Shannon took a breath but did not feel her lungs fill. Everything seemed to slow to a near-stop, and she thought that her heart might never beat again.
“I love you too.” The whisper of air over her lips could not express how much he meant to her, how much she wanted to be with him.
Before tearing himself away to the stage, he bent his head down one more time. His lips brushed hers lightly and as he rose again he whispered something in her hear.
Shannon watched him ascend the stage stairs to booming applause. She felt her heart grow warmer, more buoyant, until she floated so far over the world that she could not even feel the chill of the evening. And later that night, the word he whispered to her would echo in her sleep, and she would smile as she dreamed, hearing his voice:
“Mine.”