Chapter 49
‘You are OK?’ Akis asked as he seated himself at the piano.
Cara nodded. ‘Yes.’
It was as confident as she had ever sounded and as powerful in this situation as she had ever felt. This was not Eurovision. There was really nothing riding on this performance. It wasn’t for any of the guests here, it was for her. A chance to sing the song she had written, the way she wanted to sing it, with the most wonderful man playing the piano for her. Suddenly it was like there was nothing in the world to fear.
Akis played deep heavy chords on the piano until he had everyone’s attention. The chatter died down, the chinking of champagne flutes lessened a little.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ he said into the microphone. ‘Please show your appreciation for… Miss Cara Jones.’
Cara put one hand on her microphone on the stand as the partygoers gave light applause. She could do this. She was going to do this. It was time to create a new memory for this song that didn’t involve Yodi or Moldova. The song deserved it. She deserved it.
Akis gave her the introduction and then she was beginning. It wasn’t the techno beats and flashing lights of the last time she’d sung this, the back-up dancers and the set choreography going on in time to a sequence on a video screen, it was as stripped back as it could get, raw, just the lyrics, the piano and her voice. And, as she committed to the song, she wasn’t on the boat in front of the allegedly good and great, she was barefoot in the sand in front of the little church, she was watching Akis eat fish with his fingers, she was petting a donkey called Pig, she was falling into the Santorini sea and kissing a man they called The Deacon… Here, but not being seen. Everything under her control.
And with that relaxation came belief. She could feel it building in her gut, infiltrating her soul, making her glow on the inside. With a slow rise up through the scales in this final section of the song, she knew it was coming and she knew, despite the lack of full practice, it wasn’t something she was going to miss. She hit the G10 note with everything she had, testing her own capabilities, elongating it and sending it out to the universe. It didn’t matter if anyone captured it for socials, it didn’t matter if dolphins started leaping from the sea, it only mattered that along with the note, perhaps all the grief, desperation and sadness was finally being released. When she couldn’t hold her breath any longer she stopped singing and there was no piano, no sounds from the party, only silence.
It took her a second to realise exactly how much energy the number had taken out of her and that her chest was rising and falling with exhaustion as well as adrenaline. And then the applause broke out. Clapping and whooping and there were camera phones all aimed in her direction.
All those lucky enough to be at this party had all thought they’d witnessed something bought, paid for and put on especially to mesmerise them. They had no idea the trauma that had led to that performance, no clue of what she had been through to get here. Only two people knew. One was clapping his heart out, stood by the piano, encouraging everyone else to applaud longer and harder, and the other was rushing through the crowds recording with her phone, knocking into the ice sculpture that was now nothing but an unrecognisable mound, until she was right there, throwing her arms around Cara and hugging her close.
‘My beautiful brave girl,’ Margot said, tears in her eyes and the emotion dragging in her voice.
Cara hugged her aunt hard but there were no tears for her now, only joy. ‘I think that tonight, we are both made out of stronger stuff than we ever truly realised.’
Margot squeezed her close again. ‘Without doubt, my darling. Without any doubt.’