Chapter 22
Later, that week, Willow got her statement from Rufus, with the income from album sales up to the end of September. With all the different albums out there, she was on a sixth of the Rocks albums and a third of the VivWillow ones and had earned two point three million while she had been away. Garry was on the same income for the Rocks albums and the charity show DVD. All of her expenses had been paid by the promoter in America, and she had gained a large number of new outfits.
She and Garry relaxed for some days, playing around with songs at times, and watching old show DVDs in their home theatre to pick holes in the performances. They both worked to get the house clean and tidy, with the idea that they may have a housewarming, or at least a Christmas party. They discovered a high-class restaurant only walking distance away, which was handy if they felt like being pampered.
On the Friday, she met with Vivienne, and they spent several hours in the salon. Ken was staying in a hotel that night, so Willow went with Vivienne to the house that they lived in. As they had both done very well for themselves, Ken and Viv had a house about the same size as Marlow, but in one of London’s better suburbs. The wedding was at two, on the Saturday, so they lazed around and talked about the past and the future. Both Viv and Ken were working with a voice coach as well as with the ENO. Viv let on that they would be looking at the ‘Magic Laptop’ with Ken playing Ego.
They had a light lunch, and Willow got them both dressed and ready to be picked up. Viv’s father and mother had come down from Coventry, that morning, and he was in the limo that arrived to collect her. A second one was waiting for Willow. They were transported to St. Martins in the Fields and Willow helped Vivienne get ready to be escorted in by her father. She followed behind, to stand off at one side when Viv was handed to Ken. The service was wonderful, the church was full of friends and celebrities, the photo session took place in Trafalgar Square, surrounded by tourists and reporters. Willow couldn’t help but smile, as it was the most higgledy-piggledy after wedding she had ever witnessed. The thing was that all the pictures, when she saw them later, had everyone with a beaming smile, so she guessed that may have been the plan all along. The happy couple had a flight out of Heathrow that evening, so the reception started early, just a short walk away to the Portrait Room in the National Gallery. It was a restaurant that Willow had never been to, but would go again, with fantastic food and great views out to Trafalgar Square and the church.
The limo took Willow and Garry to the apartment, where they spent the night, with Garry pretending that it was their wedding night, all over again. Willow had no problems with going along with the pretence.
The following week, Willow and Garry stayed in the apartment and went to the Abbey Road studio on the Monday morning to record the Boston set. When they went into the big studio, there was a noticeable change. The back wall was painted blue, along with the floor in front of it. There was a wall of amps, with the drum kit and keyboard. They changed into stage gear, were all set up with lapel mics and buds and asked to do a soundcheck.
As Willow stood at the keyboard, she could see a number of cameras on tripods, set some way in front of them, as well as the ones above the control room. They did a single check and were then taken up into the control room to see what it would look like. The vision had them on what looked like the stages in America, with speaker stacks and big screens on each side. The rear looked like a curtain, and there were play-back speakers in front of them, with what looked like flame guns and thunderclap canisters.
They all agreed that it looked good, and congratulated Xavier and Harold. Then, they went back down, got ready, and recorded the entire Boston show as a single take, with audience involvement and announcements.
They had the studio booked for three days, so sat around putting together another album. On Tuesday, Willow and Garry brought in the songs that they had been working on, the others brought the ideas they had been having, and, on Wednesday, they played the set in the morning, twice, and recorded the next Toxic Rocks album in the afternoon. The main difference was the change of outfits, and the treatment of the background to a smaller venue. The album was to be called, ‘Toxic Rocks -Genesis’, and would be released the following year.
Clive and Jill were happy that it had gone so well, and amazed at how Willow was able to pull the four, older, guys into an agreement. The fact that the result was so good was evidence that the Rocks had agreed to let her arrange the songs.
On Friday, Willow met Jill at the salon and repeated the beauty treatment. They went back to her flat in Maida Vale, not that far from Abbey Road. Clive was staying with his Best Man that night. This wedding was at eleven, so the girls got ready to be picked up. The church was St. Augustine’s in Kilburn, the photos were to be taken a short walk away, in the grounds of the Paddington Recreation Ground, and the reception was lunch at the Carlton Tavern, that they had walked past on the way to the photo shoot.
It, too, was a lovely service, the bride looked radiant, and the happy couple left to go and change before also heading to Heathrow for a flight to Ireland. Once again, the limo deposited the two Randalls at the apartment and they had a very early night indeed.
When they went back to Marlow, they lived the life of a happy family for a week, and then took a flight to Florence, following up an invitation to visit from Gina. They were picked up by Gina, with a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce, and taken to a genuine mansion. Over the course of the week there, they met all Gina’s in-laws, a very wealthy family in the wine industry. Her marriage was truly one of love, as both of the happy couple were well off in their own right.
Gina was well on the way with the pregnancy, and assured them that it was a girl, who would be called Salice, or Willow in Italian. She had a full list of bookings that next summer, playing piano with a number of good orchestras around Europe. They had one fun evening, with the in-laws, and Maisie with her husband, playing piano on the Steinway Grand and singing drinking songs, which seemed to resonate with Italians as well.
The two girls spent a lot of time in the conservatory, talking and laughing about the past and the future. Willow showed Gina pictures of their new home, and Gina was amazed that Ashley was now a Government Minister. Willow also had pictures of Racheal’s Rebeccah, the wall of awards in the studio, and some from the charity show.
When they left, Willow was much happier with the relationship with Gina, having felt that she had been neglecting her. There was a standing invitation to visit Marlow, sometime in the future. The Randalls, while they were already in Italy, took a flight south to Brindisi, checking in at the Ostello della Gioventù Brindisi for a relaxing ten days in the sun, and looking at the tourist spots.
Back in London, Willow prepared for the familiarisation week at the Royal Holloway. On the first Monday, she drove herself there, parking and walking in to join the crowd of students. She was, by a couple of years, the youngest one in the group, and had dressed down to avoid recognition.
It did work, that week, as they were split into five groups, each with a leader, and shown some of the facilities. Each day, they had a new leader and saw something different, so, at the end of the week, everyone had seen everything, tried the internal computing systems, been allocated a locker, and received their campus library card, as well as a new card for the bigger Senate Library in the city. On the Thursday, they were all given invoices for the payment of the first set of fees, with paperwork outlining different payment methods. Willow took the straight line, that evening, and paid it in full by bank transfer.
The following week, they were separated into the courses that they had nominated for. The payments were checked, and receipts handed out. Then, each group went off to different areas on the campus, Willow finding herself in a group of fifteen in a lecture theatre. Terry and Ted spoke, at length, about the course, the different modules, the basic requirements needed to complete each module and the expectations of the student involvement. That day, most of the first year was covered.
On Tuesday, there was one missing, and the lecture continued with the rest of the first year and into the second. On Wednesday, the number was the same as the lecturers covered the third-year subjects and projects and the amount of hours study that was expected.
Willow could see that it would be hard work, but hard work never bothered her. On Thursday, just twelve of them were sitting in the lecture theatre as they were told about all the resources and help available to them to complete the course. They were given Friday off the think about things and were to be back in the lecture theatre on Monday, at ten, when they would get an idea of what to expect by having the first lecture and a mini project to complete by the end of the week.
During the weekend, Willow looked through the course notes she had been given and the notes she had taken during the overview, and went in on Monday, ready for anything. The lecture was given in a normal speech pattern that shouldn’t be a problem if you were awake and concentrating. She listened to what was said, and the way it was said. She took notes and tried to follow the reasoning.
Taking the project from Terry, she read it through while the lecture was fresh in her memory, then went to the library to sit down and create a list of what was required. Only then did she go out into the nearly empty carpark and drive home. That night, she sat in the office and typed her answer to the project, giving her reasoning for her conclusions. She saved the file under ‘Year One’ and also sent it to a file of the same name in her silver laptop.
On Tuesday morning, she drove to the campus and handed her answer in, with Terry telling her that she was the first back, and that he was looking forward to seeing her in the new year.
Back at home, she put all of the course paperwork in a file in her side of the office. She turned on her trusty black laptop and checked for messages. There was an official invitation to the event at the Dorchester, addressed to both of them, and a list of dates from Wendy, showing all the events that her father was expected to attend, with a note asking if the Randalls could find the time to join them at some.
Some were Christmas parties organised by the electorate office, one was a New Year party at the Stoneleigh Club, another was a soiree to be held in Whitehall, where Ashley was hosting a get-together of important figures from the industrial and business sector. The Dorchester event was listed, with an asterisk, as was a Christmas party on the last day of work in the design office, which she should attend as a director of the company.
It made her stop and think about how much more complicated her life had become. On tours, there was only one aim in life, and that was to put on a good show. At school it had been to learn enough to pass the exams. On that thought, she realised that the school would have sent her results to Rising Lane, and that her parents had probably put them aside for her.
When Garry came in, after a meeting with Mac about the practise schedule for the next year, she told him that she would be going to Rising Lane the next day to see if there was any post for her to pick up.
He needed to go down to see the estate agent on Bourton about the house, as it appeared that there had been an offer made, so she would drive herself to the old home. That evening, he told her what had been discussed with Mac, and that the rest of the band had decided on two tours, over the next two summers, before calling a halt. They would release the already recorded album next year, with a final boxed set the year after, with a lot of their old material, re-mastered, and a new album that Mac wanted to be some reworkings of their very early work. That meant that any new songs that they wrote would be for them to use, which also meant that they would have to think about putting another band together if they wanted to perform.
She showed him the list of events, and they agreed to attend the ones that Wendy had highlighted. The rest of their December was almost full. They looked at everything and agreed that this wouldn’t be a year where they would host something at their home, as there wouldn’t be a free date available.
The next morning, Garry headed south while Willow drove north. As she drove, she thought about this simple act. During the year, that one driving test, successfully completed, had changed her life. She didn’t need someone to take her anywhere these days. If she felt like it, she could drive to a beach somewhere and wade in the waves, without having to ask anyone. It was a feeling of total freedom that having a car gave you. That made her think about something else, and she knew that there was somewhere she needed to go today.
At Rising Lane, she let herself in and went up to her bedroom. It looked a bit sad, with the bed stripped. She saw a small pile of envelopes on the dressing table, held down by Tiger. She smiled, knowing that she now had a larger version to cuddle at night. The envelope from the school was there and she opened it. The results list was impressive, and there was an embossed certificate from Cambridge University with her nine ‘O’ Level passes listed. She took it to her father’s office and found a spare frame. She framed the certificate and hung it on the ‘Wall of Achievement’ wondering if he would notice it, one day. She sat in his chair and gazed at the other framed items. The ones of appreciation from Hugh, the end of year results from second, third, and fourth years. Her ton-up certificate. It was all a record of her life since arriving in Stoneleigh that summer.
Back in her bedroom, she looked at the other letters, seeing that some went back months. There were invitations to events long passed, advertising of sales of musical instruments from the summer, and one from Alec, with an invitation to his wedding, which had happened while she was in America. There was a letter from Evelyn, telling her that, as the band had broken up, the Summer Rose Fan Club in Sydney had been disbanded as well, but that she would always cherish Willow’s friendship. That was one that she put in her bag to answer. It made her think about the fun they had enjoyed on the rides in Luna Park, the sheer exuberance of being a girl in a large group of girls.
When she left Rising Lane, she drove to the Epstein’s farm, where Racheal welcomed her in and sat her down with a pot of tea. With Rebeccah on her lap, they talked about things. Rick was doing well with the new Hikers. They had recorded a new album in Leicester which was selling well. The farm was starting to turn a profit and Jacob’s barn had been sub-let to their farm foreman and his family as part of his package.
Jacob, himself, had been moved from rehab to a private clinic, having got out and overdosing on a free trial, so doing damage to his body and his brain. Racheal said that she went to see him every couple of months, but he didn’t recognise her. Her parents had wiped their hands of him, and were happily living the high life, travelling the world on his money, which she didn’t begrudge them. Before she left, Willow was handed the two guitar cases, with the Martin and the one he had used in the band.
“Do what you want with these, Willow. He’ll never play again.”
“I’m going to see the Head. I’ll donate these to the music school.”
With the cases in the back, she hugged Racheal and the little one, then drove into Coventry to the school. She parked the car and stood, looking at the institution that had changed her life forever. She went in and knocked on the Head’s door.
“Come in!”
“Good morning ma-am. I’ve just popped in to wish you a Merry Christmas. I also have a couple of guitars that used to belong to Jacob Epstein which are a donation to the music school.”
“Good morning and Merry Christmas to you, Willow. You look like the music star that you’ve become. We’ve been monitoring your progress with that rock band. Pity about the drummer.”
“Yes, that one was a shock, but we were able to overcome him not being on stage, There’s a double DVD coming out that we recorded in Abbey Road. It’s a recreation of the Boston performances.”
“I have to tell you that your place here has been filled by the Vines girls. They are very talented and almost as hard working as you. They gave a performance in the theatre that was hard to beat. Their father has funded a couple of recording sessions but won’t allow them to be released until the girls are over sixteen. Have you had any word from the Mayor yet, about the keys to the city?”
“No, Ma-am. I really don’t deserve it. Everything we did, we did as a group”
“Bosh! It was always you who was driving things. It was you that turned the simple performance into a star-studded extravaganza. Over a hundred million for charity was quite a feat. And then, straight after that, you passed all the exams. You know that you’re a freak?”
“It has been said before. That reminds me. I went to see Gina Summer recently. She is well on the way with her first baby, and married an Italian lad who plays double bass and comes from a very rich family. She has a full list of engagements next summer with a host of good orchestras.”
“I saw the two of them at your wedding.”
“I didn’t have much of a chance to talk to her at that time, I was a bit busy.”
“I could see that. Now, these guitars. If you go and get them, we’ll go and see Howard. I believe that he’s been invited to the Dorchester again. There must be another award coming his way.”
They went out to the car park and Willow collected the two cases, then they went into the music school. Howard Bamborough was working on end-of-year reports and was happy to see Willow. She gave him the two cases.
“These were Jacob’s, sir. He doesn’t need them any longer. One’s a Martin. His sister gave them to me this morning to pass along.”
“Thank you, Willow. You know, I have the DVD of the charity show and watch it every now and again. It still sends tingles down my spine. It has to have been the most exciting concert I’ve conducted, even better than the two in Albert Hall.”
“I enjoyed it as well, especially as I didn’t have sing as much as usual. The tech boys who did the lights and bangers have all got good jobs, and I was in Abbey Road the other week and spoke to Xavier. He’s made some changes to how they do things there.”
“A lot of that is down to you giving them opportunity. Although we strive for academic results, just getting our students into well-paid professions is an achievement in itself. How are you enjoying married life?”
“Very much. We bought a place in Marlow, not that far from Royal Holloway so I can do the degree course. We did plan to have a festive season party, but there is a great long list of events that I’m expected to attend for my father.”
“Yes, politics has a habit of taking over one’s life, a bit like teaching. He did well for himself. I think that it’s where you got your genes for hard work. Talking about work, I need to get back to mine. Merry Christmas, Willow.”
“Merry Christmas, sir, and thank you for your kindness and generosity while I was here. It meant the world to me. That goes for you as well, ma-am.”
The Head walked her out to her car.
“Don’t be a stranger, Willow. You’ll always be welcome here. I’ll send you invitations to charity dinners.”
“Thank you. I have a card, here, with my new address, so you can add it to the record.”
They hugged, as friends, and Willow left the school. She went to the old favourite steakhouse for a meal and a glass of wine. The owner was happy to see her, and she was looked after well. After that, she went home.
The various events came and went, with Willow needing new dresses. For the Dorchester party, Garry was elegant, and Willow was regal in a long silver dress and her diamonds. It was a big affair, with all the orchestra and their partners. The whole cast of the charity show were on hand, and it was a lot of talk and laughter. With the awards, Ashley and Chris were on hand to give them out, both now in the Government. Willow sat with Garry on one side and Wendy on the other, looking like a real lady of means.
The award ceremony was long, but nobody minded. There were a lot of photos taken and a lot of light-hearted banter. Clive and Jill managed to keep things moving and Willow received a lot of hugs from the orchestra members, as well as one from Howard Bamborough. She also had hugs from Sarah and the team from the studio, here to pick up their own awards for production.
The Randalls stayed overnight, surrounded by their awards, and went back to Marlow the next day. The rest of December was a whirlwind of parties, mainly politically driven, and they were all interesting, in their own way. They met the Prime Minister, more than once, who admitted that his son had a collection of Toxic Rocks albums, but he still loved Willows’ classical ones.
They were at an open window of the parliament to see the New Year fireworks, with the sparkles making the jewellery glitter. Willow stood, Garry with his arms around her, thinking back to previous New Years, and she wondered just what lay in store for her in the future. Surely, it couldn’t be as exciting as the recent past, now, could it?
Marianne Gregory © 2025
End of Book 5