asked. “We can do it later, man.”

“No, I want to. I
need to do this. It’s like a burden on me. I don’t know how else to explain it.
It’s just something I really need to do.”

Marissa tucked the
blanket under his legs. “Well, I’m sure it’ll relieve all the fans to see that
you’re okay.”

“We’ll just make
it short and sweet,” Jason suggested. “A few words. That’s it, okay?”

“No problem. How
much time do we have til it starts?”

“About half an hour,” Marissa
answered. “But hey—the press is on your time schedule, so just take it easy.”

“Trust me, they’ll
wait,” JT stated, pulling on his baseball cap. “C’mon, let’s give him some time
to rest.”

They filed out, heading down the
hall to a private waiting room. Security remained tight offering them the
privacy and protection they still needed.

Forty-five minutes
later, they assembled in a hospital conference room on the first floor. A bank
of reporters and cameramen lined the opposite wall. A long table set up with
microphones banked the front of the room. As he, JT, Sergio and Gevin filed in,
Jason noticed Marissa, Tracey, and Jennifer sitting in chairs against the wall
nearest the door. He and the guys made their way behind the table accompanied
by the loud staccato frenzy of cameras clicking to capture their every move.
Reporters began shouting questions.

A hospital
spokesman held up his hands for their silence. “As agreed, the guys will make a
few statements. We will not open the floor for questions. Please respect the
ground rules or we’ll clear the room. Understood?” He looked around as the
reporters mumbled a few responses.

After grabbing a
seat, Jason took a sip from one of the chilled water bottles on the table. They
had done a thousand press conferences, but never had he felt so ill at ease. He
looked over at the girls just in time to see Marissa wink at Gevin, mouthing “I
love you.” He glanced over at Gevin just as his cousin touched his two
forefingers to his lips, winking back at his fiancée.

Marissa stood up and moved closer
to the door.
Guess I’m not the only one feeling uneasy.
She shifted from
one foot to the next and back. Folding her arms across her chest, she looked
back at Gevin.

“What’s wrong with
Rissa?” he whispered to Gevin.

“I wish I knew,”
Gevin answered under his breath. “You know how she gets a sixth sense about
things. Well, we might as well get this over with.”

Gevin cleared his
voice and pulled the microphone closer to him. “We’d like to thank you all for
coming today,” he spoke, looking directly into the television camera lens
across the room. “There’s no way we can begin to describe for you what the last
few days have been like for us.” They all nodded in agreement. “But we wanted
to say a few things, especially to all of our fans out there who have been so
incredible . . .” His voice caught. He coughed nervously and
reached for his water bottle. Camera lights flashed in milliseconds. Muffled
voices rippled through the room.

Jason swallowed
hard.
This is not gonna be easy.

“Ohhhh, my back . . .
ooouch.” Kylie slowly attempted to sit up.

Hannah stirred,
rolling over on the narrow sofa. “What time is it?”

Kylie twisted from
one side to the other, moaning. She looked at the digital numbers on the clock.
“It’s 10:45! Oh no, I’m late for work!” She started scrambling out from under
her blanket, then stopped. “Wait—today’s Friday. I don’t work today. Oh, thank
goodness. You’re not scheduled either, are you?

Hannah yawned.
“No, I don’t work again until Monday.” She watched as Kylie fell back into the
easy chair that had served as her bed for the night. “Why did you sleep in the
chair?”

“Same reason you
slept on the couch. We fell asleep talking.”

Hannah rubbed her
eyes. “Oh yeah, I guess we did.”

Kylie pulled the
cover back up to her chin. “I’m sitting here pouring my heart out to you,
begging forgiveness, and all I get back is your snoring.”

“What were you
apologizing for?”

“For being such a
jerk of a friend.” She stopped, yawning again. “Oh, skip it. I’m too tired for
all that now.” She reached for the remote sitting on the table beside her. “I
want to see what the weather is supposed to be today. I was hoping to go for a
run.” She clicked on the television, flying through several cable stations.
Suddenly, Gevin Michael’s face filled the screen.

“Wait! Kylie!
Stop—” Hannah sat up. “Look!”

Kylie turned up
the volume.

Gevin’s face was
contorted. Suddenly, an arm wrapped around his shoulders. The camera angle
widened, showing Jason comforting his cousin.

“Hannah, it’s Jason!”

Hannah stopped
breathing, watching his every move.

“This has been
really hard for us. But I think what Gevin was trying to say, and what we all
want to say, is how much we appreciate everything. All the expressions of love
that have poured in from literally all over the world.”

Jason looked
sideways at Sergio and JT, then back at Gevin. “There were times we weren’t
sure we’d make it another hour. We thought we were losing Jackson.” Jason’s
eyes grew wide, his eyebrows arched up his forehead. He was clearly struggling.

“Oh Jason,” Hannah
moaned. Her eyes stung.

“And that was just
about the time we looked out the window of this hospital and saw this . . .
ocean
of people outside. They were holding candles and signs and—well,
it was such an unbelievable outpouring of love. I’ve never seen anything like
it.”

“None of us have,” Sergio added,
his accent sounding thicker than usual. “You think you come to a point in your
life where things just can’t get any worse.” Sergio looked up to the ceiling,
blinking back his tears. “Sorry—just give me a minute.” He inhaled and blew out
his breath rapidly. “I’ve got something I just really need to say so bear with
me.” A couple of seconds passed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked
back at the cameras.

“You all know that
the woman who shot Jackson had been involved in a relationship with me . . .
And it has been—I can’t possibly tell you what that has felt like for me. But
it’s very important I say this . . . here and right now. Laura
and Frank McKenzie helped me understand that this nightmare will live with me
the rest of my life if I don’t let go of the bitterness I feel in my heart. And
the only way—the
only
way—I have survived all this was to come to the
point where I could honestly and totally forgive Liza Rochelli. Dios me ayude, yo
perdono a Liza Rochelli.”

The murmur of
voices from the press pool grew louder. More flashes. More incessant clicks.

“Look, I will
never forget what happened. But I can honestly say, with the help of God and my
friends here, that I have forgiven her. I believe that she should be imprisoned
for the rest of her life, granted. But I can no longer harbor the hate I felt
toward her for what she did. If I did, I would be no better than her. So—” He
sighed loudly. “That’s all I have to say.”

JT reached over
and squeezed his shoulder. “You’re a better man than me, Serg,” he said
quietly. “That took a lot of guts, man. I’m proud of you.”

“Well, I know you all didn’t come
here to see the four of us,” Jason said, the camera panning to focus on him.
“So—” He looked toward the door, nodding. The camera lens widened to show Alli
pushing Jackson’s wheelchair into the room.

The live scene
became surreal as the room erupted in cheers and applause. The flashing lights
created a strobe-like effect. The camera shot back and forth between Jackson
and Alli, to the other members of
Blue,
then widened to take in the
front half of the room.

When his
wheelchair reached the position on the table they had left open for him, Jackson
reached out for the table, pulling up to it. He looked up at Alli behind him
who immediately buried her face against his shoulder, wrapping her arms around
him. He covered his face with his hands, obviously overcome with emotion.

“Oh Jackson . . .”
Hannah wept freely. She looked at Kylie who bit the edge of the pillow she held
in her arms, tears streaming down her face.

From the
television, the cheers and applause continued as the entire Greer family filed
in behind Jackson and Alli. They clutched together as one, smiling through their
tears.

The ovation
continued. When the noise began to diminish, everyone waited to hear what Jackson
would have to say. It took him several more minutes to regain his composure.
Alli remained steadfast behind him, her hands on his shoulder. He reached up,
grasping hold of her hand on his left shoulder.

He attempted to
begin and failed. He tried again.

“We love you,
man,” JT prompted. Jason, Gevin, and Sergio echoed the sentiment.

Finally, he spoke.
“You cannot possibly imagine . . . how I feel right now.” He
looked around the room. “And I’m not even going to attempt to try . . .
to express . . . except that I am overwhelmed.” His chin
trembled.

“When we perform . . .
either on stage or wherever, well, we get bombarded.” He laughed nervously.
“The screaming and the hysteria . . . and after a while, we just
get numb to it.” He looked at Sergio and JT on one side, Jason and Gevin on the
other. They nodded in agreement.

“Maybe we even
take it for granted sometimes. That’s just part of the whole crazy thing, I
guess. But this—” His face slowly began to crumble. “Oh God . . .”
He lost his composure, unable to continue. Alli buried her head against his.

Hannah and Kylie
both sniffed back tears as they watched the heart-wrenching scene unfold.

A full minute
passed before Jackson tried again, taking another deep breath. “I’m sorry. This
is so hard. I’ve just never experienced such
profound
 . . .
love.” He shook his head. “I never knew such an incredible depth of love . . .
and I know with all of my heart, I will never be the same. Never.”

“None of us will,”
JT added.

Jackson looked
across at him. “And these guys . . .” A smile pulled at one side
of his mouth. “Well, these guys are the best. They’re a little crazy, but
they’re the best.”

Alli leaned down,
whispering something in his ear. He nodded. “There’s no way I could possibly
thank everyone, but I especially want to thank God for the hospital here—for
the doctors and nurses. They’ve all been awesome.” He looked around,
acknowledging some of the staff.

“But I also want
to thank God for my family,” he said, twisting around to find his parents, his
brother and sisters. “Mom, Dad, Micah, Ashley, Jaylin, BJ—I love you.”

Then his eyes
rested on Alli, her face beaming. He turned back at the cameras. “There’s just
one more thing I have to say. I wouldn’t be here except for her.” He looked
back up at her. “Alli, I love you.”

It was as far as
he got. He lost it again; this time making no attempt to hide it.