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“You don’t think she’s noticed me yet, do you?” Elise asked.
“No,” Bradley said. “Which is a good thing. It could take her out of the role to see you.”
As the lights dimmed again, Elise’s heartbeat ramped up to insane speeds. She watched as her daughter fought her way to the end of the play, articulating her lines beautifully, even crying right there on stage in front of hundreds of people in a way that felt romantic, beautiful, and even natural.
When the final curtains fell, Elise burst from her seat and smashed her palms together with excitement. She turned up to look at Wayne, who had joined her in a standing ovation. One of his large fingers brushed away a tear from her cheek.
“She’s going to be big, isn’t she?” he whispered.
Elise beamed as her daughter and the rest of the cast came back out onto the stage for their final bows. Elise remained in standing-ovation-mode as long as she could until the lights grew brighter and the audience began to filter out toward the far hallways.
“Come on!” Elise said as she cut back toward the hallway, where she knew Penny would come with the rest of the cast in a few moments.
Wayne, who had been put in charge of holding the bouquet of flowers, and Bradley, raced up behind her. When they reached the hallway, someone handed them glasses of champagne to celebrate opening night. A girl Elise vaguely recognized said, “Aren’t you Penny’s mom?” to which Elise grinned and said, “I sure am. I don’t know what I did to deserve her.”
The crowd parted slightly a few minutes later, just as Penny and the rest of the cast and crew walked out from the double-wide doors toward the far side of the hallway. Penny’s beaming face appeared like the sun from that shadowy back hallway. Elise watched as she scanned through the sea of faces before her eyes finally found her mother’s.
Penny’s jaw dropped.
She stopped short in the center of the cast, who looked at her with confused expressions.
But Elise knew: this was no act.
The look across Penny’s face was one of genuine shock and pure love.
Suddenly, Penny gripped her skirt and darted through the hallway, past the champagne table, tearing through the crowd until she tossed her arms around Elise. In those moments, time stopped completely. Elise wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter and closed her eyes. No longer could she hear the chaotic conversations in the crowd around her. No longer could she make sense of anything but this: the love between herself and Penny, a love that echoed back the love she’d had with her own mother.
When the hug broke, Penny blinked tearfully and said, “Mom. I.. I didn’t know you’d be here. I...”
Brad grinned sheepishly beside them as Penny swatted him. “You knew all along, didn’t you!”
Brad shrugged and said, “I didn’t want to give away the surprise. Where’s the fun in that?”
“But Mom! You look...” She searched for the right word for a moment, as her eyes turned to the other side of Elise, where Wayne stood—rather clumsily—with the bouquet of roses.
“Oh, gosh. Penny. This is Wayne,” Elise said as Wayne pushed the flowers forward for Penny to accept.
“Hello, Penny. You were so talented up there. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that before,” Wayne said.
Penny’s smile faltered, just the tiniest bit. “Thank you,” she said. “That means a lot.” She sounded like she doubted her words, even as they fell from her lips.
“Wayne’s from Mackinac Island,” Bradley interjected. “It’s his first time to California. You should have seen what he wore off the plane. A winter coat!”
Penny chuckled, but the smile hardly rose to her eyes. She returned her gaze to Elise and then asked, “How do you think it went?”
My opinion is still one of the only ones that matter.
How did I get so lucky?
“Do you remember when we read the lines together before your audition?” Elise asked.
Penny nodded. Her blonde curls shook down over her ears.
“You already had the character fleshed out then. But here? You became her. I hardly saw Penny Fletcher at all. It was the best performance of your career. And you have so much more to give.”
Toward the far end of the hallway, someone dropped a champagne glass. It shattered across the floor as someone called, “Now it’s a party!”
“Penny,” Bradley said suddenly. He reached out and grabbed her shoulder. “Me and Mom and Wayne have a long, important story to tell you. Do you have time?”
