Page 54 of Hope & Harmony

And I was very possibly about to pee myself.

I leaned into him. “What’s going on?”

He didn’t answer me.

Instead, he told the crowd, “My best friend, ever since I was a kid, is this big guy named Jude who’s like a brother to me. He works very hard to look out for me and he always has. He doesn’t like to be in the spotlight, but today’s his birthday, so why don’t we all shout ‘Happy Birthday Jude’ on the count of three? I want to hear ALL OF YOU, way in the back! One. Two. Three!” Jesse thrust his mic in the air and the audience shouted: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUDE!”

I laughed with nervous delight. This was amazing.

Where the hell was Jude?

Jesse brought the mic back around and said, “What about you, Roni? You want to say happy birthday to your man?”

Then he thrust the mic at me.

“Happy birthday Jude.” My voice sounded hesitant and sowhat-the-fuck-is-going-on-right-now, the crowd laughed.

Into the mic, Jesse told me, “Now Jude has something he wants to say to you, Roni.”

Me?

My knees were shaking now. Adrenalin and nerves were at war in my body as I struggled to just keep standing, keep breathing.

“You wanna let go of my hand or what?” Jesse asked me, right into the mic.

“No.”

More laughter and crowd noise as Jesse pried his hand from my grip. Then he slipped behind me and said, “Just stand right there. Look out at the crowd.”

I did as I was told, really fucking glad I didn’t wear a short skirt tonight. There were like twenty thousand phones in the air documenting this right now, from every angle.

A shiver of something like elation ran through me.

Was this real?

“On the count of three,” Jesse shouted at the crowd, “let’s show Roni what Jude has to say to her. Ready? ONE. TWO. THREE!”

The split second Jesse saidthree, the lights went out. And man, that was eerie and electric. All that blackness surrounding me, and the sea of glowing phones…

Then lights shone out over the crowd.

A single spotlight shone on me onstage. My heart was thudding so hard in my chest I could barely draw a breath. I felt like Iwasmy heart, thudding away up here, fleshy and raw, just silently witnessing this madness as I trembled on the edge of a heart attack.

The crowd noise had suddenly faded as people craned their necks to look around, to see what was going on. I watched as people halfway up the stands, in the beams of light, held up handmade signs in rows, with big letters on them—spelling out a message.

The first actual thoughts I pulled together were:This is adorable! Jude did this? For me?

The next one was:Oh my god.

The message, once it was intact, said: WILL YOU MARRY ME?

I buried my face in my hands as it hit me what was happening, and I felt his arms around me. Not Jesse. I wouldknow the feel of my man’s touch anywhere. The heat of him, his power and his gentleness, the raw silk of his skin.

I turned and fell into Jude’s strong arms. He pulled me close, holding me tight as I buried my face in his chest, in the familiar scents of leather and clean cotton and Jude. I felt the beat of his heart thumping against me.

And suddenly there was nothing but me and Jude, holding each other as the lights went out again and the crowd noise thundered. But this time, it felt distant and even more unreal. We were alone in the dark.

“What do you say, darlin’,” he growled in my ear. “All I want for my birthday is you.”

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