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I swallow to find my voice.
“Hello, LA!”
The crowd offers a booming response.
It takes me a heart-pounding second to search the front row. To my satisfaction, I spot two empty seats. Rhys has already set the wheels in motion.
This is it.
Muriel has been a ball of nerves, tripping all over herself and her words, since I flew to Philadelphia to let Arianne’s parents in on my little secret. We agreed Mom would be the one helping my girl up on stage. After the unwelcome interruption from that idiot reporter, Rhys texted me to warn me there’s been a change of plan.
“We’re making history in so many ways tonight,” I say into the microphone. “It’s more than just a performance tonight. On that note, I want to thank Tomas and Anders for allowing us to share the stage with them. It’s pretty wicked. It’s also always an honor to rock with the beautiful and talented Stasia van Gameren.”
The crowd shows her some love.
My gaze shifts to the edge of the stage, behind the curtains, where the audience can’t see.
Arianne’s hands cover her beautiful face. Rhys is comforting her.
I wink at my girl.
“On a personal level, tonight is more than just rocking a crowd,” I say. “It’s about telling a woman I’m madly in love with how much she means to me.”
The crowd doesn’t hold back.
When our eyes meet again, I smile wide at the beautiful woman who’s my world.
She just shakes her head, her hands still hiding her face.
“Come on stage, baby!” I wave her over.
She approaches on trembling legs, Rhys trailing right by her side. Thank God because she looks like she’s about to faint.
“My big brother already serenaded his girl with our smash hit love song, Until I found you.” I go back to the script. “As perfect as it is, no way was I going to recycle that song. My girl deserves her own song. I had to convince songwriter extraordinaire, and my cousin, Jagger Halsey to write me a new song.”
The crowd laughs.
I shift my gaze away from the crowd and focus my attention on the woman I love.
Finally, she uncovers her face.
“This song is for you, Arianne,” I say. “All Of You tells our story beautifully.”
Her expression is full of disbelief.
I strum the first cord to the song.
Stasia, Jace, Rod, Tomas, and Anders follow suit.
I belt out the first verse, the intense melody from the guitars and my brother’s bass mixing with my emotions. Cello2Cello’s instruments emanate warm, low, almost crying, pitches that ratchet the heartfelt lyrics.
Arianne loses it.
With each verse, she cries a little harder.
She’s shaking so hard, Rhys embraces her by the shoulders, holding her tight.
I had a lot of input in the song. Jagger delivered more than I could’ve hoped for. The poignant lyrics express everything I needed to say to this gorgeous woman from the depth of my soul, on this memorable night.
