Milly thought about Nicole and the positives and negatives of her career and wasn’t sure she wanted that for Zoe, but she wasn’t going to worry about that now. If there was one thing that the last couple of years had taught her, it was that it was best to focus on today if you could, because no one really knew what the future was going to bring. Chance played such a big role in what happened in life.

So for now she watched her daughter and enjoyed the moment, and she felt pride and love and gratitude, and she realized that being a parent, despite all the worry and sense of responsibility that came with it, was the best thing in the world, and even on the very worst day she wouldn’t change it for anything.

It was the perfect way to spend a moonlit summer evening, and afterward the cast joined them in the gardens, and Milly hugged Zoe so tightly she protested that her ribs were going to crack.

“You were brilliant. I was so proud.”

“Did you see the part where I fell over the tree stump? Agh!” But Zoe was clearly on a high with it all, dizzy with the rush of adrenaline that came after a performance. She was still wearing the floaty dress she’d worn on stage and had flowers in her hair. “Nicole was amazing. Everyone agrees having her there made such a difference.”

Nicole joined them at that moment. She’d dressed discreetly in the hope of not attracting attention, but of course it would have been impossible for Nicole Raven not to attract attention. There had been a ripple of excitement through the whole audience as word had spread that they were in the presence of Hollywood royalty, and every now and then one of Zoe’s friends would drag an embarrassed adult over to them with a Can I just introduce you to my mum and dad? and Nicole would smile and be gracious as she shook hands and signed whatever was thrust in her direction.

Joel didn’t leave her side once, standing like a sentry, his eyes on the crowd.

“Nicole is going to help with our drama group.” Zoe’s eyes were shining. “Isn’t that amazing? She’s going to talk to the staff about doing some special sessions.”

“That’s great.” Milly looked around and searched the crowd. “Where’s Cally? Is everything all right between the two of you now? Did you manage to have that talk?”