Hannah’s laugh rang out at that exact moment, and my gut tightened. I would do everything and anything in my power to keep her from being hurt, and it made me appreciate my mother more. The way she’d tried so valiantly to look after the daughter who was destined to get hurt repeatedly—at least physically. I couldn’t imagine how hard that must have been on my parents.
Long days on her feet as owner and chef of a restaurant weren’t going to be easy, and Cassidy had realized she needed to be as strong as her body would ever let her be. So, she’d started a new fitness routine. Once Marco had gotten wind of it, he’d offered to help out. I think it was out of pure boredom, because I rarely seemed to need him these days, especially now that the press had gotten their story and left. It all meant that Cassidy seemed to be getting stronger, even if it was unlikely she would ever hit the average curve for muscle tone.
“I think I understand how you felt more than I ever did,” I told her as I watched Molly jump at the treat Hannah was waving above the dog’s head.
We were both quiet for a moment as the noise from the house continued to drift over us. Mom took a deep breath and then said, “I’m sorry we didn’t share your world with you more, and I am grateful you’ve found Tristan and are going to be staying in Grand Orchard so we might have a chance to make it up to you.”
Tears filled my eyes. “Damn smoke,” I said as I brushed at them, and Mom smiled softly.
I turned back to the grill and flipped the burgers, only destroying the one that had already lost its battle with the grate and the flames.
“You love them a lot,” Mom said, looking in at the happy scene in the house.
“I do. I want to marry Tristan. I want the world to know she’s mine and I’m hers, but I’m sort of waiting for the right time to ask,” I said. “Then, I get afraid it might be too soon, you know?”
Mom didn’t get a chance to answer because Hannah was suddenly there, tugging at my sleeve and rocking the plate I was holding precariously.
“Brady, Mom says dinner before cake. Are the burgers ready?” she asked.
I leaned in and said, “How about cake with dinner?”
She grinned back at me. “Maybe.”
I liked to think I was responsible for corrupting her health-food-fanatic ways, but I was sure Cassidy had a much bigger influence in that regard. I loaded the burgers onto the plate, and we all went inside. The noise and laughter filled the house in a way Elana would have loved.
“Thanks, lady,” I said silently up to the sky.
After dinner, Hannah led the family in singing “Happy Birthday” to me before handing me a small box. When I opened it, it was a custom guitar pic with the three of us on it. A picture we’d taken at the ABBA concert, our faces squished together to fit into the screen. Smiles on all of our faces.
“I love it,” I said. “But not as much as I love the real thing.”
I scooped both my girls up and kissed both their cheeks while our families looked on with rolled eyes and smiles.
Hours later, my family was gone, her parents had retired to the guest room that once had been Tristan’s, and I was waiting for her in our room while she tucked in Hannah. I looked about the space that used to be Elana’s and that we’d redone. New furniture, new paint, but old and new pictures on the dressers. Elana’s, Tristan’s, mine, and ours. Old and new memories blending.
When Tristan finally came into the room, it was with a painting turned the wrong way. My heart caught at the look on her face. Her honey eyes were twinkling, her smile wide and full. She’d had paint on her shirt all day because she’d been in the studio before the party, determined to finish something. I understood that drive and hadn’t questioned it. I hadn’t known she was working on something for me.
“I couldn’t wrap it because it was still wet,” she said.
She turned it around, and it was a picture of the three of us on burlap. My smile was wide, and my eyes were adoring as I looked down at her and Hannah. We were a wavy reflection in the water, and behind us, in the sky, were hundreds of Chinese lanterns floating away into a dark expanse of midnight blue.
“Happy birthday,” she said. I pulled her to me and kissed her long and hard before she pulled her lips away from mine, touching my cheek and saying, “I love you.”
It was the first time she’d said it, and it rattled through my veins and deep into my core stronger than the drums that shook my body when I was onstage, the simple three syllables stirring a universe of emotions. I’d said them to her many times since we’d made love the first time. I’d said them in actuality as much as in the songs I’d made and sung to her in the shower or over breakfast or as we walked to the studio hand in hand. And I’d never demanded it back because I knew she was still wrestling with demons of loving another man, and I wouldn’t dishonor that?or her?by forcing something I knew she felt by her actions. The words would come in time.
But just like my mom’s apology earlier, I hadn’t realized how much it actually meant to hear Tristan say it. The tears that had tried to hit earlier filled my eyes all over again, and I pulled her tight up against my chest, emotions flowing through me.
“I love you more than music,” I said, and I meant it, looking down at her.
We stood there, staring and reading each other's souls for a long moment before we shed our clothes and did exactly what we were good at together, losing the world around us. Making love to colors and sounds and beautiful rhythms that had infused every single song I’d chosen to go on my new album. The actual recording might not be for months until the studio was finished, but these moments with her would only embed the emotions into the songs more when they were laid down, the tracks a reflection of us.
Nothing stale or cold or soulless about them.
Love spreading out into the world.
More.
Tristan
