Page 34 of Love is a Harmony
“Don’t…” Vulnerability entered her voice. “Please don’t leave me.”
He knew she meant right then as she slept, but the request seemed bigger than that. “Never.”
She scooted over and patted her bed. Noah climbed in, and Stella curled up against him, her breathing evening out as her head lolled against his shoulder.
He thought back on Nan’s words about music and the brothers. They’d both always found the music. Maybe she was right. Noah found it literally, becoming a world-famous rock star.
But Carson… Noah looked down at Stella nestled in his arms. His brother had found a different kind of music.
10
Melanie
Stella’s cries woke Melanie from a restless sleep, one in which thoughts of Noah and his new charge took over every space in her mind. How would he do it? Raise a little girl in his life of rock tours and recording studios.
Raise her when his entire world tried to pull him into more scandals.
When she’s tired or scared and needs someone to hold her.
To put her first before any fans or contracts.
She rolled over as Stella cried again, and footsteps echoed out in the hall. Noah.
Closing her eyes, Melanie tried to get to sleep, she tried to tune out the muffled voices coming through the thin walls.
And then, without thinking, she found herself straining to hear his words, to reconcile the Noah Clarke she’d known with the one answering the calls of a six-year-old girl in the middle of the night.
She’d lied to him the night before. While he called his Nan, she hadn’t gone to do some work. Instead, she’d jumped on a call with the rest of Rockstars Anonymous to update them on Noah, leaving out the bits about Stella and their current circumstances, which was code for their fake engagement. A circumstance.
She could picture their reactions now. Dax would stay quiet with a concerned frown. Always the logical one, the quiet one, he’d see how badly this could go.
Jo would scowl, worried about losing Noah as her best friend.
Ben and Drew… she could see their matching amused smiles. Ben wouldn’t outright laugh. No, he’d leave that to Drew.
Noah and Melanie.
Melanie and Noah.
They’d gotten themselves in quite the pickle, hadn’t they?
She was channeling Drew with her thoughts of course.
As Noah and Stella continued talking, Melanie pushed off her covers and padded into the hall, drawn by the low register of Noah’s voice.
She stopped in the doorway, peering through the dark to see Noah curled up next to Stella on her bed. They clung to each other as if it brought a piece of the man they both loved back, as if they needed each other.
Melanie leaned against the doorframe, watching them, their chests rising and falling with even breaths as they fell asleep. She saw it then. Why Carson had chosen his brother. He hadn’t seen Noah in years, yet he knew him.
It wasn’t just about Stella and her future.
Noah needed this little girl just as much as she needed him.
And there was only one way to make sure they weren’t separated. Carson was smart. He loved Noah and knew Noah would love Stella, but he also knew the kind of lifestyle he led.
Marriage.
Melanie breathed deeply, closing her eyes.
