"Thank you for an amazing night San Diego! I can't believe this is the last one, you were amazing, we love you and we'll miss you so much! Have a safe journey home and see you again someday!"
Those were the words that Robbie had used to end the tour. We'd played the SDCCU Stadium and it had been so sad and emotional to say goodbye to the fans, knowing that it was the last gig of what had turned out to be the most incredible tour we had ever done.
Now we were gathering in the dining room of the hotel for our pre-arranged brunch before we all flew back home to London.
----
"Hiya Rach," I smiled as I pulled her into a hug. "How're you feeling?"
"Tired," she said with a sigh, "-but excited. What time are we leaving?"
"Three o'clock, we'll be home tomorrow and we'll be sleeping in our own beds for a change," I giggled.
"I can't wait, you have no idea, I'm so impatient!"
I smiled at her, knowing since the two gigs we'd played in Toronto back in August how eager she was to come home.
It was during a 'down-time day' that she and Damon had dropped their bombshell. The road and stage crews were building our stage-set and we'd be doing the sound and light check the following afternoon prior to the first gig, so we could chill-out for a while, maybe even get to take in some of our surroundings for a change!
Rachel had asked us to have dinner with them in their suite, she'd said that, just for once she'd like us to eat in peace without feeling like we were all under scrutiny in a public space. How could we refuse? To be honest I couldn't have agreed with her more.
Jord, Grainne, Dylan, Alicia, Rob and I had met up for a couple of drinks in the hotel bar beforehand so we'd all arrived at Damon and Rachel's room together.
We'd been talking about cars when Damon had opened the door - it had turned out that Grainne was almost as much of a petrol-head as Jordan and me - so it had taken a few moments for us to take in the odd atmosphere between our friends. As we'd got ready Rob and I had discussed the possibility that they were going to tell us they'd finally decided the when and possibly the where for their own wedding and, for me, the looks on their faces just about confirmed our suspicions. Damon hadn't moved away from our small group after he'd closed the door.
"Got a question for you," he said when we'd quietened down.
He was talking to us but looking at Rachel with a possessiveness I'd never seen in him before,
"How many people do you see in that chair?"
"How many drinks have you had while we've been showing some real restraint in the bar?" Jordan asked right back laughingly.
I looked at Rachel and I
knew.
"You're pregnant," I said quietly, mostly to her.
She smiled and nodded.
"I knew it!" Alicia hollered and looked over at Grainne, excited and happy.
"You are?!" Dylan exclaimed.
"As of twelve weeks ago," Rachel told us happily and immediately stood up to let Grainne and Alicia hug her.
"Oh man, two married couples, another starting a family this is
so
not rock and roll, anybody would think we're all grown-ups!" Jordan guffawed.
I cast him a swift glance, only I knew of his own plans. He intended to whisk Grainne back to Dublin after the tour to propose to her, that way they'd be able to tell their families face-to-face - as long as she said yes of-course!
He'd even shown me the ring, it was a beautiful ruby-in-platinum affair.
"It's Grainne's birthstone apparently," he'd told me.
"Go for it bro', she's the best girl you've ever been with," I'd smiled.
Rob, I noted, said nothing at the news of Rach being pregnant.
That Damon and Rach were expecting a child had come as a shock to us all - including them! Rachel had fully intended doing things in the right order, diamond solitaire, wedding ring then baby but, Rachel being Rachel, she'd lived up to her reputation for unpredictability.
Their news had actually sent the rest of us into a bit of a tailspin. Would their baby affect our future recording and touring? I'd done a quick count forwards and calculated that what she'd said meant that her baby was due early in 2021, I think. Would it break up our living arrangements? Like all of us Damon's home occupied just about an entire floor of our building, as did Rachel's - coincidentally the one below Damon's.
But all this paled into insignificance when we realised how ridiculously happy they were.
The first thing we did, mostly thanks to Grainne's organisational skills, was to throw them an epic but alcohol-free party in celebration as soon as we got to our next destination.
We were all guilty of driving Rachel nuts as her pregnancy progressed, we just wanted to wrap her in cotton-wool and keep her safe; especially as she'd refused to go home and had insisted on staying with Damon.
"I'm pregnant, not bloody ill," she kept chuntering whenever one of us became overly-solicitous.
Now here she was, almost five months gone and blooming!
Despite having been away from home, she'd managed to come up with some fabulous ideas for their baby's nursery, the colours and furniture and it was the reason why she'd been so eager to get back home.
---
"Fuck it's so good to be home," Rob said to me as he finally flopped onto the huge sofa in our lounge.
I sat next to him and he reached for my left hand.
"Yeah, this tour really was our best ever but being here with you is the best place on earth," I said, gazing at him and we shared a kiss.
He began slowly stroking his thumb over the ring I'd been wearing since long before our wedding, he looked - I couldn't quite put my finger on what he might be thinking which was unusual as we knew each other so well - pensive maybe, or even sad were the only things that came to mind.
"What's up, babe?" I asked very quietly.
"I honestly don't know," he said, slowly shaking his head, "the come-down from the excitement maybe, being home, it's so quiet here."
"Yeah, it's odd," I agreed, "it might take us a while to get used to not having to entertain eighty thousand people nearly every evening."
He let out a giggle,
"Yeah, in a way, I'm glad it's over, but I know I'm also gonna miss it. I might wake up and need to run around the apartment at two o'clock in the morning!"
"You do what you gotta do!" I laughed.
