Christmas 2012
By the time Itsuki was twenty-one years old, he was making quite a name for himself. He studied and honed his skills under the tutelage of Yuga Wang, Dimitris Sgouros and Marc-André Hamelin, all world-renowned concert pianists. For someone so young, his talents were in demand all over the world.
Mary was married two Christmases earlier to Andrew Schmidt, a brilliant independent film maker. They lived along with their one-year-old son Atticus in a small house in the North Hollywood hills. When her schedule permitted, she still served as an Adjunct Professor at Loyola Marymount University. Itsuki performed at their small and intimate Christmas wedding basking in the warmth of the Los Angeles winter. Annie served as Mary’s Maid-of-Honor and he thought both of his sisters were beautiful. Unfortunately, it was not a total family event. Seth was not present as he suddenly passed away at Christmas in 2009, but his presence was definitely felt throughout the ceremony.
Annie and Steve and their five-year-old daughter Katherine-Marie moved back to Paris where Steve was a Fellow at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Itsuki performed a LIVE Christmas concert at the Catherale Notre-Dame de Paris. Mary, Annie and Itsuki still missed their beloved father very much and would often hear his voice of encouragement when they needed it the most. And where ever they were in the world and heard his favorite Christmas song, The First Noel, they lovingly thought of him and smiled.
The next five years was a whirlwind for Itsuki. His performances and personal appearances were in demand, not to mention recordings and sheet music contracts and thrown in there a time to compose and practice. Since the passing of his father, the management part of his career was slipping into chaos. Feeling overwhelmed, he called his big sister for advice.
“Mary, I don’t know what to do. I’ve hired new management but they don’t seem to have the acumen that dad had. He was perfect, and somebody I totally trusted to have my back.”
“Well, I think the answer is staring you right in the face.”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you at the cottage?”
“Yes, but am flying to New York this weekend.”
“I’m sending your new manager over to you at 10:00 in the morning, don’t mess this up.”
“C’mon Mary, have you worked with him before?”
“Sleep well little brother, I love you.” As he placed his phone on the coffee table, he could only wonder, now what is she up to? 10:00 in the morning came quickly and a dusting of snow had fallen overnight making the trees outside look like a Christmas card. After pouring himself a hot cup of coffee he got up to answer the ringing doorbell. Opening it, he got a pleasant surprise.
“Nancy, what are you doing here?”
“I’m your new manager silly, are you gonna let me in out of the cold and pour me a cup of coffee? I’m freezing!” He gave her a big hug, took her hand and lead her to the couch.
“Wait here, I’ll pour you a cup,” shaking his head as he went into the kitchen. He came back and handed her a steaming mug and sat down next to her.
“You still can’t make a good cup of coffee, but at least it’s hot.”
“You talked to Mary.”
“Yup.”
Nancy McVie was the daughter of Layla McVie, his father’s business partner in the many successful Children’s Picture Books they published. Itsuki and Nancy were old friends and practically grew up together. Then it dawned on him, as if a bright light bulb went off over his head. For years Nancy managed the McVie-Gonzales books, publishing, contracts, interviews, personal appearances, taxes, travel and everything required to keep things running smoothly. Since Seth’s passing and Layla’s retirement, there residual book business didn’t really require full time attention.
“And you have time to do this?”
“Itsu, I’m happy to help out, just like I did for mom and Seth for all those years.” Itsuki leaned back on the couch, and smiled as if all of his prayers had been answered.
“I have a confession to make Nancy,” he proclaimed sheepishly. “All of the time we were growing up together, I had a really big crush on you.”
“Yeah, I know.”
They broke out in laughter as they raised their cups and clinked a toast to seal the deal.
to be continued