Through the glass arch that revealed the staircase to the upstairs hall, she saw them, on the other side of the glass – Tom and Harriet, their faces inches apart. It was as if she was watching the scene from far away, but the detail was clear. Even from here, she could almost feel the urgency that rang between them, their voices evidently strained, her hand on his arm.

It must only have been a few seconds, but it felt so much longer, and when he looked up and saw her, Tom’s face fell. Instantly turning away from Harriet, he moved down the stairs, bursting through the doors a moment later and walking towards them.

‘For God’s sake, Callum. Where the hell were you?’

Instinctively, Gabriela held her arm in front of her son. ‘Don’t you speak to him like that.’ Her voice was trembling.

Over Tom’s shoulder, she saw Harriet emerge through the door and her whole body rang with an emotion she couldn’t quite fathom.

‘Harriet was helping me look for Callum,’ Tom said and she said nothing, feeling her son’s grasp tighten in hers.

‘Well, glad you found him,’ Harriet said, her voice brittle. ‘Nice to see you again, Gabriela.’

She turned and as the sound of her heels faded, leaving the three of them in the hall, the crescendo of the performance emanating from the hall upstairs gave way to applause.

‘We’d better get back up there,’ Tom’s eyes held Gabriela’s as he spoke, with an authority that she hadn’t seen for so long that it made her stand straighter and then follow them both towards the staircase.

Not now, his eyes had warned. Not in front of Callum.

‘Mum!’ Sadie ran towards her with a childishness that made her want to cry. For a moment she hugged Gabriela’s waist but then she pulled away, neatening her hair with her fingers as her peers filed past.

Looking up, Gabriela saw Harriet moving towards them on her way to the exit, their eyes locking briefly and instantly snapping away again as she moved past.

Harriet and Tom, the words swam in Gabriela’s mind. So it was true. She wasn’t mad.

When she turned to pick Tom out in the crowd, he was on the other side of the room with Callum, collecting the belongings he had left on his chair.

She struggled with her emotions, overwhelmed, until in the end all that was left was a quiet numbness.

‘Darling, you were amazing,’ she said to Sadie, leaning in to her, trying to keep the trembling out of her voice.