The spotlight illuminated Delia as tears streamed down her face. Everyone turned to take her in, watching her shoulders shake as she cradled her growing stomach. I felt my hands beginning to shake with nerves as I slid my hand into my pocket. I pulled out my momma’s
wedding ring, a ruby in the center, surrounded by diamonds. I looked down at it as the crowd gasped, and I knew this was it.
This was the moment I had been waiting for.
“I want y’all to know that I fell in love with that stubborn woman. Despite the darkness that consumed me and the addiction that threatened to tear my damn world apart, it’s her light that keeps me focused. It’s her light that keeps me on track. Without her—without you, Delia—I know for certain I’d be dead.”
I heard a quiet sob escape Delia’s lips as I got down on one knee on stage.
“Delia Jakobson, you saved my life. The doctors said it, Hank said it, and now I’m sayin’ it. There’s some old sayin’ or whatever that explains a very basic truth—that no one understands the kind of darkness they’re walkin’ through until a light shines on their path. I had no idea of the darkness I’d allowed to surround me until your light tried to penetrate through it. It took a long time, but it found me. Your light found this stubborn, broken man, and it is your light that drew him away from that darkness. Delia—mother of my child—will you marry me?”
I heard boots rattling across the floor as Delia’s body appeared in my vision. I jumped up from my knee just in time to catch her in my arms. I swung her around on stage, feeling her tears of joy soaking my neck as she held me tightly. The crowd erupted into applause and cheers, not bothering to hear her answer as I dropped her down to her feet.
Her hands gripped my shirt and tugged me toward her, our lips colliding fiercely as my hand founds hers. I slipped the ring onto her finger, our tongues dancing like licks of fire before I intertwined our fingers.
“Yes,” Delia said, into my lips. “I’ll marry your stubborn ass.”
Delia held her ringed hand up in the air and the crowd started drumming on the floor with their boots. I pulled her into me one last time, feeling the warmth and curves of her body against me. I drew in more of her strength. Drank in more of her light. I dipped my nose into the crook of her neck just so I could take one last breath of her. I felt her trembling against me. Shaking as he clung to me tightly.
Whistles, applause, whoops and hollers roared around the room as I held her close.
“I love you, Delia,” I said, into her ear.
“I love you, too, Drake. I love you so much.”
I led her back to her seat before I started in on my set. I played through the rest of my songs, with one moving right into another. People were dancing with smiles on their faces and holding their drinks in the air and swaying. Every once in a while, I caught Delia dabbing at her eyes, shaking her head. I sang my songs to her. I kept her in my vision for the rest of the concert. Delia was more than an average woman. She was a force to be reckoned with. A light desperate to shine in the darkness of the world. A mountain of laughs, an exploding volcano of desire, and an endless treasure trove of surprises and twists. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t learn something new about her, or a morning I woke up when I didn’t reach for her.
She had etched herself into my life—permanently.
And now, I was going to make her my bride.
I finished up my set with my ears ringing. The crowd was cheering harder and louder than I’d ever heard before. Louder than the grand stadiums I’d packed when I was drinking, and louder than the throngs of fans that chased after my tour bus. I took my bucket hat off and tossed it into the crowd, smiling at the voices of women squealing and shrieking as one of them caught it.
But the only voice I could hear was the one rising up from the back. The one voice that was screaming just a little louder than the rest.
“I love you, Drake!” Delia yelled.
I wasn’t gonna yell it back to her, though. Instead, I would whisper it in her ear as I took her in my bed. I would pepper it along the nape of her neck as I pressed her against the wall. I would murmur it into her pussy folds as I sat her on my face. I vowed to myself that I would do all these things. I would do whatever I could to make sure Delia knew she was loved and cherished.
And I vowed to murmur those sentiments in her ear as she fell asleep against me every night for the rest of her life.
CHAPTER 40
Delia
I hugged Stacia after the performance, before I went to find Drake. We were heading back to his house, a place I now felt comfortable calling home.
Our home, where we would share our lives and raise our child.
“So, I was thinking.”
“About what?” Drake asked.
“My apartment.”
I felt Drake’s hand squeeze mine tightly, the fear of my next words obvious in his movements.
“It seems sort of a waste, doesn’t it?” I asked. “You know, paying rent and bills for a place I’m hardly at anymore.”