Too Little, Too Late (9 page)

“Oh?”

Kate became embarrassed for having brought it up. “Don’t worry. You haven’t heard of our group. We just did a demo tape recently that we’re shopping around.”

“Any luck?”

“Nothing yet,” Kate admitted. “Some of us are getting a little discouraged although my boyfriend seems to be a born optimist.”

“What kind of music do you do?”

“Mostly soft pop,” Kate told her.

Traffic on the freeway was beginning to inch forward and it became obvious by the blaring car horns that they were holding up traffic. It was time to cut their reunion short.

“I’ll tell you what.” Esther became business-like. “Why don’t you drop off a copy of your demo tape at our house and I’ll have my husband listen to it.” She took back the business card she had given Kate earlier and scribbled her address on the back of it.

“Your husband?”

Esther nodded. “Didn’t I tell you? Frank’s a record producer.”

***

Thanks to Kate’s run-in with Esther Solomon on the freeway, the Paisleys soon found a good luck charm in the form of Frank Stromboli. When the call came from his office wanting to meet with them, Marcus was euphoric. But by the end of the meeting, his enthusiasm had waned dramatically. Although Frank Stromboli liked their sound, he felt it was too bland for people to take notice. He wanted Marcus to redo
Make a Wish
by infusing it with a folk melody and, instead of a four-part harmony, he only wanted a two-part harmony with Marcus and Kate. Frank had instinctively recognized that although Kate’s voice spanned three octaves, her upper voice didn’t have the same distinctive richness as her lower register. He encouraged Marcus to re-write the song in a key that would showcase her lower register.

“How do you like this guy?” fumed Marcus after their meeting. “One meeting with our group and he’s already rearranging everything that makes us, us!”

“But how do you know what he’s suggesting is wrong?” Kate asked reasonably.

“You’re not agreeing with him, are you Katie?” Marcus was staring at her with wounded eyes.

Kate took his hands and held them tightly. “You know I love you and that I believe in your incredible talent.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Impatient, he tried pulling away from her.

Kate would have none of it. “But the reality is that Frank Stromboli has a track record. You need to put aside your pride and see if he’s right. If anyone has the talent to do that, it’s you.”

“But he’s asking us to change what the band is all about.”

“A year ago, there was no band,” she reminded him matter-of-factly.

After brooding for a few days, Marcus threw himself into reworking the entire song with a frenetic energy that temporarily excluded everyone from his life, even Kate. By this time, they had been living together for over four months so when he locked himself into their bedroom for hours on end, Kate knew better than to disturb him. Unfortunately, Rob and Graham were less understanding about the changes and ended up leaving the group. It took Marcus almost three weeks to rework the song and another couple of weeks for him and Kate to get the harmonies down.

Frank was enthusiastic about the changes. “Now
this
is what I was talking about!”

Although Kate could tell Marcus still wasn’t convinced, he eventually got caught up in Frank’s enthusiasm. Frank arranged to have Marcus and Kate record a new demo and with him shopping it around, it wasn’t long before the Paisleys were signed to the Evergreen record label.

The Paisleys’ first album,
From the Heart
, hit stores nine months later. Frank made sure their first single off the album,
Make a Wish
, got plenty of airtime so by the time their album came out, everybody who liked the single scrambled for a copy of the album. The Paisleys made a connection with audiences immediately, especially with those who listened to the vocal harmonies of the Mamas & the Papas and the folksy melodies of Simon & Garfunkel.
From the Heart
was soon heading to the top of the charts.

With the Paisleys suddenly the hottest ticket in town, everyone began hounding Kate and Marcus for interviews and they were soon doing the talk show circuit in between working on their second album. It was while they were in New York, being interviewed by Ed Sullivan, that their live telecast was interrupted to announce the breaking news that California’s new governor, Irving Johnson, having abruptly resigned earlier that day, had been found unconscious in a hotel room after an apparent suicide attempt.

By the time their second album,
And This for You
, hit stores, everyone was clamoring for more of the Paisleys. The album contained three Billboard Top 20 hits and the album went gold in just under five months. The Paisleys had become America’s newest singing sensation.

***

They were in Boise, Idaho, on the last leg of their North American tour, when Kate got a telephone call that virtually decimated her world. Within hours, their concerts were temporarily put on hold as Kate and Marcus scrambled to catch the next flight back to L.A.

Arriving at Woodland Hills, they were ushered into Dr. MacGuyver’s office. His tone was somber as he shook both of their hands.

“Did they find out what caused the explosion?” Kate asked tearfully. She gripped Marcus’ hand, afraid to let go.

“Investigators believe the flow valve on one of the oxygen tanks in the physiotherapy room had been compromised during a patient’s schizophrenic episode earlier that day,” he explained to them.

“Was anyone else hurt?” asked Marcus.

“No. The explosion was contained to the physiotherapy room and to the two patient rooms on either side of it, one of those rooms being Sonja’s.”

“Can I see her?” Kate’s eyes were aquamarine orbs against the pale whiteness of her face.

Marcus looked at her worriedly. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Dr. MacGuyver cleared his throat uncomfortably. “The explosion was like an inferno. I’m afraid her…remains were charred beyond recognition.”

“Then how do you know it was her?” Kate asked in desperation. “Maybe it was another patient who had come in to play with her.” She was on the verge of a total breakdown.

“Sonja was having her nap when it happened. Her…remains were found in her bed.” He avoided her gaze. “I’m so sorry.”

“No!!!!”
The agonized scream was torn from Kate as she finally gave in to the immensity of her loss.

The following days were a blur as Marcus took over the arrangements for the funeral. He also asked for copies of the police report, the fire marshal’s investigation and the coroner’s report but Kate refused to look at them. All she asked for was something of Sonja’s that she could hold on to but there had been nothing left. The explosion had seen to that. Later in the week, when they stood beside Sonja’s grave, Kate couldn’t help feeling that a piece of her life had been buried alongside her daughter. She would never be the same again. The only things that kept her from losing her mind were the strong arm around her shoulders and the solid body beside her.

Marcus’ voice cut into her thoughts. “This isn’t exactly the right time or the place to be saying this, but I want you to marry me, Katie.”

She looked up at him, confused. “What?”

“I asked you to marry me.”

There was no doubting the sincerity in his eyes. Kate looked away, hating herself for what she was about to do. “Do you know who Karl Bauer was?”

“Hey,” he teased her, “how about a simple yes?”

“I asked if you knew who Karl Bauer was.”

Marcus sobered at her expression. “Wasn’t he that German director who died a while back?” he asked.

“Yes, he was,” Kate confirmed vacantly. “He was also a Nazi monster who happened to be my father.” She took a deep breath, unable to look Marcus in the eye as she told him the biggest lie of her life. “And he was also Sonja’s father.”

All vestiges of color drained from his face. “Do you mean to tell me that—”

Kate turned and slowly walked away from her daughter’s grave, unable to face him. God help her for telling him but there was no other way if she was to have any hope for a future with Marcus. The identity of Sonja’s father would always be a festering thorn in their relationship until she told him. It had been the right thing to do it now.

Running to catch up with her, Marcus grabbed her arm and spun her around. “I’m glad the sick son of a bitch isn’t alive anymore because I swear to God I’d kill him for what he did to you,” he told her angrily, “but that doesn’t change a damn thing as far as I’m concerned. I want you to be my wife because I love you like I loved that little girl we just buried.”

Tears streamed down Kate’s cheeks. “Thank you for saying that.”

“It’s the honest to God’s truth,” he told her gruffly. “So how about it – will you say yes?”

Kate melted into Marcus’ arms. No words were necessary.

***

When their tour wrapped up a month later, Kate and Marcus were quietly married in Santa Monica. When the Grammy nominees were announced later that year, the Paisleys were nominated for three Grammys, including Best New Vocal Group, and ended up winning two of them. The Grammy awards were just the beginning in a long line of accolades that included the covers of several national magazines, a performance at the White House and even an Oscar nod for one of Marcus’ songs. However, all of their accomplishments paled in comparison to Kate’s announcement of her pregnancy eighteen months after their marriage, which heralded the beginning of the end of the Paisleys’ short but prolific career.

Although Frank tried everything he could to get them to change their mind, he was no match for Kate’s determination. She had been given a second chance at motherhood and she embraced it with a vengeance. Next to Marcus, her baby became the most important thing in Kate’s life. The Paisleys retired quietly after their fifth album and Kate and Marcus bought a house in Laurel Canyon. While Kate put her energies into decorating the baby’s room, Marcus continued to write music. Not one to be a sore loser, Frank took Marcus under his wing, teaching Marcus everything he knew about the music business. Although Marcus continued to write music, the production end fascinated him.

As Kate eagerly awaited the birth of their baby, Marcus, under Frank’s dedicated tutelage, slowly evolved into one of the music business’ most sought-after producers.

1973

America had ringside seats when little Evelyn Stanton made her first public appearance leaving the hospital in the protective arms of her doting parents.

Although Kate had loved Sonja with every fiber of her being, Evelyn was nothing like her other daughter and Kate found herself experiencing motherhood as if for the first time. It was more than just the differences in each child’s physical traits that set them apart. Whereas Sonja had been unfocused and without expression, Evelyn was always animated, mischievous and full of boundless energy that constantly kept Kate and Marcus on their toes. Despite her exhaustion from her daughter’s constant demands, Kate felt blessed, happy and most important of all, at peace for the first time in her life.

***

Evelyn Stanton was four years old when Esther convinced Kate to let her daughter audition for a television commercial. They were looking for a little girl who could cry on cue and little Evelyn nailed it on the first take. Not only did she collect a check for that commercial, but she was given her very own life-size princess doll house. By five, she was taking ballet, tap, jazz and modern dance and, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she took voice lessons from a retired teacher from the Juilliard. By the time she turned seven, Evelyn had done exactly 64 commercials for everything that included dolls wetting themselves, to bubble bath, to hawking toddler duds for a major clothing manufacturer. She even became famous locally as “L’il Spiff”, the first spokes girl for Spiffy Joe’s Drive Thru Restaurants.

At nine years old, Evelyn beat out 517 other girls vying for the lead in a revival of
Clarissa’s Dream
on Broadway so Kate and Evelyn moved from L.A. to New York with Marcus commuting on weekends. Her agent convinced her parents to shorten her professional name to Lyn Stanton because it looked better on a Broadway marquee and her parents agreed. Lyn did eight performances a week; two on Saturdays, and an early show on Sundays. In between all of that, she had a tutor and as much of a normal childhood as possible.

Her role as Libby in
Daddy’s Little Girls
came quite by accident. Lyn had been one of the star attractions at a benefit for a children’s hospital in Queens when she met the wife of one of the producers of a new show scheduled for the fall line-up at CBS. She had seen Lyn on Broadway and suggested that Lyn go out to L.A. to audition for the show. They still hadn’t cast the role of the youngest daughter on the new sitcom,
Daddy’s Little Girls
. It wasn’t long before Lyn’s agent pulled a few strings and she and Kate were on a plane, heading back to Hollywood.

Daddy’s Little Girls
debuted on CBS to mediocre reviews. Although more or less panned by the critics, it was consistently in the top 30 during its primetime run. The show
quickly found a fan base with its young teenage audience despite the fact that the plot was far from original, revolving around a widowed father with two young daughters. However, its popularity was due in part to the appeal of the young girls and the fact that it sold the perennial California dream of a mansion in Bel Air, a swimming pool and lots of palm trees with the Pacific Ocean virtually in their back yard.
 

As both Lyn and Cherry Moore, who played her older sister Alana, grew into beautiful leggy teenagers, they were regularly featured on the covers of
Teen Beat Magazine
and
Seventeen
. Lyn, dubbed by the press as “America’s teenage sweetheart”, even had a small Q&A column in
Teen Journal
during the last two years of the show. Both girls made appearances at malls around the country, and were Johnny’s darlings on The Tonight Show. Their faces were immortalized on lunch boxes and it wasn’t long after the first season that stores across the country were selling pinup posters and dolls that looked like them.