Diamond (33 page)

“What I did do was leave the business end of her life up to…up to someone I trusted. For that, I claim guilt. What I didn’t do was cheat
on
her. I loved her…love her. When I came home and found her gone, I nearly went crazy.”

Twila frowned. “So are you saying that your—”

Jesse interrupted. “I’m not saying anything. Not until I can talk to Diamond and hear from her lips exactly what happened to her to make her leave me like that.”

“Okay,” Twila said. “I admire loyalty, even the misplaced kind. So this is the deal: We don’t point fingers—just yet. I’ll go along with that. But what do we do?”

“Prepare for the revelation, Twila Hart. Prepare for the revelation.”

He began to explain, and as he did, the expressions on her face ran from disbelief to shock to unadulterated pleasure. This was one performance she couldn’t wait to see.

“Oh, Dooley, I still can’t believe it.”

The awe in Diamond’s voice was as real as the smile on her face. Dooley hugged her closer, an unconscious gesture that was a reflection of his fear of losing her.

“I can,” he said. “I always knew you had what it took, honey. Playing the Grand Ole Opry had to come soon. I’m really proud of you.”

Diamond shivered in spite of her excitement. Something, a subconscious warning, told her that this wasn’t a step, it was a leap. It was the fulfillment of the promise Jesse had made to her and her sisters the day he’d taken her from Cradle Creek. And it was going to happen without him. Overwhelming sadness threatened to ruin the thrill.

“I need you to be there for me, Dooley. I will expect you to attend, even if you have to shut down the club, at least this one night.”

“Honey, I’d sell the damned place if I had to. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Sympathy made him add, “Everyone will be there, don’t you worry.”

He disappeared into his office, unwilling to look into her eyes and face that ever-present, lost expression.

Diamond nodded, thinking of Twila…and maybe Doug Bentin, who had become such a good friend. It never occurred to her to search farther into her past for others who might provide the moral support she so desperately needed. She’d spent too many months trying to put that same past behind her.

She’d also lost more sleep than she could afford, trying to decipher the mystery of Jesse’s appearance at Melvin Call’s club. For weeks afterward she’d imagined the phone ringing and Jesse on the other end of the line pleading for her return. She’d dreaded it to the point of actual illness, and then, when it hadn’t happened, had lost sleep trying to figure out why not. The only conclusion she could come up with was that she’d hurt the relationship and him too badly to fix. He didn’t want her anymore, and she had to live with that.

The club was quiet now that Dooley had gone into his office. It was too early in the morning for even Walt and Deever to make an appearance. Diamond walked around, absently admiring the changes that had taken place since her first day on the job. She
and
the derelict building had taken on new life.

She walked up the two steps onto Dooley’s new stage and looked out across the room, squinting through the shadowy haze and imagining the tables crowded and the noise level that could be heard on a busy Saturday night. Although she’d often wished for fancier surroundings, Diamond knew that when it came time to leave Dooley’s for good, she was going to miss the place and the security of knowing that she had always been accepted and loved there.

She heard Dooley’s stereo come alive behind the closed door of his office and smiled, knowing that he’d finally forced himself to drag out the books. Of all the chores associated with his business, bookkeeping made Dooley crazy, and he always put it off until it was almost too late to decipher it.

Unwilling to leave this haven of comfort, she lingered onstage, brushed at a smudge of dust on her Levis, and unrolled the cuffs of her long-sleeved blue shirt as she eyed the newly installed ceiling lights. Minutes later, confident that she could walk onto the street and face strangers without humiliating herself by crying, she bowed to the absent audience like a child playing make-believe. It was her own personal farewell to Dooley’s.

She was about to step off the stage when she heard it. The song, and the truth of what had started and ended it all. “Lies.”

Diamond closed her eyes and inhaled sharply against the pain in her heart. The melody drifted faintly into the room and through her soul, and before she knew it, she heard herself singing along.

But the smiles and lies of a lying lover

go hand in hand like kisses and wine
…

Her body swayed to the melody, her voice a whisper as the words cut deep. Unable to face even an imaginary audience, she closed her eyes as she sang along.

The words were so faint, at first Dooley imagined they were from the stero behind his desk. And then he listened more closely, and as he did, he knew that he was hearing what could only be called the unveiling of a secret. He laid down his pen, pushed back his chair, and walked quietly to the door, careful not to open it too much and alert Diamond to the fact that she was being overheard.

…
like the fool I am, can’t get you out of my mind
.

And when her voice ended with a sob and a sigh, Dooley quietly closed the door and leaned his head against the aged wood, wishing himself a younger man. But the thought left as quickly as it came. His time was over, but Diamond’s was just beginning. He would give his life to see that hers was finally happy.

“Sir,” Henley said, entering the music room with a portable phone. “You have a call.”

The interruption was a blessing. Although Jesse had disconnected the phone in the music room in hopes of being able to work, he’d still been unable to concentrate. All he could think about was the upcoming performance at the Grand Ole Opry. In less than a week he’d know whether or not he had a future with Diamond. Without his lady, his life was hardly worth living.

Jesse took the phone and smiled at the exuberance of the man on the other end of the line.

“Whoa, Mack. Slow down,” Jesse said. “Yes, you heard right. And by the way, just as a matter of interest, who told you? I was planning on calling all the boys in the band tomorrow and getting together to have a little practice session.”

“Oh, shoot,” Mack said. “I forget…one of the boys…I think it was Al. Yeah! That’s it! It was Al. He said Rita came home from the beauty shop and told him that—”

Jesse started to laugh. Leave it to a woman! And then his smile disappeared. If he had his way, he’d be doing just that—leaving the rest of his life to one certain woman.

“Never mind,” Jesse said. “I guess it doesn’t matter. It would have been common knowledge soon enough. You know how the music industry is; you can’t keep anything a secret for long.”

“I don’t know about that,” Mack said. “We’ve done pretty darn good keeping a certain secret of our own.”

Jesse debated with himself about telling Mack the truth. As it was, he didn’t have to tell much, since Mack and the band seemed to have guessed most of it already.

“About the Grand Ole Opry performance,” Jesse began. “You guys should know that I—”

“And it’s about time,” Mack said. “Does Tommy know she’s gonna be there?”

Jesse’s stomach turned. This was too much, too soon. If everyone suspected what was happening, then it was entirely possible that Diamond would get word of it and fail to show. What if she ran again, and this time out of Nashville for good? Then he sighed and faced the fact that if she did, he had to accept what she’d been trying to tell him all along. She didn’t want anything more to do with a man who stole, even if all
he’d
taken was her heart and her trust.

“No, Tommy doesn’t know yet. But if you guys do, it’s only a matter of—”

Jesse looked out the window toward the driveway and rolled his eyes at the sight of the car pulling into his yard.

“Speak of the devil,” he told Mack. “I’ll have to call you later with a practice schedule. Our manager has just arrived.”

“I don’t envy you,” Mack said, and hung up.

But Jesse was past caring whose feelings got hurt and who stepped on whose toes. All he wanted was Diamond back in his life. He laid down the phone and went to meet Tommy.

“I’ll get it,” Jesse said as Henley started for the door. “And Henley, no interruptions until Tommy leaves. No calls, no nothing, okay?”

Henley nodded. “If you need me, sir, I’ll be in the kitchen.”

Jesse grinned, remembering the fury with which Henley had received the news about Diamond and the ill-fated album. Jesse had been slightly shocked by the fact that Henley had suggested “terminating” their manager, and he’d never been completely certain that Henley had only meant on paper.

The knock was vehement. Jesse masked a smile as he opened the door to a very angry man.

“Just when the hell were you going to tell me?” Tommy yelled, and shoved his way inside the house.

Jesse closed the door and walked past Tommy toward the living room. “Come on in, Tommy. Care for a drink?”

“Hell no, I don’t want a drink!” Just the mention of the word still made his stomach turn. “What I want are answers.”

“And you’ll probably get them,” Jesse said, “as soon as I hear the questions. Where do you want to start?”

Tommy fumed and slammed his hat down on the table as he paced the floor.

“I had to hear it from another agent. My own people couldn’t even tell me the truth. It had to come from an outsider. How the hell do you think I felt?”

Jesse’s eyes narrowed and his fingers curled into fists, but he put them behind his back and answered as calmly as possible.

“I don’t know how you felt, Tommy. But I know what I felt when I came home and found Diamond gone. I don’t intend to go through that or anything remotely like it again.”

“It’s not the same thing!” Tommy yelled.

“But it could be, if the wrong person got hold of my plan and broke the news early,” Jesse said.

Tommy’s eyebrows arched and his mouth dropped open. A faint sheen of perspiration popped across his lip, and a flush of red swept across both cheeks. The implications of what Jesse had just said were beginning to take hold. It was the first time he realized that there was more to Jesse Eagle’s appearance on the Grand Ole Opry than a surprise performance. If he understood Jesse correctly, he was going to go public with the mystery woman’s identity.

“My God! You know where she is, don’t you?”

Jesse let the question go unanswered. It was verification enough for Tommy, who felt sick to his stomach. He wondered what she’d told him and tried to figure out how he was going to explain away his part in the debacle.

“Well, I don’t care what she’s told you. It’s not the truth! I would never do anything to hurt you, and that’s a fact you can’t deny. Don’t stand there and try to make me say otherwise.” Tommy was nearly screaming. Spittle ran from a comer of his mouth as he banged the desk with his fist.

“I know you wouldn’t hurt
me
,” Jesse said. “I never in my life thought that for a moment, buddy.”

The censure in Jesse’s voice was enough to quiet Tommy’s anger. He wilted in premature relief.

“And I haven’t talked to her—not yet, so I can’t tell you what, if anything, she’s going to tell me. If there’s nothing to tell, you have nothing to fear. Right?”

Oh, God
! “Right!” Tommy said, dropping into the chair behind him. “So, what’s the plan? What do you want me to do? I can get media coverage for the unannounced performance of Jesse Eagle. I can get you a full-page spread in—”

“I want you to do nothing,” Jesse said. “Absolutely nothing. This time, I’m calling the shots. And if I find out that you’ve ignored my orders, you can just pack your bags and start looking for a place to hide. Do you hear me?”

Tommy shivered at the ominous tone in Jesse’s voice and slid a smile in place. “You don’t have to threaten me, buddy. You know me—I’d never hurt you, remember?”

“But if you hurt the ones I love, you hurt me, too. Understand?”

Tommy nodded. “Understood.” He fidgeted with the crease in his pants as he considered his options, and then another thought occurred. “What songs are you going to sing? Some of the cuts from the album?”

“I thought we’d do the number-one song, since it’s been nominated for a Grammy. Sort of a pre-premiere performance. What do you think?” Jesse asked.

“You can’t sing a duo alone.”

“I don’t intend to,” Jesse said, and then smiled.

Tommy shuddered and felt his bowels rumble. “She’s agreed to sing with you? After all that’s happened?”

Jesse frowned and turned away. “There’s the rub. She’ll be there, but she doesn’t know we will. If my luck holds, she’ll sing with me when the time comes. If not—”

Tommy shot from the chair. “You can’t take a chance like that. If it blows up in your face, you’ll look like a fool. What will happen to your career if she doesn’t comply and you have to stand up there trying to sing alone? Everyone’s going to think she’s angry, and then they’re going to start speculating as to why. Before you know it, the whole industry will be blaming you for what happened.”

Jesse shrugged. “It’s no more than I deserve,” he said quietly. “Besides, I don’t care. If I lose her, I don’t give a damn about my career. You may as well face that now.”

“Oh, Lord.” But Tommy’s muttered prayer wasn’t enough, and he knew it. It would take more than God to get him out of this mess.

Diamond stood in front of her closet, staring at the array of costumes she’d collected since her performing days had begun. Rhinestones and sequins winked back at her, catching and reflecting the light from the overhead bulb as she sifted through the hangers. But nothing seemed right.

Granted, she could hide behind flash and glamour and give her usual performance. But tight and flashy wasn’t what she needed. Diamond needed an affirmation of her talent, and she wanted it to come from the heart of her listeners, not from admiration for her face and body.

“Are you about dressed?” Twila yelled from the living room.