A group of female musicians walked along the corridor, carrying instruments and chatting to one another without any sign of nerves. They were all in their late thirties, the same age Jess was now, the same age Zoe would have been. Audrey studied each of them in turn, wondering whether Zoe might have smiled as generously as the violinist or laughed as unselfconsciously as the clarinetist; whether her hands would have moved as expressively as the flautist’s or whether she’d have listened as attentively as the oboist. Perhaps, Audrey thought, Zoe would have been all those things and more. Or perhaps she would have been none. Perhaps she would have been completely different in ways Audrey couldn’t even begin to imagine. And the thought of it—the thought of the impossibility of ever knowing what kind of an adult her little girl might have become—made Audrey reach out and grab the edge of the door to steady herself.

“Are you OK, Gran? Do you need to sit down?”

Audrey shook her head in spite of the dizziness, as Phoebe looped arms with her. “Just a bit of nerves, that’s all. How are you feeling—excited?”

Phoebe nodded with half-hearted commitment.

“What is it? What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking about stuff recently. I’ve been wondering about you and Grandad . . . about how you knew that you wanted to be with him forever?” A light flush, the color of strawberries and cream, dappled Phoebe’s cheeks.

Audrey suppressed a smile. She glanced across the room to where Harry was laughing with some of the other choir members. She’d thought there might be something between them, but things had clearly moved faster than she’d realized. “Forever can be an awfully long time, Phoebe. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. Don’t feel you have to commit to anything—anyone—until you’re sure you’re ready.”

“I know that. But you weren’t much older than me when you got married. I just want to understand how you knew that Grandad was the person you wanted to spend the rest of your life with, especially when his parents didn’t like you very much.”

Audrey swiveled her plain gold wedding band around her finger. “There’ll always be someone who disapproves of the choices you make. But as long as you understand the reasons for them, as long as you’re happy with them and no one’s unduly hurt by them, you need to be strong enough—brave enough—to make your own decisions.”

Audrey flinched at the irony of her counsel: she had lost track of the number of times she had failed to follow her own advice.

“But what if you know your parents are going to disapprove? What if you know your choices will make them unhappy? What do you do then? What if they never forgive you?”

Phoebe’s anxiety made Audrey wonder what on earth could be so dreadful about Harry—who seemed very nice to her—that could possibly cause Phoebe such concern about Lily and Daniel’s reaction. “Most parents will forgive their children almost anything. It’s part of the job description: unconditional love. I know Mum can be quite particular about things but I also know that she loves you very much. She only wants you to be happy.”