“The band is very good,” Bryan commented to Chloe and Donovan after the cake had been cut and the first dance was behind them.
Chloe nodded in satisfaction. “They are, aren’t they? The lead singer is an old friend from Searcy. The band’s getting quite popular locally. I was lucky to get them tonight.”
Bryan listened for another minute, his foot tapping in time to the beat, and then he asked, “Do they have aspirations of going national?”
Donovan gave Grace a wry smile. “Apparently he’s considering getting into the music production business now.”
“I was just wondering,” Bryan answered mildly, his attention still focused on the talented musicians.
Chloe turned to put a hand on her sister’s arm. “Grace—you will sing for me tonight, won’t you? You promised you would, you know.”
Grace took another quick gulp of champagne. “Um…”
Her twin smiled, not without sympathy. “Don’t try to weasel out of it now. I know you and the band have practiced and I’m holding you to your promise. For me.”
For Chloe. “Of course,” Grace replied. “I’ll sing. For you.”
Having overheard her, Bryan turned to look
at her in surprise. “You’re going to sing?”
“Grace has a beautiful voice,” Chloe informed him proudly. “I sing well enough, but she got the real talent in the family. It’s just rare that anyone can talk her into using it.”
Self-conscious now, Grace shrugged. “Chloe has always overstated my talent.”
“She promised to sing my two favorite songs,” Chloe said, leaning happily against Donovan’s arm. “I begged, of course. Shamelessly.”
“And, as usual, Grace consented as a favor to you,” Bryan murmured.
Both Chloe and Grace looked at him in question at his tone. Donovan frowned at his friend, apparently also hearing something that bothered him.
“Bryan, you make it sound as though everything Grace does is for me,” Chloe said a bit hesitantly. “I certainly don’t—”
“Bryan is well aware that I do exactly what I want to do,” Grace cut in, giving him a stern look that dared him to say anything to upset her sister this evening.
“And tonight you want to sing for your sister’s wedding?” he asked, his tone hard to read.
She lifted her chin. “Exactly.”
With a wry expression, he motioned toward the stage.
Draining her champagne, she set the empty flute on a table and moved toward the band, her long skirt swishing around her ankles. Seeing her approaching, the lead singer, after finishing the number he’d been singing, motioned for her to join them.
“As a special gift for the newlyweds, the bride’s sister would like to sing two of the bride’s favorite songs,” he announced into the microphone. The statement was greeted by murmurs of pleasure and anticipation from the guests, who immediately gathered around the stage, led by the twins’ proud parents.
Grace wasn’t usually nervous when she sang. She’d been singing in public since her Bible School debut when she was four. She’d sung for big crowds and small groups, for close friends and total strangers—but she had never performed in front of Bryan before. That made it different.
She looked at Chloe as she began. Her twin appeared so delighted that it encouraged Grace to put everything she had into the performance. Standing on the stage in the dress her sister had selected for her, she sang the songs her sister loved. “Someone to Watch Over Me”—which was particularly appropriate since Donovan had been serving as Chloe’s bodyguard when they’d fallen in love—and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”
It was sometime during the first song that Chloe stopped watching Grace and turned her eyes to her new husband’s face. He smiled down at her, and their eyes locked. Grace finished the second number with a wistful ache in her chest.
Her audience erupted into enthusiastic applause when she finished. Giving them a little bow of gratitude, she handed the microphone back to the band’s lead singer and moved to the three steps that led down from the stage.
Bryan was there to take her hand and assist her down the steps, even though she could, of course, have handled them on her own. He leaned over to kiss her lightly when she stood beside him. Because she knew that would be expected of them, she didn’t try to resist the kiss, though she didn’t exactly respond, either.
“Chloe didn’t overstate your talent,” he said. “You have a beautiful voice. Absolutely beautiful.”
As talented an actor as Bryan was, Grace had learned to tell when he was being sincere. He was now. Because that sincerity touched her, she smiled up at him. “Thank you.”