Always(Time for Love Book 4)(57)

She glanced at him, surprised that his hand was as clammy as hers. He smiled, his nervousness apparent. She guessed he was feeling for Gemma as well.

“Good evening, everyone,” Gemma said through the microphone. “This first song I’m going to play is written by a very good friend of mine. It’s dedicated to the love of his life.”

Brenna raised her eyebrows. Love of his life? It should have been love of her life. Gemma must be more nervous than she’d thought.

As Gemma played the first notes, Brenna frowned. This didn’t sound like her song. Had Gemma and her friend changed the melody without telling her?

Then Gemma started singing the first verse. Brenna’s mouth dropped and tears rushed to her eyes. Ash squeezed her hand again. It was his song. She recognised the words. It was the one where he’d written that even when his heart was broken into tiny pieces, each of those fragments kept beating for the woman he loved.

She turned to Ash and mouthed I love you, trying desperately to stop the tears from falling. Oh yes, he’d surprised her. She wasn’t expecting this. He’d said he didn’t want anyone else but her to see what he’d written. Now everyone was hearing it.

She focused her attention back to Gemma. She was singing beautifully and playing flawlessly, enthralling each person in the room.

At the end of the song, everyone stood up, giving Gemma a standing ovation she thoroughly deserved.

“Thank you, everyone,” Gemma said as everyone sat back down. “Before I play my next song, I want to hand the show over to someone else first for a few minutes. Ash, it’s your turn.”

Brenna’s head whipped towards Ash in surprise. He stood up, then... knelt on one knee beside her. The tears she’d been trying to hold back now came out unrestrained. From the other side of her, Amanda handed her a tissue.

“Bren,” Ash started nervously, his eyes moist.

“Wait, wait!” someone cried. Connor came running with a microphone and handed it to Ash.

Everyone in the room chuckled, including Brenna and Ash.

“Thank you, bro. I’m glad you remembered,” Ash said to Connor. “Now let me start again.” Ash cleared his throat and took Brenna’s left hand. “Bren, I love you. I’ve loved you for so long and I know I’ll never stop loving you. I can’t imagine feeling this whole, this complete, this happy with anyone else but you. I want us for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”

Brenna sniffed and nodded her head, emotions blocking the word from coming out of her throat.

“You have to speak through the microphone, baby,” Ash joked, pointing the mic at her mouth.

She chuckled. “I love you, too, Ash. And yes, I’ll marry you,” she said clearly through her tears.

Applause rang out, and there was another standing ovation.

Ash slid a beautiful, brilliant diamond ring on her finger. Then he gave her a long kiss on the lips before sitting back down in his chair, grinning happily at her.

Brenna glanced back at the stage where Gemma was patiently watching them. She mouthed thank you to her friend, who smiled in response.

Ready? Gemma mouthed back.

She nodded.

Gemma went back to the piano stool and positioned the microphone close to her mouth. “Okay,” she said. “It’s time for our next song. This one was also written by a very good friend of mine—one of my sisters-by-choice, in fact—and it’s dedicated to her new fiancée, Ash Payne.”

Brenna heard Ash gasp. She moved her seat closer to him so she could lean on his chest while they listened to Gemma singing the song she’d written for him.

She could feel his heartbeat against her back as he hugged her tight.

“It’s beautiful. Thank you,” he whispered, as he raised his hand to his face to wipe a stray tear.

*

“Merry Christmas, honey,” Brenna said, kissing Ash on the dance floor after the MC announced it was midnight.

When she let go, she caught Gemma greeting the people around her. Gemma was about to go to Sarah, but stopped when Jeff pulled Sarah for a kiss. Then Gemma swung around only to find Rebecca and Zach kissing. Amanda and Connor weren’t far away, locked in a tender embrace.

Then she saw Gemma smile ruefully. She followed her friend’s line of sight and saw Greg hugging one of the pretty female guests—the daughter of a wealthy entrepreneur who was equally as powerful as the Carmichaels.

“We have to find someone for Gemma,” Brenna said to Ash, knowing it would be harder for her friend on New Year’s Eve.

Ash sighed. “All we can do is introduce her to nice single men. The rest is up to her. I do hope she finds someone, too. Being in love is bliss. Pure bliss.”

She smiled at him, loving his statement. She bet there was a big stretch of time there where he’d thought the opposite.

“I love you, Ash,” she said, kissing him again.

“Will you love me always?”

“I’ll love you always.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Good. ‘Cause my life is dull and grey without your love.”

She chuckled, recognising that as a line from the very first song he’d written for her.

Well, she didn’t want dull and grey either. She wanted Ash. Always.