Chapter 31
Tracey had elected to join Il Divo towards the end of their tour. This one was going to finish in the USA and then everyone would be heading for Tasmania for R&R before heading back to the UK, were most of them lived.
She smiled as she watched them perform. Nothing had changed since the first time she heard them. Except that they were better, more passionate about their music and seemed to have such a wonderful time on stage performing and interacting with the audience. There was no doubt that this is were they all loved to be.
So with two weeks to go Tracey stood just off stage with Reba, Nat and Gillian so very proud of their men. She would have liked to have travelled the whole tour with them but these days the virus she had battled for so long was making her take life a little slower and she knew when they got back to Australia she would need to rest.
The guys had two more songs to do and they would be finished for the night. All of a sudden Tracey felt the pain begin. It came more frequent now and gave her less warning. Silently she got hold of Nat’s hand and squeezed it. Nothing was said but the two women made their way back to David’s dressing room.
“How bad is it this time Trace?” Nat was concerned at the frequency of these last attacks. The pain did not seem to be so intense but she had noticed that Tracey was not fully recovering from one before another would appear.
Tracey had her arms folded around herself and was rocking back and forth as she sat on the sofa. “Not so bad this time.”
Nat felt her friend’s forehead, she was extremely hot and the perspiration had already started to run down her face. “Liar. No more going all day and to concerts at night for you. You need to rest. Do you want to go back to the hotel?”
Tracey shook her head.
Nat had asked the question but she already knew the answer. Tracey would wait for David.
The guys had seen the girls waiting at the side but about half way through their last song Urs noticed that Nat and Tracey were missing. He managed to get David’s attention. Both Gillian and Reba blew them kisses and motioned that everything was ok. This tight little family were very protective of each other and although they both wanted to go with Nat and Tracey they stayed knowing if they all left the guys would panic a little.

Once they were off stage David smiled at Reba and Gillian but kept walking. Followed by Urs. Sebastien and Carlos gave their wives a small kiss on the cheek.
They all knew that Tracey was unwell. Sebastien squeezed Reba’s hand. “How is she?”
“I think the travelling is all too much for her these days. It seems to take a lot out of her and longer for her to recover. Sebastien, I’m worried for them.”
The four of them walked in silence to David’s room, it seemed that the dark cloud they had all hoped would never arrive was hovering on the horizon.

David knelt down by the sofa and gently brushed his hand across Tracey’s cheek. She was cooler and had stopped shaking but very tired and weak. “Hey kiddo, you know if you don’t like the songs we sing you just have to say so.”
Tracey gave David a weak smile. “I’m sorry Merlin; I didn’t think the trip would take this much out of me.”
“That’s ok, how about we go back to the hotel. I can tuck you into a proper bed?”
Tracey nodded her head and without hesitation David scooped his wife up in his arms and began to carry her to the waiting cars. The others followed them down the hallway. As David placed Tracey in the back of the car he turned to his friends. ‘Don’t worry guys we’ll be ok. You go off and have dinner like we planned.” With that he got into the car beside Tracey and they left.
Urs was standing behind Nat with his arms around her. “I don’t feel much like going out. Would rather stay in with you.”
The others all felt the same so they too went back to the hotel. They rode in sombre silence. In ways Tracey’s illness had made them all value each other more and they did not take each other for granted.
Sebastien sighed as he looked out the window. “How is David going to cope when she is gone?”
Reba squeezed his hand. “He has us to hold onto Seb. We need to be there for him, we need to be there for each other. Knowing that someone is going to die is not going to make it any easier.”
Carlos spoke up. “How long? She seems to be much weaker.”
Nat spoke up. “If I know Trace she’s not about to go without a fight.”
Urs had tears in his eyes. “But she has been fighting for so long already. I worry that she will not have the strength to go much further. I worry that I can’t be there for her like she was for me when we first met. She saved my life and…” He never finished. Nat held his hand as he looked back out the window and tears fell down his face.
Urs felt like he owed Tracey so, so much. She had rescued him from his depression so many years ago. She had brought Nat into his life, he had a soul mate and now there was nothing they could do but watch her die. Urs did not know if he had the strength to go through that. He did know however that for Tracey’s sake he would be as strong as he could for her. He had always thought of her as an angel. A tough angel but and angel and now God wanted her back.

David cradled Tracey in his arms as they lay on the bed together and Tracey drank in his scent. She loved the way he smelt, it was strange but being able to smell him she felt safe. Some days she would come home and he may have left not long before but his scent would linger. Just knowing he had been there made her smile; she was content knowing they had shared the same space. Now she nestled under his arm and drifted off to sleep with ease and peace.
David watched her and listened for her breathing to change; knowing she was sleeping he gently placed her head on the pillow and covered her with a blanket. He went into the lounge room and looked out the window, not really seeing anything. He had made a vow that he would be strong until the end but it seemed that the end was creeping up much to fast. Tears flowed, he loved her so very much and prayed everyday for a miracle he knew would never come. He had known as soon as he had collected her from the airport that things where much worse than she was letting on. It had only been two months since they had seen each other but over the years he had learnt how to read all the signs. They did not and could not hide anything from each other. The others may think she was just a little more warn out than usual but David and Tracey knew it was more than that. Silently they grieved for each other.
There was a quiet knock on the door. David dried his tears and answered to find Nat and Urs standing there. Nat Smiled, she could tell David had been crying. “She sleeping?”
“Yes. Been a long couple of days.”
David beckoned for them to come in. “You guys should be at dinner.”
Urs smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder.” Like you said, long couple of days.” He continued. “The girls have decided to for go the rest of the concerts, that way Tracey wont feel like she needs to be there and they want to make sure she gets plenty of rests.”
David smiled at Nat, Draped his arms over her shoulders and placed his forehead on top of hers. “You know she’ll make a fuss.”
Nat kissed him on the cheek. “You just leave Ace up to me. We have girl things to do.”
Both Urs and David smiled. When it came to their four girls, Girl things took on a whole new meaning, cookie dough wars sprang to mind. But David was grateful that Tracey had such good friends.
“Thanks guys. We just need to make sure she can make the trip back home.”
It was the first time in a long time that David had referred to Tasmania as home and the meaning was not lost on the others.