Read Chapter 12: — THE SONG FOR HOME

Julian had promised a publisher a song for a regional heritage campaign and failed to deliver it.

The commission should have been trivial compared with cancer.

Instead it became a lifeline.

He brought the unfinished lyrics to Clara's flat. Daniel, who had never written a proper song, began rearranging lines because the rhythm irritated him. Clara sat at the piano and changed the melody. Julian protested, then surrendered.

By midnight, the three of them had created something none could have produced alone.

They called it Northern Lights.

Margaret heard the demo in hospital.

Halfway through, she began to cry.

"This is unfair," she said. "You can't make a woman bald and sentimental at the same time."

The campaign used the song. It became unexpectedly popular online. Royalties arrived months later.

Clara wanted to put the money into Margaret's care.

Margaret refused.

"If I die, I don't want the last thing I funded to be another week of people pretending money can bargain with biology."

She had a different plan.

She wanted to establish a diagnostic-access fund for rural patients who waited too long for specialist imaging.

Clara hated the word die.

Daniel understood the idea.

"Then we make it work," he said.

Margaret looked at him for a long moment.

"You always say we."

Daniel glanced at Clara.

"I suppose I do."

Clara lowered her eyes, smiling despite herself.