Jones stayed outside the entrance. The party was in full swing when Isabel walked in. Lexi spotted her first and ran to her. Then Damon and Mia rushed over to hug her. Mia showed Isabel her beautiful engagement ring and demanded to know if Isabel would come to their wedding. Isabel promised she wouldn’t miss it.
With all the introductions to Damon’s and Mia’s family and friends, it took a good hour before she was finally able to relax and enjoy the party. Damon brought her a beer, and Lexi carried over two plates of hors d’oeuvres. The two of them sat at the table, but before Isabel could take a drink, she was pulled to the stage to sing a song for the guests. She didn’t want to sing, but she accommodated her friends and sang the song they had heard the last time they were together.
Wild cheering followed, and she was pressed to sing another song. Then she was done. For another hour Isabel was grabbed and pulled to pose for cell phone photos and answer question after question about Xavier. One brash young girl pushed her way to Isabel and asked if she was going to marry the love of her life. She held her cell phone up and was obviously recording. The girl had to be Brigit, Isabel thought. She was petite with freckles. Brigit resembled her sister but wore braces and, according to Mia, was going through an obnoxious stage.
“Hello, Brigit. No, I’m not going to marry the love of my life,” she said. “And I’m not going to marry Xavier. He’s just a friend.”
“Are you mad at me? Mia’s mad at me.”
Thus began a fifteen-minute discussion on being mad and not being mad. It was exhausting.
When Mia’s mother finally dragged Brigit away, Isabel asked a passing waiter for a sparkling water with lime. Then she walked to the back of the ballroom for a moment alone without people grabbing her. The band was playing a romantic ballad, and couples were swaying to the music.
Damon was dancing with Mia. The way they looked into each other’s eyes was so loving. They were lucky they had found each other. Damon was loyal and steadfast. He would stay by Mia’s side in the good and the bad times. He wouldn’t go away for four weeks and six days without calling. In fact, he probably wouldn’t leave her at all.
Uh-oh, she knew where this was heading.
Standing there, drinking her sparkling water and feeling like a wallflower, Isabel made a decision. She would give him one more week to figure it out, and if she still hadn’t heard from him, she was going to hunt him down and explain it all to him. She would very calmly tell him that he loved her. She was pretty sure she was going to call him a bonehead, too. It couldn’t be helped.
The clock was ticking. Now that there was a deadline she felt better and was ready to get back to the party. She was here to celebrate Damon and Mia’s engagement, and she was going to do exactly that.
She went up on the stage, picked up the microphone, and belted out a rousing old rock-and-roll song that made everyone rush to the dance floor and let loose. Afterward, the band continued to play old songs everyone could dance to. Isabel joined the fun. She danced and laughed and talked to old friends and met new ones. She and Lexi even did an intervention. They took JoAnn into the ladies’
room and, as gently as possible, told her she had a problem. If she didn’t stop coloring her hair a different shade every week, using bleach to strip the old color each time, her hair was going to fall out. It was a brassy blond tonight with streaks of orange, which JoAnn confessed weren’t supposed to be there.
The party was still going strong after midnight, but Isabel was weary. She was standing in a room filled with happy people, and she was suddenly feeling alone again. Oh, how she missed Michael.
She heard a commotion, looked up, and there he was. She was so shocked she actually closed her eyes and opened them again just to make sure. He hadn’t disappeared. Michael Buchanan was standing just inside the door, talking to Damon.
Hands shaking, Isabel pulled her glasses out of her purse and put them on. Michael was still there.
She could barely catch her breath as she made her way over to him. She saw the astonished look on Damon’s face and stopped. Michael was furious and he wasn’t making any sense.
“You can’t marry her. She doesn’t love you. She loves me.”
Confused now, Damon asked, “She loves you? Did she tell you she loves you?”
“No, not yet, but I know she does. You’re not going to marry her. Got that?”
“Do you love her?”
“Of course I do. Do you think I would be standing here yelling at you if I didn’t?”
“Michael, what are you talking about?” Isabel asked.
Michael looked relieved to see her. He almost smiled, but then remembered he was angry. No doubt about it, Isabel had made him crazy. “For the love of God, Isabel, what were you thinking?” He tilted his head toward Damon. “This guy says he’s going to propose, and you drop everything and fly out here so he can ask you? He can’t even come to you? And keep your damn phone turned on.”
“What . . . ,” Isabel began. She was so discombobulated she didn’t know what to say.
Michael glared at her. “You belong with me.” He was going to add, And I belong with you, but Damon demanded his attention.
“Listen here,” Damon said. “I don’t know what your problem is—”
Michael resisted the urge to grab Damon by the neck. “I told you what my problem is. You’re not going to marry her. Understand?”
Isabel moved to stand in front of Michael, and he immediately put his arm around her. His whole body relaxed. He had her now and he wasn’t going to let go.
“Damon, he thinks you proposed to me,” Isabel explained.
Mia chose that moment to join them. “Is everything all right? Damon, your face is red. Is it too warm in here?”
Damon shook his head and then laughed. Mia moved into his arms.
“Let me make the introductions,” Isabel said. “Mia and Damon, I’d like you to meet the usually intelligent Michael Buchanan. Michael, these are my friends Damon and Mia. Damon asked Mia to marry him, and she said yes.”
Michael let out a long sigh before he spoke again. “Yeah, I got that.” He kept his left arm around Isabel but put his right hand out to shake Damon’s. “I guess I owe you an apology.”
“You guess?” Isabel whispered.
Michael wasn’t used to apologizing, and it was difficult for him, but he managed a sincere one.
His behavior had been appalling. It was unlike him to turn into a hothead. When Dylan had told him that Damon was going to propose, Michael instantly remembered the look on Damon’s face in that video when he was watching Isabel sing. He’d looked entranced. Now Michael realized pretty much every man who watched her perform wore a similar expression.
He also thought that, as soon as he had time, he was going to kill Dylan. His brother had deliberately left out an important bit of information.
Damon’s gaze bounced back and forth between Michael and Isabel. “Michael, did you tell me that Isabel loves you?”
“Yes.”
“And did you also tell me that you love her?”
“Yes.”