Heavy smoke shot from every angle of the stage, disguising Gabby and
Faith as the crew scurried to make the finishing touches. Reassuringly, Faith
squeezed Gabby’s hand. “Don’t worry. I’m not. I’m out there with one of my
really good friends. No sweat.”
Grinning Gabby nodded and tried to look past the smoke. Taking her
place on the stage in front of the band and next to faith, Gabby heard Gloria
Estefan speak, “They are both wonderful people. Divas even. Both are platinum
selling artists, and what do you know... They’re good friends! Faith Hill and
Gabrielle Reynolds are here to perform for you!”
The smoke slowly cleared, as Gabby’s eyes scanned the crowd for Justin.
Opening notes of her song, “(You Make It) So Hard To Walk Away” echoed
throughout the crowded venue. A chill ran down Gabby’s spine as she came to
the realization that Justin wasn’t in his seat. Dani nodded reassuringly and saw
where Gabby was looking, directly to the seat filler next to Chris. Without
thinking, Chris yelled at the top of his lungs, “He’ll be right back! He had to
pee!”
Laughing Gabby dropped the mic to her side and gave Chris a thumbs up.
Dani sunk in her seat from embarrassment, and Joey was laughing so hard that
his face turned the red color that his hair once was.
That reassured Gabby, and
just as some color had returned to her cheeks, Justin tapped the seat filler on
the shoulder and requested his seat back.
The crowd’s attention was once again drawn to the stage, as Gabby’s
face filled the large video screen, a slight smile in her eyes. Her heart pounded
in her chest as she began to sing. Adrenaline pushed her to go harder as she
sang, her legs carrying her over every inch of the stage. Faith trailed her,
grinned to the crowd, and belting out the lyrics along with Gabby. The audience
seemed to be enjoying the performance, and she grinned straight at the camera,
as the last notes of the songs were played.
“Breathe’s” opening notes faded into the acoustics and Faith grinned,
taking Gabby’s hand as they walked to the center stage, “Now, we all know that
music fans made “Breathe” a hit, and that, of course, made this song special, but
it also helped Gabby follow her heart. Now, Gabby and I would like to share the
song with you.”
Smiling, Gabby added, “I’d like to dedicate this song to my dragon. You
know who you are. I love you.”
Tears began welding up in the corners of her
eyes, as she looked out at the audience. Never before had she been this happy.
Never before had she felt like people embraced her because of who she was,
versus what she had. It made her content beyond words.
With one simple song, Gabrielle Reynolds had achieved her
unreachable dream, and fallen in love with someone who loved her
unconditionally. A salty tear cascaded down her cheek as she thought of all she
had gained, and the rocky path that had led her there.
Then, Gabrielle Reynolds
smiled as she had never smiled before and glanced down at her Prince
Charming. At that moment she was feeling as she were caught up in an extravagant fairy tail, and she
was Cinderella, and the Prince had swept her off of her feet. Justin's eyes
boared into hers, searching her face for a clue as to what she was thinking as
she sang. His eyes grazed down to her lips. As Faith belted out her solo,
Gabrielle nonchalantly brushed the tear off of her cheek and mouthed the words
that were branded in her heart for eternity, “I love you Justin.”
A wide grin spread across his face and he replied, “I love you too.”
With that, Gabby turned and joined Faith in singing the song that had
mysteriously gotten her where she was. It was her heart wrapped up in words,
Faith grinned at her knowing what was going on, and nodded for Gabby to finish
the song.
The words came to her knowingly, and she sang them with every grain of
her soul in the words.
Caught up in the touch
The slow and steady rush
Baby, isn't that the way that love's supposed to be
I can feel you breathe
Just breathe
I can feel the magic floating in the air
Being with you gets me that way
From that moment on, Gabrielle Reynolds couldn’t have cared less what happened. The world could have ended and all that she would have needed was Justin. All she ever needed was Justin. He was her cover from the storm, the light at the end of the tunnel. All that she ever needed, was true love. And she had it-eternally.
