The Sweetest Gift (The Gift) Read Online Free

the bass and was thrilled by how loud and low the notes were. Justin and Zak
looked at each other and laughed.
    “It’s a lot louder than my man’lin,” Jake said with a
happy look on his face. He plucked a couple more strings as Justin moved the
fingers on his left hand up and down the neck of the guitar, changing the
notes.
    “Maybe I could give you a short lesson later on, Jake.”
Justin said.
    Jake nodded and then ran over to get his mandolin.
    “Wheel Hoss,” he said.
    Maggie looked surprised.
    “Where did you learn that, Jake?” she asked.
    “Gabe taught me,” and he proceeded to play the tune
slowly.
    Everyone clapped when he was done and he smiled happily.
    “What would you like to play, Justin?” Maggie asked.
    “How about ‘I Still Miss Someone’? I remember we used to
play that together at my apartment, Maggie. How about if I sing the lead and
you sing harmony?”
    “O.k.”
    When Justin started to sing the line “Oh, I never got
over those blue eyes, I see them everywhere,” Tucker noticed that Maggie’s blue
eyes had filled with tears. Maggie and Justin exchanged a quick look and then
Maggie looked down at her guitar and wouldn’t look at him again. When Justin
was done playing, Tucker said to him, “That was beautiful Justin. Thanks for
playing that, it’s one of my favorites.”
    “How about you Tucker? What would you like to play?”
    “I’m thinking ‘The House of the Rising Sun’. Zak and
Gabe could take some good breaks on that.”
    Zak pulled out his National guitar as Tucker started to
sing.
     
    “There is a house in New Orleans,
     It’s called the Rising Sun.
     It’s been the ruin of many a poor boy
     And god I know I’m one.”
     
    Tucker’s gravelly voice was perfectly suited for singing
this blues standard and Gabe and Zak both took breaks, each trying to top the
other. They even let Belle take a break on her electric violin and she smiled
proudly when she was done.
    “That was wonderful everyone,” Maggie said when they
were done.
    “What are you going to do, Mama?” Belle asked.
    “How about ‘The Sweetest Gift’? I always like to do a
song about mothers,” Maggie said and smiled.
    Tucker played a brief introduction on his guitar and
Justin joined in on the bass. He was very familiar with the song since he used
to play it with Maggie in her bluegrass band Little Maggie. Justin and Maggie
exchanged glances several times during the song, it brought up a lot of
memories for them of when they used to play together. They smiled at each other
when Maggie sang the final line, “The sweetest gift, a mother’s smile.” When
they finished, Justin exclaimed, “It’s been a long time. I’ve missed playing
with Little Maggie.”
    “Spencer and I were planning on getting together to play
while I was here. Maybe you’d like to come play with us. We could invite Carole
and Jim to play too. It would be a nice reunion.”
    “I’d like that Maggie. You mentioned that you were
thinking about working on a new album, maybe we could get started on that.”
    “I’m getting tired guys,” said Tucker as he took one
last swallow of his water.  “Maybe we can get together tomorrow afternoon and
play some more then. Maggie and I have to run some errands in Lafayette
tomorrow morning, so we probably want to have dinner and get to bed early.”
    Justin gave Maggie an inscrutable look and said, “I’m
tired too. It was a long trip from California.”
    He helped the children put away their instruments in
their cases and they all went to Zak and Maggie’s house for some dinner. Afterwards,
Maggie helped Zak put the children to bed and then she and Tucker went back to
Justin’s house. Justin retired to the apartment in the studio. He kicked off
his cowboy boots and lay down on the bed, too tired to take off his clothes.
But he couldn’t get to sleep, there were a lot of thoughts and memories swirling
around in his mind. He lay awake for a long time with his eyes open,