Beatlemania!

Half of me wanted to run away from Paul’s expression. It was full of apprehension.

“Oh yeah? And how is he?” he asked casually, his eyes fiery.

I knew there was no right answer to that question. Whatever my response was would immediately set him off.

“He’s...fine, I suppose. But, Paul, I need to tell you...” I sucked in a breath nervously.

Paul waited expectantly. “What?”

“He...kissed me,” I whispered.

I didn’t dare even look at him. In fact, I looked only at my hands. “And I’m sorry it happened, but there really isn’t anything I can do about it now.”

“You...you kissed him?” Paul choked.

I winced. “I’m sorry, Paul. It just happened. I pushed him away right away, I promise!”

“Yeah? Well that’s not exactly the point, is it?” he snapped.

“Paul!” I cried, the usual tears welling up in my eyes.

He got out of bed and threw on some jeans and a shirt and walked out.
~
I went to sleep again for a few more eyes, trying to pretend like the fight had never happened.

We were leaving New York today. Good riddance, I said. The visit had brought nothing but turmoil for my relationship with Paul.

I got up at eleven and started packing my things. I wanted so badly to blame Liam for my troubles, but I knew that wasn’t fair. I wiped my tears away and sat blankly on the bed until John came to my room to tell me that a car had come to take us to the airport.

The drive was silent, and the flight was worse. The appreciation that I had for the private jet on the previous trip had evaporated, and I sat sullenly by John while Paul sat in the far back, all by himself.

“You know he loves you,” John said from behind his book.

I shot him a look of pure venom. “Well he has a funny way of showing it.”

“No he doesn’t, you idiot. He’s just jealous. I don’t think you’d be very pleased if he was kissin’ Jane, would you?” John frowned at me.

I reached up and took his glasses off so I could see his eyes. They were full of sincerity.

“Go back to your book, Lennon,” I smiled at him.

I walked down to Paul, where he was sleeping in the back. I sat down next to him and read my book until he woke up.

“Alice?” he mumbled as he woke up gradually.

I smoothed his hair back. “Paul.”

“Oh, love, I’m so sorry. I was terrible to you. I just...I love you so much, and I get crazy when I think about someone other than me being with you.”

I smiled assuringly. “I know the feeling.”

He kissed me with passion and love and I found it hard to pull away.

Paul smirked at me. “I believe the toilet’s free.”

This time, I posed to resistance and dragged him into the rather small bathroom.
~

It was nice to be back in England. Paul and I sunk into our usual rhythm, and before we knew it, the new album was in full swing. All of the recording was being done at the new Apple studios, and this album was headed into a good direction.

In early June, dad phoned me up and demanded that I bring Paul to dinner with the entire family.

“Dad!” I whined, “that would be so embarrassing for him.”

“The family has to meet this guy, lovie; you’ve been with him for quite some time now,” Dad explained.

I sighed. “Did you have a day in mind?”

“How about this Friday? You two could spend a couple days here,” he suggested.

I laughed teasingly. “I’ll ask him, Dad. We’ll see what he says.”
~

Paul took the news very well. He was sitting on a sofa, drinking tea when I sprung it on him.

“It’s time for you to meet the family,” I announced.

Calmly, he set down his tea and smiled at me lovingly.

“Well, it’s about time! When?”

I was amazed at his reaction. “Dad said this Friday perhaps?”

He nodded. “Perfect! Make the plans. I can’t wait to meet your family properly.”
~

“Okay, so Dad will be fine, but Susan might give you a hard time after you came swearing at me last year, the kiddies will love you, but Aunt Liz might give you a bit of a headache, the dogs bark but they’re smaller than Martha-” Paul’s lips on mine interrupted my speech.

“I love you, so I’ll love them,” he breathed.

“Oh that I can believe,” I chuckled. “But you have to get them to like you.”

We were standing outside of my dad’s house, discussing tactics. I was desperately worried for Paul, but he seemed fine.

I rang the doorbell and I grabbed Paul’s hand.

“Alice! There you are!” Dad answered the door. “Come in, Paul! Good to see you.”

“Good to see you too, Sir,” Paul smiled politely.

The house was full. I might have been an only child but my Dad had three sisters. Margaret and Elizabeth were both older than him, but Lily was nine years younger that him – barely into her forties.

Aunt Margaret married later in her life, but to her soul mate, David. They had two girls – Kendra and Louise, who were twelve and ten respectively.

In contrast, Aunt Liz was married at eighteen, only to divorce and marry once more when she was twenty-six. Her husband, Matthew, was a kind, compassionate man who had tamed the wild Elizabeth into a lovely mother and a fantastic cook.

They had two children: Jamie and Sally. However, Liz had an older boy from her previous marriage. Adam was only four years younger than me – he had recently turned twenty one. Jamie was fourteen and Sally was thirteen.

Aunt Lily was my favourite. She had inherited Margaret’s sensibility, Liz’s outgoing attitude, and my Dad’s sense of humour. She had married when she was twenty-five to Daniel, but they opted out of children.

I introduced Paul to Aunt Lily first, hoping that the rest of the family would follow her accepting example.

“Aunt Lily, this is Paul,” I grinned after giving her a hug hello.

“Hello, Paul,” she smiled, smoothing her long blonde hair. “I think it’s about time we met you.”

Paul laughed. “I said the same thing to Alice the other day.”

“Before we move into the other stuff,” Lily said. “I just wanted to let you know that I think your band is great, and I’m looking forward to the next album.”

Paul looked surprised but thanked her profusely. “It’s not often we meet a fan over the age of fifteen,” he joked.

Lily chuckled. “My husband and I are both huge fans of your new stuff, aren’t we, Daniel?”

Dan nodded with a grin. “Didn’t care for the “yeah, yeah, yeah’s” but we loved Sgt. Pepper and all that.”

Paul beamed with pride. “I’m glad that our music is good enough for adults, too.”

I led Paul to Aunt Liz, who was trying to coax her eldest son into drinking a bit more wine.

“Come off it, Mum!” Adam laughed at her. “It’s terrible, that wine is!”

“Adam!” I grinned at him.

He gave me a willing hug and shook hands with Paul.

“So you weren’t lying, Alice, he really is a Beatle!” Adam exclaimed teasingly.

Aunt Liz grabbed my arm excitedly. “Paul McCartney is in my own brother’s kitchen? Oh, I might faint!”

We all laughed at her. “I nearly did, when I first met him!”

“Don’t lie, Alice! You were cool as a cucumber. I remember being shocked because you weren’t screaming about or fainting,” Paul corrected me.

I blushed while Aunt Liz and Adam smiled at us.

“When did you meet?” Adam asked.

“Back in ’64 when the band went over to America for the first time,” Paul answered.

“And when did you start to date?” A new voice asked.

I looked around to see thirteen year old Sally behind me.

“Hey, you!” I smiled at her. “We started dating properly last October, but there was a misunderstanding and we didn’t get it cleared up until this January.”

Aunt Liz raised her eyebrows suspiciously when I mentioned “a misunderstanding” but she let it go.

Her son, Jamie, refused to participate in the conversation until Paul went and sat with him for a while. I smiled at him and I went back into the kitchen where Aunt Margaret was hard at work.

Don’t get me wrong; I loved Aunt Margaret, but she was highly opinionated and old-fashioned. If she found out Paul and I were sleeping together before marriage, she would probably have a heart attack.

“So this is him, then,” she said stiffly.

“This is him,” I echoed softly.

“And he’s not going anywhere?” Margaret’s blue eyes pierced through mine.

I shook my head. “He would never.”

Unexpectedly, Aunt Margaret gave me a hug. “I’m glad you found someone, duckie. Even if he is one of those long haired freaks...”

“Aunt Margaret!” I laughed.

“It doesn’t matter, Alice. He loves you.”
~

Dinner went really well. Paul had charmed everyone, even the uncles. My girl cousins adored him, and even Jamie looked up at him now.

After we got home, I kissed Paul boldly. “You did great, Paul! They loved you!”

He kissed me back. “You know what this means?”

“Hm?” I mumbled as I kissed his neck.

“You have to meet my family.”

I froze, my lips still on his neck.

Oh dear.