“I love you.”
She smiled. “I love you, too.”
“So we’ve told your mom and Jonah that we’re going to get married.”
“We did.”
“And Bryce, well, he already knew.”
“Uncanny how he can read us.”
Jesse laughed. “I told my mother today.”
He was still smiling, but she could read his eyes. That hadn’t been a happy moment. But she wasn’t going to mention it. Her marriage to Jesse had nothing to do with the woman.
“Tonight I’m going to announce that I asked you to marry me, and I’m going to bring you out on stage and sing to you.”
“Admirer?”
“Yes.”
She nodded. “I think it’s appropriate. You were a very unexpected admirer to me.”
“Well, now I’ll be an expected one because I will admire you until I die.”
She rested her head on his shoulder. She liked the sound of that.
Jesse reached into his shirt pocket, and Melissa adjusted so she could see what he was doing.
Between his finger and his thumb, he pulled out a diamond ring. She gasped aloud.
“I picked this up for you today.”
The tears were back, but they couldn’t fall. No! Her makeup, but it was growing harder to hold them back.
Jesse took her hand and slid the ring on her finger.
“You’ll still marry me?”
Melissa looked down at the solitaire diamond that had to be no less than two karats. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t grunt. But somehow, while holding back the tears, she managed to nod her head.
“I was thinking a nice, private Christmas wedding in Colorado. What do you think?”
“I think that sounds very nice.” Her voice cracked as she spoke.
Jesse wrapped her back into his arms. “We’re going to be so happy. You. Me. Jonah. We will be the perfect, little family.”
Nothing could diminish her happiness. Dear Lord, she begged, don’t let anything ruin the bliss that is running through my veins.
The limo turned into the parking lot of the arena. The driver took them to a garage door where groups of people had already formed a mob. Some carried posters, others wore T-shirts bearing Jesse’s face, and others just stood there screaming and crying, just as she’d seen in footage of Beetles concerts.
Security guards pushed back the crowd as the limo drove through and the door opened, allowing the car inside.
A moment later, the car came to a stop and the noise had died down. Other groups of people started for them, and each looked as though they had an agenda.
“This is it.”
Melissa nodded.
“Stay with me at all times. Smile and just keep walking.”
She nodded again, and he gave her a gentle kiss.
“They are going to notice the ring.”
“Should I take it off?”
“Never.” He smiled. “But just keep your head high and only go with Bryce, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I love you.”
She let out a deep breath. “I love you, too. Now let’s make a splash.”
“That’s my girl.”
The door opened and Jesse exited the limo, stopping to help Melissa out and hold tight to her hand.
Bryce was right next to her the moment she started walking.
He leaned in close and whispered, “Nice rock.”
“Thank you very much.”
“Very official.”
“That it is.”
“Good.” He let his stride slow, but was always right behind them.
Agents from the arena started talking to Bryce and Jesse. Then a reporter snapped a picture and asked him questions which had nothing to do with the tour. Melissa just kept smiling.
It took nearly ten minutes to walk a few feet to the dressing room, but once inside, most of the crowd stayed out.
But there, in the room, was Tyson.
He smiled wide when Jesse walked through the door, and the moment he saw Melissa, his smile dipped into a scowl.
Bryce took hold of her arm and steered her toward the couch as Tyson moved in on Jesse.
Bryce retrieved them each a bottle of water and showed her where to sit.
“He’ll be a bit. You doing okay?”
“Until I fall on my butt on stage tonight.”
“You’ll do fine.” He gave her a nudge. “That S.O.B. is going to have a bad day tomorrow,” he whispered again.
“Jesse said he was firing him.”
“Yeah, he’s shady.”
Melissa could have told him that, but the man scared her to death. He might be shady, but it was hard not to believe everything he said.
Jesse was surrounded by different people for nearly an hour. Bryce had been pulled away as well, and Melissa sat alone on the sofa.
She couldn’t help but wonder if Jesse would actually give up all of this attention just to live quietly with her. Could he?
This was his life.
She guessed she’d have to learn to trust more than she’d ever trusted before because she knew she couldn’t travel with him always.
She loved him. It was all worth it—she continued to tell herself.
When the team of people who had surrounded Jesse all night finally left his side, he crossed the room to Melissa and held out his hand.
“Show time.”
She took his hand and stood up next to him. “I think you look more beautiful than you said I do.”
“Impossible.” He kissed her on the cheek. His headset had already been taped against his cheek. “Bryce is going to show you where to stand. He’ll send you out when it’s time.”
“Okay.”
“Tonight, you sleep in my arms.”
“Deal.”
“Tomorrow I’m flying home with you.”
She smiled. “I like that.”
Just as they walked toward the stage, the crew was setting up his set. The opening act walked off the stage and gave Jesse a nod as they moved past.
She saw a mask nearly form on his face. A different man was walking away from her. It was an act, this man who performed on stage. The one who held her in his arms was the real thing—and all she could have ever asked for.
The concert was an hour in, and Admirer was to be the last song before the intermission. Her heart pounded in her chest. She was about to be announced as the woman he was going to marry, and she’d walk off stage with him, hand in hand.
Bryce had been called off, but she could see him and he’d call for her when it was time.
“He’s very talented, isn’t he?”
Melissa turned to see Tyson standing next to her, his sunglasses still on despite the dim sidelights backstage.
“Yes, he is.”
Tyson stepped around her and then stood right in front of her. “He’s not going to marry you.”
“Yes. Yes he is.” She held up her hand.
“Nice rock. He’s a multimillionaire. He can buy those by the case.”
Melissa felt her jaw clench.
Tyson stepped in. “You need to go now.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“You’re only going to get hurt. If you don’t want to see the destruction, run. He’ll understand.”
“I’m-not-going.”
Tyson stepped to the side just far enough to let her see around him. What she saw was Noelle Camillo walking toward the curtain. The part that didn’t go unnoticed was the tight dress that clung to her curves and the enlarged, round stomach which was so well pronounced.
The tears were back. How could she fight them now?
“The baby is Jesse’s. He’s already asked her to marry him.”
The first tear fell.
“Now, there is a car waiting for you right through that door. A plane is waiting for you, and your luggage will be sent back to you.”
Melissa watched as Noelle moved toward Bryce and Bryce looked for her, but Tyson wa
s moving her out of his line of sight.
“You’ll go now, or tomorrow’s paper will have a picture of the two of you in a very compromising position. How will that go over in that small town of yours and that teaching position you hold so dear.”
She couldn’t let that happen. She couldn’t even question him.
“Leave.” He opened the door to the outside, and just as he’d said, a car waited for her.
What choice did she have?
She stepped toward the car, and the door to the arena slammed closed behind her.
Jesse was singing his heart out, but it was because he knew this was the end. The end of the tour—the end of an era.
Oh, it’d been fun, but he was moving on. Damn! By Christmas he’d be a father to a pre-teen. Okay, he had to clear his mind. That nearly caused him to miss a note.
The number was over, and the music and lighting changed. The tempo slowed, and the stage crew delivered two stools to center stage.
Cell phones and lighters illuminated and already the crowd was cheering, but he couldn’t wait for the roar with his news. This was going to be the grandest moment in the history of Jesse Charles’s concerts.
“We’re going to take it down a bit.” He wiped the sweat from his forehead. “This song is very special to me. See, I admire someone an awful lot. And we’ve made some plans.”
Again, the crowd’s approval was growing, and he hadn’t even given them the news.
Jesse stood and started toward the side of the stage. “Yesterday I asked this beautiful woman to marry me, and she said yes. So now I’d like to bring her out here and introduce you to the future Mrs. Charles.”
The arena erupted.
Jesse turned to see Melissa walk toward him, but instead a very pregnant Noelle Camillo was walking toward him.
The noise from the crowd pierced his ears.
Noelle sauntered toward him, cupped his face in her hands, and planted a long, wet kiss on his lips.
The crowd was eating it up.
Jesse gripped her hand and covered the mic on his cheek. “Where is Melissa?”
“Honey, she left.” She took the hand that gripped her wrist and set it on her enlarged stomach. “She knows we’re having a baby. She sends her best.”
He wasn’t sure how to leave twenty thousand people, but running out of the arena had crossed his mind.
Unfortunately, he was a showman and that meant the show must go on.
Chapter Sixteen
There had been only one choice when Melissa stepped foot onto that plane, which waited to take her back to her life, and that was to call William and ask him to be there when she arrived.
At least he hadn’t disappointed her.
The moment she saw him standing there she’d run to him. She had wrapped her arms around his neck and held him.
William’s arms came around her, and he let her stand there, in the middle of the airport, and cry on his shoulder.
“C’mon, let’s get you home.”
Melissa stumbled after him in the high heels that had now become too tight since her ankle had swollen on the plane.
Her body shivered. There was snow in Colorado, and she hadn’t planned to be home and was unprepared.
William stripped off his coat and helped her into it.
“I’ll go get the truck, and I’ll pick you up.”
She nodded as she wiped away the tears from her cheeks. He smiled and gave her a nod, then headed out into the fresh snow, with no coat, to get his truck.
The tears nearly froze to her skin as she stood there waiting, but there was no end to them. How had she been so foolish to think it was all true? It was just a joke to the rich and famous. Oh, she’d seen those shows and the movies where they took some average person and made them look famous. God, what a fool she was and how stupid she looked.
As she lifted her hand to wipe away more tears, the ring on her finger caught the light. She fisted her hand.
She’d send it back in the morning. Yes, that’s what she’d do. Send back a two karat ring in a plain envelope. It would serve him right.
William pulled the truck up to the curb and hurried out to help her in. Once she was strapped in, he took her face in his hands.
“I’m glad you’re home.”
He shut the door and walked around to climb in the other side.
She braced herself for the barrage of questions and the I told you so to begin, but William focused on the road.
Not a single word was uttered between Grand Junction and the decent into Aspen Creek. That was when Melissa reached for William’s hand and held it in hers.
“Thank you for coming for me,” she said softly.
“I told you I’d always be here for you,” he offered non-accusingly.
“He asked me to marry him.” Another tear fell.
“I assumed that might have been the case by the rock on your finger.”
She looked down at the ring. “Yes.” She blew out a long breath. “What an idiot I was.”
“No. You thought he loved you. You wouldn’t agree to marry someone if you weren’t in love.”
She nodded, and now the tears turned to sobs. “I hate how this feels.”
“You’ll get over it. You’re a strong woman.”
This was why William had always been in her life. He knew her better than anyone.
Her cell phone rang in her purse, but she silenced it.
“Was that him?”
“I would assume so.”
“You’re not going to talk to him?”
She shook her head. “No. Never again.”
William didn’t say another word about the trip or the ring that adorned her finger. Melissa was thankful for his silence.
Her demeanor must have been less than grand when she returned to school because no one came to her to ask about the media coverage that had taken over the entertainment shows. But she’d heard the whispers, and she wondered when they would stop.
Now all she cared about was Christmas break and time to hide in her own home, away from the world. It would be enough time for everyone to forget that she was an idiot and had been used by a very powerful man. A very powerful man who had lied to her.
It would be just enough time for Jesse Charles and that woman to move on with their lives.
As the final bell of the day rang, Melissa dropped her head on her arms.
She heard the door close, and she looked up.
William stood there with a cup of coffee in his hand. “I thought you could use some. Your mom said she was picking up Jonah so you could stay and catch up.”
She wanted to be gracious, but it was hard. However, she managed to smile and reached for the cup as he crossed the room.
“Thank you.”
“Hard couple days?”
“I just want holiday break to get here, and I want to hide in my house.”
William sat on the edge of her desk. “I wanted to take you to find a new car.”
“I guess I need to do that.”
“What about his truck? What are you going to do with that?”
Melissa was going to be civil when she spoke about him, but in her head, she was thinking of pushing the truck off a cliff.
“As soon as I have something to drive, I’ll call Bryce and make him send someone for it.”
“How about tomorrow after school? There was a lot in Grand Junction that had some nice options.”
She nodded. At least William would keep his promises to always take care of her.
As he left her room, Emmy walked in, or rather snuck in, as Melissa didn’t even realize she’d been standing there until she made some kind of noise.
“Hello, Emmy.”
“Hi.” She moved further into the room, her hands twisted around each other. “I just wanted to see how you were doing. I know everyone is staying their distance, but that just isn’t my style. I also know I knew more than everyone, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Are you okay?”
/> The tiny, petite woman must have an amazing set of lungs, Melissa thought. She could run sentences on for days.
“I’m fine. I feel a little foolish, but I’m fine. Nothing a holiday break won’t fix.”
Emmy nodded. “Have you talked to him?”
Melissa shook her head. “Nope. I find no need.”
“I read that…”
“Emmy, it’s over. I was the biggest idiot to ever walk the earth. Now I look like a fool.”
“No, you look brokenhearted.”
And didn’t she feel it, too?
Emmy started to step back, as though to retreat. “Well, if you need anything, you just let me know. I’m a good ear and a great secret keeper. By the way, your hair still looks great, and it did in the papers and at the Lakers game, too.” She was almost to the door. “I’m heading into town. I have to mail off a piece of artwork for a contest. I don’t know why I do that. I never win, but maybe someday, right?”
“You’re going to the post office?”
“Yes.”
Melissa looked down at her bag at the small box she’d wrapped up. Even Melissa had too much of a heart than to send the ring back in the envelope she’d originally thought of.
She picked up the box and walked toward Emmy. “Will you just hand this over? It’s all ready. I calculated the postage online.”
“You’re sending him a gift?” she asked as she looked down at the name.
“No. Trust me. It’s no gift. I’m giving him back a burden.”
Emmy’s brows narrowed and she nodded, but left with the very expensive ring in the box. Melissa wondered if it would ever make it to him. Then she thought about it and decided she really didn’t care.
As promised, the next day William met Melissa at her house after school to pick her up. She parked the truck at the curb and not in the driveway, hoping that the phone call she’d placed during her lunch break would result in Bryce getting someone to come for the truck.
She was grateful to have had it, but she didn’t need a daily reminder of how stupid she was.
William drove to the lot in Grand Junction where he’d scoped out a few cars. He thought an Acadia would be a great choice for her with all-wheel drive and yet it wasn’t a monster of a truck, like the one she’d parked out in the street.
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