Chapter 5

"I think both. But she doesn't know I know that.""Then don't go. You don't owe her anything. You don't owe any of them anything."Lorraine leaned against the counter. The house was quiet. The faucet dripped. A clock ticked on the wall."My mama cleaned houses for forty-two years, Denise," Lorraine said. "And every single time someone treated her like she was less than human, she put her head down and kept working. She never once stood up for herself. Not once.""Lorraine—""I'm not my mama, Denise. I love her, God knows I love her, but I won't do what she did.""So, what are you going to do?"Lorraine was quiet. She looked across the kitchen at the closet door. Behind it, in a garment bag she hadn't opened in over fifteen years, was a dress. Not just any dress: the dress. Emerald green, hand-beaded, custom-made for her final concert at Madison Square Garden in 1996. The last time she stood on a stage. The last time 30,000 people chanted her name until their throats went raw."I'm going to go," Lorraine said. "And I'm going to wear my dress."Denise sighed. "You sure about this?""I've never been more sure of anything."Saturday came fast. Lorraine stood in front of her bedroom mirror. The dress still fit. Fifteen years in a garment bag, and it still fit like it was made yesterday. The emerald beading caught the light from her bedside lamp. She ran her fingers over the stitching; every bead had been sewn by hand.She remembered sitting in the fitting room in Manhattan while the designer pinned the hem. She remembered the way the spotlight hit the crystals and turned her into something that looked like it was made of green fire. She didn't wear jewelry, just a small gold locket around her neck; inside it, a photo of her daughter.She looked at herself. Really looked. She didn't see a cleaning lady. She saw a woman who had once stood under spotlights so bright they burned, a woman who had filled arenas with nothing but her voice, a woman the world forgot."You still here?" she whispered to her reflection. "You still here."

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