Cancel the Wedding, Queen Moves On novel · Chapter 29 of 32

Chapter 29: Opening Night

The Providence Arts Hall opened its season on the first Saturday in October, and the ballroom was full to the balconies.

I stood in the wings in my mother's green dress with my hands wrapped around a paper cup of tea.

It was the same curtain I'd held at the gala, and the same stage.

The nine-foot Steinway waited in the light with its lid propped.

For three months a restorer from Boston had lived inside it, and I had spent two weeks after him voicing every hammer.

It no longer had a bad middle octave.

It had a voice.

"They're all out there," Pearl said, at my elbow.

She wore gold from collar to hem, and a corsage the size of a cabbage.

"Everyone from the gala. Three hundred and four. I counted at the door."

"Are they here to watch me fall?"

"Baby, they've brought their own cushions."

I laughed, and it steadied my hands.

Out in the house, a murmur ran through the seats as the lights dimmed.

The Hall's director walked to the lectern in her grey suit.

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