Diamond (34 page)

“Nearly,” Diamond answered, despite the fact that she had on nothing but panties.

An instinct sent her digging into the back of the closet. And when she came to the hanger for which she’d been searching, she slipped the garments off and laid them on the bed, then stepped back and stared.

They were exactly what she’d been searching for. Now if she could only get past Twila’s objections, she’d have it made. If she dawdled until there was no time to waste, Twila would have to agree.

Slowly, as if performing a ritual, she turned to the mirror, stared at herself long and hard, and when she was satisfied with what she saw in her eyes, began getting dressed. Thirty minutes later she exited her bedroom and waited for Twila’s wrath to fall. It never came.

“Well!”

It was the only thing Twila had to say about Diamond’s outfit. And when their gazes met, an understanding passed between the two women. Twila sensed that whether Diamond knew it or not, her choice of clothing would make more of an impact than if she had been dripping in the real thing—her namesakes.

“Let’s get a move on,” Twila said. “We can’t leave it too long or we’ll get caught in the traffic around Opryland.”

“I’m ready when you are,” Diamond said. “Just let me get my coat and my guitar.”

“Don’t forget your makeup,” Twila said.

“What I need is in my purse,” Diamond said.

“My God. I carry more than that just to get ready for bed. You make me sick,” Twila said, knowing full well that Diamond would pay no attention to her grumbling.

“Tonight it’s just me,” Diamond said. “What they see is what they get.”

They’re going to see a whole lot more than they’ve been led to expect
, Twila thought as she started the car.
The fans who attend the Opry tonight will see history in the making
.

“I’ll be there,” Twila reminded her. “And probably your friend Doug Bentin, and, Dooley. Lord, don’t forget Dooley Hopper! He’ll probably make such a pest of himself they’ll throw him out.”

Diamond listened and nodded but didn’t bother answering. There was no need. Diamond knew Twila was talking to her so that she wouldn’t do so much thinking and make herself unduly nervous. But it was too late for that. Diamond was already as nervous as she was going to get—and as sad as she’d ever been in her life. This was, to date, the most important event in her life, and she didn’t have one single family member or loved one with whom to share it. She shivered and pulled her coat tighter.

“Cold?” Twila asked, and flipped the heater to a higher setting.

Diamond nodded. It was an easier answer than admitting that a ghost had just walked across her conscience. The only thing was, she didn’t know if it was Jesse’s or Johnny’s ghost who’d reminded her that she was alone by choice, not fate.

20

It was not what
she’d expected. A little of the magic was missing, and she knew that it was because the magic came from the entertainers, and most of them had not yet arrived. The stage and auditorium were still empty.

Diamond stood on stage, her toes even with the edge, and stared up in amazement at the heavy burgundy curtain above her head that would later come down and separate her from the audience. She shivered with anticipation and looked up into the vacant balcony and then down into the rows and rows of seats on the main floor, trying to imagine what it would look like full of people. Definitely nothing like Dooley’s.

An engineer above the balcony was checking the lighting, and he ran a slide-show test of the half-hourly sponsors of the Grand Ole Opry across the big screen above the doorway of the red barn backdrop. Their familiar names made her smile.

She’d grown up listening to the radio and AM 650’s WSM broadcast of the Opry every Friday and Saturday night. But never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that she’d be standing on stage in front of that famous red barn, awaiting her maiden performance on the show.

She turned and walked toward the center of the stage until she came to a dark circle of wood set in the middle of the floor. She walked around it, testing its boundary to make certain lightning wouldn’t strike, and then took a breath and stepped inside. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back as she tried to imagine the footsteps of the famous who’d been there before her.

“Know what you’re standin’ on?” Dooley asked, surprising her with his presence and his touch.

Diamond opened her eyes and smiled. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, and then looked down. “Of course I do. I wouldn’t be worth my salt if I didn’t. This is a piece of the stage from the old Ryman Auditorium where the Opry used to be held. Right?”

Dooley grinned. “Right! A whole lifetime ago, before you were even born, country stars were leaving their footsteps on that piece of wood. Think of ’em! Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, even Johnny Cash. It’s enough to give you the chills.” He patted her arm and wiggled his eyebrows. “Feel any ghosts?”

Diamond shook her head and tried not to think of ghosts. If there were any beside her, they belonged to Jesse, or maybe her father. Those were the ghosts in
her
life.

“I’m glad you came to share tonight with me,” she said.

“Honey, I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” Dooley said. “Are you nervous?”

She nodded.

“Good! That means you’ll be fine. Doesn’t pay to be too cocky. I’ll be right back there, rootin’ you on. All you have to do is remember that even though you don’t know who’s out there,” he motioned toward the audience, “you can count on who’s behind you.”

He pointed toward the chairs on stage in front of the red barn backdrop where the honored guests and family members of the performers were privileged to sit and watch the Opry. With only a fake fence and the stage instruments of various bands separating them from the performers, they had a better than average view of everything going on.

“I can always count on you,” Diamond said. “Wish me luck.”

“You won’t need it,” he said. “Just do what you always do. You’re the best.”

He slipped his arm around her shoulder and together they walked offstage to where Twila was conferring with the announcer regarding Diamond’s introduction.

The curtain came down as the audience began to pour in. Diamond could hear people twittering in nervous excitement as they found their allotted seats, and she began to smell the popcorn as it burst into life, filling the hoppers for later sale. In no time at all, a heady combination of anticipation and excitement overcame her, and she knew that for whatever reasons, tonight was going to be magic.

Jesse paced nervously, bumping into first one and then another of his band members as they remained secluded in their room beyond the main staging area at the Grand Ole Opry. For this plan to work, they could not mingle with the other performers as they would normally have done, and it seemed to make them all a little jumpy.

“For God’s sake, Jesse, either sit down or slow down. You’re makin’ me seasick.”

Al’s good-natured grumbling was echoed by others in the band, but none begrudged him his anxiety. They all knew what this night meant to Jesse. In a way, it meant their future, too.

To a man, none doubted his claim that if he lost his lady because of this business, he wanted out of it fast. If he left, that meant they would have to start over, and no one wanted that.

“Sorry,” Jesse muttered, and stepped in front of the full-length mirror again. He adjusted his hat, yanked at the sleeves of his long-sleeved white shirt, retied his string tie, and then shined his belt buckle with his coat sleeve, making certain that his appearance would pass muster.

Mack brushed some lint from the shoulder of Jesse’s black suit coat and then patted him roughly on the back.

“You’re gonna be fine, buddy,” he said. “I don’t know what you’re worryin’ about. You know that lady better than me, and I’d bet my life she won’t let you down.”

“She has the right,” Jesse said. “I let her down so far it nearly killed us both.”

“That’s in the past, Jesse. Tonight is a brand-new start. Don’t mess it up by harping on what was. Be ready for what is. Okay?”

“My God, Mack. You’re makin’ me nervous. When did you become a philosopher?”

Mack grinned. “Remember that redhead from New Year’s Eve? Well, she
was
home. And you know what else? She’s college-educated, and pretty to boot. I just might be thinkin’ of settlin’ down myself…one of these days.” Then he blushed as Al walked by and hooted derisively. “Well, I didn’t say for sure—I just said I was thinkin’ about it.”

Jesse grinned. The tension of the moment was broken, and he settled down to await the unveiling of Diamond Houston.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer’s voice echoed through the auditorium. “You’re in for a real treat tonight. There’s a bright new star shining over Nashville. And I can guarantee that she’s going to shine far and wide in her career. If you’ll let her, she’ll take you on a ride you’ll never forget. Let’s give a big Opry welcome for Miss Diamond Houston, of Cradle Creek, Tennessee.”

The round of applause sounded friendly. But it wasn’t rousing, and Jesse knew it. He stood offstage right to where Diamond would enter and waited in the shadows for her appearance.

He’d been a performer there too many times not to hear the difference in the audience’s welcome. It wasn’t normal for a near-unknown to appear on the Opry, but in true country-music fashion, they were generously giving her the benefit of doubt.

She sauntered onstage as if she’d done the same a thousand times before, giving away nothing of her anxiety. Her hair was full around her face, loose and flowing as it moved in opposite Sway to her body.

The stage lights caught the sheen of her green satin shirt, and a separate spotlight seemed to follow the length of those long, jean-clad legs as they propelled Diamond toward the microphone. Her breasts pushed against the satin and bounced slightly with every step she took. A wide belt accentuated her tiny waist and slender, almost boyishly slim hips, and her old but very polished boots added to her elegant height.

Yet she was woman personified. No sequins, no rhinestones, no flash and flutter. Just a blonde with a guitar and a smile that would melt icicles off a pump handle in the dead of winter.

She’d heard a lot of the patter with which other entertainers would start their performance, but she opted once again to be different. Thanks to the announcer, the fans now knew her name. It was up to her to show them why she was there.

She leaned over, unconsciously giving the audience a very enticing view of her backside as she picked up her guitar, and then faced them once again as she slid the strap over her shoulder. Her fingers ran across the strings, and then, unexpectedly, she assaulted the audience with sound and emotion. The song burst forth from her lips, and instantly her listeners were ensnared in the words of the story as Diamond took an old Hank Williams song and made it her own.

She went through her performance in a daze, hardly aware of the surprised smiles and then the enraptured faces of the audience who’d found a new singer to adore.

And then the old standard was over.

As the audience clapped loudly in appreciation of her obvious talent, she smiled and bowed, trying to calm her racing heart enough to be able to perform her last number. The song that would finish her performance was one that she’d written more than five years earlier. It had been written at a time in her life when she’d believed she would never escape Whitelaw’s Bar or Cradle Creek. Even recalling the words made her teary.

The smile disappeared from her face as she took a long, slow breath and found the right chord on the guitar. The words that then came out painted an image of her life as Johnny Houston’s daughter.

Little girl running, little girl lost
,

gambler’s daughter hidin’ from the names they toss
.

Never understanding that the rules don’t change
,

’cause if you don’t fit in, you can never play the game
.

Jesse gripped the edge of the curtain and leaned his forehead against the thick folds as the words of her song enveloped him. This was almost too much to absorb. To hear this now and know firsthand the pain that had caused its birth made what he’d planned next nearly impossible. But it was already set up, and he was too far in to back out now.

The audience gave Diamond a rousing round of applause as she ended her performance with a broad smile and a wave of her hand. She slid the guitar from around her neck, set it upright behind her on a stand, and took another bow before starting offstage.

Twila was standing behind the announcer, beaming proudly, as the shouts from the audience and the announcer’s encouraging wave sent Diamond back to center stage for another call.

She didn’t see the men quickly taking their places in the band section behind her. She didn’t hear the audience’s gasp of surprise as first one and then another of them were recognized. She was still riding on the tails of her successful performance.

But the smile died on her face as the first strains of the melody filled the stage behind her. She froze in place, afraid to turn around as Al Barkley’s fiddle began the first notes of the song that had nearly ruined her life.

And then Jesse’s voice rang out, strong and sure, and she buried her face in her hands as the audience gasped with surprise when he walked onstage toward Diamond Houston.

Don’t tell me lies, just say you love me
.

Don’t try so hard to make me believe
.

It’s not too late if you really mean it
,

but you can’t stay just to watch me grieve
.

Tension hung in the air. Even the audience sensed the drama of the moment. Diamond shuddered, aware of Mack’s deep voice behind her quietly urging her on.

She dropped her hands, unaware of the tears running down her face, and turned. For one long, heart-stopping moment she stood face to face with the man who’d stolen her heart and her sanity. And then Al repeated the notes that were her cue to join in.