Music of the Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

need surgery.  At least not yet.”
     
                  Okay, I can handle this.  It doesn’t sound too terribly bad, right?  But what does he mean by no surgery, at least not yet?  As if Merritt can read my mind, she proceeds to ask the same exact thing.
     
                  “Dr. Gregory, what exactly do you mean no surgery yet?  Will this eventually require surgery?”
     
                  “Possibly.  As long as you rest your voice and take the medication I am giving you to help heal the hemorrhage, you should not need surgery.  But from what I understand, you just don’t sing, you stay on the road touring and singing an extreme amount of time.  You might need to re-evaluate your upcoming tour to accommodate your voice.  It has been a pleasure meeting you but in all honesty, I could do without seeing you again in my office.  I want your voice to heal on it’s own without surgery.”
     
                  As everything he tells me sinks in, I am trying to figure out how the upcoming portion of my tour is going to go.  I thank Dr. Gregory and Merritt and I head to lunch.  I make her promise not to mention this to anyone.  I would fill Allie in but other than that, give me some time to figure things out. 
     
                  “Ashleigh, you know that is an awful idea.  You have to tell Grant and Mark.   Of anyone, your tour manager and agent deserve to know first.  Claire needs to know too.  If word gets out, you need your publicist to help blow it all over.”
     
                  “I know Merritt and I will tell them.  Just not yet.  Give me some time.  Look, I’m home for another six weeks.  That should be plenty of time for my voice to rest.  I only intend to sing a few songs at the benefit and then nothing else.  I promise.”
     
                  With that said, Merritt agrees to keep quiet and we finally get to enjoy our lunch at the Sweet Peach Cafe.
     
    The rest of the week goes by uneventful.  I spend most of my time hanging with the girls.  I hang out at their house in the evenings and I’ve been helping them with all the details of the benefit during the days.  They refuse to let me speak much around them.   Merritt insisted I tell Ava, Ellis and Laken about my voice so they understood why I was keeping so quiet.  I’ve been a good girl too. 
     
    Saturday is here and Tommy Langner should be at Elizabeth’s house very soon for the dress fittings.  The girls and I just arrived ourselves and we’re all talking over coffee when the doorbell rings.  Tommy walks in and I go to say hello. 
     
    “Thank you so much for doing this Tommy.  I know it means the world to Elizabeth and all the girls.”
     
    “I am more than honored to be able to do this for everyone.  I hope you all find something you like here.  I brought about fifty dresses to choose from but of course, I do have Ashleigh one special dress just for her.”
    “Of course you do.  I didn’t believe you would let me choose my own dress.  You always know just what I need.  Before we get started let me introduce you to everyone.”
     
    I go through and introduce him to all the ladies here.  He goes about setting different styles of dresses on different racks.  After he’s all done, he directs Elizabeth and Victoria to one rack, Merritt, Ava and Katie to the second rack and Ellis, Laken and Brooke, who is Elizabeth’s soon to be daughter-in-law, to the last rack.  Allie couldn’t be here but Tommy has the perfect dress set aside for her.
     
    “Everything is perfect Tommy.  Thank you again.”
     
    “Anything for one of my favorite girls. “
     
    After a couple of hours, everyone has chosen a dress and Tommy has invited over Atlanta’s seamstress to the stars to do any and all alterations for us.  We’re finally finished and Elizabeth has an amazing lunch ready for us.  Tommy has to leave to catch a flight back to