Final Encore
Copyright
Published by
Dreamspinner Press
4760 Preston Road
Suite 244-149
Frisco, TX 75034
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents
either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Final Encore
Copyright © 2010 by Scotty Cade
Cover Art by Anne Cain [email protected]
Cover Design by Mara McKennen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system without the written permission of the Publisher,
except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other
inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 4760 Preston Road, Suite 244-
149, Frisco, TX 75034
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/
ISBN: 978-1-61581-656-9
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition
November, 2010
eBook edition available
eBook ISBN: 978-1-61581-657-6
To Kel, my partner and best friend of fourteen
years, who suffered through many long days and nights
alone in front of the television while I wrote this book.
Thank you, thank you. Your continuing love, support,
and encouragement make me who I am today. I love
you.
To my best girlfriend Mary (Peg) Plumstead, who
grew to love these characters as much as I did, and who
always encouraged and chalenged me to go wel beyond
my capabilities. Your natural instinct and ability to look
beyond what you were reading, along with your
incredible creative skils, saved me too many times to
count. You’re the best.
And finaly, last but certainly not least, to my editor
Anne Regan. You are incredible! You found ways to
make my many twists and turns somehow al make
perfect sense. And what a miracle that is. In the end, you
made a good story a great book, and I can never thank
you enough for that!
BILLY EAGAN left New Orleans for Nashvile with a
dream and a few thousand dolars in his pocket. He
was born and raised in the Big Easy and was the first in
his family to leave the city and his loved ones behind.
New Orleans is a town rich in history and tradition; she
forces you to love her, and most never leave her
embrace, but Bily had bigger-than-average dreams and
he wasn’t about to stay put and live the simple life, no
matter how he loved his family and his home.
His middle-class upbringing had taught him to
work for everything he wanted, but his parents had
taught him to dream, dream big and never give up on
those dreams. He understood and was saddened
because he felt sure their encouragement was the result
of the dreams they had given up on to raise their family.
Bily’s father worked long hours and wasn’t
around much in the early years, and because of that,
they’d never realy bonded like most fathers and sons
do. As Bily reached his teens, his father’s work
schedule lessened, and wanting to find something that
he and Bily could do together, he picked up a hobby of
raising quarter horses. They soon discovered a mutual
love of horses which became the catalyst for what
would become a very close relationship. Up until the
time Bily seriously began pursuing his music career,
they spent every afternoon riding and practicing, and
together they competed on weekends at the
surrounding area rodeos.
His mother, on the other hand, was a stay-at-
home mom with a great love of music who chose a
career of looking after her family over her own
ambitions. From very early on, Bily’s musical abilities
were encouraged and nurtured by days of “helping” his
mother with chores set to music. In the years after his
older sister started school and before his younger sister
was born, he had his mother al to himself from eight in
the morning until three in the afternoon. They never
watched daytime television but spent their days listening
to such musical greats as Dinah Washington, Etta
James, Percy Sledge, BJ Thomas, Timi Yuro, Tammy
Wynette, Brenda Lee, and George Jones. Eventualy it
was his turn to start school, which was a disaster for the
first few weeks. He went each day, kicking and
screaming, but realy longed for the days of riding on the
back of a canister vacuum cleaner while he and his
mother sang “When a Man Loves a Woman.” Those
days bonded his love of music to his soul.
In his adolescent years, Bily had always felt
somehow different and of course didn’t understand
why. When he hit puberty and discovered his attraction
to men, the pieces of the puzzle started to come
together. At first he didn’t understand it, but he
instinctively felt it was wrong. So he fought to keep the
feelings hidden and hoped that if he ignored them long
enough, they’d go away. But they didn’t, and although
his family was very close and always around him, he felt
mostly alone.
In the eighth grade he’d tried out for a singing part
in the school’s rendition of
Beach Blanket Bingo
and,
much to his surprise, got the lead. From that point
forward, the quiet and shy little kid became an outgoing
and funny young adult. He auditioned for every musical
at al the local playhouses and, because of his great
singing voice, got the male lead virtualy every time. In
his heart, he was sure that singing and performing was
what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.
In his senior year of high school, he taught himself
to play guitar and formed a smal band. In the beginning,
his band played mostly school functions, but after
graduation, they started playing local clubs and
weddings and began to build up quite a reputation. It
was at one of their wedding gigs that he met the first
woman he would seriously date. She was fun and
attractive and came from a fairly prominent New
Orleans family. Stil repressing his feelings and
attempting to satisfy a desire to be normal and fit in with
society, he married her.
Unfortunately, she didn’t share his love of music.
Soon after they married, she decided that she didn’t
want him in clubs night after night chasing a pipe dream
and God only knows what else and demanded that he
give up the music business. So in the end, he did what
his parents had always taught him never to do and put
his dreams aside for the sake of his marriage.
Six long months of Bily trying to change the
person he was to become what she wanted him to be
took its tol on both of them and ultimately the marriage.
They both realized that although they loved each other,
they’d never realy been in love, and they caled it quits.
One year later, the divorce was final, and Bily was free
to give his dreams another shot. Being very naïve and
stil in denial, he attributed the divorce to youth and
failed expectations, but deep down, he knew it was
much more.
As he matured and became more comfortable in
his skin, he faced what he’d known most of his life,
dealt with those feelings, and embraced his
homosexuality. He eventualy told his family, and much
to his surprise, they were not as shocked as he had
expected them to be. Their only sadness was because
they knew he would have to learn firsthand about
hatred and persecution. With time everyone adjusted
except his father. Although Bily’s father never stopped
loving him, Bily felt a new emptiness in their relationship
that affected him greatly, mostly because he’d never
realy felt he had earned his father’s respect, and above
al, he wanted and needed it.
Now that he’d faced his demons and was
rebuilding his life, Bily was again focusing on his
dreams. He’d slowly made his way back into the local
music scene as a solo act. After several years of playing
the Crescent City, nothing was realy happening for him,
so he made the decision to move to Nashvile and give
it al he had.
On the morning he left, his family was there to
send him off. He started his car and roled down the
window for a final goodbye. His mother kissed him, and
his father shook his hand and said, “I’m proud of you,
son. You’re leaving everything you know behind and
making a new life for yourself, and that takes real guts.”
Bily thought back to the many things he had done to
hear his father say those words, but he’d never realized
that actualy leaving his family behind to chase his
dreams would be the thing that made his father the most
proud. He left with a sense of comfort that warmed him