“Corina, I think I loved you even back in high school. There aren’t words to express how much I love you now. I want to be your man forever, and never lose you again. I need you to know that you’re the only woman for me from this second forward. Will you marry me?”
Suddenly the crowd was dead silent, as if everyone was holding their breath. Ethan held the box up, showing me a light blue sapphire ring, encircled w
ith tiny diamonds.
“He even knows your favorite color is blue,” Brynn gasped.
“Go with your heart,” Jenna muttered.
The two of them released me, stepping back.
Ethan’s eyes looked up at me with such warmth. So much love.
I felt my heart thudding once, twice....
“Yes!” I squealed, a split second before my ears rang from the applause and screaming.
Ethan had barely slipped the ring on my finger before I fell to my knees to kiss him.
Todd straightened up the mic, announcing, “Congratulations to Corina and Ethan!”
I didn’t even care that hundreds of people were staring. Ethan’s lips branded mine, searing in our love forever. When I finally pulled away, his eyes were shining. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too,” I giggled, “But you need to finish your show.”
Kissing him on the forehead, I stood up, racing back to the wings where Jenna and Brynn hugged me half to pieces.
Ethan strapped his guitar back on and adjusted his microphone. “Sorry about that little disruption, folks,” he laughed. “I guess the song worked.” He paused for the laughter to die down, blowing me a kiss.
“We have one last song, and it would really be the cherry on top of a great night if you could all sing along.”
The band broke into their second biggest hit, as hundreds of people raised their voices to join him.
“Your fiancé is pretty darn sweet,” Brynn said, lifting my hand to study the ring. “Great taste in jewelry, too.”
“You’ve only been dating a few weeks, but it seems right,” Jenna said. “I’ve never seen you this happy.”
Squeezing their hands, the three of us sang along with the chorus, as I nearly exploded with joy.
The part of me that was always looking for ways to get more media exposure realized that a public proposal could be the best thing for Ethan’s career. Not only did it show him as a sweet, romantic, down to earth guy, it would keep women from throwing themselves at him, to a large extent.
But I also knew that thought likely hadn’t crossed his mind at all. He simply knew that I needed to be reassured. To believe that we truly belonged to each other, through work, touring, recording, and whatever else might be thrown our way.
16
_____
Ethan
Walking into my loft with Corina, we kicked off our shoes and flopped directly on the bed. Without a doubt, this had been the best night of my entire life, but it was a relief to be home.
Although my sweet angel accepting my marriage proposal was definitely at the very top of the list, the rest of the night had also been one joyful success after the other.
The crowd had been so revved up they had screamed for three encores. We had to resort to repeating a song, and playing a couple of hilarious cover tunes.
When we finally left the stage and went back to the green room, Corina had arranged an incredible buffet of snacks, beer, and wine for us to unwind.
Representatives of three different record companies actually snuck backstage to speak with us, and Corina was setting us up with a manager who could help us field offers next week.