It was only now, sitting in the Royal Albert Hall, that Jess realized her mum was the only adult with whom she’d maintained a relationship for the past fifteen years. That in spite of all that remained unsaid between them—all the tales Jess had never dared tell, all the times she had pushed her mum away to protect them both—her mum had always been there, unwavering in her love. And soon she would be gone. And the acknowledgment of it clutched at Jess’s heart as if it might never let her go.

Someone clasped her hand, and she turned to see Mia beaming at her. As their fingers interlocked, Jess realized that she couldn’t remember the last time her daughter had willingly held her hand.

Jess watched her mum sing, knowing that the realization of how much she would miss her had come almost too late. And it was only when Mia handed her a tissue that Jess understood the reason her face felt hot and damp was because of the tears streaming down her cheeks.

Chapter 40

Lily

Lily had heard her mum sing hundreds of times during her childhood but never quite like this, never with a voice that filled every corner of a concert hall, seeming to burrow under your skin and anchor itself to your heart. Sitting in the ninth row of the orchestra, staring up at the choir onstage in their black trousers and rainbow of colored shirts, she felt as though she were watching her mum transform into someone new, someone different, someone confident, poised, extraordinary.

Glancing sideways along her row of seats, Lily saw the face of every audience member break into a wide, surprised smile. She turned back to the stage, her chest swelling with pride.

Her eyes flicked above her mum’s head to where Phoebe was standing two rows behind, looking down at her grandmother and grinning as though there was not enough room on her face to contain all her admiration.

Lily experienced a flash of anger that Daniel wasn’t there. He should have been sitting beside her, watching his daughter onstage. He should have been there to see his mother-in-law in this moment of unexpected triumph, not just because Lily wanted him there but because her mum deserved to have everyone hear for themselves how incredible she was.

As Lily watched and listened, a sense of unreality washed over her: the perverse truth that at this moment her mum could not have seemed more alive, more full of vitality, or have had more reason to want to go on living.

Lily kept her eyes glued to the stage, determined not to miss a single second of her mum’s performance. Because she knew, even without consciously acknowledging it, that in the months and years ahead, this would be a memory to treasure.

Chapter 41

Audrey

As Audrey reached the end of her solo she realized that this was it: this was how it felt to be free.

She sang her final line and then her solo was over and the rest of the choir were joining in. Her head felt light, her legs weak and her palms damp, as though her body was only now recognizing the magnitude of what she’d done. But now that she had, all Audrey could think was that she wanted to do it again. She wanted to turn back the clock sixty seconds to the moment the pianist had struck those first two iconic chords, to relive every single note in the knowledge of how quickly they would pass.