Bluestone Song Read online

  He was amazing, despite his lack of practice with the band, going from a drinking anthem to a broken heart song to a song about down-home appreciation, and rousing everyone with a patriotic anthem. The crowd around them stood, cheering, pulsing with energy, with appreciation. They sang along and stomped and clapped. Beth had never been so proud.

  Then he disappeared for a moment, and returned to stand alone in the spotlight holding an old guitar. Her guitar, the one she’d given him fourteen years ago. Her heart squeezed as he turned his attention toward her. She knew he couldn’t see her, but he was addressing her.

  “Tonight, there’s a very special person in the audience, one who stood by me when I barely knew what I wanted, who encouraged me, who inspired me. She’s back in my life again after a lot of years—too many—and I wrote this song for her. It’s called, ‘Now I Believe in Happy Endings.’”

  She recognized the opening strains of the song that had played at Leo and Trinity’s wedding. The words that poured out of him in that smooth, deep voice were sweet and emotional and she couldn’t believe they were about her. He sang about sappy movies with endings he could never get behind, the cynical way he looked at brides. He sang about how she made all that change, how she made his heart light, made him want to see her in a bridal veil, wanted to wake up every morning beside her, watch the gray come into her hair, watch her grow with his child.

  She couldn’t see through the tears that blurred everything together in one big kaleidoscope of light. Next to her, Linda gripped her hand.

  Maddox was coming down the steps into the audience.

  The crowd around them surged, but four men the size of linebackers cut them off from her and Linda as Maddox approached, a spotlight illuminating his hat. His band continued to play in the darkness on the stage, but he took off his guitar and handed it to Linda, then plopped his hat on her head, casting her a quick grin before turning those brown eyes on Beth.

  “Did you like the song?” he asked.

  She didn’t answer, only closed her fingers around the placket of his shirt, raised herself on her toes, and pressed her mouth to his. He hesitated a second, then folded his arms around her as the people around them cheered.

  He stroked her hair back from her face as they parted. “In case you didn’t get the message, I love you.”

  She shifted her gaze to the side, too aware of their audience for this conversation. “I got it.”

  He eased out of her arms, and went down on one knee. The crowd around them went crazy, but she heard his words very clearly: “And I want to marry you.”

  Her stomach dropped to her toes. “Maddox—”

  He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small box. Beside her, Linda screamed.

  “The one thing I regretted for fourteen years was walking away from you. You would have kept me grounded. I would have taken care of you. Now we can do that for each other. Do you love me, Beth?”

  She touched his cheek. “I never stopped.”

  He dropped his head for a moment, as if in relief, then looked up at her again as he opened the box. Beth didn’t even look at the ring as he slid it on her finger, only looked into his eyes. Once the ring—a little loose—was on her hand, he stood.

  “Be my happy ending, Beth.”

  She nodded and wound her arms around his neck. “Yes,” she managed before his mouth covered hers. “Yes.”

  All around her, the crowd roared its approval, but it all faded away as a bubble of happiness settled around the two of them, and he lowered his mouth to hers.

  The YouTube video of their proposal had over half a million hits, at least a thousand of those from Bluestone Lake.

  THE END

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  MJ Fredrick knows about chasing dreams. Twelve years after she completed her first novel, she signed her first publishing contract. Now she divides her days between teaching elementary music and diving into her own writing, traveling everywhere in her mind, from Belize to Honduras to Africa to the past.

  Other titles

  Romantic suspense

  Guarded Hearts

  Midnight Sun

  Don’t Look Back (2012 Epic finalist)

  Breaking Daylight (2011 Epic winner)

  Beneath the Surface

  Hot Shot (2009 Epic winner)

  Contemporary romance

  Bluestone Homecoming

  Three Days, Two Nights

  Something to Talk About

  Road Signs

  Star Power

  Bull by the Horns

  Where There’s Smoke

  Historical romance

  Sunrise Over Texas

  Paranormal romance

  A Ghostly Charm

  An excerpt from Leaving Bluestone

  Coming soon!

  “Hey.” Lily caught up to Quinn, ponytail swinging, and nodded to the cooler. “Catch anything?”

  “A couple of walleye.”

  “Breakfast?”

  He heard the hopeful tone in her voice and looked over his shoulder at her. “Sure.”

  “I’ll make the potatoes. You don’t put enough salt on them.”

  “Put salt on your own damn potatoes.” Why was she wanting breakfast with him when she’d just gotten out of bed with Adam?

  She ignored him, like she always did. “You were awesome last night, the way you took charge.”

  “Shouldn’t you be saying that to Adam?”

  She was silent a moment—unusual for her. “I didn’t sleep with him. He spent the night to help me with Jonas. He slept on the couch.”

  He grunted.

  “Are you jealous?” she demanded.

  “What the hell for?” He headed up the steps to the bar.

  “Because the way you danced with me last night—”

  “You were the maid of honor. I was the best man. I had to dance with you.”

  “Seemed to me you liked it.”

  “I used to like to dance.” What wasn’t to like? Music, a woman’s soft body pressed against his, all sweet-smelling, more often than not leading to sex. Maybe he needed to get laid. Maybe that would ease his emotions around Lily, who was always around, always beautiful even in her ratty sweatshirt and cap. Maybe then he could sleep and stop thinking of what-if.

  “Why don’t you anymore?” She took his invitation to walk through the door first and led the way to the kitchen. “Oh, right, you don’t enjoy anything that has to do with other people. Strange for a guy who owns a bar.”

  “And you don’t know how to not be around other people.”

  As usual, she ignored him and pulled out a filleting knife from the butcher block. Because she’d grown up on the lake, she was faster and better at filleting than he was, so he got out the pan and the potatoes. He started heating the first and dicing the second.

  “You like having me around, for no other reason than you can bitch at me.”

  “If you weren’t so goddamned cheerful all the time, it wouldn’t be so tempting. Did you even sleep? I mean, you had an infant in the house. When was the last time you took care of an infant?”

  “When I used to babysit when I was fourteen. Which is why I kept Adam there, though he didn’t know any more than I did. But the baby slept. More than you, from the looks of things.”

  He didn’t answer, just finished chopping the potatoes.

  “Somebody cleaned up in there last night,” she said, nodding toward the dining room. They’d rushed out of here so fast when Linda called, he hadn’t even thought to leave directions for a clean-up. But aside from a few remaining bouquets in vases on the tables—incongruous with the mounted fish and beer signs on the log walls—no one would be able to tell there had been a wedding reception here last night.

  “I guess they’re off on their honeymoon.”

  “Mm. Washington DC. The least romantic place I can think of. But Trinity always wanted to go, and Leo used to be based out of there, so he’ll show her around. I think they’re going to a Nationals ga
me, too.” When he didn’t say anything, she continued. “Not like I can say anything. For my honeymoon, I want to go to Yellowstone.”

  “I’ll be sure to let Adam know.”

  She snorted. “Not likely.”

  “Why not? You’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

  “He’s fun, and all that, but he’s from—out there.” She waved her hand over her head.

  “Space?”

  “Funny. No, I mean, he made his escape from Bluestone and coming back here feels confining to him.”

  And this place was her lifeblood. The knot in his stomach loosened a bit, which was stupid. Why would he be glad she wasn’t involved with someone who was leaving when the reason he wouldn’t get involved with her was because he was leaving? Eventually.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR