Page 39 of Broken Strings
“Gunner Shaw, you better be giving me that ring. This instant!” I swat his shoulders while laughing uncontrollably.
Gunner bends and kisses me quickly before grabbing the discarded ring on the floor. “Cash, my beautiful, sexy, talented girl,” he says, standing and holding the box in his hands, his fingers tracing the edges. He gets down on one knee as I move to the edge of the sofa.
I have so much love for this man,myman. He’s strong, kind, and warm. He’s everything I didn’t know I wanted and everything I’ve always needed.
“I never thought I would find someone so utterly perfect for me in every single way. And then you walked into my bar and turned my entire world upside down with your smart mouth and beautiful soul. You even won over my mother and helped her clean up her act. You make my life perfect,You’reperfect. I know you can do significantly better than me, but I’m so grateful you don’t want to. Cash, will you make me the happiest man in the world by agreeing to be my wife?”
The tears come thundering down my face. I don’t look graceful; I’m full-on ugly crying. I gaze at my sweet man, feeling so full and beyond happy.
Gunner places the huge rock on my finger. I jump on him, wrapping my legs around his waist.
“Yes!” I shout, placing kisses all over his face. “Yes. Yes, yes, yes, I will marry you. I love you so much, Gunner.”
“I love you too, beautiful. Now, how about we make those babies?” He carries me to the bedroom and tosses me onto the bed and covers my body with his, obliterating the darkness of my past with a promise of a brighter future.
A future with him.
First Epilogue
Gunner –Two Years Later
“And the winner in the Best New Country Album category is…” The latest Hollywood star fumbles open the award envelope while Cash digs her nails into my thigh.
I clasp her hand, shooting her a cocky grin just as an audience camera swoops in front of us. Our faces are projected onto the big screen just as time blurs.
“Cash Leigh and Gunner Shaw forCopper Sunrise!”
We stand as Cash’s hand trembles in mine, tears shimmering in her eyes. She still shocks me two years into this wild ride with her. We’ve already won Best New Single for our song, “Lost Without You.” The first duet we released together was enough to send us into the stratosphere.
And less than twenty minutes after that, they’ve given me the New Artist of the Year award.
I help my sparrow up the steps to collect our second award together, thinking how wild it is that I’m here. I nod to my former bandmates, Gutless Void. Two of the guys jump up and down in white masks covered in blood while the other three clap enthusiastically. I chuckle, thinking how that completely goes against their dark metalcore look.
“Congratulations.” The fancy presenter double-kisses Cash’s cheeks before shaking my hand and passing me the golden statue.
Our names, engraved side by side for all eternity.
I will forever cement the day Cash became my wife exactly one year ago as the best moment of my life.
But sharing our lives and our music every day is a pretty damn close second.
“Thank you for listening, everyone.” I nod appreciatively to the crowd, an inky black cloud of faces behind the glaring stage lights, before nestling the award in Cash’s arms.
She smiles when she catches sight of our names, pressing up on her tiptoes to kiss me on the lips.
It’s only a moment, but the crowd goes wild. The chorus of our song plays in the background until the cheers finally drop a decibel, and Cash speaks.
She begins with a thank you, wiping her eyes before turning to me. “My eternal gratitude goes to this man beside me. He brought me back to life before he knew he was doing it. He saved me, saved my words, and made me fall in love with music again. He just plain made me fall in love with him.”
She pauses, and much of the crowd is still on their feet, swiping at their teary eyes.
It is such a powerful moment of love that it nearly moves me to damn tears. A floating camera boom swoops in to catch a close-up of our faces, and it’s all I can do to hang onto her eyes to keep myself from crashing over an emotional edge.
This woman saved me from the start, and she still doesn’t realize it.
“He gives me the world. He gives me unconditional love. He gives me so much every day.” She clutches the award to her chest, barely hanging on to her crashing wave of emotions as tears fill my sparrow’s beautiful eyes.
“I love you, Sparrow.” On impulse, I dash my thumb across her cheek to catch some of the wetness. The crowdsays, “Ahhh,”and I die a little from embarrassment in front of Hollywood.