What I did find hard to believe was watching Stel a on television. Now that was weird.

Though she looked good on the red carpet, dressed rock ‘n’ rol cool but couture chic and hanging onto Mace’s arm while walking up to some awards ceremony.

The Blue Moon Gypsies were huge. They were the new definition of cool. They were, as the magazines said,

“Bringing rock back to its roots,” and it was true.

They didn’t do slick, produced, music videos. Most of their videos were clips from concerts or them playing a song, live, on a sidewalk in Vegas (for which they didn’t get a permit so they got arrested which was also touted as bringing rock back to its roots but it wasn’t original, U2 had done much the same for their kickass “Where the Streets Have No Name” video) or they’d shoot the video while playing in a smal , cool-as-shit but seriously dive club somewhere (thus making the club famous and jacking up their revenue).

It didn’t hurt that Stel a was gorgeous and the boys in the band not only weren’t hard on the eyes but they also drank a lot, screwed around a lot, got in trouble a lot and were general y just pure old fashioned rock ‘n’ rol .

We had a roped off section, front and center. We also had backstage passes hanging around our necks.

Stel a took care of the Rock Chicks.

The entire gang was there. Indy and Lee, Roxie and Hank and Ren and Al y (the Nightingale offspring’s parents, Kitty Sue and Malcolm, were watching Cal um and Suki, Hank and Roxie’s kids Leah and Tex and Ren and Al y’s daughter, Katie); Jet and Eddie and Hector and Sadie (Hector and Eddie’s Mom, Blanca, was watching Jet and Eddie’s brood, Alex, Dante and Cesar and Hector and Sadie’s daughter Lola and newborn son, Gus); Jules and Vance (Jules’s friend May was watching Max, Sam and Harry); Daisy and Marcus; Sissy and Dom; Tod and Stevie; Nick; The Kevster; Ralphie and Buddy; Tex and Nancy; Duke and Dolores; Annette and Jason; Smithie and LaTeesha; Tom and Lana; Chloe and her husband, Ben; Roam and one of his (many) girls (this one was new, I didn’t know her name); Sniff (who was alone, for once) and Floyd, his wife, Emily, and his two daughters.

Floyd was now The Blue Moon Gypsies’ Manager, though, on occasion (or more often than “on occasion”) Stel a coaxed him onstage. Floyd wasn’t backstage during this gig, he was going to hang with the crew since it was a hometown show.

We al hadn’t seen Mace and Stel a in awhile though they kept in close touch or at least Stel a did.

At first, Mace stayed working for Lee while Stel a and the band travel ed, toured and promoted albums but they kept their home base in Denver. A few years ago, when her popularity moved outside The States and she’d have dates in Europe and Asia, Mace quit Nightingale Investigations and went with them.

This worried me. Mace was action man. I didn’t see him as a member of an entourage.

He wasn’t one for long.

Some crazed fan had broken into Stel a’s dressing room before a gig and did things that were so freaky and gross, Luke wouldn’t tel me what they were. Mace now oversaw the entire band’s security detail.

There was never a repeat of The Dressing Room Incident as it came to be known, though none of the Rock Chicks, not even Indy (and Stel a never spil ed, no matter how hard Al y pushed it) knew what happened. But also he was so good at it and such a tough guy, badass, macho man that other rock stars and movie actors heard of him and now he was in high demand. He moved Stel a and his home base to Los Angeles, started his own security business based in LA and had even more tough guy, badass, macho men in his employ than Lee did.

The crowd was getting restless, beginning to chant and stomp. The Gypsies were half an hour late taking the stage (they were probably fighting, as usual).

Al of a sudden, Luke slid his arm around my shoulders and kissed the side of my head. I looked at him and my heart jumped when I saw his face.

One could say my husband was pretty damned happy I was having his baby.

“Don’t get al squishy on me. I married a tough guy, macho man. You get squishy, I’m gonna have to find someone else,” I told him.

This was a lie. I’d seen Luke (almost) squishy a lot with Gracie and I didn’t mind it in any way, shape or form. He didn’t do baby talk or any of that crap but his soft, sweet looks for me were nothing on the way he looked at his daughter. I thought he’d be pissed he didn’t have a boy but he didn’t care at al .

Luke wasn’t fazed by my lie.

Instead, he said, “If you get those f**kin’ headaches again, I’m movin’ out of the house for three months and livin’

in the cabin in CB. I don’t even want to hear about them from Daisy or Shirleen.”

I just stopped myself from smiling. “Vance refuses to take assignments out of state when Jules is pregnant. He won’t even miss a single day of her pregnancy,” I informed Luke, pretending to sound hurt.

“I’m not Vance,” Luke informed me, not pretending anything.

This time, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “No, you aren’t.”

He bent his head and kissed my neck. I felt the thril of it from neck to ni**les.

When he lifted his head and looked at me again, I asked, “Do you want a boy this time?”

He answered immediately, “I want a healthy family. Mom, Dad, kids, whatever way they come.”

I also answered immediately, “God, I love you.” He tilted his head and rested his forehead against mine.

“Don’t get soft on me, I married a bitchy woman. You get soft, I’m gonna have to find me another bitchy woman.” I smiled at him and lied again, “Okay, I’l try to be a bitchy woman.”

He grinned at me, not halfway but ful on this time. I felt that in my ni**les too.

That’s when the lights went low and the crowd went wild.

I jumped out of my seat, ran forward, and, per usual, joined the Rock Chicks at the edge of the stage.

Stel a walked out and I held my breath at the sight of her.

She looked great, didn’t even look like she’d had baby Tal ulah only six months ago. She was wearing jeans, cowboy boots, a kil er belt and a light blue, teeny little t-shirt that said “The Gypsies” in cool, electric-blue glitter script across the boobs.

“I want one of those shirts!” Roxie yel ed to no one.

“Right on, sister,” Al y yel ed back.

Stel a strapped on her guitar, walked up to her mic and she was so close, we could touch her boots.

I’d seen Stel a play a lot before she got famous and al the girls had caught every concert she did close to home after. Every time since she made it big, just like tonight, she pointed down to us, wrapped her hand around the mic and, first thing, told the crowd, “My girls are here tonight.” The crowd went wild. Indy, Al y, Jet, Roxie, Jules, Sadie, Daisy, Annette, Sissy and I jumped up and down and screamed like we were fifteen year old groupies.