The week after Thanksgiving, David and Brie were on a plane to Washington DC for the Kennedy Center Honors Ceremony. Little did David know, but his children would be flying out the next day so that they could all participate in the honoring of the charismatic man they called their father. Brie sat on the plane and smiled to herself as she read the novel she’d recently loaded onto her Kindle. “What has you grinning from ear to ear, baby?” David asked mid flight.
“Nothing in particular, really. Just generally happy. Happy to be alive, happy to have such a wonderful man in my life, happy to have ten fantastic children and eight darling grandchildren. It’s beautiful.” She leaned in to him and laid her head on his shoulder.
He kissed the top of her head. “I’m glad you’re so happy. And, now that all of the kids have graduated from high school, I can treat you like the queen you are.”
“Oh? And what does my king want to do while we’re in our nation’s capitol?”
“I’m going to take you to dinner and a show in New York.”
“Oh? Really now?”
“Yeah. I think there’s a revival of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ in Broadway”, he said with a laugh.
“Oh, please no. Not ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. I’ll do ANYTHING if you just don’t make me sit through ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. It’s bad enough that I feel like Golde every time one of our children gets engaged. I don’t want to be sitting in the balcony singing ‘Sunrise, Sunset’ along with the actors.”
He looked at his wife with a smile and started humming the tune. It didn’t take long for her to join him with a shake of her head. When they were done, he looked at her as she looked up from where he head lay on his shoulder. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“You’re evil”, she laughed.
“No. I’m not evil. I’m just having a little bit fun. Tomorrow’s all business, if you’ll recall.”
“Oh, I remember. We have lunch with President McAllister and the other Honorees and their guests from noon to three. Then, interviews and publicity things for this silly thing for an hour or two. Then, we have to go BACK to our hotel room and be ready to get in the limo by 7:30. The ceremony starts at 8:00.”
“You have our itinerary memorized?”
“Yes. I have to keep you on your toes, don’t I?”
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“Do you think Dad suspects anything?” Delilah asked Jake as they loaded suitcases into the car to head to the airport?”
“Not a fucking thing. Mom’s been sure to keep him in the dark about the entire ceremony because he asked to be in the dark”, Jake said.
“I just hope that he’s truly surprised when he sees all of us cram onto the stage with everyone else that’s there to honor the other people”, James said as he got Hunter settled into his seat in a separate car.
“I’m sure he will be”, Makayla said. “Dad’s usually pretty genuine with his emotions.”
“I’m so excited to do this”, Jessi said. “Dad really deserves this. He’s such a great guy.”
“I know”, Marc said. “He seems a little larger than life unless you know him like we do.”
“Good thing he’s NOT larger than life to us”, Meagan said. “Mom keeps him pretty grounded.”
“And he keeps her sane”, Jeremiah added.
“I’m sure that it’s both of their sincere hope that all of us find our soul mate like they found theirs”, Jake said with a smile. “Now, we need to take off. Maddie, Malachai and Jordan are going to meet us at the airport so that we can all fly out to DC together.”
“Do we know where we’re staying so that we don’t run into them?” Jeremiah asked.
“Yes, and I’ve made arrangements for all of us at a hotel on the other side of the city from them. They’re staying near the White House. We won’t be anywhere near them.”
“Good, that will make it easier for us to surprise him”, Jessi said with a smile. “I can’t wait to see the look on his face when we all crowd onto that stage to sing ‘Down With the Sickness’. It’s going to be a one of a kind.”
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“I still can’t believe that I’ve done anything to deserve such an honor”, David said to his wife as they lay in bed that night.”
“You’ve been saying that all day, love. You do deserve this, David”, she replied. She was laying with her head against his chest like always.
“What did I do for this thing?”
She rolled over onto her stomach and looked him in the eyes. “David, you’ve spent your entire career trying to set yourself apart from the crowd; trying NOT to be a sheep. During the War, you preached about not letting those Utopian bastards take away our rights and be Nazis. You went so far as to call them Nazi like. You’ve never been afraid of controversy in your writing. You’ve always been willing to tackle those topics that are more likely to end a career than give it a good swift kick in the ass as is obvious with ‘Inside the Fire’ and ‘Another Way to Die’. This is what you’ve done to deserve this.”
“And I didn’t do ANY of it for the recognition.”
“And that’s what makes you all the more worthy.”
One of his hands came up and his fingers got lost in her brown and silver curls; his palm rested against her cheek as he smiled at her. “What did I do to deserve you?” he asked.
“You’re a good man, David; a good man and a good father. Never mind the whole rock star thing. I could really care less about all of this glitz and glamour. You’re a good, caring man. That’s all that matters to me.”
He sat up just enough to press his lips to hers softly. After a chaste kiss, he settled back against the pillows with a smile. “I love you, Brie. I know I don’t say it enough, but I do love you.”
She settled back into the bed next to him, placing her head on his chest. “I love you too, David. And, you don’t have to say it very often. It’s implied. Your actions speak far louder than your words. They always have.”
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They were all finally settled into their hotel rooms after a long flight from Denver to Washington DC. Reagan International was packed for some reason so getting out of that hell hole quickly wasn’t happening. Jacob was relieved to finally get out of the jammed building with his two small children. His siblings were all relieved as well. “God, that place is HOPPING!” Jordan said when they finally got checked into the hotel.
“Yeah, I know”, Davina said. “That airport was CRAZY. I bet Jake’s glad to have Miri and Ira out of there.”
“From the look I saw on his face when he finally got them loaded into the car, yeah. I’ve only ever seen that look a few times. Jake usually gets that look when he’s about to lose his temper and start killing people. We
got out of there not a moment too soon.”
“Jake’s usually so calm, cool, and collected. When has he ever come close to losing his temper?”
“Oh Lord, I don’t even remember the last time that happened. I know there was a time in High School where he wanted to kill people for making fun of me.”
“What for?”
“I was really upset that day. Uncle Matt had just died. I mean, Mom and Dad were struggling to keep their shit together in front of us kids. They weren’t even going to tell us that Uncle Matt had passed until after the body had been removed from the house, but I insisted. They asked us to try to hold it together for a couple of hours and they’d pull us out so that we could mourn. I ran into the office and started balling into Dad’s shoulder when he came to pick Jake and me up from school. Jake came in right behind fuming. When we got out to the car, he started mumbling about going back in to beat the shit out of the guys that were picking on my because I was so upset.”
“Wow. That doesn’t sound ANYTHING like the Jacob Draiman I know.”
“Well, that’s my twin brother. He’s loyal to a fault- a lot like our Dad. I think that’s a trait we all got from him.”
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