Epilogue:

The applause was thunderous. The pianist stood, took a ladylike bow and looked round the auditorium. There, halfway up the stalls two people stood and applauded louder and more furiously that anyone else. The concert had gone extremely well: Beethoven, Bach, Chopin and Schumman - all had been enthusiastically received but, by far, it was her finale...

"Ladies and gentlemen," she patted down the applause before her last piece, "this piece is dedicated to my parents, who always believed in me, right from the very beginning ..." She sat down and started ... 'Let's Misbehave,' rearranged to be more like a piano sonata with twists and turns, rises and falls and cheeky little musical phrases - it was a triumph!

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"I wish Tommy was here," Phryne sat down in the dressing room and watched her daughter remove her makeup and shake out her dark curls.

"He came last night," Hope turned and smiled, "a new lady friend, who I approve of, before you ask; he was going off to train on a new fighter today. Sends his love."

Jack rolled his eyes, who would have thought that Tommy would join the RAF as soon as he was able?

"Takes after his mother," he muttered.

Phryne nudged him and laughed.

Hope stepped behind a screen to change into something suitable for dinner at the Savoy. Still small, fine boned, like a china doll, Jack said, the image of her mother, she had turned out to have more musical talent than her adoring father could have dreamed of.

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A natural from the day he started to teach her her scales and arpeggios, any piece came easy to her, even the piano teacher they engaged for her said he could barely keep up. She had rearranged what to her was a lullaby at the tender age of ten years. Jack had come home from a frustrating day at City South to find her picking out the tune, then embellishing each phrase until she had it just as she wanted it. He had stood in the hall listening until he decided he could disturb her. They played duets over the course of the evening which calmed him and cheered him and he determined that she would be supported in her music wherever she wanted to take it.

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She reappeared in a dark blue dinner dress and collected her evening bag.

"Ready?" Jack offered her his arm, and the other to his still beautiful wife.

"Ready," Hope smiled.

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Conversation revolved around the concerts; who had attended and the wonderful reviews. Hope just shrugged, "I do it because I like it and it appears to give pleasure."

She hadn't meant to make a career of her music, but she had played a small concert to raise funds for one of the Stanley benefits named after her great aunt and a talent scout had been there. He hadn't been allowed near her until her parents had done intensive background checks and then he had only been allowed if she was chaperoned. Now she travelled the world.

"I shall stop when it becomes a chore."

"If it ever does," Jack mused, "but then, if it does you won't be playing as well, will you?"

"Uh huh," she shook her head, "until then ... are you staying with Jem?" She changed the subject.

"Yes, then Tommy's going to try and have us see him fly," Phryne nodded.

"Jem wants us all to meet up at the farm," Jack reminded her, "before we go home, I'm sure he's plotting something."

"Being the detective you are darling," his wife laughed, "I'm sure you'll work it out."

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Phryne worked it out first, Jack said he wasn't surprised. It was quite obvious, really. Jem waited until Tommy had leave after showing off his flying skills and Hope had a break in her schedule before informing them all he was getting married.

"This is Annabel," he linked his arm with a pretty fair haired girl, "we met in the village, Annabel this is my family, my parents Phryne and Jack, and the twins I keep telling you about, Tommy and Hope."

"Jem has told me so much about you, it's an absolute pleasure to meet you at last." Annabel stepped forward, hand outstretched. "I've heard you play, Hope. I snuck into the concert in Bath last month."

Phryne thought she might like someone who snuck into concerts but had a week to 'investigate' further.

Jack looked her up and down, she didn't seem to be a vague girl, all fluff and giggles, like Guy's wife, Isabella. They had stopped by their town house for dinner and found Isabella hadn't changed from the time she had asked him and Hugh Collins which one wanted to investigate her. The younger Stanleys had never had children, whether by accident or design nobody knew, still leading a hedonistic existence; Prudence had never really approved and left the bulk of her estate to Phryne and the family. Guy didn't seem to hold it against her.

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Jem, like his adopted mother, did things his own way and just because he was a Baron it didn't mean he had to have a grand wedding. Instead, he and Annabel were married in the village church and held their reception at the farm, which was now more of an Estate. There was dancing and revelry until the small hours of the morning that Phryne said exhausted her. She kept going and Jack said he'd never know it was tiring for her.

"I'm getting old, Jack," she sat next to him on a bench watching everybody.

"Never, love, you will always be twenty-nine to me," turning thirty she had been rather grumpy so she was forever twenty-nine ... and a bit ... the 'bit' was her own business.

"Care to prove it," she grinned cheekily.

"Anytime you like," he pulled her up and in the direction of the house, unnoticed by the rest of the wedding guests.

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"Will you still want me when I'm a grandmother?" she turned and sighed sleepily as the dawn came up.

"Most glamorous grandmother in the world," he kissed the tip of her nose, "just take pity on an old grandfather."

"Never," she rolled him onto his back.

"As you wish, Miss Fisher ..."

The quiet tinkling of a certain melody on the piano floated up from the parlour.

"Shall we?"

"Let's."

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Thank you for all your kind and lovely comments. This is the end of this version of Phryne and Jack. I'm sure Phryne will be a very glamorous grandmother and Jack still a ruggedly handsome grandfather but they will never age. Stay safe, everyone.