Written By: JJ
All for One and One for AMTM



AUG 21, 2008

Sebastien looked over at Dori and watched her as she fussed over the twins sleeping peacefully in their cots. He and Dori were amazed at the changes they both saw in their baby girls in the 7 months since they had been born. Both were becoming mobile and independent. Leila Elena was now 17 weeks old. She was just starting to show signs of her bubbly personality, like her mother, Cyd.

The guys were up on stage again, rehearsing for the show that would be one of the biggest of their lives. All of the guys had been working so hard to make this show happen. The girls had been there on and off as much as they could to help their husbands. It was starting to take its toll on the girls, who had rung each other in tears when the guys weren’t around to talk over how much they missed them, even though they were always physically there.

The guys were so grateful to have their wives by their sides and thought that they were doing the right thing by rehearsing so hard. Seb and the others were soon to find out that was not the case. They had also decided that since this would be Dori’s first time at an IL DIVO concert, and Suzie’s first time backstage, the girls should have some input into what went on with the concert to show them what touring with IL DIVO would be like. All of the guys knew just how important a role it was for the girls to play, to be involved in helping to make this concert the smashing success they wanted it to be. The months of discussions, planning, choosing songs, schedules, making travel arrangements, supervising the creation of sets they would use on stage, confirming other musicians’ arrivals and all the rest had been exhausting. Now, in the week that remained, there was no turning back.

Today was going to be another day of rehearsals. All of the guys were getting into being onstage, doing what they loved… performing. For them, it was a different kind of passion… one that only a performer can feel within themselves and other performers. The bond built between their years of touring was shining between them again, leaving some of the girls to wonder about their place in the IL DIVO world.

As they were singing “Dare to Live”, a beautiful Andrea Bocelli song that Sebastien had insisted they include, he saw that Dori had her head in Suzie’s shoulder and was crying heavily. David noticed that Suzie was also crying. They both dropped their microphones and rushed to their side, Seb grabbing Dori in his arms and David holding Suzie, rocking them gently until they had finished crying.

“What is wrong, Dori, my love? Please tell us what is wrong. You and Suzie are both crying heavily… what is it?” Sebastien asked Dori, concern in his eyes.

“Yes, please… what is it?” David asked, still holding Suzie close and rocking her.

“I think it is time we had a meeting, up at the farmhouse. We need to have a talk,” Siobhan said, reaching for Urs hand.

“Yes, it is. Do we all agree girls?” Cyd asked, seeing Carlos look at her with concern in his eyes.

Both Dori and Suzie nodded their heads as they still couldn’t speak. An hour passed as they walked to the farm house. Mandi and Matthew were taking care of the babies now, so there would be no interruptions, sensing a sudden urgency among the couples that needed resolved. The girl’s thoughts jumbling about what they would say and the guys about what they would hear. After the guys were seated, the girls got up to speak one by one, Dori starting first.

“Sebastien, my dear, when you first discussed with me the idea you had for the concert, I thought it was brilliant. Being able to help all those kids in poor countries have a better life than they have now, well, it is simply wonderful for you and all the guys to want to make that happen. We all love you for it. The thing is, the girls and I have discussed it and we all agree, you are wearing yourself out. We all know it is very close to your heart, as it is to ours. We are all trying to do our bit to make sure it goes smoothly, but you are not sleeping a great deal. I wake up and you aren’t beside me. I hear you rehearsing late at night when you should be sleeping…. and I worry about you… your health. I want you to talk to me and rest. You have been so worried about rehearsing lately, that you don’t give the guys enough of a break; you don’t take enough of a break yourself. I worry about you. You are my husband, and if you were to collapse…….” Dori was crying very hard by this stage, and could not go on. Sebastien wrapped his arms tightly around his sobbing wife.

Cyd took the floor next, and looked right at Carlos as she started to speak. “I love you Carlos my darling. You have made me very happy in the time we have been together and now we have our beautiful daughter to reflect that love to the world. As Dori is with Seb and I’m sure Siobhan is with Urs, Suzie with David, I worry about you and what you are doing to your health by not sleeping much and not taking enough time out to spend just relaxing… or spend time with Leila Elena. I am a grown woman and understand you have a job to do, but she doesn’t. You are going to burn out if you keep up with this pace, and I don’t want to see that happen. I don’t want that for you…. Or our child. I need to be selfish for her Carlos. I know you understand what that means... how precious that is and how quickly that time will vanish.”

Suzie spoke next, and knelt beside David’s chair. “David, you heard Cyd and Dori. I hear what they have said and I know the same thing to be true between us. I know you love being up on stage and I love to watch you up there. But with you doing the tour for Eternita and rehearsals for this concert as well, you are going to burn yourself out. I just want to see you happy, smiling and relaxed… not stressed that the little things aren’t going well with rehearsals. I sense the energy you feel, but I don’t understand it… I want to. Will you to help me understand… know, grow with you from that?”

Last to speak was Siobhan. “Urs, you are the love of my life. You make me the happiest woman alive and being married to you is a joy I never expected, not in my wildest dreams. That is why I want you to start taking it easy. You are also up through the night, pacing, singing, and rehearsing. When I talk to you, I see you are far away… thinking. I know, like Sebastien, Carlos and David, you want to see this concert come to life, but you need to take it easy. I miss you, just be with me as we were at our chalet … I want that back. I’m not jealous of your music or your passion for it. It is a part of you that I love, but please, please don’t let it consume all of you. Let the real you and all that it is, shine through. We, all of us, want to celebrate IL DIVO with all four of you… not for you.”

“Dori, I am so sorry. I didn’t realize… I would never have deliberately hurt you or our twins for the world. I promise you from now on, we will always have time together, as a family.”

Carlos, Urs and David agreed with Sebastien. Each made a private vow that from that time on, they would have private time together every day and from that time on, they did.


Written By: JJ
THE NIGHT BEFORE DARE TO CARE



It was the night before the concert. They were ready to do the final dress rehearsal. Earlier that day, each of the four couples had some private time together. Seb and Dori and gone on a picnic. David and Suzie went on a long drive. Carlos and Cyd had spent some time with Leila, whom Cyd adored. Siobhan and Urs had taken a long walk around the farm together, Urs picking a wild flower bouquet for Siobhan to enjoy. Each family had enjoyed the peace and quiet that they had grown accustomed to during the guys’ holiday from touring.

As it was such a lovely night with shining stars and only a light breeze, Sebastien and Dori had decided to put the twins in their stroller and walk to where the concert would be held. The stage was in the field at the very back of the farm. It was a huge field with plenty of gorgeous flowers of every color and name you could think of, from roses to daisies to sunflowers, and trees with leaves of the richest green. The stage was centered right in the middle of the field. In front of the stage were 500 seats that would hold the audience and media. Neither David nor Sebastien wanted to have the concert occurring too close to their homes, but wanted it close enough for the girls to come and go as they pleased or needed to take care of the babies. The babies could still have their quiet time to nap with little if any interruption.

“My love, tomorrow will be the first concert of IL DIVO I will have gone to. I have been to your rehearsals and watched you sing then, but tomorrow night will be an evening to remember for me. I am so very much looking forward to being there as your wife and supporting you in the first concert you will be doing as a married man.”

“Yes, I feel the same, Dori, my love. I know that these last weeks have not been the easiest for you, with our hectic schedule, me working so hard to make this happen and worrying too much about something going wrong. But through it all, you have been my absolute rock and I would not have wanted to do this without you. I love you, Dori. I can only hope you will enjoy meeting the fans and enjoy your first concert of IL DIVO. You deserve it, my pet, all of us do.”

They reached the others and Sebastien went off with the guys while Dori took a seat in the front row with the girls. Siobhan had been a tower of strength for everyone these past few weeks. If anyone had a problem, they would come to her. Once again, Sebastien and Urs had both relied on her. Sebastien thought she had been a godsend for both himself and Dori.

“It has been a very emotional journey, hasn’t it? Getting all this done… the rehearsals and with the girls as well?” Dori said to Cyd, who nodded her head in agreement.

“I know, Leila is just over 4 months old now. Yet with everything that has happened, it seems longer somehow.”

“Yes, the twins are now 7 months and it does seem longer. They are moving around so much. I love to watch Seb try to keep up with them… going in different directions, exploring everything.”

“Men are very cute when it comes to babies, aren’t they? Especially first time fathers… in women, it seems to be inbred somehow that we instinctively know what to do; whereas men need a little more practice. Carlos is the most loving daddy, except when he tries to change her diapers. I know I shouldn’t laugh, but it is so funny sometimes...“ The girls were still laughing when the guys came over.

“May we inquire as to what is so amazing?” Carlos asked, looking into Leila Elena’s stroller and cooing at his beautiful daughter.

“Oh yes, I was just telling the girls about you trying to change Leila’s diaper, and the expressions on your face. You are very funny sometimes. I was saying that sometimes men need a bit of practice with these matters.”
“I happen to think I am getting better at diaper duty,” Carlos said indignantly, puffing out his chest and wiggling his eyebrows which started the girls laughing again.

“Yes, darling, you are better, and you are a great husband as well.” Cyd said, standing to give Carlos a hug and a kiss.

“And how am I with diaper duty for the twins?” Sebastien asked Dori, looking at her in a way that made her heart melt.

“You are wonderful, my love. You are becoming a pro, and you are fantastic with feeding duties as well. You too are a great husband. I know both you and Carlos have been a bit worried that with you going on tour that you won’t be the best parents or husbands, but Cyd and I both agree you have nothing to worry about.”

“That is right, nothing. You are both doing wonderfully. We both know that as much as you both adore singing and your IL DIVO life, that if it come down to it, you would drop everything if we needed you. So you have both got to put that worry out of your minds. We have the linkup for when you go on tour. We will always be spending time on that, and when the girls get older we will have our turn with touring with you. So please, stop worrying, and let’s get on with the show.”

“Ok, men, we heard them...Break’s over. Let’s get up there and make this rehearsal the best yet,” Sebastien said, kissing Dori and smiling his dazzling smile.

They had planned it to be like this. They had 30 famous performers from all over the world; some country singers, pop, Jazz, classical, other opera singers and R & B. IL DIVO, as a whole, would be on stage for 8 of the 24 hours the concert would be running for. They would be on stage for two hours on, four off. The audience would have 4 rotations every 5.5 hours, meaning that one set of 500 people would see the concert for 5.5 hours then another lot of 500 people would be seated. Leaving 30 minutes to move the crowd out one side as the new group came in another. Each group would have a colored wrist band. The media would have a unique colored wrist band as well… one for reporters, another color for their crew. Security would know who was supposed to be there at any given time.

IL DIVO would be performing for each new audience as if at a regular concert. They were singing some of their songs, some originals that Sebastien had written, and covers from favorite songs that had been performed by their favorite singers.

The songs were sung again that evening, before the air cooled. Each of the guys, taking extreme care to not over-extend their voices, knowing tomorrow would be a true singing marathon for each of them.

As evening settled in, an inner calm mixed with tingling anticipation eased its way into all of the crew and family that had been there that evening. The microphones were carefully wiped down and returned to the crew. The stage lights were dimmed to total darkness as the curtain closed with a slow, steady swish.

That night, the girls sang the lullabies as the babies drifted off to sleep.

Let tomorrow begin.