Page 43 of Ring My Bell

“She is a visionary,” he snapped. “You’re just refusing to see her brilliance.”

Grinning, I rolled my eyes, and a few in the audience laughed. “Well, it’s not about that. Or her. It’s about you. When I met you,” I moved around the piano to face him, “I was pretty sure you were a flash-in-the-pan pop diva wannabe who was talking out of his ass.”

Iggy sniffed. “That’s an entirely different act and only runs on the VIP stage after dark.”

I glanced at the audience, with a flurry of second, third, and fourth thoughts. What if I’d misread the entire year? I knew he loved me, but what if… What if this wasn’t the right time?

It’s never the right time, Iggy’s voice from a year ago whispered in my thoughts. You just have a time. Whether it’s wrong or right, it’s all you have.

“Iggy, I don’t have to tell you how much my life—both of our lives—have changed since we met. Everything, the ups and downs and the what the fucks… It’s been….” My heart was racing again, and Iggy stared up at me, unblinking. “Shit. Wait! No! It hasn’t been shit! I mean—”

Iggy laughed then, head thrown back and cheeks pink. He reached for my hands and caught them between his, pulling me close. The audience stirred, a ripple of voices rushing through them like a wave. “Mathis,” he said softly, the mic still catching every syllable. “Yes.”

The audience was so quiet, I wondered if they’d all left without me noticing somehow. I swear, everyone must have been holding their collective breath. “Yes?”

“I know what you’re going to ask me, and yes. I’ll marry you.”

The audience exploded (a small explosion, given the size of the room, but an explosion nonetheless). I huffed breathlessly. “How did you know?”

He shook his head. “Fairytale endings, remember?” His eyes were bright with tears, and I knew mine were, too. I slid one arm around his back. With the other hand, I pulled the ring box from my pocket and flipped the lid open. He stared, eyes wide, then nodded. “Still yes.”

My eyes finally overflowing, I chuckled and got the ring onto his finger. He kissed me, the audience cheering and clapping, a few shouting for us to finish the set. (I’d have glared at them, but kissing Iggy was so much better than letting them know I would totally use my laser death powers on them if I could.)

Iggy and I finally pulled apart at the sound of Gerald loudly clearing his throat from off stage. “Well,” Iggy said, a little wobbly, into the mic. “That was a surprise number called, Mathis made me cry in front of all of you, and now I have to demand you hand over your cell phones so those pics can be deleted.”

I moved back behind the piano and started the first run for “Ring My Bell,” and Iggy winked at me. After glancing at the silver band on his finger one more time, he moved to his spot on the stage, closing his eyes to sing.

* * *

“Congratulations!” Pepper shouted, popping the cork on a bottle of sparkling grape juice as soon as we stepped into our suite at the lodge. Gerald and Paige, arms linked, raised their own glasses in their free hands to salute us. Pepper poured us two flutes of juice. “And even more good news,” she continued, waving us in as if it weren’t our own room. “Raymond’s been ordered by federal court to turn over his assets in order to repay all the performers he screwed over.”

“He’s not only losing all his money and fancy trappings,” Gerald supplied, “but he’s facing up to ten years in prison if he’s found guilty of all the charges.” He ticked off one on each finger. “Fraud, sexual assault, tax evasion…”

Paige nudged him with their shoulder. “Don’t forget the petty theft, breaking and entering, vandalism—”

“Wait, what?” Iggy asked, gently disentangling from my grasp but then taking my hand to lead me over to the sofa. “When did that happen?”

“Apparently, after he found out what you and Mathis were planning, he went to your old place and forced his way in, tore it up, and stole what he thought was your phone. It belonged to the guy who lived there. Sonny?”

Iggy nodded. “He was, um… He was the one Raymond hooked up with, after me.”

I kissed his temple, pulling him close again. I was loathe to let him go and didn’t care who knew it. “Is Sonny okay?”

“Fine and dandy,” Gerald said. “He’s working at a boutique on Rodeo and, to quote him, ‘thriving, thank you very much.’”

Iggy sighed. “I’m glad. He annoyed the hell out of me, but…”

Standing behind the sofa, Pepper gave us both nudges to the back of our heads. “Now, I know you’re dying to get into bed and celebrate, but you’ve got some professional obligations first. There’s a party starting in twenty minutes, and you two are on the guest list.”

I made a face, but Iggy wiggled beside me. “Oh my god, I can’t wait to show off my ring!” Holding out his hand, he waved it at Paige and Gerald. “Looky!”

They gushed appreciatively while Pepper leaned down to whisper to me, “Couldn’t wait till New York, huh?”

I hid my grin, but just barely. “Nope. He wanted his fairytale ending, you know? And I wanted my fairytale beginning.”

“Sap,” she teased, then stood back up and clapped her hands. “I gotta go be all famous and shit for a bit. See you guys at the party. Put in an appearance and talk up the label. Then you can get out of there by ten. Remember: no playing the piano in the lounge. This isn’t a free show. If they want to see you perform, they need to buy tickets from here on out.”

Paige got to their feet and kissed Gerald’s temple. “I’m gonna go to the facilities. See you downstairs!”

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