Two months had passed and things had been going swimmingly with the performances. It was now closing night and Olive was sad that it was almost over.
She and Rachel were currently singing "Slipping Through My Fingers," the song right before Sophie's wedding where Donna sings about how fast Sophie's childhood had gone and then Sophie joins in.
Olive noticed that Rachel seemed especially emotional that night. She'd always gotten a little teary-eyed during that song, presumably because Olive actually was her daughter and had grown up quite quickly. Tonight was also the last night and Olive knew her mother was just as sad about the show closing. But Mom seemed to barely be holding it together. Olive was confused.
"I mean, it's not like I'm actually getting married," Olive thought.
The show ended and the cast took their final bows. Then, Dominic came out on the stage with a microphone. This wasn't unusual - the director always gave a brief speech on the closing night at the Hudson.
"Good evening, everybody!" Dominic greeted. "Did you enjoy the show this evening?"
The crowd cheered.
"We have a stellar cast here. And I just want to take a minute to give a shoutout to our 'Sophie' her real name is Olive St. James and she first set foot on the Hudson stage 20 years ago when she was just five years old! Isn't that incredible?"
The crowd cheered again.
Olive froze. This hadn't happened before in any Hudson production. She just awkwardly smiled at the audience.
"Olive, who's here with you tonight?" Dominic asked.
Olive assumed he meant in the audience.
"My father, my sisters, and my brother-in-law," Olive said, smiling at Jesse, Clementine, Maya, and Jeff. They smiled back, but Olive could tell that Jesse, Maya, and Clementine had been crying. What was going on?
"Wonderful! And you know some people in the cast pretty well, too, right?" Dominic asked.
"Yes. My mother Rachel played Donna, my friend Naomi played Ali, and my boyfriend David played Sky," Olive replied.
"Your boyfriend David? You met him here at the Hudson, didn't you?" Dominic asked.
"I did. Nine years ago at a musical theatre workshop led by my mother," Olive turned to Rachel who was smiling through her own tears. Olive looked around for David but didn't see him.
"What a cool story. I have no further questions but I think David might. David?" David rushed out onto the stage. He was grinning from ear to ear, and holding a rose.
"Yes, I do," David said, taking the microphone. Naomi had brought over one of the chair's from Donna's inn and gestured for Olive to sit. David handed her the rose and brought the microphone to his lips again.
"Olive, I know things really didn't…progress between us until we reconnected six years ago at the diner but shortly after I met you in that musical theatre workshop I had the biggest…crush on you and the best decision I ever made was walking into that coffee shop, ordering that latte and asking to get dinner with you after you gave it to me. You are, without a doubt the greatest thing to ever happen to me, and I'm so grateful for how welcoming your family has been to me, how welcoming my family has been to you and the past few months getting to be your…almost husband for pretend has been amazing but I'd really like to be your husband for real so…" David knelt down and Liam, the actor who played Pepper, handed him a small box.
"Olive Maria St. James - will you marry me?"
Olive froze. She looked out at the audience - Clementine had her head buried in Maya's shirt - Maya and Jesse were crying. She looked at Rachel and Naomi who were also crying.
"Yes," Olive said softly. "Yes!" She cried. David had barely put the ring on her finger before she had thrown her arms around his neck and he had picked her up.
Then, the cast started singing,
"Love me or leave me
Make your choice - but believe me
I love you - I do, I do, I do, I do, I do!"