With my hand still on his jaw, I rub the slight stubble one more time. “I like it when you don’t shave.”
He grins and kisses me. “I know you do.”
The rest of the evening is enchanting, spent with Xander’s family and our friends. But now it’s time to debut my new songs and I’m really nervous. But as soon as I hear his voice at the microphone introducing me, my nerves fade away and a contentment washes through me.
“Here she is, everyone—Ivy Taylor,” he announces and steps off the stage before I reach him. I know he wants this to be my moment, but I at least wanted to kiss him. He stands right in the front as I bound onstage. The music begins and I start with the buoyant opener “Rollercoaster,” then move into the slinky number “Jagged,” and then go on to the hypnotic, hitching grooves of “Pure,” which is the only song I wrote after Xander and I got back together—it’s about us.
I surprise Xander by ending my performance with a vampy cover of Prince’s “Little Red Corvette.” It seems appropriate since he started driving the car that we spent so much time in in high school. It’s the perfect song—it tells our story. When I finish, everyone applauds, but no one louder than Xander. He holds out his arm for me to join him, and his familiar gaze is full of heat. He smiles at me and my whole body goes weak. I smile back as he jumps on stage and swings me around whispering, “Congratulations, baby,” in my ear.
We spend the rest of the night talking to the guests. After almost everyone but our close friends and Xander’s family has left, I notice that the band takes the stage again. The music begins, and as I try to place it, Xander takes my hand and leads me to the dance floor. Suddenly I know the song. I smile because, oh my God, it’s “Marry Me.” River begins to sing the lyrics, “He can’t help that he likes to kiss you. And he wouldn’t mind if you changed your name to Mrs.”
• • •
No Doubt’s song, of course—Xander always said I looked like Gwen Stefani, and we even modeled our first band after them. As River sings, Xander braces his arms around me and for the second time today starts dancing with me. I bury my face in his neck and enjoy the dance. This is obviously his way of announcing our engagement. Just as the song ends, the applause starts. He lifts my left hand and turns the ring around. Looking over his shoulder, I see his mother right away. She too has tears streaming down her face. Wiping my own tears away, I take a deep breath. “Let’s go hug your mother.”
He gazes at me with those eyes so full of intensity and I know I’m home. “She’d love that,” he says.
“Ivy . . .” Charlotte throws her arms around me and hugs me tightly. “I couldn’t be any happier right now.” She holds me for the longest time and then says, “You really make him so happy.”
Jack flashes a grin and engulfs me in a huge embrace. “We couldn’t be happier for the two of you,” he says, and I swear I see a few tears in his eyes too. He slaps Xander on the shoulder and pulls him in as well, whispering something in his ear that I can’t hear, but whatever it is, it makes Xander’s mouth quirk up.
River smiles at us as he crosses the room with a bottle of champagne in his hand. Dahlia is at his side, snapping pictures. Bell trails behind with a tray of champagne flutes. They must all have known.
River hugs me. “Welcome to the family.”
Dahlia squeezes me. “It’s so amazing that you both found your way back to each other.”
Before I know it, River tugs on the cork and it goes flying. I jump, startled by the noise. Laughter fills the room when he spills a little on the floor and flashes a grin. “I always say I’m not much of a bartender.”
Xander whispers something to him that I can’t hear. River nods and then the two embrace, pulling their sister in as well.
River turns back to the crowd and hoists a glass high for a toast. “To Ivy and Xander. To true love.” We all clink our glasses and tears of joy well up in my eyes. Bell makes a sweet toast, then whispers in my ear that she has to leave but she’ll be calling me to plan the wedding. That makes me laugh—I’m sure she will. Aerie, Jagger, Leif, Garrett, Nix, and Phoebe join us. Several more toasts are made, not only to us but also to a successful album. At this moment life just couldn’t be more perfect.
Looking around the room, I see us surrounded by a group of people who have become my family, and the man in the center of this universe who is my life, my love, my happily-ever-after. He wraps his arms around my waist and holds me tight. “I love you,” he breathes in my ear.
When I turn to look at him, to tell him how much I love him, I catch a glimpse of that boy I loved so long ago, and it makes me think about my life growing up. I wasn’t a little girl who played dress-up, had tea parties, or even liked the color pink—but I was a girl who dreamed of her prince charming and a fairy-tale wedding. That’s why the girl who always wore black clothes and combat boots melted when she laid eyes on him for the first time. At first glance, I just knew he was my prince charming, my happily-ever-after. Now, his teeth find my shoulder for a nibble and I shudder. Xander Wilde the boy may have broken my heart once upon a time . . . but Xander Wilde the man, is the one who mended it.