He gave a short laugh. “Glory Greenleaf. Yeah.”
Glory Hallelujah Greenleaf Barlow.He loved the sound of that.
“Well... goodness!” Her brightness was a trifle strained.
Eli stifled a laugh. He wasn’t surprised.
“So, honey, how did it come about?”
He gave her a very broad outline—ran into her again at a party in Hellcat Canyon, things kind of took off from there. And he told her about Wyatt “King” Congdon and the discovery that took place in the Misty Cat and what was next for Glory.
His mom was struggling more than a little with this news. She knew the history of the Greenleafs, and how what had happened with Jonah had actually broken Eli’s heart.
“Well, I’m incredibly happy for her. She’s wonderfully talented. And I’m so happy the world will have a chance to hear her. Oh, but, honey...”
“Yeah, Mom?”
“If she’s really successful at this... she’ll be touring and recording and doing interviews and shows and Eli... the kinds of publicity involved... your life could become a zoo. You’ll be away from each other so much. It could be so hard on a couple. And hard on a family, if you have kids. It could be solonely. And I want so much for you to be happy. I do. Sweetie, you deserve to behappy.”
He’d expected her to say exactly this.
She was just reciting stuff that both he and Glory already knew. And he knew his mom was worried.
He waited it out, listening patiently.
And then he waited another moment after his mom stopped talking.
“Was it easy?” he asked gently. “Being married to Dad?”
She was silent.
“Even if you still knew how it all would end, Mom, would you do it again? Marry him? Make a life with him?”
He was going to make his tough mom cry, but he needed her to understand.
“One minute with her...”
He didn’t finish. His mom understood the rest:...is better than a lifetime with anyone else.
And she did understand.
In that silence, she made that leap on her own.
“I’m so happy you found someone to love like that, Eli.” Her voice was thrumming with love and tears.
“I learned how to love like that from you.”
A moment passed and neither of them spoke.
He heard her sniffling. But she pulled it together.
“She loves you, too, you know, Eli. Glory does.” She sounded like she was reassuring herself when she said it.
“Oh, I know.” He was smiling faintly, triumphantly. “But what makes you say that?”
“That night when she played that song... that beautiful song...”
“‘Songbird.’”