Their original lead singer, Sebastian Stone, had joined them.
His wife Shea was at his side.
All of them were superstars who were so down to earth that it hardly made sense, and I realized that Richard would soon be like them.
Recognizable at every turn.
It was like we’d been hidden out here at my small farm, in our tiny town that could hardly be considered a city, the country so far from the stardom that Richard had reached that it didn’t seem real.
Out of touch with the fame.
But it was impossible not to recognize it then.
Not when Richard climbed to the stage with everyone and the hired band stepped aside. Everyone picked up their instruments.
Excitement rippled through the air.
Every person attuned as the sound of feedback came through the speakers.
They quickly set up, and Richard moved to the mic as he slung the strap of his guitar over his head.
Oh god.
I was not gonna make it, seeing him onstage.
Not when it was all so new.
Not when I was still reeling.
Not when I was still trying to catch up to the sudden shift in my life.
But this wasn’t about me, and he was pressing that gorgeous mouth to the mic, saying, “Emily and Royce, please report to the dance floor.”
He winked at that.
Everyone laughed as Emily pressed her hand to her mouth and tears sprang to her eyes.
The woman totally surprised.
Royce stood and offered her his hand. She took it, his bride shaking all over as he led her out into the middle of the dance floor.
The guests gathered around the three sides to witness their first dance.
A thrill that drew us to the boundary.
Mesmerized, I watched as Richard wrapped his big hand around the neck of his acoustic guitar and strummed a single chord.
It resonated right through the middle of me.
“We figured since there were a whole ton of people here who could serenade you two on your wedding night, we’d better make good use of it. This is something we put together for y’all. A gift. Our blessing. Our prayer that your lives are filled with all the love the two of you deserve. That all your days are a love song.”
That thrill sizzled as the artists on the stage took their spots, this mesh of country and rock.
I was pretty sure what was getting ready to transpire right then was gonna be straight-up musical history.
Something special. Something you couldn’t experience anywhere else.
Some of the world’s greatest talent standing on one stage and playing for the smallest crowd.
Talk about intimate.
Oh, but that was what it was. The way Royce looked at Emily in that moment. Their worlds colliding in a kaleidoscope of beauty.
He took her in his arms.
Love billowed in the breeze.
Richard and Van both had acoustic guitars, and Lyrik West had an electric. The three of them played through the intricate notes that began the song.
Soft and mesmerizing.
Instantly entrancing.
Their guitars harmonized, while Leif, Zee, and Hunter quietly drummed this rising beat that started off slow and gained in an escalating intensity.
Leif played a bongo with his bare hands, Zee and Hunter with smaller drums that were perched between their knees.
Rhys and Ash both had their basses, and A Riot of Roses’ bassist, Hunter, had gotten ahold of a cello.
Shea Stone began to hum into the mic she held, while her husband gently played the acoustic guitar he’d strapped over his body.
It was like Royce and Emily had their own personal symphony.
Richard pressed his mouth to the mic and began to sing.
That voice rough and sensuous.
Wrapping around me like a dream.
Shadows playing across his gorgeous, chiseled face, his cheeks cut in that severe, distinct fashion.
Still the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.
That voice twisted and rose and lowered, so thick with emotion I could taste it, Shea’s extraordinary voice wrapping with his as they sang this duet that curled and whispered and stunned.
Singing about love.
About cherishing.
About never lettin’ go.
Those sage eyes found me from the stage. The way they always had. As if he felt me. Two of us tied in this tangible, impossible way.
Our connection thrummed.
My love rising, coiling in the air, his meeting mine in the middle.
My stomach tightened and my spirit shook.
His voice, his words, his entrancing, dark beauty the only thing I could breathe.
The cadence lifted and rose and heightened. The music becoming this driving force that shivered and shook and rumbled in the air. Their voices climbed and soared with it, and everyone on stage had begun to sing along with them.
The song reached this crescendo that I was pretty sure left every single person there shaken.
Changed.
Impacted by the magnificence.
My throat tightened, burning like crazy, my chest expanding in time. I pressed my hands against it, trying to keep my heart from bursting right out.
The last note was held. It reverberated the ground and echoed across the fields until it trailed off on the last, tinkling notes.