All For Love
Chapter One
Miranda was sure that she was never going to meet the right guy. Walking down the hallway of the hotel the bridal party was being put up in at her friends wedding, headed towards her room, she almost felt like crying. Here she was, thirty years old and she had only ever had two serious boyfriends, and the last one had just turned out to be a total loser.
Her friend, Joyce Joan, Jojo for short had brought her into the bridal party as a gesture knowing that she needed to shine somewhere that romance still existed.
As she approached her room door, the plastic key card attached to the casino clip lanyard in her hand started to shake. The “do not disturb” door handle placard was on the outside of her door. She had not left it there, and she was bewildered that it was moved in her absence.
It must be her recent ex, Richard, who was far from a wealth of integrity. He had obtained a key card from the hotel using the information she had given him when they thought that they would be attending the wedding as a couple. Angrily she fidgeted with the key, slid it past the latch and into the door lock mechanism and the red “locked” light turned green. She yanked on the handle and threw open the door.
“If you think that you can just say I am sorry and…”
The sight in the bedroom was not at all what she expected. There on the bed locked in naked throes of passionate lovemaking was Henry, the groom and a woman she had never seen before in her life. As she stumbled a few feet in the door, brought by her own momentum, Henry hastily snatched up the pillow nearest to his crotch and covered it with a sly grin on his face.
“Miranda, this is not what you think…” he started up with a red face of confusion, “we are…”
“You are getting married tomorrow!” Miranda screamed and fled from the room back out into the hallway.
There was no justice in this world, she sobbed to herself as she made her way back down the hall. Men were pigs, I mean the day before his wedding on the eve of the rehearsal dinner in a bridal party room?
“We didn’t think you were checking in!” she heard Henry from now open doorway behind her down the hall.
She didn’t even turn around to respond, it would be an embarrassing and useless display she was sure.
As she turned the corner and headed for the fourth floor elevator, she saw Rennie, the thirteen year old flower girl waiting there to go down. She was picking choice flowers from the vase that stood there by the entrance on a narrow end table that held casino flyers and some mints and things. So sweet and innocent, tomorrow she was expecting to be spreading her magic down the aisle of forever romance for a couple obviously not meant to be in that way.
“Hi Rennie!” she announced with as much cheer as she could muster up.
“HI Miranda, aren’t these flowers pretty?”
“Very pretty Rennie! You know they are hardly as pretty as you in that dress though, right?”
“Thanks Miranda!”
The elevator reached their floor, the wide metallic door slid aside in a silent whoosh and they boarded. Silently, unaware of Miranda’s shakiness Rennie pressed the button for the lobby and the door slid shut. They rode down together in silence.
The lobby was a bustle of patrons and golfers there for a round at the resorts lush country club. Amidst the sea of khaki and polo clad people Miranda saw the best man, Steve and a lump formed in her throat. She had met Steve before at a dinner years prior when Steve was courting a billionaire heiress he was rumored to have met while scuba diving at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Steve was an independent thinker and the brains behind he and Henry’s online patent inventors company and it was just like him to attract such wealth. The couple had only lasted a few weeks though, but by the end of that time Stephen had already made the connections through his doting date to push the company to where he and Henry could afford to take on new investors unafraid. Rumor was that Steve was going down the list of her exes right now turning small amounts into some serious venture capital.
Could she tell him what was going on? Somebody had to be told before it was too late! Her face so flushed she felt she was on fire, she stepped forward across the open lobby leading to him with numb but bold strides.
“Steve!”
“Oh, hello Miranda! You look upset. Is everything ok?”
Suddenly she was aware of a desperate desire to fling herself into him and embrace. His tall cool stature, the wavy locks of fresh cut hair, those alluring blue eyes. She could tell him, he was capable of handling this and maybe it would be a powerful ice - breaker.
“Steve, I just found,” she looked around to make sure Rennie had gone and finished “Henry cheating on Jojo in my room.”
“Miranda, I know what you are thinking. But things work a bit differently than you might know. Come out to my car and talk with me.”
As she followed him out of the ornate lobbies double doors to the spruced up valet attendant, she felt like she was being taken under his wing, and as he turned towards the valet attendant he glanced over at her and she thought she saw a twinkle in his eye for her. Under his sport coat lapels, his pectoral muscles bulged from thousands of hours of gym work and recreational sports.
What a lifestyle that would be, she gushed taking herself by surprise. She was not one to go for the money, but with him it seemed alright to just be that frank. After all there was a lot more to him than just that. Then the valet pulled up with his car, and her stare met Steve’s as the all white BMW pulled up next to her on the passenger side.
“Where are we going,” she asked dimly aware she hadn’t even considered this up until now.
Steve opened her door, and helped her in as he jovially responded “Let’s just take a spin, see what you think. Is that okay?”
He was sincere, he wasn’t just taking off with her to some unknown destination without her opinion she noted. She should let him in on her altered plans for the evening.
“Can you drive me to my cafe?”
Miranda owned a small cafe and art gallery just outside of the city where musicians, artists, politicians, and eclectic patrons all gathered and met to stir up the mutual show of freedom to express.
“Your cafe it is.”
He took the address and using his dashboard navigator brought up directions to the shop where she worked and lived, practically. Then he did something expected.
“I got the newest technology in this one, I have auto - drive so the car will just take us and I can give you my full attention.”
The car silently shifted, and began driving them!
As Steve started his talk, he reached across and took her hand in his. As she felt the warm firm yet gentle grip of his fingers grasping her own recently manicured delicates, she felt a stirring of something in her chest as though she knew she could trust him.
“Henry and Jojo have a very different arrangement with their relationship. It has been this way for years. They call it an open relationship which allows for sex with other people as long as theyare honest about it. Henry honestly has less to do with it than Jojo, so you know.”
“I don’t know how people can get married like that!” she exclaimed.
“Personally me neither, but they are very successful at it, and I am not one to call the shots on Henry’s tolerance for Jojo’s own infidelities. The arrangement came when they both cheated and both found out, but neither could imagine living without the other,” Steve paused and then added “what’s love got to do with it?”
“Everything in my opinion. I can’t go to that rehearsal dinner.” Miranda said in a very blase manner.
“With a woman like you, I should hope so,” he said looking into her eyes with a warm glow, “you deserve undivided attention.”
Then he did something most unexpected.
“I can’t make the rehearsal dinner tonight either, I couldn’t imagine leaving you out of my night entirely after this. Can I take you out tonight? I don’t usually do this these days, but please? I can’t imagine a more beautiful date.”
She gushed, blushed, and a rush of endorphins flooded her head and body and almost without thinking said “Yes, of course!”
As the car pulled up outside of her small business’s front windows, he slowly reached over and gently cupped her left cheek with his hand, almost as though he wanted to kiss her. His eyes met hers and he kissed her right cheek softly saying “Caio!”
“Caio!” she replied for the first time in her memory.
The wreath bearing door to the cafe swung open as she approached it and her best friend and barista, Molly, appeared exclaiming , “Who was that?”
“That was my date for the night.”a flushed Miranda gloated openly.
“He’s hot!"
Chapter Two
There was no one inside of the cafe, as was usual for the early afternoon hours these days. Occasionally they would get some students for the nearby college, or a couple who had met at one of their nightly shows, but for the most part it was dead. The business was honestly in trouble, what with barely making the rent for the gallery and Miranda’s overhead apartment there on site.
The place was smartly decorated with original pieces of art from all of their local and nationally known associations. Couches filled the corners, tables the center spaces with fresh flowers and handmade chairs also for sale by local carpenters. Almost anything that was not nailed down was for sale, but it seemed to be feast - or - famine with making the art gallery fly at the rates it needed to.
For this Miranda had hoped to get an angel investor from the mall of benefactors at the universities arts rich arts and humanities department, someone who recognized her contribution to the community and could throw down a sum to help the benefitting student body.
Molly had been her friend since they graduated High School nearby. They had agreed that they wanted to open this business, with the eager hopes that their youth could be spent building profit from their extracurricular interests right away. Miranda had found the location, along with an apartment loft overhead for a real steal price and they had moved in over the next nine months. They both worked day jobs to earn money, and spent three full terms working sleepless nights to furnish, paint, decorate and eloquently construct their cafe and gallery.
They agreed that Miranda would be the business side of things, with Molly holding down the fort with her knowledge of food and drink, and that they would split the profits down the middle.
The months spent putting up the cafe were like a daze once doors opened. They no longer had to work outside of the business, but they found that weeks of a hundred and twenty hours plus were not out of the question to keep things afloat. A local carpenter who was a songwriter agreed to build them a stage at the front of the place in return for getting to permanently M.C. their open mic nights. He then turned out to be even more resourceful in filling the talent pool from his other M.C. arrangements, so his pay was more than earned. It was here that Molly met her beau, Chad.
Chad was the singer songwriter for a local and up and coming musical act that seemed to be an up and coming thing by all indications. He and Molly met at their gig at the cafe to celebrate Chad’s music studio venture opening, and they had been inseparable since. It was all Miranda could do to keep Molly from booking his act four times a month. Then in the spring of the following year it happened. Chad got Molly pregnant.
The pregnancy had not gone at all as planned. First Molly’s parents had called for an abortion for their unwed daughter, then Chad had attacked her brother. Because of this the two had not been allowed to meet publicly until after the baby was born. For years Chad had decreed that the babies premature delivery was due to the family placing this stress on them. However, the baby grew and as it became evident that the new parents were staying together even through post - partum the families behind them made the necessary amends.
The only thing was that Chad lived over his studio, and Molly over her cafe. Marriage was not at all in the works it seemed, and this was becoming more and more of an issue between them.
Miranda made her way into the back through the festive but empty restaurant to where the office was with Molly, and as she got near the door saw Elizabeth, or “Lizzy” coloring with crayons on some printer paper out on the desk.
“Hey little bits!” Miranda chirped to Lizzy using her own personal pet name for her.
“Hi Mimi!” Lizzy replied, also with her own pet name, adopted as a toddler.
“So who is the new guy? I was just telling Rich you had definitely moved on after our little talk at girls night off.” Molly pried, leaning her elbow on the hardwood desk to accentuate her inquisitiveness.
“His name is Steve, and I have to say I don’t know why but I have a feeling about this one.”
“A feeling? Is this the same woman who told me that she may be moving to Florida to be with her ailing parents like some kind of middle aged prank? Girlfriend, give me the dirt!”
For the next twenty minutes Lizzy and Molly listened intently to all of Miranda’s eventful afternoon while she swooned and swayed about her new prospective boyfriend. At the end she barely remembered to ask if the event staff had called to “qualify” for the night’s work. Work was paid in cash, plus a split tip jar, at the event’s end and they had no problem soliciting doormen and servers from Chad’s street team e - mail lists. They just had their final crew all call in by noon the day of the event to “qualify” or confirm their status as on board.
Tonight’s event was a reggae event featuring a tri - city area band to compliment the opening of a new sculptor’s woodworking collection on loan for commission at the gallery. Two very earthy mixes the following crowds of each, and they both had felt it would get pulled off without incident. As Miranda had prior plans already at the wedding rehearsal, this date was already covered by the awaiting crew.
Just as Miranda thought she knew what to wear, and was about to ask Molly to borrow it, her phone rang. She didn’t know the number, but guessed it might be Stephen. She stepped outside of the back office for a second waiving a perched forefinger towards Moll’s and at her lips. Molly nodded and waved her out with a grin.
“Hello?” she nervously stated into her small smartphone.
“This is Stephen. Hi beautiful, two things I forgot to ask, and two I forgot to tell you.” he announced in his cool, confident singing baritone voice.
“Okay, only if they’re good things handsome,” she quipped feeling almost dizzy in anticipation.
“First off Thai or Indian Restaurant and live theater or outside cinema?” he rattled off nonchalantly.
She started to suggest a third alternative, but thought better of it and went with the flow stating plainly “Indian and live theater.”
“Secondly I forgot to tell you that I am out of my evening meeting at six, but that I will pick you up at seven if it is ok.”
“That’s fine by me. How should I dress?”
“A woman like you, Miranda can wear anything she likes,” he retorted sincerely.
“A man like you can feed me that line anytime,” she returned.
They said their clumsy goodbye’s and she realized she hadn’t felt like this since her failed college stint when she had met her first serious relationship. Weak in the knees by sense of gravity, feinted by every interaction, high energy nervousness, great big notions of the importance of the present. This was going to make her a very happy girl if it kept up like this.
She re-entered the office to find her girls giggling over a printed picture of her they were doodling hearts all over.
“Aunt Mimi is in love!” Lizzy teased in the most adorable way.
“She made a card to congratulate you,” Molly chimed in adding “and send you on your way to this hot and steamy date night you met from a wedding!”
“I want you to know, I left my car at the resort and I will need to be there tomorrow so I don’t know…”
“You don’t know if you are coming home, but not to worry. Yeah, yeah, yeah don’t count your chickens until they hatch, and definitely don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Oh, and I want a goodnight text after all that pillow talk nonsense if you end up in that way.”
“You got it Moll’s, you’re the best!”
“And one last thing?”
“What’s that?”
“No eloping for God’s sake, if I wake up to you in Vegas from some wild time you are grounded. Don’t forget it.”
She giggled in spite of herself, and made her way towards the door, waving goodbye to Lizzy and wondering if he was the type of man who would be smart to marry. It all seemed too good to be true, he was fun, smart, rich, talented and very sexy to the max. How else could she have such blindness to the obvious oversight looming in the Henry and Jojo knowledge he had after all being partners with Henry.
All things to reconsider in the morning after rituals when she would have to decide about the wedding and such. Right now it was time to pamper herself for long enough to feel like a princess who was on a date with a real prince for the first time. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought of Richard, and a creeping doubt that all would just pass without incident swept through her former bath-house swan like mind. How could she feel so fresh in this when she herself was new again to dating? Was it because just maybe Stephen was as well and they were kindred spirits on a fresh path?
Miranda rightly did not know, but was determined to find out no matter what it took to impress the socks off of this man. It was about time she was sent a beacon like this kind to rekindle her ties to her life here. She was not about to let this be a one time thing if all went as she expected. Her heart suddenly pounded in her chest, fluttering nervously as if even the thought of losing a minute more with this one would be a great disappointment.
As she entered into her and Moll’s apartment via the front hall entrance, she reminded herself that if things went late, and Stephen came here with her, to use the back patio door that entered directly into her bedroom. This would keep any straggling patrons from distracting them, and would avoid a chance encounter with her ex- Richard who would be at the event.
Pushing open the door, she noticed a courier envelope leaned against the front of it and falling into the doorway. She absently picked it up and read the address label that announced it was hers. Nothing too important, she thought and placed it on the wrap around kitchen to living room breakfast bar top. It was in good company, as she hadn’t read their mail in two weeks since going on the outs with Richard and ending their stifling silence with a severe finality.
Richard wanted children, she did not. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back when he wanted them so badly he asked to adopt without her, and before their now several years of a procrastinated wedding. The proposal had been a weak one, happening after his father had died suddenly. The weekend following the will reading he had proposed, she was sure out of terms of the inheritance. Rich’s father had been just what his son’s name spelled in short, wealthy.
All of the plans for the wedding had been conveniently delayed when they reached the engagement length the trust had termed allowing Richard to get at his father’s money. He was now truly Richie - Rich and with the money had come late nights out at new galleries, unanswered phone calls and suspicious behavior that kept Miranda from accepting his fake offers for them to move in together.
A few weeks back she had decided that if everything was going to be on his terms, she would not go through with it. When she told him, he didn’t even shed a tear, or beg off at all for her to stay. Instead he offered her ten thousand dollars to pretend they were still together on paper, as he got a Christmas bonus this way. She had told him he could get that for his damned orphan brat and not to call her anymore.
What a waste of the last five years of her twenties. If she was going to make any major moves with anyone in this lifetime it was not going to be out of the need for money, or security. It was going to be all for love.
Chapter Three
The time was six - forty five and Miranda was heated up about the night ahead. She was wearing a classic but elegant body fitting “little black dress” that hugged her curves the way she wanted, so she could have an excuse to brush them up against her date. Her nails were done, her scent was light but classy and her hair was nearly finished. Out of the front window over the outside patio to the cafe she heard the loud murmur of the crowd mingling to the dim background of the band’s D.J. piping the mellow gallery music they had asked for through the P.A. system.
She thought she heard Rich, but shrugged it off. She had texted Stephen to come around the back with his car and that she would meet him in the driveway. There had been no response until sharply at six when he had, prompt to his word, exited his meeting.
Suddenly she realized she had no idea how he had gotten her number in the first place. There was only one way she could think of, and that was through Henry and Jojo. The thought of that whole arrangement made her sick to her stomach. If Steve had talked to Henry then obviously there had to have been some mention of what had happened back at the hotel room. There was only one way to find out, and that was to ask and bring about the talk she needed to know anyway. She had to know if this kind of arrangement was acceptable to Stephen, and if not how he could translate that into their business.
All this had to be done without prying into their secrecy. Perhaps this is where the pitfall of this new relationship would fall, business. Certainly corporate confidentiality wouldn’t be compromised over idle chat, she dimly wondered.
Headlights appeared rounding the curve leading up to the back of the cafe through the adjacent alleyway and she knew this was it. It was showtime on the Miranda drama, and time enough for one night of romance she hoped. As she stepped out into the cool spring air, a slight breeze captured the lock of bangs she had left from her french braided hair, and she looked out over the deck to his car below.
He was standing there in the driveway lights in a fresh collared shirt with no tie, a new blazer and some of the most designer jeans she could ever remember on such a body. He grinned up at her in this infectious easy going manner that spelled it out for her.
“You look beautiful!” he remarked up at her, taking away any of her doubts that this was a magnificent meeting.
She descended the second floor wooden staircase towards him, and said “Thank you!”
She couldn’t help but grin back, I mean that smile was beaming ten times brighter than his Beemer.
As she moved forward off of the final stair, he moved forward and towards her in a way that made her very aware of the movement of her slip on her legs. Like he was magnetizing the whole getup from ten feet away. As he came directly in front of her, he slid his hand gently around her waist and then he did the most unexpected thing. He kissed her!
As his lips touched hers, she felt suddenly like a schoolgirl playing hookie at her boyfriends parents house so they could make out. This was all new, and wow could this man kiss.
He rounded out the kiss and leaned back, grinning up at the night sky with this look of awe and satisfaction and said, “Now we don’t have to worry about not kissing on the first date!”
She laughed and leaned into him, and briefly kissed him again. She smiled and looked up at the starry sky with a glance of awe of this day so far. So much had happened compared to her past few months! Stephen smiled back and backed away, taking her hand lightly in a very debonaire fashion, pulling her towards the car.
“Your chariot awaits, my lady.”
He grinned and opened the car door to reveal a single red rose on the passenger seat, and some of that smooth type music you might find on her speakers if it was a light late night cafe session with her regulars. She immediately felt right at home, and thanked him as he helped her by closing the car door. Then he climbed inside of the car and pressed a single button on the dash that showed their destination and got the car driving.
He stood up a seperate screen from the dash which was a whole other installed tablet and showed her the menu online of the Indian restaurant they were going to visit. As they talked of their coming meal, the mood grew further and further from where Miranda felt comfortable asking about Henry and Jojo.
Next Steve brought up the online playbill of the show they would be attending at an outside terrace theater at one of the nearby municipal parks.
“There is a rain date just in case, but it should be alright for tonight.”
As they stared into each others eyes, Miranda felt like she had known him for years, and yet like it was all new. He was sweet, and innocent while handling mature and difficult things with the ease that only comes with experience. Maybe this is what she had needed, someone with experience. Someone to take care of her like she really needed it, instead of someone who could just take care of themselves so she didn’t have to. With this one she was going to want to take care of him all she could just to equal his kindness.
Dinner went well, they shared from a meal designed for two and while the food and atmosphere were good, nothing could top the conversation. Steve was really interested in her business, and listened with open ears while she recounted her days since opening day. Then she got into the part about the looming lack of commission sales hurting her patronage, and the troubles with having high class artists in a mixed bag with college freshmen. She told him of her need for online expansion, funds for obtaining employees for simultaneous operations of the cafe and special remote openings. She told him she wanted a specialty catering company to branch off as well.
To her surprise, Stephen remained at bay about her business issues, offering little but encouragement that her ideas were well thought out and would prove lucrative in the near future. He said little about his own business, but the impression was that he was confident and secure in his own mammoth start - up. She asked him what she could do to get her plans completed at the gallery, and he replied “Stick to your guns. Put a little love in every day and watch it blossom like you.”
After dinner they went to the theater. The park was a swarm of couples, some with families coming out to enjoy a night of live performance acting. The ambience was that of a sophisticated and art influenced date night, so she felt right at home as though this was the place where they could sit close and be at home with each other.
The play was a relationship comedy with a mixed bag of characters and the cast and crew pulled it off well. Before she knew it, the curtain call was done, and the whole thing over. It had all happened much too fast, and she wanted so much more of Stephen this night!
As they walked back through the historical park grounds to his car, she tried desperately to come up with the next step. The only thing she could think of was to take him to the gallery and give him a taste of her life. If Richard was still there it would be amusing to watch his reaction to her giving her full attention to pleasing a worthy man.
“Do you want to come back to my cafe for a little while? I figure that is a natural stopping point for this night from here. I can check on my Molly, and see if the night is running smooth, and you know I live right overhead…”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Just one thing, Stephen. My ex is going to be there trying to attract collectors to his gallery and he may get a bit jealous. Not that I mind, things are so over with that guy. The nerve he has of showing up to these things still! Maybe this will teach him.”
“You should tell him he is not allowed there anymore then. I find the best way to go about these things is just to tell it like it is at times. Tell me, what went wrong with Richard?”
She thought about it, and realized she had not mentioned her exes name. How did he know?
“How did you know his name?”
“When I briefed Henry about my meeting he filled me in on some things.”
That socked in the gut followed by butterflies in the stomach uneasiness about finding Henry in her room returned and she almost panicked. She had ro know how he felt about this wedding!
“How do you do it, how do you deal with a man like Henry without agreeing with his lifestyle?”
“My dear, with Henry it is like “old hat”. We were in college together and he was this way. When we started our business it was assumed that we would grow and change with it. Henry changed in a business sense, but never personal. I just look at him like the guy I always knew, and stay out of his personal decisions.”
Steve adjusted his collar and reached inside of his shirt. He pulled up a chain slowly reeling it up from where it had rested on his chest, and revealed a locket.
It was silver, with pearl inlay engraved with the initials “C.D.” on the outside. He held it up and tapped on the insignia with his finger.
“Stands for Carpe Diem, meaning seize the day.”
He pried open the latch and exposed the inner contents to be two pictures. It was of a woman and child, both fairly young looking.
“This is my sister Chelsea, and her daughter Mary. Chelsea got pregnant when I was in High School and our family didn’t accept it. They went missing around the time I graduated college.”
Stephen’s face went weary, and his eyes took on a glassy look as if he was far away in a haze he couldn’t shake.
“I will always regret passing judgement on someone I loved so much and missing out on the time we could have had. All I needed to do was accept her personal decisions as her business so long as they didn’t hurt me.”
A single tear fell from his eye, and lost in the moment, Miranda wiped it from his cheek caringly.
“Instead I wear this locket as a reminder of what fate stays frozen in when you let it slip away.”
Miranda’s eyes welled up with tears of her own. Too much like her own Molly to not identify with all of this. She wished she could answer Steve’s questions, heal his hurt.
“You never stop looking for love that disappears without an explanation, do you? I am sorry Steve.”
“I think we are here, where should I park?”
They were passing onto the street entrance side of the cafe and Miranda sighed at the sight of the mingling patio crowd outside.
“Let’s park in the back where you picked me up.”
While stopped at the traffic light, Stephen switched to manual driving and drove them around to the back entrance.
The car came to a halt, and he had barely out it in park when from around the side of the corner lot cafe came Richard. He was staggeringly drunk, and clutching an open bottle of wine in an angry grip in his right hand. He swayed at the sight of the car, and squinted his glinted eyes to try and peer into the tinted facade of the BMW’s concealed interior, but he couldn’t see in.
He came to a halt at the corner of the building, maybe twenty feet short of the car and the entrance to Molly and Miranda’s. His eyes went wide and he walked over to the car with a fast stride. Walking over to the driver side door, he started talking to them without even knowing who it was.
“Have you seen Miranda?” he shouted openy at the car.
He shifted in the breeze, almost falling and came right up to the window.
“Hey, I know you are in there!” he knocked on the window.
From inside of the car's safe and warm concealment, Miranda felt like there was a knot in her chest.
“Oh, God Steve. I am sorry.”
“Not your fault. So this is Richard, huh?”
He moved to put his hand on the door latch, and she reached across to put her hand on his.
“It’s ok, he’s just drunk.” Stephen surmised.
“But I don’t want to go out there,” Miranda half amused steered from embarrassment, “I’m afraid it will encourage him.”
“Its ok, I’ve got this.”
His hand slipped from her grasp as he opened the car door and stepped out into the night. He walked forward a few steps and greeted Richard almost like an old friend would do.
“Richard, I am Stephen. Listen Miranda and I are taking care of some unfinished business, but I assure you we will be in shortly. I wouldn’t want to miss her crowd.”
“Aren’t you Henry’s partner? I don’t know what you are doing with my Miranda, but you’ve got another thing coming if you…”
“I have no such thing coming and I suggest you move on out of here before you disturb Miranda. She has no problem with you, except to be left alone. Which makes it my problem, if you see what I mean.”
Richard seemed to wince, then he cocked his right arm at an angle and took a wild swing with the bottle towards his mouth, narrowly missing Stephen’s face.
That was all Richard had to do. Stephen saw the opportunity and with a swift move of his opposite arm, and carried the weight of Richard’s arm further around in an arc and turned him towards the entrance, throwing him off balance and he fell into the dirt and gravel under him. He then did the most unexpected of things. He helped him up.
“Here, Richard, take my card.”
He pulled a slim case out of his breast pocket and produced a heavy weight plastic business card from it’s insides and shoved it at Richard.
“If you play your cards right, we could maybe talk of using some of your pieces as both design work and wall pieces for our new product line.”
This was wild. He had put him in his place, out gunned him, and soothed him all in one fell swoop of the playing cards. Having appealed to Richards deepest love, money, the encounter was now over and the intoxicated heir mumbled to himself and, nodding groggily, made his way back to the front of the building.
Miranda had enough of this waiting game. She took a deep breath and climbed out of the car before Stephen coud return.
Steve took a long look at her, and with a knowing nod of consolement approached.
“Is this really our scene?” he asked somberly to her awaiting gaze.
“Do you want to come upstairs?” she asked, almost having to catch her breath on actually asking.
“I do.”
The moment they stepped inside, it was as if the world went away and it was only them.
She took his hand, feeling it’s abated coolness and pulled him towards her bedroom. She started to speak, but he put his finger to her lips and when he removed it, replaced it with his own. His mouth was soft but resilient, his kisses harder and softer in a physical conversation with her whole being.
He moved his hands over her dress, feeling her hips, her back and then her skirtline. He shifted his weight and picked her up by her waist, drawing her in to him where she could feel he was firm, and laid her down on the down comforter. The coolness of the bed was offset by the heat between them, and gave her sensual chills up and down her spine.
He moved over her upper torso with his mouth, kissing every inch of her chest, and then her each of her breasts. She arched her back in pleasure, a moan escaping her lips “Oh, Stephen…”
He reacted by pulling up her skirt, running his hand over the strings of her panties, moving inward toward where she was growing hot for him. Then it was a frantic tussle of passionate frenzy to remove all of their clothing all at once.
The lovemaking was as long as it was eventful, and the end of it seemed to promise that it was not over.
As they lay in bed afterward absorbing their mingled chemistry, he spoke in a manner she almost couldn’t help but accept.
“I think I love you.” he murmured on the edge of sleep.
“You think?” she asked back.
He just smiled and kissed her back, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.
Chapter Four
Miranda’s phone was ringing the next thing she knew. She glanced at it’s dark screen to see who was calling and saw that Molly was calling from the third floor. She looked around for Stephen, but he was not there. Crutching the phone with her jaw, she swiped it to answer while peering out of the bedroom blinds to his parking spot the night before. There waiting for her was her old classic Saab as if she had dreamed up all of yesterday, and it had never left.
“It is six am what do you want?” Miranda answered in a playful impatience.
“I want the gory details, girlfriend! Was he good,” Molly mocked back at her “Is Aunt Mimi in love?”
“Are you upstairs? Why don’t you come down and find out?”
“I saw your man leave at five am and your car was delivered ten minutes ago by two casino valet’s. How do you get that kind of swag, huh?”
“You were spying on me?” Miranda groggily
replied to the barrage of information.
“You can’t get this good of reality drama anywhere else but my bestie!”
“Molly, meet me down here in the kitchen in ten, this bestie is still smelling of sexy…”
“You got it!” Molly giggled back.
Miranda made her way to the master bedroom shower, and on the way met with another surprise. In the bathroom, hanging on the cabinet was Stephen’s shirt from the night before with the rose threaded through the top button hole. Noticeably stuffed in the pocket was a note written on a legal pad to her.
It read:
Miranda,
Sorry I had to be at an international conference call in the boardroom at six. Wished so much to be here for our first morning. Took the liberty of having your car delivered here at 6 am from the resort, one of the council members is also a member at my antique car club. Your car is outside and waiting. The keys are in the tree pot on your back deck. Will you be at the wedding? Carpe Diem.
Love,
Steve
She showered quickly, feeling almost as if her body was primed to be consumed by this man all over again. She couldn’t help but think that this was fate, easing her mind about explaining to her parents that she would not be visiting to scout homes for them in the Keys.
Here was a man of substance, a man she could stand by and behind at the same time without feeling she needed to support his financial status, or his valor in the face of life on life’s terms. What was that proverbial saying “This too shall pass?” God knows what today would hold. She had better brace for the ride. A wedding of sin, a meeting of wealth and romance stuck in the annals of the end of a stagnant stall out relationship and a reception that may prove to be timeless.
Her dress and overnight luggage was already at the hotel. She had stowed it in the bathroom before going down to the resort’s bar to have a coffee. Henry and his “lover” must not have checked the bathroom, and it was when she returned that she had found them there.
All she needed to bring was her girlie stuff, makeup, eyeliner, lip-liner, lipstick and all of that.
“We are here lovergirl!” she heard Lizzy and Molly down the hallway in the kitchen.
“Be right there!”
She finished pulling on her yoga pants, and threw on Steve’s shirt for a top, just to shamelessly brag.
As she exited the bedroom and made her way to the kitchen, she thought it best not to mention the incident with Richard. He and Molly had become fast friends with the notion of him having a child on the way for Elizabeth to play with and there was no need to start drama at this hour.
“Hi Lizzy, hey Momma what are you doing up at this hour? You know you are going to have to go to school next year at this time, you should get good sleep while you still can lil’ momma!”
“Hi Aunt Mimi, Mom said I could have some of your sugar oats for breakfast! And a donut!” Lizzy chimed back at her like the little songbird that she was.
“A donut! Oh you go girl!”
Lizzy giggled and Molly turned around from the countertop of the kitchen towards the breakfast bar and served Miranda a steaming cup of coffee. Waiting on the counter were the leftover halves of flavored cream from downstairs at the barista bar. Hazelnut was her poison, and the coffee Hawaiian nut.
“Thank you! So what do you know? Mimi found me a man!”
“I only hope it wasn’t the red fish blue fish kind. You know Rich got soused last night and tried to fire an investor?”
“One of our clients?” Miranda spun back, half stunned.
“He wouldn’t say, only that he hoped he would not be back.”
“We need to turn the BYOB sign into a “bring your own brains” plaque just to honor him,” Miranda lit up.
“Miranda, if he keeps it up we won’t need the liquor license for the wine cellar, just a reasonable excuse to be in his company.” Molly sarcastically observed.
For the next few minutes, Miranda gave Molly the PG13 version of the night, including the first kiss, the dinner, and the play. She then narrowly avoided spilling the beans about Rich, and concluded with showing off her new shirt.
“What time is the wedding at?” Molly asked innocently.
“Eleven o’clock ceremony moving to free play in the casino while the bridal party takes photos at the country club. Two o’clock open bar with hors devours then moving to a four o’clock short autobiographical film on the couple on the big screen over the stage in the concert hall. Then dinner at five sharp followed by an open bar and dancing to a live eleven piece band in the ballroom until the bar closes. I think I got it right.”
“Makes for a hell of a second date their young ‘un!”
“Mommy is Aunt Mimi going to be at my school the first day? Because I think she tells good time!” Lizzy laughed towards them.
“I think she is going to have a good time!” Molly filled her in lovingly.
“When are you going to break the news to Richard?” Molly then asked almost angrily.
“I have a feeling he already knows.”
They stayed around the table for another half an hour, bantering with little Lizzy and discussing stock and inventory issues, scheduling tasks and invoice due dates and the possibility of taking on full time employees. There was another possibility at hand as well. The next door neighbor to the west was filing for bankruptcy and looking to relocate his pizza shop to a new location. Business was short on funds as the walk in clients he mostly got were from their crowd leaving when it was so late that his business was only delivering. And his delivery driver, also his brother - in - law had gotten a D.U.I. on the job and he was going to have to either close the delivery end of things, or fire his brother - in - law risking a divorce.
The nerve of some people. Very few people were of the understanding that the life work of owning a business was the task of constantly re-inventing operations while re-investing most of the money for your beloved customers. Seventy - five percent of new restaurants closed their doors within the first year after opening, and they were just happy to still be afloat.
And as for having a lot of money, it was all the same they had agreed a long time ago. It would be nice, but preferably the same company with just nicer things.
Molly reached for the mail stack on the counter, and gathered the foot high stack into a nearby manila file folder lying next to the toaster oven. She then dusted off an old leather file case that had been hidden lying on the floor of the kitchen where she stood across from Miranda and Lizzy.
“I will get to all of these this afternoon I suppose while you are at the party at the royal court. I will let you know what we haven’t missed. No news is good news ninety nine point nine percent of the time you know?” Molly dismally noted in Miranda’s direction.
She then moved towards the side door that led to a tenant accessible hallway and staircase to the street and the front door of the cafe.
“Keep an eye on Lizzy for me for a minute, I have to go let the clean up lady in…”
As Miranda stood watching the minutes go by in the company of her thoughts and little Elizabeth, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was some kind of good karma saved up from her days of unjust lack - luster subsistence. She was getting a real taste of what she had almost always feared might have an adverse effect on her, a level of personal satisfaction brought on by circumstantial success.
She wondered how she and Molly’s efforts at the cafe, and in the gallery exhibitions there too, how they compared to the first starts of Henry and Steve’s startup.
She decided to go into the living room and surf the web on the corner desk station in its outer area at the laptop Rich had bought for her a year ago on her birthday. He had bought himself a gaming computer, and this was the free gift for what he had invested in. He even had the gall to tell her about all of this while drunk at her birthday dinner. And the dinner wasn’t even her taste. He had arranged it at a Sushi club he frequented because they hung his art on the walls. As if he even needed the money that badly. Certainly not so badly that he should forego his fiancee’s distaste for Japanese food. At least the raw stuff anyway.
She needed to search online for a few things here. First off, basic background on Stephen. She browsed through the usual and found nothing out of the ordinary except for one thing. There was a picture of him with a woman, and it appeared, she found out after a little digging with an image search, it was the billionaire heiress he had dated before. The photo was at a spring fling concert from this year! Was their fling not over, overturning her strange new desire for this not to end?
Molly returned and the party broke up, agreeing to “be good” and return with “insanely successful” profit. They all laughed, and Miranda made her way to prepare to head to the resort for the wedding.
As she made her way ro her car, she reveled in the thrill of having her valet service deliver miles from the resort. She wondered what it must have cost Stephen to pull that whole caper off. This was going to be an interesting day to say the least, she thought. Sitting in front of the dash in her car, she suddenly wondered if her hotel room had been cleaned and appalled that maybe it was still occupied. This was unreal, in the instant she found new love her eyes were being opened to a corrupt one.
Chapter Five
The drive to the casino went without incident, as she turned on her “Jammy Tunes” mix of mellow mixed mood favorites assembled on her phone. Until she had climbed in Steve’s car she had felt up to date with technology. Now she could not believe his car was a self - driving piece of high tech wizardry.
When she arrived at the casino, she went straight to the hotel lobby, skipping the casino floor through the back entrance by the country club. The wedding ceremony was to be held on the palladium garden veranda, which she could see down the drive on the way in the doors as she walked from the valet station.
It was beautiful! Almost a miniature horticultural center to begin with it was now filled out with dozens of bouquets, an fifteen foot ice sculpture of an angel and a white trellis at the end woven with a transplanted red rose bush, it’s vines making up a stunning arrangement. White folding chairs, four hundred of them lined rows leading back from where the bridal party would stand with a vanilla carpet runner leinig the isle to matrimony.
As she approached the desk, the hotel clerk chimed in right away, “Miss Miranda, we were waiting for you!”
“Yes?” she replied timidly.
“Your room has been upgraded to a suite on the eleventh floor, and your baggage from your old room taken there. The maid did an extremely thorough sweep of the old room to be sure nothing of yours was left behind. If anything is missing we will put our executive team on it and at the very least replace it and compensate you. We apologize for the mixup and want you to know you are our V.I.P. so if you need anything just ask.”
Good lord! She could get used to this!
“Here is your key, and also this envelope from your friend Stephen?”
“Yes thank you!” she eagerly accepted the key and the envelope and turned to go.
As the elevator took her to the fourth floor she read her note for Steve. It was short, and sweet. It read:
Miranda,
I think you are a very special woman and I want you to be comfortable. For this reason, I booked the adjoining suite to yours on the eleventh floor. Included here is a key to my room, which can be accessed through your suite. See you soon !
-Steve
The suite was incredible, and all of her bags were waiting on the bed when she came through the foyer entrance. There was a living room, a dining room, a huge bedroom, and a hot tub in the bathroom! It was like a luxury apartment! Right then she decided she needed to do the princess preparation in deluxe style again, this time to meet her match and make him fall further head over heels.
Then there was a knock at the door. She went to the door and threw it open and there he was!
He was dressed in a custom fit tuxedo with solid gold cufflinks and doused in an intoxicating fragrance that made her head swim from the moment they came in contact. He looked into her eyes and pulled her toward him firmly, almost immediately and said “I missed you.”
They then kissed a log and very deep kiss, making her head swim even more. He then said “I am falling for you Miranda, and it is all your fault.”
“I love you too, Stephen.” she answered in a light almost whispered voice in his ear, head nestled in the nape of his neck.
Their bodies seemed to just fit each other, and they stayed this way in the doorway like a slow dance for what seemed like a short eternity. Then he came in and she followed him to the bedroom.
They moved almost in slow motion, timing each touch to each others senses, dancing and exploring each other in what seemed a lucid dream. At the climax of it all, they came together in a moment binding them in their time together in a way no one could just imagine.
Lying in the bed next to her, his naked body entwined with her, she spoke up.
“Can we be exclusive, Stephen because I am falling way too fast for this to end in some wicked way.”
“We can if you stay that way,” he half joked “if that’s fair?”
“As fair as the day is long,” she returned.
Shortly after, Stephen left into his own suite and Miranda readied herself for the ceremony and reception. The day was starting off the way she had hoped, though had never dreamed.
The ceremony went as planned, and thankfully there was no sign of Henry’s mistress from the day before. Stephen stayed by her side in the pre - assembly and immediately afterward.
During the bridal party pictures he helped direct the group into places in what seemed a natural talent for directing things. Just prior to the end of the photo shoot, he walked up to the photographer and had a discreet chat with him. He then came over to her and told her they were getting their own pictures together, and as they posed it felt like they were always meant to remember this beginning.
Just before the open bar pre - reception Stephen announced to her that he had to leave for a little while. The next few hours seemed to drag on forever as she tried to make idle chat with various people within the crowd. She looked for him almost every five minutes, but there was no sign.
The party moved to the immense theater to watch the couples autobiographical movie short, and there was still no sign. From start to finish she kept expecting him to just appear, but he never did.
Then finally, near the end of the reception dinner, he showed up. He walked across the ballroom and whispered something in Henry’s ear and then glanced up at her and smiled. They were seated at opposite ends of the long bridal party table, so she could not tell what he was chatting about while she picked at her dinner.
The toasts led to the dancing, and there was still this distance between them. Her heart began to sink and she grew numb, wondering if he was ever going to have time for her. Maybe this was all just a mistake?
Then she saw him stepping up onto the stage and talking to the band leader between songs. He approached the microphone and took it firmly in his hand, held it up to his face and spoke.
“Not too long ago, this was just a wedding of my two very closest friends. As of now, I see it to be a meeting of kindred spirits, coming together to be bound in history.”
He cleared his throat and turned her direction.
“Yesterday I thought that making time count was done through the people we meet. Now I see more clearly it is done by keeping them close as long as we can. Forever. Henry and Joyce Joan, you have brought love to your wedding, and we hope to bring life to you two.”
He produced an envelope from his inner jacket pocket and steadily opened it.
“In a gesture done by the art of giving, I have secured a deal to furnish your new home together this spring with timeless works just as you are. I have purchased the entire gallery of art and sculpture from The Finer Things Cafe and Gallery to decorate your home with.”
The entire wedding of four hundred applauded and Miranda went numb with excitement. That was her gallery! They had gotten their investment with a huge boost for all of her artists, and it would not have to be paid back! This was wild!
He continued, “I hope the art will furnish you with the sincerity you have brought to our continuing sharing. I know the curator very well, though not as well as we will get to know her excellent tastes in the future. I propose this toast to the art of staying in love! Cheers!”
The whole crowd responded, “Cheers!” and drank from their crystal champagne glasses.
Miranda rose from the table after the music began again, and walked over to meet Stephen. He saw her coming, and turned opening his arms immediately to embrace her.
“I hope we have this day to remember it was the day we made your work in our lives a forever thing too!” he said sweetly and softly into her ear.
Then he went on to explain.
“The art will be placed in their home by an agency I know of that does interior design work using local artists as their primary specialty. The work will be compensated for by a contract to aid the arts federally funded through the college, and a private donor who wishes to remain anonymous. The money is yours to keep, all I ask is this…”
“What?” she openly asked in awe.
He then did the most unexpected and mind blowing thing she could have ever imagined. He drew a jewelers box from his left jacket pocket and dropped to one knee.
“Miranda. I know we have only just met. But I feel more deeply for you than I can imagine I would ever find in another. Take this ring as a promise from me to follow your lead. I know this is way too soon, but I can’t help myself. Will you marry me?”
Her eyes welled up with tears, and she felt shaky and wildly pressed yet open and in love at all once.
He opened the ring box, and there was a princess cut jewel set in an entwining rose vine shaped gold band. And it was no small stone either!
“Stephen. I will. I will marry you!”
He kissed her and pulled the ring from the box and placed it on her finger.
“On one condition, Stephen. I want a pre - nuptual. I think you just made me rich enough!”
He laughed and with a soft sincere manner said, “Only if you promise. Promise me we will never need it.”
This was the most impulsive move she had ever made, and she had a feeling for Stephen too.
For the next dance, it was a slow dance and as the music faded the doubts and their bodies swayed in motion, Miranda felt like she was in some sort of fairy - tale come to life, in her own life! Whatever was she going to tell Molly? She almost couldn’t wait to tell her, but she should spend time with Stephen right now right?
“I know, you probably need to tell your people right now, don’t you?” he said, reading her mind.
“That would be the next best thing for me.” she admitted.
“So go and do that and I will wait for your call to meet back here. I assume we can be together tonight?” he proposed.
“You assume correct!” she pipped in happily.
“Then it is done. Go and get your magic news on, miss curator. We’ve got time on our side!”
Chapter Six
Miranda exited the resort through the valet entrance and while waiting on her car, immediately called Molly. The call went through, and Molly picked up with the background noise of the swing band show at the cafe in the background.
“Molly I have a surprise! You are never going to believe this!”
“I can hardly hear you! You what?” Molly answered.
“Moll’s I have two huge surprises,” she yelled impatiently “I am on my way there right now! Break out a bottle from our reserves, the most expensive one! I will be right there!”
“Okay see you soon!” Molly yelled back and they hung up.
The valet pulled up with her car and she climbed in. The gas gauge was at near empty, she was going to have to get gas.
She stared at the ring on her finger poised on the steering wheel the whole ride to the nearby gas station in disbelief. The cost of this ring was more than she could fathom. And she and Molly were set for the next few years while the planning and construction of their expansion went through. They now had enough for the wine cellar, the reception room, to revisit all of the artists and pay full commissions and reap their own profit from it!
She pulled into the gas station and got out of the car. Using her nearly maxed out credit card, she filled the tank and daydreamed of what new cars she would get. Elizabeth could go to that private alternative school Molly wanted for her too. This was all so much, so fast, so incredible!
A car pulled into the station she recognized. She almost couldn’t believe her eyes. It was Richard, obviously drunk with some girl he had obviously met at a nearby club in the car. He stepped out and she tried to hide behind the pump, but he recognized the front of her car from across the station. She was going to have to pick a new regular fill - up spot.
He walked over in a kind of sporty intoxicated stagger and yelled out “Well if it isn’t the tramp town tell all!”
She looked at him with daggers in her eyes. She wasn’t going to let anything ruin her moment in time. She replaced the pump nozzle and he moved more quickly towards her.
She held up her left hand, and gloated.
“You call this the work of a tramp? The only kind of artist you are is a con - artist.” she sharply spat at him.
She started to move towards her drivers side door to getin, but he stepped in front and grabbed at her hand.
“Well I will be damned. You always were too easy.”
“Go away Stephen. It is over for good, and I have long but moved on! Let go of my hand!” she slapped at his wrist with her right hand and caught it trying to pull the ring off.
“Help, help!” she screamed and immediately the gas station clerk ran from across the lot to her aide.
“Let go of her! Get away!”
Richard let go and swollen faced, he moved away, eyes darting between the attendant and her.
“We will see who got the best of who!” he rattled off incoherently.
“Did he hurt you ma'am?” the clerk asked.
“I am ok.” she reassured him as he helped her into her car.
“Is he drunk?” the clerk asked.
“I think so, “ she fired back, “call the cops.”
“I will do, ma’am but in the meantime maybe you should go.”
She agreed, started the car and pulled out of the station and onto the street. She saw in her rear view mirror the attendant taking Richard’s car make, model, and license plate and getting on his phone. She drove away as the light at the corner turned green.
When she arrived at the cafe, the place was like some sort of parody. The swing band was loud, very loud in fact making it sound like a big party but the cafe was empty but for one sitting patron. It was just as well, she would have Molly’s undivided attention.
She covered her left hand with her other as she opened and walked in the front door, the door bells announcing her arrival drowned out by the music of the band onstage.
Molly saw her and moved towards her and she waved her towards the back room to talk, ring finger behind her back.
They stepped into the office and closed the door, just as the music stopped and the band announced a set break, muffled behind the door.
“Where is little bits?” she asked Molly.
“She is with my cousin upstairs. So what is the surprise mystery girl.
“You are never going to believe this!” she started.
She gave her the good news first, that the investors had been found, and the money was theirs. Molly sat down, and openly cried.
Then she gave her the for better or for worse news. She held up her hand and showed her the ring.
“Girlfriend, are you crazy?”
“Crazy in love, “ she answered.
“Then you go. Maybe Chad can take the hint now and make some moves. It only took two days for you!”
“Maybe it is spontaneous, but it is definitely love!”
“Where’s that bottle of wine?”
They broke open a bottle of twenty year pinot grigio from Napa and savored the moment together.
“What are we going to do with the money?”
“Spend it!” Miranda laughed.
Molly busted up laughing in the sheer fun of it all.
“I think I can handle that!”
The band returned, and they decided to go visit Lizzy upstairs, see how things were going. When they got there Elizabeth and her sitter were watching cartoons on the smart television on her favorite channel.
“Hey little bits, Aunt Mimi just made us rich!” Molly announced to her daughter.
“Yay! Now we can have donuts every morning!” Lizzy spouted back.
“Yes, and guess what else?” she drew her daughter near with a hug.
“What momma?”
“I can take you to Disneyworld!”
Lizzy jumped up and down and squealed her delight.
“Yay momma, I can see Goofy!”
“Yes you can, princess and Minnie too!”
Miranda watched, beaming with a sense of fulfillment that seemed so surreal. She walked into the kitchen and saw more mail on the table. There was a package with her name on it from the physicians service she used to get her lab results from her doctors visits for her insurance records. Miranda had been having work done to determine her pre - disposition for heart problems after an incident the previous summer. She had genetic tests done, and her primary care physician had just ordered some routine blood work.
Miranda opened the envelope and started through the typed out results and summary descriptions in the back pages. Then she flipped back to the front page seeing nothing that jumped out at her. She began to read the opening of the letter and what she saw made her heart want to stop.
Ms. Miranda Jones,
First off let me congratulate you. If you do not know already from our office contacting you by phone, your lab results were conclusive in several respects. You have tested positive for the indicators that show you are pregnant…
“Oh my God!” she fell to the floor, pale and out of breath in total shock.
“What’s the matter Mimi?” Lizzy asked from the living room.
“Oh my God!” she repeated unable to catch her breath.
“What’s up girlfriend?” Molly came in smiling at her.
Molly saw her face and immediately knew there was trouble.
“Molly, I am pregnant!” she gasped, winded and torn up by a torrent of thoughts racing all at once.
“You are what?!” Molly shot back, trying to remain calm and looking very sincere.
“I am pregnant, oh God how could this be?!”
Miranda began to cry, then sob, and Molly hugged her for what seemed near half an hour of tears and statements of disbelief.
“Oh God, I have to meet Stephen now!” Miranda moaned exhaustedly looking at her phone, “and what am I going to tell Richard?”
“Are you going to keep it?
“Oh Moll’s what do I do?” she sobbed.
“You do what’s right for you, Miranda. It will be ok.” she hugged her and cradled her, rocking her back and forth.
Miranda stood up and went to the bathroom to compose herself.
A few short minutes later she returned looking worried, but better.
“You know Molly, Stephen told me about his sister’s unwanted pregnancy and her disappearance and his feelings of loss over their failure to accept her. She disappeared and now he wants her back. Seize the day, he said. I guess I just tell it like that.”
“Seize the day, Aunt Mimi!”
“Little bits you are too cute! I think I am going to grow you a playmate!”
“Grow me a playmate? How are you going to do that Aunt Mimi?”
“In my tummy little one. You will see!”
“So you are going to keep the baby?” Molly asked.
“Yes, and now I have to go and tell Stephen.”
She hugged Molly briefly and said her goodbyes. Molly had one last thing to say as she went out the door, “Just remember that you have the resources to do this with all of our help always. We love you! Drive careful.”
“We love you Aunt Mimi!”
“Love you two too! I will.”
She stepped out of the door, went down the stairs and returned to her car unaware of how she was going to explain this and her choice to Stephen. Things were moving so fast, all of this, everything was different now! But she loved him. Would he feel the same thing about being the stepfather of the child she carried?
She drove back to the resort in silence, unable to choose a mood in her predicament. She thought of a dozen ways to tell him, but did not know which would come out when it came time. She couldn’t hide it from him, even if she wanted to.
She pulled up to the valet parking and pulled out her phone as the worker drove off in her car. Dialing Stephen’s number, she breathlessly awaited for him to answer. The call went to voicemail, but immediately a text came through:
Meet me at the room. I have to see you, alone. My love, Stephen.
Tears welled up in her eyes and she started for the elevator. This was going to be one of those moments that defined her life to come. She had no idea what to say, or how he would react.
She walked out of the elevator on the eleventh floor, down the carpeted hall and to the door. Before she could open it, he pulled it open and appeared.
“Hi Stephen.”
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