And, surprisingly, he was actually good. Lachlan’s voice was deep and rich, and he delivered the dramatic power ballad with a completely straight face that somehow made it even funnier. By the time he hit the “turn around, bright eyes” part, the entire hall was singing along, and Sophie was laughing so hard she had to lean on Willow for support.
“Your turn next,” Graham murmured in my ear.
“Not a chance.”
“You can’t break an ancient curse and then refuse to do karaoke. There are rules here.”
“I’m fairly certain heroics and karaoke are unrelated.”
“In Loren Brae? Nothing is unrelated.”
The song ended. Lachlan escaped the table to thunderous applause and immediately downed an entire glass of whisky. Sophie caught him around the waist and kissed him soundly, which prompted wolf whistles from approximately everyone.
“Graham!” The chant started somewhere near the back. “Graham! Graham! Graham!”
“Oh no,” Graham said.
“Oh yes,” I said, suddenly feeling much better about my own potential humiliation. “Fair’s fair.”
“I nearly drowned.”
“And now you’re going to sing. It’s the circle of life, really.”
He was pushed toward the table with the sameefficiency Lachlan had experienced. The microphone was thrust into his hands. Liora’s grin grew even more wicked as she selected the next song.
The opening notes of “My Heart Will Go On” echoed through the hall.
“You absolute monsters,” Graham said.
Then, because he was Graham, he committed completely.
When he hit the high notes, horribly so, the entire hall lost it.
But when he jumped off the table and crawled on all fours to me as he sang the final notes, that was the moment that would go down in Loren Brae lore forever.
We screamed with laughter. All of us.
And yet.
I also couldn’t help but feel my cheeks heat as I noticed how alight his eyes were with laughter and fun.
And love.
So much love for me.
Between my heart aching with love for this incredible man, I was also crying with laughter. Quilliam buried his face in my hair, his tiny body vibrating with what might have been laughter or might have been horror.
“Your fiancé,”he said,“is a very strange man.”
“I know.”
“You’re going to marry him anyway.”
“I know.”
“Good. He makes you laugh. That’s important.”
The song ended. Graham hopped up, and then his lips found mine in a searing kiss that had wolf whistles going and cheers echoing around the room.
