CHAPTER 5

It was a beautiful morning, crisp and clear. Miranda and Andrea were driving to the editors house in East Hampton, New York.

Cassidy and Caroline were sitting quietly in the backseat with their headphones in their ears and staring into their phones.

They seemed excited that Andrea was coming to the beach house with them. Though when their father dropped them off at their house it had not been an entirely pleasant encounter.

-/-/-

"Who is this?" He had asked when he came in with the girls and had set down their bags in the living room. Andrea had been sitting in the kitchen at the table with her laptop, working on an assignment. She peeked out into the entryway and watched Miranda with her girls.

"Andy!" The girls exclaimed as they noticed her sitting there. They ran over to her and hugged her "hey girls!" She said excitedly. The young woman smiled from ear to ear and hugged them back. It had been well over a year since she last saw them.

"This is my... friend, Andrea" Miranda told him. "She used to work at runway afew months ago". He raised his eyebrow at her, "the one that left you during fashion week?" His voice was surprised and curious. The girls must have told their father about her, Miranda had been a mess during that time and it wasn't because of the divorce.

"Yes, that's the one" Miranda said without looking at him "she's coming with us this weekend" she said speaking to the twins. The girls jumped up and down with excitement.

Their dad looked between them suspiciously. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" He had his hands on his hips, trying to control his features. Miranda didn't answer immediately but she nodded her head.

She led him down the hall and outside to her back patio. It was cold outside but she wanted this conversation to be short. When she closed the door he looked at her in a way that made her angry.

"What is this, Miranda? What are you doing?" He asked, crossing his arms, trying to warm himself. She stared at him, thinking of what she would say. She didn't want to tell him the truth yet, she was afraid. She didn't want to risk their custody agreement.

"Andrea is going through a hard time and I know the girls adore her so I invited her to come with us this weekend. It's not a big deal and frankly, it's none of your business" she crossed her arms too, closing herself off. She shouldn't have lied but it seemed to fall out of her mouth.

A gust of arctic wind blew through her back yard and they both shivered. "Since when did you care what your employees are 'going through'?" He asked her suspiciously. "This girl left you in Paris during the biggest week of your year and now your best friends? I just don't understand what you're doing" he looked confused, the skin of his face was turning red in the cold.

"She was one of the best assistants I've ever had. I ran into her a couple months ago and we've become friends. It's as simple as that" Miranda answered him with annoyance heavy in her voice. "Why do you care so much?" She countered.

"They're my kids and I don't want them getting attached to a girl who isn't likely to stick around long. You have a reputation for running people off" he said rudely. Her eye brows furrowed and she worked hard not to blow up at him.

"And what of the young women that come in and out of your life? You don't seem concerned about the girls when it comes to that. Why don't you mind your own goddamn business, Richard?" She said before she went back inside.

The conversation was over, she didn't want to continue it. It wouldn't go any where productive. This was typical of him to try to control every single situation. It was why they didn't work out. Two people who refused to give up control could never flourish together.

"Alright girls, say bye to your father, he has to get back to Jersey before traffic" she told the twins. He sighed and shook hishead, looking at Andrea out of the corner of his eye. "Bye daddy" they said, uninterested, from the kitchen. They were sitting at the table with Andrea and showing her pictures on their iPads.

-/-/-

When they got to East Hampton they stopped in a small grocery store to pick up the ingredients for their dinner that evening. Miranda had walked off from the girls to ask the butcher at the back for a cut of meat. She was surprised when she saw a boy similar in age to her girls staring at her. He was an odd boy, he was staring at her as if he knew her. Miranda didn't know what to do. She smiled at him awkwardly.

"Is your name Miranda?" The child asked her. She suddenly felt shock hit her in the chest like a truck.

"Yes..." she answered slowly. An older woman came up behind him, smiling and she looked so much like the woman that Miranda had been in love with years ago that it nearly sent her into a panic. "Hey, Bryan, are you bothering this woman?" The lady said just before she met Mirandas eyes. Her features sank from a smile to anger.

"You..." she said, her voice cracking with emotion and rage. "You knew my mom, didn't you?" The boy asked Miranda. At this point, she was fighting back tears. She could feel her face going white. "Bryan, why don't you go pick out some cereal, alright?" The woman told him. "But..." he tried to argue "just do it" she said firmly.

He looked back at Miranda one last time, his eyes were just like his mothers and the way they looked at her, with confusion and with sadness, nearly broke her heart. When he was out of ear shot, the woman in front of her crossed her arms. She looked so much like her when she was angry.

"I know who you are. I know you and my sister had a... close relationship" she told her. Her distaste for her was palpable. There was no mistaking it. For the first time in her life, Miranda was at a loss for words. "I... I'm sorry" was all she could think to say.

The woman teared up. "You know, her husband treated her like she was nobody and all she ever talked about was you. She said you made her happy. I tried to tell her That it wouldn't end well" she wiped tears from her eyes. Mirandas eyes were wide and full of fear for what she might say next.

"That night... she had called me... I could hear him screaming at her over the phone. I could hear her begging him not to beat her anymore" she said. "She told me that he had found out about you... how could you? You knew how crazy he was and you couldn't leave her alone" she was sobbing and fizzling with anger. Her face was beat red.

"Please" Miranda said, needing her to stop speaking. She began crying, hyperventilating right there in the store. "If it weren't for you... my sister would still be alive, my nephew would still have his mother..." the woman yelled at her. Andrea rounded the corner and saw Miranda sinking to the floor, her knees giving way beneath her. "Miranda!" She called out, she ran to her, trying to catch her.

"I hope she has suffered for what she did to my family" The woman wouldn't stop. Andrea helped Miranda back to her feet. "Hey, that's enough!" Andrea yelled back at the woman. "Bryan?" Caroline said, seeing the same boy from earlier standing at the end of the cereal isle with a box of fruit loops in his hands.

He began to smile toward them but his aunt rushed over to him, taking his hand and turning him around. "Don't talk to them" she told him. He yanked his hand away from her "They're my friends! Why are you being so mean?" He yelled at her. He dropped the box of cereal and ran away from her.

He ran out of the store and out of sight. She gave Miranda and Andrea one last scathing look and followed after him.

"Are you okay, Miranda? Who the hell was that?" Andrea asked her, her own heart racing with rage and confusion. "That... was the sister of the woman I was with years ago... and that little boy... was her son" she managed between breaths. She held her hand over her heart. Her chest ached, her heart feeling like it was splitting in half. All she could think about was that beautiful woman, bruised and bloody and begging for her life. All because she couldn't leave well enough alone. She hated her self more than she ever had.

Andrea told the girls to take Miranda out to the car and wait for her while she finished the shopping. She could feel eyes on her the entire time. The woman had made such a scene that the whole grocery store had heard the encounter. She got what she needed quickly and checked out.

While loading the car she saw a police cruiser pull up. She noticed the woman that had made Miranda dissolve into panic was in tears and panicking herself. Andrea could hear what she was saying to the officer.

"My nephew ran off and I cant find him" she told the man in the police cruiser. She heard him tell the woman that they would put out an amber alert and he would check the area for him. When he pulled away, she watched the woman stand there, sobbing into her hands.

She closed the trunk of the car and motioned to Miranda that she would be a moment. She stuffed her hands into the pocket of her jacket and took a deep breath. She walked over to the woman. "Is there anything we can do to help?" Andrea asked her. The woman was startled.

"You can leave me alone" she said curtly. Andrea sighed. "I know you lost your sister in a horrible way and I cant begin to imagine what that might feel like and the fear you must be feeling now that your nephew has run off... I... I just wanted you to know something" Andrea told her as gently as possible. "What?" She seemed to let go of a bit of that anger.

"Miranda loved your sister and what happened to her... it wasn't her fault but she has lived with the guilt ever since. You know that the only person responsible for what happened to your sister was her husband. He took your sister away from you. All Miranda did was love her" Andrea told her. The woman's face broke into tears, she hid it from Andrea and sobbed.

The young woman took a chance and wrapped her arms around her, knowing she probably needed a hug more than anyone else right now. "I'm sorry I freaked out on her... please tell her that" The woman sobbed.

Moments later the police cruiser pulled up again and this time, he opened the back door and let Bryan out of the back. "We found him walking on the road about a mile from here" he told his aunt. She rushed over to him and hugged him. "Jesus, you scared the shit out of me! Don't ever do that again" she told him. "I'm sorry" he told her.

The woman took out a piece of paper and wrote something on it. She handed it to Andrea and smiled sadly at her. "If Caroline and Cassidy ever want to spend time with Bryan... just give me a call" she led the boy away from her and he looked back at Andrea curiously. He waved over his shoulder at the twins and gave them a sweet smile.

When she got back in the car, Miranda was silent for a long while. After they had gotten to the house and put away the groceries and they were alone for a moment, Andrea handed her the number that the woman had given her. "She wanted me to tell you that she was sorry for what she said in the store and if the girls ever want to see Bryan, that you can call her".

Miranda took the number and put it in her pocket. "Ill speak with the girls about it later" she said, smoothing her hair away and trying not to tear up again. "Andrea... I..." She began but faltered. "What is it?" Andrea asked, worried. "I love you" She said, sadness in her voice, melancholy in her tone but hope floating somewhere in the sound. The girl smiled, pulling her in to her arms. "I love you too" she said softly.

The next morning the girls played in the sand near the water. It was far too cold to swim in it but the girls loved to explore up and down the beach. Around noon, their doorbell rang and Andrea answered it. Bryan and his Aunt stood on the front step, smiling and holding a pie that she had made them, out of guilt more than anything.

"Come on in, We're glad you're here" Miranda said as she walked up behind Andrea. She took the pie from the woman's hands and led them into the kitchen. Although it felt strange at first, they all became comfortable around the table at lunch.

They laughed and shared stories, the children giggling in their own conversations. It felt as if the incident at the store yesterday had never happened. After lunch, Bryan and the girls went outside to play. Miranda sliced the pie and fixed a cup of coffee for Andrea and their guest.

They watched the children play out of the back window of the house while they sipped their steaming mugs. "Are you two together?" She asked them suddenly, staring between the two of them. They looked at each other hesitantly but Miranda smiled. "We're still working that out" she answered her.

The woman nodded and smiled uncomfortably. "Do you still think about her?" She asked, her voice breaking "Because I always do". Miranda sighed, "everyday" she told her. The woman stared out the window at her young nephew playing in the sand with the two redheads. Her eyes sinking into a memory of her sister. "She loved you... so much more than she ever loved him" she said softly. "She would want you to be happy" she looked back at them. "You two look happy together".

Later that evening, Bryan and his aunt left with promises to see them again. It was amazing how therapeutic the entire day had been. It was something that Miranda had desperately needed and had not even realized it.

The four of them sat around the table together, dinner steaming on their plates. "Bobseys... Andrea and I wanted to tell you something" Miranda began, waiting to begin her meal. "What's that, mommy?" Cassidy asked her. "These last couple of months I have been spending a lot of time with Andrea. Over time mommy has started to have feelings... that are more than feelings two friends share" she explained.

"What does that mean?" The teen asked her, her fork stuck in her food but staring at her mother. She had their full attention now. "It means that Andrea is my girlfriend and that I love her very much" she told them. They stared at Andrea, who was holding Mirandas hand and looking at the two of them hopefully.

"That's weird" Caroline said, laughing uncomfortably. "Why is it weird, bobsey?" Miranda asked her. The girl stopped smiling and rested her head on her hand, thinking deeply about what her mother had just asked her. "So you're into girls? What about Stephen... what about daddy?" Cassidy looked so confused that it made Miranda feel slightly guilty.

"When you grow older, you'll discover that sometimes love can be found in unexpected places. You'll discover that sometimes its not as simple as girls only like boys... life is so much more complicated than that. I love Andrea and many years ago... I loved Bryans mother" she took a deep breath. She realized her heart was thumping inside her furiously.

"I'm okay with it, I like Andy" Caroline told her, shrugging and getting back to her food. She seemed less concerned about it than Cassidy. "Cass?" Miranda looked at her, wondering what other questions she might have. "I guess its Okay... its still a bit.. weird" she said. Andrea could see the hurt in Mirandas face as she sat up and picked up her silverware. "Well... thank you both for listening" she told them.

They ate in relative silence for awhile. It was awkward and nagging, begging to be filled. Soon the table was buzzing with idle talk about the day and about what the girls did with Bryan. After dinner, the girls went up to their bedroom while Miranda and Andrea cleaned up.

"Hey, she'll come around" Andrea told her, rubbing her back soothingly as she scrubbed their plates clean. "It went better than I thought..." a long silence passed between them, Miranda saying nothing, deep in her thoughts. "Caroline doesn't seem to care either way" Andrea laughed. "Well... i have some doubts about her own sexuality... the girl is slightly obsessed with Ellen" Andrea joked, Miranda laughed too.

That night, Miranda and Andrea laid beneath her heavy duvet, the sound of the ocean muted behind the French doors to their second story balcony.

They kissed slowly, taking their time, reveling in the feel of one another. "I could lay here with you forever" Andrea whispered to a glowing Miranda. She was breathtaking in the full moon light streaming in through their windows. Her face free of makeup and her eyes gentle as they watched her.

"I'm so glad you're here" Miranda told her. "In my life... in my bed. I meant it when I said I love you" Miranda told her again. Her heart couldn't feel more full than when she is with her. "I feel the same way, completely. I love you too" the young woman told her.

Things were far from perfect but they felt for the first time that they were well on their way to some kind of perfection together. Both women were afraid of the future and simultaneously excited for it. Miranda for one, had never felt this way about another person. Not even with that woman so many years ago.

In this with Andrea, there was hope, there was happiness and understanding. There was patience and a love she had never believed to be true.

Her young, soft hands caressed her beneath their blankets, bringing her to orgasm while she fought to silence herself in crook of her shoulder.

A peaceful, restful sleep came to both of them that night. This place with the twins, on the beach, so far from the noise of the city felt like heaven on earth and both would be content to never leave it again.

this is is the conclusion to this story. This one was very close to my heart. I appreciate the reviews. Thank you very much for choosing to read my story.

-X