Page 227 of Perfect Pitch

Sula:

Hopefully your parents?!?! And BTW, congratulations!

Austyn:

Thanks! We’re so happy.

Sula:

You look it.

Austyn:

Can you avoid sharing? I wasn’t going to send to Mama and Dad just yet.

Sula:

WHY NOT?

Austyn:

Well...

Sula:

Austyn. You have to tell your mother. Right. Now.

Austyn:

I don’t suppose you could forget you saw it?

Sula’s response was a bunch of laughing emojis.

Still, Sula held the photo of us until we flew back from Vegas that night without a honeymoon due to an unexpected gift bestowed upon Austyn’s family.

Austyn huffs, “It was human error.”

I nod sagely. “Sonia, Sula. I get it. Maybe you should put Sula under Ursula so we don’t send her any other photos we don’t want to be exposed.”

I can’t help but snicker at the disgruntled expression on my wife’s face which lasts as long as it takes for me to lift her hand bearing my rings and press a kiss just below them. It wasn’t that long ago I realized I’d never recover from loving Austyn Kensington but seeing her this bubbly after the pain we’ve endured sets my soul ablaze.

Not too long ago, Austyn and Beckett were honored with a gold record for The Golden Lady as they both participated in the cast recording. The certification by the RIAA made it only the fourth cast recording to receive gold or greater certification this decade. She made a comment the night she received her award that stuck with me. “I feel like I was Midas being granted a wish.”

“What are you talking about, Beats? This is an incredible honor.”

“It’s everything I wished for.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“I read a romance once where the author had written an epigraph about the legend of Midas.”

“What does that have to do with what you’re feeling?”

“It was about how those that find themselves burdened with an abundance of perfection gifted to them by the gods often seek relief to reverse their fortune except when that fortune is love.” Her eyes watered. “Do you think I wouldn’t give up everything I could to be holding our daughter?”

I pulled her on my lap after setting aside her latest award. Burying my face in the crook of her shoulder, I murmur, “I know you would. I would too. I’d give up everything but you.”

Austyn channeled her burgeoning emotions into a song called “Curses on the Mend”—a duet she debuted with Amanda Reidel the night of a charity event that honored a musician once part of the Wildcard label. The live version became so popular, the women took to the studio to record it for Austyn’s album due out next month.

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