Music of the Heart

by Katie Ashley

  I nodded and then hurried after Jake. When I got to the porch, I glanced left and right before running to the barn. “Jake?” I called. Silence echoed around me. Whirling around, I then ran down the hill to the stables. I peeked in several stalls until I saw him standing in one.

  With tears still streaming down his cheeks, Jake was saddling up a towering black horse. Sensing my presence, Jake said, “I have to get away from here. I need to take a ride.”

  I stepped back as he led the horse out of the stall. “I’ll go with you.”

  He glanced at me in shock. “You don’t ride horses after you got thrown as a kid,” he reminded me.

  A shiver went over me at the memory from all those years passed, but I shook my head. “I’ll ride them for you.”

  Jake stared at me for a minute before taking my hand. He pulled me over to the horse. “This is Lennon.” He gave me a sheepish grin. “Brayden might be a Paul McCartney fan, but it’s all about John Lennon for me.”

  “I like it.”

  “Ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  Tension and unspoken words hung heavy between us. I was at a loss for what to say to comfort him. He’d just experienced the worse loss of his life, and I was afraid I might not be enough to fill the void. Maybe there wasn’t anything I could say—maybe all he needed was me by his side, showing my love and support.

  Jake brushed the wet strands of hair out of my face. “You can hold tight to me. I won’t let you fall, Angel.”

  “And I won’t let you either.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed myself against him. I gave him a lingering kiss. “We’ll ride this storm together, Jake. Forever and always.”

  His warm breath fanned across my cheek. “And you’ll always be my sweet angel—my saving grace and the love of my life.”

  ***

  A deep, regretful sigh escaped my lips as I stared down at the bronze marker memorializing my mother. Although I had gone all out to get her the best there was, it still seemed like an inadequate representation of how amazing a woman and mother she was.

  Abby’s arm encircled my waist, pulling me to her. She leaned her head on my shoulder. “Are you sure you don’t need a minute alone?”

  “No, I want you here.” I kissed the crown of her head. “I always want you with me.”

  “And I always want to be here for you.”

  I smiled down at her. “Besides, Mama would want you here. She loved you like I do.”

  Abby’s chin trembled. “And I loved her too. I always will.”

  At the sound of crunching leaves behind us, Abby and I turned around. A tall, lean man came striding toward us. His arms were laden with dozens of pink roses. When he got almost to us, he stopped abruptly. His dark green eyes scanned our faces. “Excuse me, are you part of Susan Moore’s—I mean, Susan Slater’s family.”

  My brows shot up at his thick Russian accent. “I’m her son.”

  A hesitant smile formed on his lips. “Of course. I see the resemblance now.” His gaze left mine to take in my mother’s grave. Regret filled his face. “I’m so sorry I didn’t get here for the funeral. I didn’t know she was sick. I would’ve liked…” He drew in a sharp breath like he was trying to control his emotions. “I would have liked to have seen her again.”

  “How did you know her?” I asked.

  “We used to dance together many years ago.”

  Abby’s arm jerked from my waist to cover her mouth. Her eyes had widened as big as saucers. “Oh my God. You’re Yuri?”

  He smiled. “Yes, but how did you know?”

  “Susan told me about you.”

  “Wait, what?” I asked.

  Ignoring me, I watched as Abby closed the gap between her and Yuri. She leaned up to whisper something in his ear. An agonized sob escaped his lips. When she finally pulled away, tears streamed down his cheeks. “Really?”

  Abby nodded.

  “Thank you,” he murmured. Swiping his cheeks, he turned his attention to me. “May I have a moment with her?”

  “Sure. We really have to be going anyway,” I replied.

  “Nice meeting you,” Yuri said.

  “You too,” Abby replied while I nodded.

  As we walked away, Abby took my hand in hers. “Who the hell is that guy and what did my mom tell you about him?” I demanded.

  “It was something she wanted just between us—a girl’s thing.”

  I skidded to a stop. “Please tell me that dude isn’t my real father or something like that!”

  Abby’s blue eyes widened. “No, no, of course it’s nothing sordid like that!”

  “Tell me,” I growled. When she shot me her infamous ‘Don’t you dare use that tone with me, Jake Slater’, look, I grunted in frustration. I hated begging, and she knew it. “Please.”

  “Okay, since you asked nicely, I’ll fill you in on the way to the concert.”

  The idea of a benefit concert in my mother’s memory had been Abby’s idea. She wanted it to be a hometown crowd for those who knew and loved my mom as well as me. All proceeds would go to cancer research and the American Cancer Society. She organized everything from having us perform in the park behind the high school where both my mom and I went to school. It would also be the opening of our newly billed act, The Crossroads Tour, where Jacob’s Ladder and Runaway Train teamed up together for a North American tour.

  After performing with her brothers, Abby and I would be singing several duets before Runaway Train came on, including I’ll Take You with Me. It had been bittersweet when the song shot to number one on the Billboard Top 100 the day of Mama’s funeral. Although everyone was heralding it as the most emotional break-up song of the year, I knew the truth. It was about immense heartbreak and suffering—just not the kind they thought.

  Since we were performing in a park, we had to get ready in our tour buses. My first order of business for our upcoming tour was to ensure that Abby and I had our own bus, so we could be alone without interruptions. Always thinking of someone else, Abby had insisted that we share it a lot with Brayden so that he and Lily could have more family time. Until then, I planned on christening every square inch of it with her when we got on the road. Tonight, however, there was no time for funny business.

  Besides organizing the venue and bands, it had also been Abby’s idea for everyone to dress-up, so to speak, in respect for my mama. The guys from both bands were wearing black dress pants, black shirts and black ties. A single pink ribbon for Breast Cancer awareness was pinned to our lapels. Although strapless, Abby’s black dress came to her knees and met the tops of her black cowboy boots. Wrapped around her neck were my mother’s pearls. She wore them often, and every time she did, it made my heart ache with both pleasure and pain at the bond the two amazing women in my life once shared.

  A stylist was still working on my hair when they came to escort Abby to the stage. After what had happened with Bree, I insisted on two bodyguards each and every time. She leaned over the chair to kiss my cheek. “See you in a few, babe.”

  “Bye Angel,” I replied.

  As soon as I was finished, I headed to the wings so I could watch Abby perform. I never got tired of watching her work a crowd. She was truly amazing in every aspect of her life. After singing several songs of her brothers’ hits, Abby sat alone on the stage with her guitar. “This song is for all of you out there who know the pain of loss and the anguish of grief.” She then began strumming the opening of Pink’s Beam Me Up. Her voice filled the stadium and warmed my soul. It meant so much that I had someone to share my grief with. Abby hadn’t known Mama long, but she still loved her. Having my Angel stand by me in the darkest, most hellish times of my life meant everything in the world.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I grinned at the guys. “Damn, she’s amazing, isn’t she?”

  With one arm wrapped around Lily’s waist and Melody in the other, Brayden smiled. “She gets better and better every time I hear her.”

  AJ nodded. “But I still
don’t know what the hell she sees in you.”

  “Douchebag!” I shouted before ruffling his hair.

  “Hey man, don’t be hating on the hair!” he countered smacking my hand away.

  Rhys rolled his eyes at our antics and went back to texting on his phone. I knew he was fighting his nerves because his parents were in the audience. They’d flown up in his dad’s corporate jet. Like the true angel she was, Abby had called to invite them. She had also gone on and on about what an amazing son they had and how proud they should be.

  As Abby finished up the song, I adjusted my guitar on my shoulder, so I could head out to join her. We’d planned to sing several duets together, including I’ll Take You with Me. But Abby surprised me by abandoning her stool and handing off her guitar to a technician. She then went over to the piano and sat down. “There’s one more song I’d like to do tonight before Jake joins me. It’s another song by one of my favorite and most inspirational singers, Pink. It’s called The Great Escape, and it’s for anyone who has hit rock bottom and is thinking about making an escape.” She glanced up from the microphone and met my questioning gaze. “But most of all, this one is for you, babe.”

  Her fingers effortlessly flew over the black and white keys as she began the song. Leaning against the side of the stage, I listened intently to the lyrics. Even though I tried fighting them, tears stung my eyes, especially the part about how the passion and the pain would keep me alive someday. The song captured so much of the desperately dark emotions I’d been experiencing in the past two months since Mama’s death. I knew there would be more desperate times ahead, but I wouldn’t be making any escapes. I had Abby by my side, my bandmates and brothers, and the new love of Abby’s family to get me through.

  When Abby finished, I strode out on stage and pulled her up from the piano bench. After I wrapped my arms tight around her, I murmured into her ear. “Thank you, Angel.”

  “You’re welcome.” She kissed me on the lips, which caused the crowd to go wild. Working the moment, Abby took a microphone from the technician and asked, “I guess you guys are ready for us to sing together now?”

  Whistles and catcalls filled the air. “Well, all right then.” The set was changed to where two microphones sat between two stools. Abby and I adjusted our guitars on our laps.

  The first song we did together was a cover of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s I Need You. Perched on the stool across from me, Abby grinned when I changed the lyrics from riding across West Virginia to West Georgia and the part about cowboys going out like that to rockers. We finished the song to thunderous applause. I bobbed my head at Abby to do the next introduction. She grinned and winked at me. “We want to thank everyone who has made I’ll Take You with Me a hit. It means so much to Jake and myself because we wrote the song together. In fact, it was the first songwriting I ever did. So here it is.”

  Even though the song was emotional hell, I never got tired of performing it with Abby. Each time she brought something different to it—either emphasizing a new word or whispering part of a line. She kept me on my toes on stage just like in the real world, and I loved every minute of it.

  After the applause died down, I leaned in to the microphone. “So for our last song together, we wanted to do another cover. Hopefully this time next year we’ll have written more material together. But for now, this song captures so much of what I feel for Abby, or my Angel. Here’s Paul McDonald and Nikki Reed’s All I Ever Needed.”

  Throughout the song, Abby and I kept our eyes locked. Although we were separated by our guitars and the microphone stand, we inched as close as we could. Like the lyrics, she was my shelter in the storm and all I would ever need.

  When the last verse echoed throughout the park, Abby leaned over the microphone to kiss me passionately. The crowd loved it, and the applause and cheering became deafening. Abby started to rise off of her stool to make her departure from the stage, but I stopped her.

  Her brows furrowed in confusion. “Jake—”

  I tried stilling the rapid beating of my heart. I knew what I was about to do was huge, and I wanted to make sure it was absolutely perfect. Speaking into my microphone, my voice cracked as it echoed over the crowd. “Two of the songs we sang together mean everything to me, Angel. You’re all I’ve ever needed, or I could ever want. There’s nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my life making you happy.”

  I rose off my stool and dug the small jewelry box out of my pocket. When I cracked it open, the enormous emerald cut diamond caught the stage lights, and it sparkled, causing Abby to shriek with shock. “Oh my God…Oh. My. God!” she exclaimed. Her hands came up to cover her mouth.

  With a grin, I knelt down on one knee before her. The crowd started screaming and whistling so loud I could barely hear myself think. I’d gone over and over in my head a million times what I planned to say. I wanted it to be heartfelt and meaningful. I was a songwriter for fuck’s sake, but in that moment, it all flew out of my head.

  So I gave up and took Abby’s hand in mine. “Angel, will you make my life complete and whole by marrying me?”

  Tears shimmered in Abby’s eyes as she hopped off of her stool. I barely had time to prepare before she threw herself into my arms, almost toppling me over. “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you!”

  At her acceptance, the crowd once again went crazy while the guys played a rocker remix of the Bridal March. Wrapping Abby in my arms, I stood up and spun her around. As a self-respecting dude, I’d never believed in fairy tales, but in that moment, I did. I’d found my angel to live happily-ever-after with.

  A message from Katie Ashley:

  Please do me a tremendous favor by leaving a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Goodreads. If you’re not comfortable with leaving a review, find one that you think expresses your feelings and like that review. You don’t know how much it means to Independent Authors.

  Find Katie online at:

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  http://katieashleybooks.blogspot.com/

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  ***

  Katie Ashley is the New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon Best-Selling author of The Proposition. She lives outside of Atlanta, Georgia with her two very spoiled dogs and one outnumbered cat. She has a slight obsession with Pinterest, The Golden Girls, Harry Potter, Shakespeare, Supernatural, Designing Women, and Scooby-Doo.

  She spent 11 1/2 years educating the Youth of America aka teaching MS and HS English until she left to write full time in December 2012.

  She also writes Young Adult fiction under the name Krista Ashe.

  ***

  Thanks first and foremost always go to God for his love and abiding support, for speaking peace to my often troubled soul, and for exceeding my expectations of unanswered prayers. To my church family for always giving me love and support when I needed it most and being supportive of my alter-ego Katie.

  Michelle Eck: Even as a writer, words seem inadequate to say how grateful I am that God brought you into my life. You’re a daily blessing as a friend, a hardcore supporter, a Stream Team Captain extraordinaire, and the best eagle eye editor a girl could ever ask or hope for. I don’t know what I would do without you, your love and care, your straight forward honesty, and your willingness to fight long and hard to make my books and my career better. I couldn’t navigate these crazy waters without you at the helm! Love and hugs always!!

  Cris Hadarly: Thank you for being one of the sweetest, kindest, and most caring people I know. We’re truly soul sisters divided by oceans and continents! I can’t thank you enough for all your support, pimpage, long and grueling hours working on book tours on my behalf, and overall book love. Most of all, I thank you for your friendship, for your prayers, and for having a smile for me when I needed it most. I pray God blesses you with the desires of your hear
t that you so richly deserve.

  Marilyn Medina: You mean so much to me girlie and have so many places in my heart. You’re my fellow Golden Girls goddess, my “twinsie and sista from another mista, my Latin lover, my eagle eye editor and book lover and supporter. I can’t imagine writing a book if I didn’t have you to support me and help to make it better. Thanks also for helping with all things Spanish for AJ. Thanks for always having your eye for me—I know I can count on you to shank any haters!

  JB McGee: Thank you for being one of the kindest, sweetest, and most generous people I’ve been blessed to get to know in the business. Your courage and your ability to smile in the good and bad times are truly an inspiration to me. Thank you for all things design related and most of all for being the most kickass formatter (including being willing to do it last minute!).

  Yesi Cavazos: Thank you so, so much for all your book love and support. I appreciate all your help with Music. Thanks for making sure AJ and Abby were speaking Spanish in the right tenses and using the right Spanish curse words!! LOL I love our marathon dinners together with JB and Michelle, and I’m going to miss them so much!!

  Lisa Kane: Thank you so, so much for your willingness to be an early reader. The insight and enthusiasm you brought to Music made it such a better book. I’m forever in your debt. Big hugs always for the support of all my books.

  Raine Miller: Thank you lady for being a part of my life. I will always see our friendship as divinely brought about! You’re a true inspiration. Thank you for always being there for me to provide laughter, support, advice, and guidance. You are truly my Mama Raine!!

  Heather Gunter: Thanks to the most amazing margaritas, Mexican food, and tattoos partner in crime! Thanks for giving me a shoulder to cry on as well as an ear to piss and moan in! Your support has meant so much to me over the last few months. You’re a true soul sister! Love ya lots, girlie!!