Page 231 of Perfect Pitch

“How many songs did he have to sing to get her to fall asleep?” I ask. Before my mother can answer, Mitch begins rubbing my feet. “Oh god. If you stop, I’m shooting you with your own gun.”

He lifts my ankle to his mouth and kisses the bone. When he does, I get a clear view of the music notes twined around his wrists that match mine exactly.

My father appears in the doorway, looming over my mother. “So, this is where the party’s gone to.”

“We’re forcing Austyn to rest,” my mother reminds him.

“Da-rn straight we are,” he booms.

Mitch, my mother, and I chuckle at big, bad, tattooed rocker Beckett Miller cleaning up his language so his son doesn’t pick up the habit. Dad slips an arm around Mama. “You should be resting too. You just gave birth two months ago.”

She flicks her hand as if that doesn’t matter as much as what she’s doing now. “I’m fine. Trust me.”

He leans over and whispers something in her ear. I scrunch my nose as my mother’s eyes turn dreamy before she announces, “York, sweetie, it’s time for your afternoon nap.”

He clutches me and pouts. “I stay, ’Tyn.” His little face is a mirror of my father’s. I smooth my hand over my belly and wonder if our child will look like me or like Mitch. I don’t care because I’m just so overwhelmed with joy when I feel him kick against my hand.

I press a kiss to his head and remind him, “You have to be ready to dance with me later.”

“Ohhhkay!” He bounces across our bed like Tigger and leaps at my father.

Just before the door closes behind my parents, my father winks at us. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Mitch flips me around so my back is to his front. He nips the nape of my neck as his hands disappear down the front of my shorts and up the bottom of my shirt. “Fortunately, that leaves me with a wide range of things to choose from.”

I begin panting from excitement at his touch. “We can’t be late for the ceremony.”

“We won’t be,” he assures me.

* * *

The ceremony in question—the vow renewal of country star Brendan Blake to his wife, supermodel Danielle Madison, went off without a hitch. After I sang “Shameless” to Brendan and Dani—a song that holds a great deal of meaning to them both—I switched it up to a medley of ’80s hits that included Pink Floyd, Jack Wagner, and ABBA’s infamous “Dancing Queen.”

Everyone at the party was shaking it on the dance floor including my parents, Brendan’s siblings and their significant others. Leanne had snagged Kristoffer Wilde as her partner while his wife and daughter danced right next to them.

Just like at their farm, the extended Freeman family dominated the space with their dance moves. However, unlike at home, the men weren’t standing on the sidelines. They were showing off some moves of their own that made my eyes pop.

The Burkes and Lennans were trading partners so often, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t Carys and Ward’s intent to toss one another in the pool—having got that idea from Arek Ronan and Joshua Basset falling in earlier in the day.

Smith, Brendan’s mother Glenda’s longtime boyfriend, twirled both her and her sister, Edolie under the stars. Brendan’s “nephew, not a nephew” as explained by Corinna Freeman—Josiah was standing in the shadows near Dani’s parents.

His eyes were pinned on someone in particular.

I wonder if she could feel it.

Shane Reidel was twirling around Kee Long while his wife, Amanda was being swung by Kee’s husband, Benedict Perrault. Kee and Benedict met in high school, she confessed to me earlier when we chatted and I told her what a huge fan of her work I was. “Ben’s and my relationship was completely different than your parents.”

“But you made it,” I reminded her.

Her face softened as she found her husband talking to my dad near the pool after the ceremony. “Against all odds, we did.”

Kids, including my little brother, were darting in between photographer Phina Hart’s legs as she snapped pictures of every moment.

And like sentries of old, Mitch, Kane, and the rest of my father’s team of bodyguards patrolled the property. I wish my husband was close enough for me to touch, but I know right now he needs to know I’m safe—we’re safe.

Later, I’ll lay my head on his chest and tell him all the details he missed.

* * *

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