Radiant Eclipse

Dressed in a long baby-doll dress shirt and leggings tucked into a pair of boots, I walked out on stage as Matt introduced me, saying, "I want to present you with the future wife and baby's mama of our own band mate, Johnny Seward. You may know her. Vickie, why don't you come out here?"

Microphone in hand, I walked out onto the large main stage of the California Music Festival, the crowd erupting into an array of applause and shouting that I wasn't expecting at all. Mathew smiled at me as I took a place beside him and the guys went straight into Dear God. My heart pounded, and I watched as several hands reached for me as I walked the cat walk without Matt.

When I arrived at the second chorus, cheers rang so loudly that I had trouble hearing Matt over the excitement. It was towards the break down of the song that I felt something odd within my abdomen, like a release of some tension, and I looked down to find that my water had broken on stage, luckily away from the fans. Johnny didn't notice, nor anyone else, and I wasn't beginning to have contractions right away, so I ended the song with the guys. It was - thankfully - their last song anyways, so I turned off my mic and waddled over to Johnny quickly as he gave me a smile.

"We need to leave," I told him in a rush, grabbing his arms firmly.

With a confused look he asked, "What? What do you mean? I still have to wrap things up here."

"Yeah, well somethings going to unwrap itself from within me if we don't get to a hospital right away," I laughed, as he looked at my wet black leggings and swore loudly.

He grabbed hold of Matt and said, "I gotta leave early. I'm about to be a dad. I'm a dad! Ha!" He almost jumped out of his jeans as he hugged the band and dragged me along to the back stage quickly. "The ambulance can get us there quicker than trying to find our car," he said, as we rushed towards the EMT's.

"Can we help you?" asked a man sweetly.

"My water broke," I told him.

"We can definitely help with that," he chuckled, as Johnny and I hopped into the back of the emergency vehicle quickly, the man closing the doors behind us securely.

Johnny held my hand tightly as I lied down on the gurney and breathed in repetitive patterns to ease my nerves. He brushed hair back from my face as I smiled up at him and pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. "Marcus?" I said when my brother's voice came through the phone. "Yeah. It's time. Bring dad."

Marcus hung up after a quick and flurried goodbye and I handed Johnny my cell. "I won't need that for the next twenty or so hours. Or ever," I said.

As the ambulance raced through the back lot of the stage and out towards the highway, Johnny leaned over me and kissed my forehead. "I love you, Vickie," he said softly.

I gleamed. "I love you, too, Johnny," I said in response.