Last Dance With My Father (Part 3 of 3)

“Wow, Mom. This backstage pass is so cool. Who else is going to be there?”

“All his other vocalists, Pearl, Tamara, and Lynette.” Candace bristles at the mention of her arch nemesis’s name. Bitter rivalries are part of the cost she paid for everyone believing she was Luther’s favorite. Lynette Berry shot nasty daggers at her when she announced she was leaving the tour. The rage she saw in her arch nemesis’s eyes is unforgettable. A million questions flash through her mind: Does Lynette still hold a grudge? What about the others? And more importantly, what will happen when they find out her secret? 

“Go,” he says sounding like Luther all those years ago, as he drapes the all-access concert lament over his head. “Do it for me. I won’t go.”

“Wouldn’t you rather have me stay here with you? New York is pretty far away if anything happens …”

“I’ll be fine. Just promise me before you go –“

 “Anything.” She knows she can’t deny him when he looks at her that way.

“There will be no more secrets. Okay?” 

The fact that Father’s Day falls on the same day as the Luther Vandross Tribute concert this year hasn’t escaped Candace’s attention. If anything, it’s been at the forefront of her thoughts every day since Chris Naples’s package arrived. She wakes up questioning herself about her decision to keep Mark’s father’s identity from him and doesn’t stop until she is asleep. The promise she made to herself long ago, not to look back, has vanished. If the strong, independent woman she claims to be couldn’t protect her student from tragedy, then maybe she is still just the naive girl who once loved a man more than she loved herself. The truth scares her to death. Why doesn’t she just confirm her son’s theory and tell him his father is Luther Vandross? She turns to face her son. 

“I should have told you this before…” she stops. Mark looks at her with the same expression he had when he was five years old and asked about Santa Claus. His eyes are as big as saucers. She couldn’t break his heart then; she won’t do it now. 

“I’m going to make a fool of myself on the Radio City Music Hall stage. It’s been more than a decade since I performed on anything bigger than my high school auditorium stage.” After a deep breath, she fiddles with the suitcase to make sure it’s closed properly. His disappointment crashes into her like waves hitting rocks in an ocean. She buckles. 

“I promise to tell you. No more secrets. But remember, illusions are harder to let go of than reality.” 

“Yes!!!” He yells it out before she can finish her thoughts. Mark is so excited he hugs her with all his might. Candace is relieved and nervous at the same time. 

“You know I love you. I always protect you.”

She kisses her son goodnight, and he leaves her room.

When he’s gone, she sits down on her bed and hugs herself. She is terrified of what the not-so-distant future holds. The ghosts of her past aren’t the only thing that worries her. There is also the genuine fear of performing on the big stage again. 

As a single mother, she preferred remaining in the background to standing in the spotlight. She is not fully prepared for the challenge in front of her. Candace hasn’t performed professionally since her abrupt departure from Luther’s Secret Love Tour twenty years earlier. Back then, singing and dancing for two solid hours was hard, even though she was at the top of her game. 

Suddenly, she feels like a fool for allowing her son’s desire and nostalgia for the past make her believe she could represent Luther’s legacy. Sure, she has a long history of taking voice and dance classes religiously from the tender age of five. But aside from her church choir, the car, and her shower, she has not performed in an actual show. She studies herself in the mirror. Her Saturday morning yoga class is her only form of exercise, and admittedly she skips months at a time. Can she perform on stage without embarrassing herself or the other performers? What did she think when she agreed to participate? She remembers how much it hurt her inside to make the slightest mistake on stage. Luther noticed everything, including the wrong shade of lipstick after a costume change. Will she disappoint Luther or his fans as soon as she goes on stage?  

She can’t do it. She picks up the phone and starts dialing Luther’s business manager, Chris Naples’s phone number. She stops herself before she dials the last number. 

Mark’s face pops into her mind. He is only four years older than the boy who was killed in the shooting. He has the right to know about the man who is his father; she has the right to move on with her life and stop questioning the decision she made to follow Luther’s orders.

“All these clothes. I must own something sexy!” 

She pulls out a red, flashy 80’s dress and scans its deep plunging neckline and short skirt. 

“It worked once before. Hopefully, it will work again.” She holds the dress next to her body and sways before opening up her suitcase and tenderly packing it inside. 

Luther Vandross taught her about life, loyalty, courage, and dignity. She applies his principles to her daily life. Candace has to keep her promise even though the consequences could prove to be disastrous. What will happen when she gets back? Will their life be the same, or will everything change?  

Maybe her son had the right idea. She should run away just like she did almost twenty years ago. It would make things a lot easier. 

“Mom?”

Candace jumps again at the son of her son’s voice. Mark is standing in her doorway. 

“I wanted to tell something. Destiny’s pregnant. I’m going to be a father.”

TO BE CONTINUED …

Read Last Dance With My Father Part 1

Read Last Dance With My Father Part 2 

In honor of Luther Vandross’s 70th birthday on April 20, 2021, Max Szadek shares an excerpt of his Luther jukebox musical idea, ‘Last Dance With My Father,’ which focuses on a group of fictitious female backing vocalists’ lives and loves.
Synopsis: A son’s ultimatum on Father’s Day causes his mother, one of Luther Vandross’s vocalists, to reunite with her former bandmates for a Luther Tribute Concert after a twenty-year absence. Old rivalries, secrets, and heartaches threaten to break up their perfect harmony.
Daily links will be posted on Divabetic.Org and the Quiet Storm Fans FB page. There’s also a Last Dance With My Father playlist on Spotify.

Last Dance With My Father (Part 2 of 3)

True to form, Candace does what she has done for over a decade when her son asks her this same question; she looks up at the ceiling and smiles. Only one other person knows who Mark’s father is, and he’s dead. Luther Vandross.

Twenty years earlier, in a concert in Nashville, TN, Candace messed up a few too many of Lester Wilson’s choreographed steps. Unlike Candace to be anything else but perfect on stage, Luther asked her to come to his dressing room after the show so they could talk privately. The two were as thick as thieves off and on stage. She never met anyone quite like him before. He was awe-inspiring as a vocalist, producer, and songwriter. More importantly, he was kind and generous as a man with a wicked sense of humor. For him, she had all the qualities of his favorite divas – Diana Ross, Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick – talent, style, and poise. She quickly became his muse on stage and on record personifying his vision of a glamorous, radiant goddess. Luther intuitively knew something was bothering her that was much bigger than her on-stage slip-ups. Seconds after Luther offered her comfort and told her not to worry, she confessed to him about her pregnancy. The moment the words left her mouth, she could see the disappointment rising inside of him. Silence followed. She was turning away when Luther said “Go.”

She grabs a sweater and places it in her suitcase. “I only said that Luther sings love songs. What people do while they listen to his music is their business. Do you know that Luther taught himself to play the piano by ear?” Candace grabs another sweater from her dresser.

Mark interrupts her, “I know, Mom. You’ve told me that stuff a million times. That’s why I’m going to his concert.”

“What?” She looks at his phone. She sees an advertisement for Luther Vandross’s 70th birthday concert at the legendary Radio City Music Hall. 

“You can’t.” She tries to give his phone back to him, but he stands his ground. 

“Are you afraid I’m going to find out? Just tell me.” 

Two weeks ago, she could have taken charge of the situation and skillfully dodged his question without him noticing. But that was before everything changed in a blink of an eye. Although her heart desperately wants her to change the subject before it goes too far, she’s too exhausted for her tongue to tell him another lie. 

“Sheila is right; there isn’t a conference.”

“You lied to me?”

“And when you heard me singing earlier while I was practicing for the show. I’m flying to New York to be part of his tribute BUT …”. She pulls out her contract and itinerary for the upcoming Luther’s Tribute concert from her bureau. 

“But you wanted to keep it a secret like everything else!”

She gets up and grabs a nightgown from her dresser, and puts it in her suitcase. “I was going to say, after what happened, I’m staying home.”

“Then why are you still packing?”

“I don’t know.” Suddenly, the sheer exhaustion from running nonstop for the past seventeen years has caught up to her. “I’m supposed to be unbreakable, and instead, I’m breaking right now. A music celebration doesn’t seem appropriate right now. “

“Then why go?”

“Because it’s never or now. I have to go.”

“I don’t want you to.”

“You just told me to go a minute ago.”

“I know, but now I feel guilty asking you to go after what happened at school. You’re off the hook.”

“Off the hook from what?” She looks at her son, unsure of what to do or say. This sudden about-face in their discussion catches her off guard.

“The shooting made me look at things more closely. I have come to realize over the past few days that Luther is as much a part of my life as you are.”

“So then, we are related!”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t deny it either,” he counters. 

 Candace reaches into her briefcase at the foot of her bed and pulls out some paperwork.  

“I signed a contract. Look, Luther’s old business manager, Chris Naples, sent me this contract weeks ago before the shooting.” She points to the TV then quickly flips through her Luther Vandross tour paperwork. Her hands shake as she gives her son her weekend itinerary with her flight and hotel information, contact numbers. Candace felt so confident she was making the right decision when she signed the contract. She wanted to rid her mind of all the negativity she felt that had prevented her from moving forward. She knew the constant scrutiny of her past is what stopped her from pursuing a relationship with another man. 

 “I can’t back out now. This is business.” She tosses him her official backstage lament.

TO BE CONTINUED …

Read Last Dance With My Father Part 1

Read Last Dance With My Father Part 3

In honor of Luther Vandross’s 70th birthday on April 20, 2021, Max Szadek shares an excerpt of his Luther jukebox musical idea, ‘Last Dance With My Father,’ which focuses on a group of fictitious female backing vocalists’ lives and loves.
Synopsis: A son’s ultimatum on Father’s Day causes his mother, one of Luther Vandross’s vocalists, to reunite with her former bandmates for a Luther Tribute Concert after a twenty-year absence. Old rivalries, secrets, and heartaches threaten to break up their perfect harmony.
Daily links will be posted on Divabetic.Org and the Quiet Storm Fans FB page. There’s also a Last Dance With My Father playlist on Spotify.