Once Kellan heard our plan, he was 100 percent on board. Music had shaped his childhood, same as it had mine. The other guys quickly asked to be a part of it once they heard us talking, and pretty soon, Strength Through Sound was officially being sponsored by the D-Bags. Our first center was opening next year.
I could have happily stayed at home, planning my new charity while holding my new baby and playing with my girls, but the D-Bags had a job to do, and before I knew it, our summer tour was starting. When I asked Anna what she wanted to do, I fully expected her to say she wanted to stay home with Linken. I was shocked when she said she wanted to come with. “Are you sure? I mean, I know we’ve done it with a newborn before, but we only had one kid at the time.”
Anna gave me an unworried smile. “It will be fine. Linken’s a dream baby. He’s already sleeping through the night. And I’m already on maternity leave with work, so now is really the perfect time for me to go.”
Grinning, I gave her a quick kiss. “I’m glad you said that, because I really wasn’t looking forward to not seeing you guys for three months.” With a sigh, I placed a kiss on Linken’s forehead. “I don’t want to miss that much time with them. I don’t want to miss any time with them.”
Anna cupped my cheek. “You don’t have to. We’ll find a way to make this work, just like we do with everything else. And we’ll do it together.”
I nodded. “’Cause we’re a team.”
“Exactly.” She gave me a deep, lingering kiss then, and we put Linken down for a nap in his room, so we could benefit from one of the many perks of being partners.
Kiera and her kids ended up coming on the tour too, and so did Jenny and Rachel, so there were no shortages of people to help with the kids. And maybe it was my changed attitude, or my new position with the band, or quite possibly my brother’s overabundance of excitement, but that tour was by far the best one we’d ever done. We adjusted some of the classic D-Bags songs for me, adding a second line for my guitar, or just having Matt and I play together. There were ramps on the stage set up in an X pattern that let us run up and down, back and forth, burning off adrenaline and engaging the crowd. We even had pyrotechnics for one of our songs. It was fucking amazing, and when the tour finally wrapped up at the end of the summer, I was sad that it was over with.
And then, once the tour was done and the album was a monstrous smash and all the expected babies had been born, the D-Bags had wedding after wedding after wedding after fucking wedding. Okay, it wasn’t that many, but it felt like it.
Matt and Rachel started it off by renewing their vows. It seemed unnecessary to me, since they hadn’t been married all that long, but after talking to each of them, I got the feeling they were doing it just so Anna and I could see the ceremony. That moved me, and I didn’t even give him crap about the fact that his tuxedo had tails. Who the hell wears tails anymore? Jackass. I made a mental note to get him a cane and a monocle for Christmas. I might not tease him on his “special day,” but the other 364 were fair game.
Matt and Rachel had the ceremony at the restaurant inside the Space Needle, which was pretty awesome. They bought out the entire place for the night, and after their brief vows—both whispered to each other with bright red, embarrassed cheeks—we spent the night eating, drinking, and watching the city below us slowly revolve into view.
It was a great night, and as I slow danced with Anna, I asked her if she’d like to do something similar. “Do you think we should renew our vows and shit? We never really had a party.” No, we’d pretty much taken the leap, then continued on with life: had a baby and finished up the D-Bags tour.
Anna bit her lip while she thought. “I don’t really need the ceremony part, but we could have a barbeque to celebrate? Cook some burgers, drink some beer. That would be great!”
I wrapped both arms around her, giving her a tight squeeze. “I fucking love you.”
She laughed as she squeezed me back. “I fucking love you too.”
While we made plans for our shindig, Evan and Jenny finally took the plunge. They got married at their house—the old auto body shop with the loft on top. They did it a week before Christmas…and they let Abby decorate. Her outlandish design put every Santa’s Village to shame; it gave new meaning to the words “Winter Wonderland.” Shimmering snowflakes were hanging from the ceiling, fake snow lined every flat space in sight, and bright red roses were mixed with holly and mistletoe to create one-of-a-kind flower arrangements that had everybody kissing. Once the dorkiness of it wore off…I kind of dug it.
Kellan was Evan’s best man, while Matt, Liam, and I were his groomsmen. Jenny had Kiera as her maid of honor, with Anna, Rachel, and Kate as her bridesmaids. Matt was spacey the morning of the event, like he was hungover or something. I had to snap my fingers in front of his face three times to get his attention. “Dude, what’s up with you? You look like you’re gonna hurl.”
Matt ran a hand down his face. “I think I might.” Face grim, he looked between Evan, Kellan, Liam, and me. “Rachel’s pregnant…she just told me before we came out here. I’m gonna have a kid. I’m completely freaking out.” His skin paled so much, I was sure he was about to pass out.
Reaching inside my jacket, I handed him a flask of whiskey. He took a long draw off it, not even questioning the fact that I was carrying it. Kellan slapped him on his back once he swallowed. “That’s awesome, man! Congratulations!”