‘Excuse me! Coming through!’ Caprice bustled into the middle of the teachers and students. She had changed back into her sparkly dress and had hastily reapplied her full face of make-up with her hair somewhat styled on top of her head. ‘Could you clear out? The talent quest is about to start and I’ve rescheduled the Winchester-Fayle Singers to a slot straight afterwards, then we have me followed by Nick Waterford. Is there really another special guest, Alice-Miranda, or has that fallen over, in which case I’ll take the last spot?’

Alice-Miranda looked at Millie, and the two girls smiled. ‘There sure is,’ she said, but there was something else the girls had to do first.

Miss Grimm rounded up her staff and directed them away from the stage, where she gave a rousing pep talk about what a magnificent group they were and, now that the rat in the ranks was gone, they’d better get on with it too and support their girls. The mood of the festival lifted to new heights among a slew of apologies and tears.

‘Right, the girls need our help,’ Livinia said. ‘So, hop to it, everyone!’

Tilde McGilvray had returned from her break none the wiser about the earlier fracas and was about to resume her duties when she was intercepted by Caprice. ‘It’s my show now,’ the girl sneered and snatched the microphone. Ever the professional, Tilde handed it over, but not before making a mental note of the girl’s name and vowing she would never appear as a guest on her show.

Zahra Abboud chewed on her lip. She’d been keeping a watch on the time, her stomach twisting with each passing minute.

‘Hello Mrs Abboud,’ Millie said, dancing into the food tent. ‘I’m going to take over from Zahra for a while.’ She winked at the girl. ‘Alice-Miranda’s waiting for you in the green room,’ she whispered out of the side of her mouth.

‘What are you doing, Zahra?’ Ada called after her daughter.

‘It’s all right, Ada, let her go,’ Venetia said. ‘We’ll be fine. You go too, Millie.’

Millie grinned and took off through the crowd.

They could hear Caprice announce the first contestant in the talent quest. It was a little girl playing the ukulele and singing. She was terribly sweet and as cute as a button.

The next act was an elderly couple dancing the tango. The performances varied between good and very good to downright tragic, but at least the crowd got a few laughs – especially at the expense of a poor fellow with a magic act where absolutely nothing went right. First his cards flew out of his hands, then his magic wand broke, and when the dove he was going to pull out of his hat escaped from his sleeve and flew away he stormed off stage red-faced and in tears.

The second-last act was a young girl with a breathy voice that clearly no one found as easy on the ear as her own parents, who cheered her on from the side of the stage.

Finally, the last contestant was announced. Word had spread about Ada Abboud’s delicious baalbek and the line snaked down past several other vendors. She was busy serving a young couple when a girl began to sing.

‘Wow – now that’s a voice,’ a young woman standing in front of Ada said. She turned to see if she could catch a glimpse of the stage.

There were nods all around.

‘She must be a professional,’ another man said. ‘And if she’s not, she should be.’

Ada Abboud swallowed her surprise.

Venetia nudged the woman. ‘Go – you need to see this.’

Ada took off her apron and hung it on the hook inside the tent, then wove her way through the crowd until she could see the main stage. Her breath caught in her throat at the revelation that the owner of that beautiful voice was her daughter. A tear dropped onto the top of her cheek as she was swept away with the music.

Zahra finished and looked out into the audience. She could hardly believe her eyes when she realised that her mother was there cheering the loudest. The girl took a bow to a chorus of ‘Encore!’, but Caprice was having none of it.

‘Right.’ The girl bustled onto the stage in her shimmery dress and grabbed the microphone. ‘Thank you, Zahra Abboud. That was … quite good.’ With a flash of annoyance, the girl realised the dress Zahra was wearing had once been hers. Her mother must have donated it without her permission.

‘Wow, such generous praise.’ Millie rolled her eyes.

Caprice announced the end of the contest and a short recess for the judges to retire to make their decision, which would be revealed at the very end of the festival.

At the rear of the stage, Alice-Miranda and Millie hugged Zahra.

‘You were incredible,’ Alice-Miranda said.

‘So much better than Caprice,’ Millie added.

‘I heard that,’ Caprice snarked as she walked past with her clipboard. ‘And I’ll have my dress back later too.’

‘I should go and see my mother,’ Zahra said as Caprice took to the stage for her own set. Zahra walked around the corner, where Ada was waiting. ‘I am sorry, Mama,’ she murmured.

‘Whatever for?’ the woman asked. ‘Being talented and brave and doing what I could never have done?’

‘For sneaking out to singing lessons,’ Zahra said. ‘That’s where I was when the fire broke out. With Mrs Goodman.’

Zahra looked up and realised that the woman herself was sitting on a lawn chair in the front row beside Hephzibah Fayle. She jutted out her chin and clasped her hands together. ‘Wonderful,’ Mrs Goodman mouthed.

Ada drew her daughter into her arms and hugged her fiercely. ‘I am so proud of you – and I love you very much.’

Tears spilled onto Zahra’s cheeks.

But the night was far from over and there were still more surprises in store.

Caprice’s set was met with rousing applause, although there was a general consensus among the audience that five songs would have been ample. When a helicopter whizzed overhead and landed in the bottom field, the atmosphere took on an electric charge. Nick Waterford was here!

Minutes later, the man leapt on stage in one of his trademark fluorescent pink suits and the crowd went wild, dancing and singing for the next hour. He was incredibly energetic for a fellow of advancing years. But it was the final act that was the biggest surprise of all.

Alice-Miranda grabbed her drumsticks and Millie picked up her tambourine. They grinned at Zahra, who had quickly changed into an almost identical outfit.

‘Are we really going to get up there on stage?’ Reg Parker grimaced. The man was wearing a pinstriped suit and a fedora at a jaunty angle.

‘Absolutely.’ Stan Frost picked up his electric guitar. He looked every inch the seasoned rock star in black from head to toe, including a skinny black tie. ‘Come on, Reg, we might be dead tomorrow – it’s time to live a little.’

Following three hotly contested rounds of scissors, paper, rock, Tilde McGilvray graciously conceded her emcee duties to Miss Reedy for the last part of the event. Livinia knew the role would get her close to Nick Waterford and she was right. She took photographs with him backstage and he’d even given her a kiss on the cheek, which she wasn’t planning to wash ever again.

‘Now, before I introduce our final surprise guests, I just want to say one more time – wasn’t Nick Waterford incredible?’ the woman asked, and received a huge cheer. ‘We also have to announce the winner of today’s talent quest, and it was none other than –’ she looked at the envelope Caprice handed her, her lip wrinkling in surprise – ‘Puggles the Pooch and Mr Cornish, the dancing doggy and his master. Well … that’s, lovely.’

She wondered who the judges were. No one had thought about that so Caprice had appointed herself.

‘Sorry you didn’t win,’ Alice-Miranda said to Zahra as they waited in the green-room tent.

‘Me too, but you were never in the race with Caprice in charge.’ Millie grinned.

Zahra shrugged. ‘I don’t mind. That was the best moment of my life so far up on that stage.’

‘Well, here comes another one,’ Millie said.

Back on stage, Miss Reedy was going through a long list of thankyous. ‘It’s been the most wonderful day, and I hope I’m not speaking out of turn by saying that I think the Fields Festival might become an annual fixture on the Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale event calendar.’ Livinia glanced to the side of the stage, where Ophelia gave her two thumbs up. ‘Without further ado, I give you two of the original members plus three junior members of the world-famous band Hoot!’

The squealing was insane. Middle-aged men and women were practically fainting while anyone younger than thirty looked completely bemused.

Myrtle Parker crossed her hands over her chest and prayed. ‘Just don’t make a goose of yourself, Reginald,’ she whispered.

Ambrosia nudged the woman. ‘Lighten up, Myrtle. I loved these guys when I was a kid – I can’t believe you’ve kept it a secret from me all this time.’ Ambrosia suddenly realised that Neville had gone missing hours ago. The fact she hadn’t noticed until now only confirmed her decision that they had no future together.

Tabitha, meanwhile, stood in the crowd feeling more at home than she had in years. It seemed she’d finally found her place in the world and she hoped that this was right where she would be for a very long time to come.

‘What are you lot doing?’ Caprice asked as she appeared in the doorway of the green room. ‘Are you the surprise act?’ She could hear the crowd cheering louder than they had all night. ‘Do you need a singer? I can do it.’

‘It’s okay – we’ve got Zahra,’ Millie said, cocking an eyebrow towards the girl, who hadn’t stopped smiling since the talent quest.

Caprice pouted. ‘But I’m better than she is.’

‘Maybe one day we can do a duet,’ Zahra said graciously, but Caprice had already stalked off.

‘Okay, let’s do this,’ Alice-Miranda said, and skipped out of the tent and onto the stage to take her place at the drums. She wriggled into position and put her left foot on the pedal. Zahra headed straight for the microphone in the middle while Stan plugged his guitar into the amp and Reg sat down at the keyboard. Millie climbed onto a podium with her tambourine.

‘Hey, is that Mr Parker and Mr Frost up there with Alice-Miranda and Millie and Zahra?’ Jacinta said, squinting into the bright lights that had just come on. She was standing next to Lucas, holding his hand. They’d already kissed and made up properly behind the ice-cream van.

‘Yup.’ Lucas nodded. ‘Mad, hey?’

Alice-Miranda clapped her drumsticks together above her head. ‘And a one, two, three, hit it!’