She parked and walked up the front steps, her breath catching in her chest. The restoration was finally complete, and it was beautiful. This house stood as a testimony to life, to friendship, to good things coming out of bad situations. And she had no idea it would mean this much when work first started on the place.

Once she was inside, she did a walk-through. The interior was lovely in the evening, the lighting designed to cast a warm yellow glow off the dark paneling in every room. The banquet hall was decorated with sparkly streamers and lighted floral arrangements on every table. Every place setting had a small book documenting the charities the club had supported over the years, including some essays by past recipients of the scholarships they’d given out, as well as gift bags containing custom candles and chocolates, all with the seventy-fifth anniversary logo on them. At the dais in front of the room was a lectern and a large screen, on which flashed photographs of club members throughout the years. There was a string quartet in the corner, tuning up.

Later, when she was in the kitchen, checking to see if everything was on schedule, she heard the music cue up, then the murmur of voices out in the lobby. The first guests were arriving. Soon there were people mingling everywhere, and waiters were carrying trays of champagne and hors d’oeuvres that seemed to float through the crowd. Paxton greeted everyone, including her mother and father, who, despite all the time and work that went into this place, had never actually seen it since that first day, over a year ago, when they’d toured the property and decided to make it an Osgood venture to restore it.

Her father was impressed, but her mother admitted nothing. She still wasn’t happy about Paxton moving out, and was even less happy when Paxton started referring to Sebastian as her boyfriend. But Paxton loved her mother and accepted her as she was. She even took it in stride when her mother found out she was seated with Nana Osgood and demanded her place card be moved to another table. Nana Osgood had arrived earlier with the nurse Paxton had hired to attend to her that night, and was the only one seated in the banquet hall. Paxton wondered what Nana Osgood thought about being here, after all these years. But when she’d first arrived, all she’d done was complain about the heat and demand a cocktail.

The last-minute seating change was the first in a few minor emergencies that took Paxton away until the food was ready to be served. She had just straightened out a room switch upstairs and was about to walk down to tell Maria to cue everyone to be seated when she stopped at the top of the staircase and looked down.

It was a dreamlike setting of princess gowns and black ties. It was magical, everything she’d hoped it would be. But she was ready for it to be over, because the gala had been planned around everything that the Women’s Society Club shouldn’t be. And she’d fallen right into the trap.

With some relief, she saw that Willa and Colin had finally arrived. Willa looked beautiful, like something out of time in that vintage dress, and for a moment Paxton could almost see Willa’s grandmother as a young woman, sweeping through the rooms here at the Madam. Colin stood close to her. Paxton knew her brother well enough to recognize the subtle shift that was happening in him. She’d seen him often at the Madam that week as the landscaping was being completed, and he’d seemed centered, almost calm. He’d once even asked her if there were any other town-houses near hers up for sale. He’d like to have a home base for when he came back for visits, he’d said, with a subtext that was so obvious it was almost too good to be true. She was careful not to make too much of it, but it still made her heart soar. Sebastian, Willa, and now Colin. Sebastian had been right. If you make room in your life, good things will enter.

Paxton caught the manager’s eye and nodded, and the signal was given that everyone should now enter the banquet hall.

Paxton went to the ladies’ room and checked her makeup, then stared at herself, telling herself that she really could go through with this.

Sebastian had waited for her at the back of the banquet hall once everyone had been seated. She hadn’t seen him in two days, and she’d felt it physically, like a withdrawal. They’d called each other often, but it wasn’t the same. She wanted to touch him, to have him near. It was still so new. She was afraid of losing it. But gala preparations had kept her at the Madam until the early hours of the morning for the past few days. Last night, she’d even slept here, and had only gone back to Hickory Cottage to change.

“You look lovely, darling,” Sebastian said when she entered.

“I’m so glad you’re here.” She took his hands and squeezed them. He had to feel that she was trembling.

“Everything is perfect. I was surprised to see you even managed to get your grandmother to come. How much did it take to get one of the nurses to escort Agatha tonight?”

A smile twitched at her lips. “You don’t want to know.”

“It’s almost over.” He leaned in and said, “I’ve missed you.”

She let that wash over her, warm and comforting. “I’ve missed you, too.”

“I know you haven’t had time to order furniture for your house,” he said.

“I’ve been too busy. It’s next on my list.”

“I had a bed delivered there today,” Sebastian said.

That made her laugh. “Are you kidding?”

“No.”

“Then I can’t wait to go home,” she said.

“I can’t wait to take you there. I have some very good memories in that house already.” He led her to the dais at the front of the room, then whispered, “Good luck. You’ll do great.” The quartet ended their tune. There was applause as she walked to the lectern, and Paxton watched as Sebastian took a seat at the table with Willa and Colin and Nana Osgood.

Her insides were shaking, and she thought for a moment that she couldn’t go through with this. But then she thought of her grandmother and Georgie, how everything about this house and the club had to do with them, with honoring them, and she knew it was the right decision.

She cleared her throat and said, “Welcome, everyone, to the Walls of Water Women’s Society Club seventy-fifth anniversary gala.”

More applause.

“I wrote a speech months ago. Those who know me aren’t surprised. I’m such a planner.” Some people laughed. “The speech was about what good work we’ve done and how proud we should be of ourselves.” She paused. “But I tore it up this week, because I realized we’ve gotten it all wrong.”

There was a change in the air. Everyone seemed to realize something was up.

“This club was formed to help each other. Not others. Each other. As in, we’re all in this together. It wasn’t formed to set us apart from others, or to compete with one another. It was formed because seventy-five years ago, two best friends in the darkest moments of their lives said, All we have is our deep and abiding love for each other. We can’t lose that or we lose ourselves. If we don’t help each other, who will? I don’t know when it happened, and I don’t know how, but the Women’s Society Club lost its true focus. It’s not what it was, and I can’t bring it back. That’s why I’m stepping down as president tonight, and removing my name from the roster.” The room started to rumble. “I have not always been the best friend to any of you,” she continued, searching the crowd for Kirsty Lemon, for Moira Kinley, for Stacy Herbst and Honor Redford. “But I can promise that from this night forward, I will be there for you if you need me, anytime, anyplace. That’s the true nature of the club. It was never meant to be an institution. It was a pinkie swear among teenagers who were afraid, and knowing that they could count on each other made them feel better. Our grandmothers knew they would be friends for their entire lives. How many of us can say that? How can we know the true meaning of charity if we don’t even know how to help those closest to us?” Paxton stepped back. “That’s all I wanted to say.”