My LOVE is Forever (Book 4-1st Alternate Ending)

Part 72

"Anastasia, are you rea- " my last word gets stopped short when I round the corner and spot her in the living room. She is nude, standing statue still in the middle of the room, fixated on the television.

"Mom, it's dad, he's on television!" she points excitedly, her eyes wide, they never leave the screen.

I smile when I notice she's not completely nude, she did manage to get one sock on, the other still gripped in her hand. My mind wants to flash back to how many times I had seen Prince in just his socks, but instead I turn my attention to the television where the Take Me With U scene from Purple Rain plays out before us. Anastasia had not been introduced to Purple Rain, the movie, but had been introduced to most of the songs from the album. I can only assume the familiar song had drawn her from her room while she was starting to get dressed.

"Yes, it's your dad," I look longingly at his image on the television screen. "But Anastasia, we have to go," I remind her gently.

The other ankle sock gets slipped on before she runs back into her bedroom. This time, when she reappears, she's got her underwear on and pulling a dress over her head. "Mom, do you have this movie?" she asks, smoothing her dress as she stares at the television.

I grimace, "Yes, I do, but we'll have to talk about that later. Don't you want to see aunt Tyka?"

"Yes," she says, still distracted by the movie that thankfully gets cut for commercial, just in time to censor the part where Apollonia bares her breasts.

"Come on, then. Turn off the television or we're going to miss our flight," I tell her.

The television gets clicked off and she grabs her little roll along suitcase that I had packed for her the night before and follows me out into the garage. I get the suitcases loaded into the back of the car, then run back into the house to make sure I had unplugged all the small appliances. When I crawl back into the car, Anastasia is already fastened into her booster seat and looking anxious to go.

Traveling to Minnesota during the summer has become second nature to us. We pack up, go, stay for a month or two, then return home. Anastasia continues her dancing practices at a local dance studio there, and an upright piano and a small drum set has now taken over the little one car garage at the house. It's obvious when we're in Minnesota that she misses her playhouse, but she makes due without complaint, she adores her time with Tyka more than she'll ever be inconvenienced.

Anastasia also understands that we don't mention that Prince is her father while we are in Minnesota. Actually, it's rarely mentioned in Tennessee, for that matter. Anastasia seems to understand her father was a well known celebrity and, although highly respected, it's as if she doesn't want the recognition through him. Instead she seems intent on proving herself on her own merits without the association of her father.

There have been a lot of questions as of late, though, especially since Derik has been coming over to Anastasia's Playhouse to practice on his guitar. They spend hours out there, him on guitar and her on drums, but apparently Derik does a lot of reminiscing about Prince, too, because one afternoon Anastasia asked me: "Mom, are we rich?"

My brows knit as I look over at her, "Nooooo," I drag out the word as I think about how to respond.

"Derik said dad was rich," her eyes study my face.

"Your father worked very hard for the things he had, and," I pause, "let's just say, he didn't want for much, okay?"

Anastasia frowns, "Derik said he had his own planes, and mansions, and a huge studio....but we don't live in a mansion," she looks around the living room of our home in Tennessee to prove her point.