Brady left her to go to the black piano. He ran his fingers over the keys, and Hannah copied him. He grinned at the audience, and Hannah did the same. They played a little back and forth duel before Brady stopped and said, “Okay, let’s hit it.”
They broke into the song they’d made up together. It was a song about the things you loved. Rainbows and unicorns. Birthdays and surprises. Baby chicks and ABBA lyrics. It was a happy song, dancing and prancing through the stage and the night air, catchy like “Shake It Off,” and would likely be stuck in people’s heads for days. My daughter's sweet voice the perfect contrast to his rich, gritty one. Sugar and spice and everything nice.
As they played, the tension in my body eased. She’d not missed a single key. Her voice hadn’t cracked. She looked and sounded as if she were playing in the practice room atLa Musica. As if there were an audience of one instead of being live-streamed to millions.
When the song was over, the crowd went wild, and it was the first time Hannah seemed surprised at all. Her face flushed, and she looked unsure, but Brady was at her side, picking her up, hugging her, holding her for the world to see while she took off her top hat and tipped it at the cameras. The crowd was a storm of claps and stomps and cheers.
“Okay, folks, we have just two more songs for you,” Brady said.
“One more,” Hannah said with a frown at him that had the crowd chuckling.
From the opposite side stage, a woman emerged. Hannah hadn’t seen her yet, but I swore I was going to keel over from the sweet ache of it.
The woman’s top hat and shawl shimmered in the stage lights.
“Well,Chiquita, I threw in an extra one because I thought you might want to play with this lovely woman.” Brady turned with my daughter in his arms so she could see Stevie Nicks for the first time.
Hannah’s face was the epitome of stunned. Wide eyes, mouth hanging open, and she smiled so hard I thought it would break her cheeks. “Whoa…” Hannah said quietly.
Stevie Nicks joined them. Her smile was beautiful. She looked nowhere near her real age, even though she still looked old. “Like that hat, beautiful,” Stevie said, and Hannah beamed at her.
“What do you think of our surprise?” Brady asked the audience who roared their approval.
“Thank you for having me,” Stevie said. “The band and I were honored to be in attendance at the very first Apple Jam Music Fest, and I’m grateful to be back honoring the person who started it all. Elana Johnson was a beautiful human being and will be missed.”
The crowd agreed. Shouts of “We love you, Elana,” made my heart clench and tears hit the back of my eyes I wasn’t sure I could hold back much longer. But, God, would Grams have eaten it up.
Stevie looked down at Hannah. “I hear you’ve been learning to play “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You,” is that correct?”
Hannah nodded.
“Would you like to perform it with me?” Stevie asked.
“Yes, please. Very much,” Hannah said, and the crowd was a mush pot of affection for my girl.
Brady took Hannah back to the white piano while Stevie went to the black one. Brady sat next to Hannah on the far side of the bench. My heart and body were a mess while he helped her get situated. I wanted to kiss him for not leaving her on her own after he’d surprised her. I wanted to kiss him, period.
Stevie Nicks and my daughter sang and played together. Deep and sweet. Fitting together almost as well as Brady and she had. My tears could no longer be contained as the words and the beautiful, touching moment Brady had put together for Hannah overcame me.
I knew, somewhere up there, Grams was crying as much as I was.
There was a reason she’d kept Cormac from me. She’d known I didn’t need him back then. She’d saved him for the right moment when Hannah and I both needed him the most. When he needed us as well. And we’d collided together into the perfect rainbow of hope and futures.
When they were done, the crowd went wild, stomping and cheering.
Brady took a mic, joining Hannah and Stevie Nicks at the front of the stage, and the crowd got quiet again.
“Okay, y’all, this is the last one of the night, and it’s the perfect end to the opening of the Apple Jam Music Fest because it’s a song about how we can all be better for each other. It reminds me of the woman who taught me and this little lady”—he tapped Hannah’s top hat—“everything we know about music. We’re grateful to the incredible Thomas Rhett for letting us sing it here tonight.”
The three of them sang “Be a Light,” and I wasn’t the only one in tears. The entire audience was waving their phones, and water streamed down their faces. It was gorgeous, and so exactly everything Grams would have wanted.
When the song was over, the three of them took a bow, but as Brady turned to walk offstage, Hannah tugged at his hand. He leaned down to hear what she was telling him, and he looked surprised before shooting a look to the side of the stage in my direction.
When the crowd had calmed down a little, Hannah looked my way too and said into the microphone, “Hey, Mommy, Brady wants to know if you’ll marry him.”
My knees would have given out if Arlene hadn’t been there to catch me. She was laughing. And I was a mess. Tears for my daughter. Tears for me. Joy scattered through every pore that used to hold so much grief.
“You better go out there and give him an answer,” she said with a little push.
