All For One°
Chapter One: Big News
“Hi Stephen.”
Miranda was standing in front of the man she had just recently been swept off of her feet by, immediately confessing her love and promising to marry. The problem was that it had all happened so fast, and she had only very recently left her last relationship a few weeks prior.
Then it had come in the mail tonight, bloodwork she had done from her lab through a Doctor treating her possible heart condition. The letter had read that she had tested as being pregnant, and it was not by Stephen, this had to be her exes, Richard.
As she looked into his large brown eyes, she saw the same man she had so instantly trusted and respected for his inner strength and integrity. She didn’t know what to say, but she had to tell him the truth.
“Stephen, I…” she began, stuttering.
“Miranda, you look upset, what is it?” he asked, being attentive of her careful mood.
“I don’t know how to tell you this, or even what you are going to say but I just got some news that is going to be a real issue, and if you don’t want this to move forward well,” she paused and began to cry, “Stephen, I am pregnant!”
“You are what? Already?”
“Honey,” she sobbed, “it’s not yours!”
“Oh my, Miranda…” he brought her into his warm arms, gently hugging her and cradling her head with his shoulder.
“If I ever thought in a million years that this would happen I would have never gotten you involved, but I, I don’t know. It’s Richard’s, he’s the father.”
“How did you find out? How do you know?”
She explained to him about the letter, the lab results and of her decision to keep the child. As he sat with her at the foot of the bed, he continued looking at her with a look of almost complete disbelief. Miranda was not at all getting the feeling that he wanted to be sitting here, discussing this.
“Stephen, I think I am going to keep it.”
“I suppose so, huh. That would be you, finding fate in a more Toaist fashion.”
“In a what?”
“It means you go with what life hands you, you grow gracefully through life’s challenges. I learned it reading Winnie the Pooh.”
This made her laugh and he went on to tell her about his fondness of children and that he had always hoped to have one.
Reading him openly she replied, “Just not like this?”
He agreed, and a silent awkwardness filled the air that strained the barriers between the two, trying desperately to knock them out of sync.
“Stephen, I know I am in love with you. I know I have a choice to make, but for me it is no choice. I want both of you.” Miranda began.
“Me and Richard?” Stephen choked out.
“No, you and this pregnancy.”
Just then his phone rang, and he excused himself to the next room. He talked in hushed tones, and Miranda got the feeling he did not want to be overheard. Every once in a while he glanced her direction and when he did, it was a hurt and heartsick look. As the conversation dragged on, she began to feel numb, and this aching pang of loss in her chest.
She realized she was just sitting there waiting for him, and fidgeted with her phone. No messages there for her were waiting.
Stephen returned from the other room, looking agitated.
“One of my clients returned early from a conference in Japan where they designed the prototype for one of our newest product lines. Henry has asked me to meet him at the airport to discuss extending our bid on the patent. He really left me no choice, I am sorry.”
“So you’re leaving?”
“I think I have no choice in this one. Miranda, I think a lot of things right now, but I want time to sort it out and give you my full attention. You know I have never been engaged before, and I don’t take this lightly. Can you meet me at six tomorrow night at The Four Seasons. I will reserve us a table on the private balcony there so we can talk.”
“Yes, I can be there.” she said, but in her heart she sobbed in anguish.
“Ok. The suites here are yours for the night. Feel free to use them as you wish I will not be returning tonight.”
He stepped close to her and drew her upward from the bed with his masculine scent breezing off of his chest. He drew her near and wiped her tears, then kissed lightly where their trails had been. He kissed her lips ever so lightly and embraced her with an almost consoling sort of hug, and she began “Stephen, I…” and he placed a single finger to her lips, silencing her gently.
“Shh. Miranda I do love you, know that. Tomorrow, ok?”
“Ok. Tomorrow.”
He then gathered his coat and briefcase, and made his way for the door she had just walked in it seemed only moments earlier. Moments that had led to a conversation that felt like an eternity.
Chapter Two: Positively Negative
Miranda fell back onto the giant king size hotel bed in a wave of exhaustion that overtook her like a tidal wave of emotion threatening to capsize her being. Everything was just happening so fast as if there was no limit to the amount of change life could throw at her at once. It was unsettling that Steve had just left her without comment on all of this and though she hoped for the better, there was no telling what he was thinking.
She believed the blood test work, but if there was a chance, any chance at all it was wrong, maybe she should double test. There were easy home pregnancy tests she could do to determine if it was all wrong. She decided to go out and get a test, and do her own analysis to see if it was not so.
Driving to the local pharmacy she prayed that this whole pregnancy was a mistake, that nothing stood between Stephen just taking her up full time and for life.
At the pharmacy she picked the most expensive test, the one she saw on her phone had the best accuracy reviews when she googled it. Then she decided to drive home instead of the casino, she needed to be around Molly and Elizabeth for all of this. She could use all of the support she could get.
Arriving she went directly upstairs and into the bathroom and locked herself in. She administered the test, and what she saw was the most incredible miracle of her morning. She tested negative! She was not pregnant!
She was going to have to call the Doctor and raise some hell about this. This was sight unseen the stupidest mistake she had ever seen like this. Was there any doubt now in Stephen’s mind that had been put there by all of this? She hoped this would not chase him away and worried for their future.
Just then Molly came through the door.
“Molly! I am not pregnant!”
Molly and she talked about the false test, and about how wrong the whole ordeal had been. Then Mirada told her about the private meeting with Stephen the following night.
“Maybe he was just preoccupied with his work, Mimi.” Molly observed with a hopeful tone of voice.
“Moll’s I don’t know what to think. It is all happening so fast,” she fidgeted with the engagement ring still on her left ring finger, “I can’t help but wonder if this wasn’t a sign.”
“A sign of what, Richard being the right one or something?” Molly teased and stepped back with a joking look of shock spread across her face.
“Not likely, huh?” Miranda shyly returned.
“Look, I’ve got everything handled with the cafe, you try and get some rest, you’ve got to be exhausted!”
Miranda confessed, “Never been more ready to sack out! This has been crazy!”
The two of them exchanged hugs, and as Miranda watched her leave she wondered what she would ever do without that woman.
Chapter Three: Jack and Company
In what seemed almost a blink of an eye, Miranda woke and it was morning.
Molly and Elizabeth were still sleeping off a late night at the cafe, and she had the place to herself while they rested. It was going to be quite a long day wondering if she had thrown Stephen off with all of the pregnancy false test nonsense. She couldn’t help but feel maybe they had jumped in too fast, too much all at once and she hoped that the residual effect would not simply reverse everything.
The way she had been brought up, people started off as friends, then became a couple and a couple of years down the line started thinking about getting married. It made her feel uneasy to think she was engaged to someone she had never seen brush his teeth. Not that he wasn’t the getting hitched type, but he might not be the kind of person who could set aside his own habits and put her in front of everything. Married people were supposed to put each other first no matter what the road of life brought on them.
There were so many unanswered questions, so many things they had never shared with each other, like their childhood stories or whether the other wanted kids. There could be no doubt that he could support her financially, but was he going to have to put his work in the foreground of everything. She had her cafe to worry about though, and the path ahead was going to require even more change and hard work to expand this business than quite possibly ever before.
Miranda went into the kitchen and brewed up a fresh pot of Hawaiian kona nut coffee and made the decision to have breakfast for once. She wasn’t eating for two but she felt like it this day, and she decided to try the fresh bagels from Saturday brunch. While the coffee was brewing she went downstairs to the closed cafe to get that and the cream cheese, lox and onions to compliment. That combined with some fresh scrambled egg whites and some fresh fruit would get the day rolling in style.
The front door of the cafe was closed, and as she approached she saw the store sign had been turned to “closed, call again” with the hours sign next to it, and the events calendar displaying through the window up and coming things going on. MIranda fumbled with the keys for a second, still shaking off the morning haze and inserted the key into the lock. She turned the key, but for some reason the bolt did not catch when the key went around. It was unlocked!
Uneasy, but feeling defensive of her turf, she went inside anyway in an uneasy but heated moment.
“I knew you would turn up early.”
Richard stepped from out of the shadows of the barista bar and into the main dining area, holding one of her paintings.
“I wanted to say I'm sorry for the way things have been,” he started somberly.
He looked like he had been drinking. This was not at all what she wanted to see first thing.
“Richard, I want your key. You have no right to be lurking in my closed cafe, trying to scare the hell out of me. I didn’t even know you had another set.”
“Miranda, please let me explain. When I heard about the buy - out I couldn’t help but feel that maybe that was a sign that things could get better for the two of us. I know I haven’t been perfect, but what if I told you that all of this could be a big break where we could work together with our businesses?”
“Is that what this is about, the money? And where do you get off poking your nose into my business anyway?” she shot back, short on patience for all of this.
“No Miranda. This is an I love you and can make this pay off even more for you.” he stepped close to her and tried to kiss her awkwardly.
She put her hand firmly on his chest and pushed him back. Even the thought of kissing him made her nauseous.
“Rich, it is over between the two of us. Make no mistake, I have moved on.”
“Judging by the ring on your finger, you’ve run away as fast as possible. Who is he?” Richard asked with a stiff and angry tone.
“That is none for you to worry about.”
“Worry about? This guy stole my wife!” he corrected her, very annoyed.
“I am not your wife. Never would have thought you to mistake that what we had was something that could be repaired anymore. You are the one who stopped caring for anything but the money, or passing on your family name years ago. It is over. I am going to have to ask you to hand over your key and leave now please!”
Richard put down the piece he was holding and grabbed her by the wrists and squeezed.
“You listen to me. This piece of business is the largest move I have ever heard of outside of the main circuit of art dealers I work with. You owe me to share what I helped you to make.”
This was the most ridiculous and unnerving notion of all, that he had helped her make? He hadn’t done any work on her business at all. He wouldn’t even schedule her artists for showings at his gallery unless he was promised all of the sales cut entirely. She didn’t owe him a thing!
“I will get what I want, one way or another. You owe me!”
She wrestled free from his violent grip and slapped him, hard.
The sound of her hand hitting his face seemed to echo off of the walls of the dining room and she heard a noise in the back. From out of the shadows of the barista area emerged an embarrassed looking youth. He was holding her painting, the one she had just finished working on, the one that had taken her nearly the course of the entire year to finish and that she had hoped would be the centerpiece of her collection.
“Miranda, this is Jack. He came to help me take from the collection what was rightly mine to have as a severance for all of the work I have done for you if you decided not to make the right decision. And you haven’t.”
For the first time she looked round the walls, and realized there were art pieces missing all over! Richard was not here to reconcile, he was robbing her of her sold collection!
“You son of a bitch! I am calling the cops!”
“Go right ahead. Possession is nine tenths of the law, and we are done here anyway!” he pulled a business card out from his interior jacket pocket.
“I have taken what I am owed. If you have any problem with our split, you can take it up with my lawyer.” he sneered evilly and threw it at her with an absent flick of his wrist.
Miranda panicked and then felt very unsafe.
She ran outside to the safety of the open air and to call for help, and no one was anywhere to be found on the street. Desperately she dialed nine - one - one for help and the operator answered.
Desperate, she reported the theft in progress to the woman as she helplessly watched Richard and his thug climb into his curator cargo van and drive away.
Minutes later, the police pulled up as Molly and a bedraggled Elizabeth filed out of the apartment staircase doorway.
“What the hell is going on?” Molly shouted.
“It’s Richard, he stole from us!”
For the next few minutes, the police questioned Miranda, and then they went inside to take inventory of what was taken. In a frenzy, Miranda searched for her inventory and commissions check sheet in the office to go over what they had started with before all of this.
“Ma’am we are not going to be able to do much but file a report on this,” the one cop explained to her, “this is more of a civil suit.”
This was unbelievable! Robbed of her best chance of making things work out by the man she had trusted her life to for years.
The police left, and Molly and Miranda sat in silence in the dining room for a few minutes, stunned and unable to speak. Then Molly spoke up.
“It’s my fault, Miranda. I am the one who locked up last night.”
“He had a key, Moll’s. He must have made extra’s he didn’t surrender.”
“What are we going to do? Those commissions can’t be covered by us. And how are we going to fill our big buyout order?”
“The only thing I can think of is to hit him where it hurts,” Miranda said openly.
“In the balls?” Molly laughed.
“He doesn’t have any,” Miranda joked back.
“Then where is that?” Molly asked.
“We tell the artists about it. We tell all of them about the deal, and tell them that if they help us pressure him and get it back what they stand to benefit.”
“Brilliant! But is telling all of them smart?” Molly wondered aloud.
“Smarter than killing him,” Miranda answered.
“Let’s do it then. The faster the better.”
Chapter Four: Taking Inventory
The day was a flurry of stock inventory taking, re - appraisal and commissions estimates they undertook with the goal to cost Richard as much as they could. With each missing piece, they contacted the artist and explained the recent sale at maximum value, the amount of commissions they stood to receive and that they were standing to lose not only that but the promised design work promotions the buyout included.
Molly and Miranda cleverly gave all of Richards information including home address, and personal cell number, urging the artists to put as much pressure as possible on him as fast as possible. They then accessed his website and contacted all of his upcoming show opening talent and made them aware of his actions.
Jack and Richard had stolen twenty paintings, and eight sculptures. They had taken the most valuable ones as Rich had a very detailed idea of which in their stock was priced highest. These works had taken nearly a decade for Molly and Miranda to gain trust to hold and display, and all of their price tags were in the thousands, with half a dozen in five figures.
It took nearly the whole day, but by the end of it all they had stirred up a hornets nest of donors all screaming for their lost work.
Miranda had to hand it Richard, he sure knew how to screw up.
The text came through when she was finishing with a client, it was from Stephen.
“Are we still on?” he asked in the brief, direct message.
She considered cancelling, then thought better of it. There was not much more that could be done on a Sunday to alleviate this new crisis, and Molly could hold down the light open mic night crowd for the night. Still she figured she should ask.
“Okay if I still keep my plans?” she asked Molly.
“I wouldn’t want you to have to miss out. You should go, Miranda. He deserves some answers in all of this, and plus you can tell him about what happened here today.”
“I only hope he doesn’t expect me to sign any papers tonight on this deal. I am scared of bringing more snags to the deal so early on. I mean what do you do when you get robbed like this with that kind of money on the line?”
“Mimi, if anyone should know about this kind of thing, it would be someone like him, you know?”
“I guess so. What about Chad? Didn’t his studio get broken into like what, two years ago?”
Chad, Molly’s fiance’, and the father of her four year old, had indeed been robbed at his studio just a little over two years back. The thieves had taken instruments, equipment, computers, hell nearly everything that wasn’t nailed down.
“Yeah, that was brutal. Especially since he was hosting a newly signed label recording for some pretty big wigs and had all of their equipment there too. They even stole all of the masters, and his private guitars collection. It was like twenty five guitars.”
“How much did he ever recover?” Miranda somberly inquired.
“He got most of it due to the fact that because of the label contract with him he had taken out theft insurance mandated to cover this sort of thing. They pulled some strings on the dark web and had a pretty expert private detective and ethical hacker for hire who knew the market and recovered a lot in a big bust not too long after too.” Molly explained in brief detail.
“Wait a minute, what if we hire a detective too? If we have somebody to compile all of the details for us, if he does get away with some of the loot we can have a better case when we file suit.”
Molly promised to arrange contacting this particular detective through Chad, and they discussed the particulars over a short glass of wine to ease their woes.
The morning had stretched into the afternoon, and now it was headed for evening Miranda noticed and realized she needed to be getting ready as the first patrons to the cafe began filing in for the night’s popular open mic night with the local college crowd.
She excused herself from the greeting and setup process now underway on the front stage of the floor of the hundreds capacity dining room now being occupied by nearly a dozen patrons, and went upstairs to prepare for another evening with her date.
If this could be called a date, with the sort of heavy hitting events as of late, this was turning into some kind of illegitimate state of emergency clause perpetuated in her life over the last few weeks. Unbelievable the amount of things that had gone down in the last few weeks.
First her five year relationship had ended with her ex trying to buy her dishonesty to keep his trust fund. Then she had nearly upended the cafe when her parents called for her to leave and move to them in Florida. Almost immediately after all of this she had been made a bridal party member in her friends wedding as what she had seen as a minor social event.
Of course the event had led to her catching the groom cheating in her hotel room, and then learning that the wedding couple lived this way and had for years. In a whirlwind twist she had found herself suddenly falling in love with the best man when she confided in him, and they had gone out on their first date.
One thing led to another and they had slept together, and they had immediately confessed their feelings. The big shocker came at the wedding just the night prior when he had spoken to her at the reception in front of hundreds and made her gallery’s full collection the present of him and his investors for the newlyweds. To top all of that, he then came to her immediately after, dropped to one knee and proposed with a rock the size of Gibraltar! She had said yes, and they had split to share the news.
Then Miranda found out that she may be pregnant.
My God this was like some kind of soap opera spoof of wild synchronicity on her normally busy, but relatively mundane life!
Now she was not pregnant, robbed of her gallery and headed to another thick set of news to bring to dinner with Stephen, as far as she knew, her worried new engagement. What next?
Chapter Five: The Date Night
As Miranda made her way through the half - filled hotel lobby, on her way to meet her date, she couldn’t help but be reminded that she was only three days removed from being single.
Three long, bizarre days filled with all kinds of adventures, some good, some bad.
She approached the reservations desk, and the host saw her and immediately perked up.
“Can I help you Madame?”
“Yes, I have a reservation with Stephen…”
“Ahh yes, Mr. Weston's table on the veranda. I do believe he is waiting for you in the bar. Should I show you to him?”
“That would be great.” she responded and followed his lead towards the bar just off the vast marble hallway leading past the main dining room.
Stephen was there, alone, nursing a small rocks glass and looking very concerned over a document spread onto the counter.
“My lady asked for you at the desk, sir.” the host told Stephen briefly, and he then walked away pocketing a bill off of the stack of cash sitting on the bar next to Stephen’s drink.
“Miranda. Should we have a drink here or…”
“I am not pregnant!” she blurted out as fast she could to get it over with.
“You are not?” he smiled grimly back.
“No, and I am not sure why all of this happened, but I can’t be sure of what it all was meant to be without us having some kind of reality check I suppose.” she bit her lip, thinking she sounded a bit precocious.
“I see,” he dimly noted and took a sip of his drink “does this mean we are moving too fast?”
“My ex Richard stole all of the best pieces from the gallery this morning!”
“What?”
“He evidently made an extra key, and when he got wind of what you did for us, he turned to his first love, money.”
“So what is being done about it?”
Miranda told him of the police, the long days inventory and artist contacting and reviewed all that she could recall of their responses.
“Miranda, I play golf with the D.A. in the county your exes gallery is at. First thing tomorrow I am placing a hold on his trust fund by having charges filed. He will give in, I know it.”
Once again, this man proved himself to be a beautiful specimen of why money and power fell towards those it did.
He then turned to their original topic.
“One question. Are you sad you aren’t pregnant?” he asked with a hint of mild amusement.
“No. Why would you ask that?” she replied plainly.
“Because what it made me do is question everything, and I needed to know. Then can we take this elsewhere? I have something I want to show you.”
“Sure,” she said “Lead the way. Where to?” she laid her hand on his chest, looking deeply into his eyes and searched them for any hint of doubt or remorse.
“I want to show you something of my design that needs a woman’s touch.”
“What exactly would that be?” MIranda wondered and he put a finger to her lips, and then kissed her.
“All of the things that come to pass do so for us to learn about each other. I don’t even think it is worth trying to talk out all we have had pass between us. Let’s go speak another language entirely. One we have waited for long enough.”
She felt dizzy and intoxicated even though she had not had even a single drink and waited while Stephen summoned the bartender and squared up, and ordered a split of Dom Perignon to take with them.
They walked out to the front of the hotel to the valet, and Stephen grasped her by the waist and he asked a most curious question.
“What was your first memory of me?”
She thought for a minute and said aloud “I remember meeting you in front of the hotel at Hery and Jojo’s initial wedding party gathering this weekend.
“What did you think of me then?”
“I suppose I thought you were handsome, and very fit for the part you play.”
“And what part is that?” he pressed further, a grin stretching slowly across his face.
“The part of a rich young entrepreneur with the world at his beck and call,” she told him slowly, “why?”
“Do you want to know the first time I saw you?” he innocently asked as they waited for his car to come.
“When did you see me first, oh Romeo?”
“I saw you when you were with Richard at your gallery. Henry had dropped by with me to give you your invite and instructions to the wedding in person. He told me I needed to go along to make sure we made our meeting that afternoon at the same time. Do you know what I thought?”
“No, what did you think?” she returned anxiously.
“I thought that if you were all you looked to be, I had to have you.”
“To have me?” she flatly rejected him playfully.
“To have you,” he confirmed, all at once kissing her “to have and to hold and all that comes with it.”
“I still want this, you know.” she confessed, blushing.
Chapter Six: All at Once
Stephen took her to his condo overlooking the city in one of the county's finest areas.
As he led her by the hand through the interior of the quaintly furnished quiet abode from one room to another, they kissed and toyed with each other playfully. One room to the next they undressed each other with their hands and kissed long promising explorations of each other’s expectations.
They reached the bedroom finally and he lit a candle with a candle lighter on the bureau overlooking the loft’s entrance to the master suite. The flickering flame passed a sensuous scent of sweet and rich aroma like his cologne, it’s light licking over the lush and luxurious decorations in the room. There was no sign that anyone else shared the place, and she trusted him with all of her on this night she decided at once.
Piece by piece their clothing fell around the room as they softly and searchingly pulled for more of each other to be revealed.
Finally they collapsed together onto the king sized bed and he tugged at her panties.
They fell in a silent moment to the Persian rug hiding the hardwood floor beneath and she pulled him, all at once, into her. The lovemaking was both fierce and passionate, long yet a mix of short climaxes followed by even greater still demand from him. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her, and it brought out of her a giving intensity she hadn’t known of another lover.
In the end he circled around her on the bed, searching for a perfect angle, and then all at once picked her up in his arms and confessed “I fall more for you every minute than in any other time I have ever known.”
Tears came to her eyes and she kissed him hard.
“The only reason I thought I would keep the pregnancy was you.” she told him, regretting having to say it at once.
“I thought about it, you know.”
“What did you think?” she asked back immediately.
“I thought that just like in any other serious merger I have ever been through, treat it as though each minute decides of its own merit. Instead of doing it all for me, do it all for one. Because this one I will gladly have take all of me. I decided to just love you, and let it be. And here we are.”
He put her back on the bed, and his naked body spooned in around hers, fitting together in a magnificent joining of sense and sensuality. He kissed her ear and said, whispering “I love you.”
“I love you.” she gazed on in the night at the knight peering around from behind her, “More than any, more than ever. This is more than just all for me too. This is all for one. The one.”
“Marry me Miranda?”
“Stephen, I will marry you every minute I spend from here on.”
“Then it is so.”
They fell asleep holding each other this way in a silent trust only the fierce sun of another day could rouse.
Chapter Seven: Dawn of New Day
A new day broke and found the new couple the way they were the prior night, entangled in a lovers lock, tied to each other for the day’s embrace.
Stephen rose first, and went into the kitchen to prepare a light breakfast and some coffee. Miranda awoke to fresh smells wafting into the loft, and put on a t - shirt she found near the bed on a brand new looking sea chest that reeked of antiquity.
There were so many questions to be answered in the coming week, but all she wanted now was to see Stephen and know they were in this together.
“Good morning, '' he said, looking up from the marble countertop where he had a large wooden cutting board out in the wrap - around kitchen.
It was the first she was really getting to look around his place, and it was marvelous! Done in a very conservative taste, there seemed more than anything to be the eye of a collector who had tastes for more modern work that reflected a local flair. His taste was impeccable!
“Good morning! Did you decorate this place for yourself?”
“Ah. Good question from the artist. This place was done over the first five years of my company, or ours, Henry and I. I had it redone to capture what I had wanted in the piecemeal version of it. Do you like it?”
“I love the way you hinted at a regional palate, while giving a nod to more modern and international antiquities.”
“What do you mean?”
“Take for instance the Picasso impression over there in the corner. You spoke to an artist, I am guessing who had a flair for that time period during their schooling, and struck a deal.”
“How would you know that?” he looked at her with fascination.
“I own one.”
“Ha ha! Fantastic!”
Stephen had an assortment of vegetables and fruits out on the countertop, and he was chopping with a large piece of cutlery pulled from a massive block carved of an entire trunk that sat behind him on the counter.
“I thought I would make a small breakfast.”
“You call that small?”
“Well, this is only partly for us. My maid, she lives here on the third floor. Part of her contract is to prepare us meals. That is her and I. I pay her rent, she shops and cooks and cleans for all of us. That gives her freedom to take care of her family who live here as well.”
“Sounds like a good arrangement.”
“I told her we wanted the place to ourselves already this morning, so she won’t be calling or coming.” Stephen finished with the chopping, and emptied the cutting board into a large cast - iron skillet that waited next to him on the island gas stove next to him. It was pre - heated and the vegetables immediately made a splashing simmering sound as they hit the heated oil in the waiting pan.
“If it were my call, I would take the whole day with you but I am afraid there is too much to do.”
Stephen rounded the kitchen counter and placed a hand on hers stating simply “For one I would do it all today, but we have a lot more to do than we could ever cram into one day.”
She kissed him on the cheek, and he rounded back to the stove smiling to himself.
“As for Richard, I’m afraid I have some news for you.”
“Good Lord, you are timely.”
“He has been arrested for the grand theft of your, or Henry and Jojo’s entire art collection. The bail has been set beyond his capacity to pay, so no worries. To make sure of timely collection, the appraisers have hired a moving company to act under his orders. He has been told that on delivery back to us, he will be bailed out, and on his payment of any damages, the charges can be dropped.”
“Fantastic!” she squealed in delight, clapping her hands and hopping up and down.
“I fear he may actually see the light on this one.” Stepehen affirmed with a sip from his orange juice glass.
For what seemed the first time in an eternity, Miranda felt free of the burden of her ex. He had ruled over her with false promise for so long it was atrocious.
Stephen and Miranda shared a long and quiet morning together linking the two in intimate plans they would make as soon as Stephen could get away from his company for an extended time. Miranda discussed with him the blueprint to extend her own cafe into the neighboring property, and openly asked him his professional advice.
Flattered, he promised to help her protect her investment and went so far as to say that he would back the property by making the owner an offer to sell the block he owned, and the little gallery would just pay the mortgage for the two business fronts and the second and third floor apartments.
Stephen said he knew the owner of the property, that he had bought the entire block in nineteen sixty nine for a ridiculously low price. All the man was hoping for now was to hold out long enough for the properties to sell for the worth of the properties finishing his out - right ownership of his companies land, plus the construction of his home, and covering the modern up - sale of it’s worth.
He wanted to do all of this without having to sell to the nearby bio- tech company nearby that was leeching onto all of the land in that immediate vicinity.
He said he didn’t want his nest - egg insurance to turn the outskirts of the town into a medical center.
Miranda sat in awe of him, and all of his local business knowledge.
“How do you know all of this?” she asked him innocently.
“I went to college with his son,” he explained briefly.
“We had a business class together and we still play cards at the casino on tournament off weeks.”
The breakfast came to an end, and they shared their Monday plans with each other for the first time in history.
“Tonight, can we dine here? I will have Miss Katherine prepare us a gourmet candlelit setting, say eight o ‘clock?”
They agreed and he called her a car to take her to her place after she showered and put herself together. She was so used to taking care of everyone else, she could get used to this man!
Miranda made her way to the car waiting outside, and climbed inside. The driver already had the address and once she was settled, simply started on the short drive to her place. She immediately called Molly and told her the news.
Molly was excited and agreed that they would spend the morning assessing the total delivery to their patron newlyweds for their gift. They could even afford to make a special gift of one piece of their choosing to act as their own thank - you for making their home a private opening for their artists.
The collection would be a special blend done as it had been over the celebration of the local area’s bi - centennial heritage, and was a good reflection of the local history that could be seen architecturally, as well as in industry and societally.
It was the perfect collection for a wedding gift!
She arrived at the cafe entrance, bid the driver farewell and headed inside to her girls. As she headed inside of the apartment entrance way she made note to herself not to expose the deal for the buying of the building yet to Molly. Not until the deal was done, for fear of letting slip something that could make or break all three of them for life!
As she entered, she let loose a squeal on seeing Elizabeth, hunkered down at the kitchen table in her pajamas.
“Hey little bits! What ya up to!” she chirped in her direction.
“Hey Aunt Mimi, I missed you. Why are you away at night now?”
“Oh little one, Aunt Mimi has had someone she had to meet with!”
Molly made an entrance from the upper floor into the living room adjoining the kitchen.
“Hey Mama’s! How’s it hanging?” she laughed with a smile on her face.
“Better than some for once!” Miranda boasted back.
They stood and talked over what would be a landmark event in their lives, the ousting of Richard and the buyout of their full collection. What needed to happen now was to plan an event for their artists to celebrate and congratulate them as well.
“How about a day long open house with the new collection, and a buffet dinner to launch our new catering house?”
“That sounds like a deal maker, Molly!” Miranda agreed readily.
As they made their way through the next few hours, they called all of the artists they had alerted in the prior morning and told them of their recovery, promised prompt payment, and invited them to the newly planned event. They would hold it on the same day as the local spring music festival held nearby bringing in more traffic to see the gallery. The new showcase could open in support of all of their current artists, whose work they would replace on the walls and shelves and things over each of the coming weekends. This way everyone got individual attention, and yet all at once the deserved spring collection would be honored in one mass showcase.
This could be very profitable, very profitable indeed. This could be the dawn of a new day in fact.
The day went by late into the afternoon with no word about the art being recovered from Richard, and Miranda went outside to call his gallery and see if anyone one was going to step up and take this seriously.
She knew if he spent very long with charges filed against him, it could endanger his trust fund and she intended to use that.
Just when she stepped out to the front of the cafe a large white moving van pulled up to the curb.
Out jumped “Jack” from the morning prior, and he had a clipboard he was waiving at her.
“Miss Miranda, I brought back all of the pieces, I just need you to sign off for them.”
Over the next twenty minutes they unloaded the art, and carefully placed them inside of the gallery. Miranda checked her own inventory sheets against the art, and then against the papers Jack had brought. It was all there.
“Okay, Jack I will sign your papers. Just tell your boss not to come anywhere near my place again.”
She felt so tough, like she was going solo against some criminal and it made her feel sad to know this is what it had come to.
As Jack pulled away, a town car pulled right in to take his spot in front of the cafe. Out jumped a gorgeous blonde dressed to the nines in a pinstriped suit from the rear passenger door.
“Are you Miranda?” the woman threw her voice in her direction in stride.
“That would be me,” she answered “who wants to know?”
“Miranda, I am Stephen Weston’s wife.”
Miranda went numb, and felt as though she was going to pass out.
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