Tuesday evening, I'm working in my study when I hear the shuffle of slipper clad feet by the open door.

"Yes, Bobbsey?" I look up. It's Cassidy.

"I heard from Mrs. B that you're having Andy over for lunch here at the house tomorrow." Cassidy kicks at the threshold with her toe.

"I am." I congratulate myself on my non-committal tone.

"Why?" Cassidy takes a step inside.

"She's going to interview me for the Mirror and I thought we should not be interrupted. You know how people tend to do that at the office sometimes." I smile at her and put my pen down. I have been going over an article I've commissioned on the fashion industry's enabling on Asian sweatshops, but the first draft the author delivered is beyond subpar. I've applied enough red ink comments on the printed-out document that it looks like I've slaughtered a pig on top of it. It may not be salvageable.

"Yes," Cassidy says slowly. "Still. At the house?"

Alarmed, I frown. "Do you mind that Andrea comes here?" Now I've got yet another reason to doubt my decision.

"No, no. It's not that. I was just hoping…well, do you think she'll still be here when Caro and I get back from school?" Weighing back and forth on her soles now, Cassidy is trying her best to sound casual.

"I don't know. Perhaps?" What is this about? "Why do you ask? Do you want to meet her?"

"Yeah. Yes." I haven't talked to her in almost a year. Caro and I really liked her. She was always so cool with us."

"I know. You used to tell me about the conversations she had with you." I smile.

"That was just it. She talked to us like we were regular people. Not rich, bratty kids." Cassidy grimaces. "Thought we were just that, in the beginning. Trying to prank her. You know."

I know my girls' history of pranking assistants and nannies. How odd that I haven't thought of how that behavior stopped when Andrea left. I haven't had one single complaint from my housekeeper, their current nanny, who has been the first that didn't quit after three months or less, or any of their sporadic babysitters.

"I know," I say, answering Cassidy. "You've matured in so many ways, Bobbsey."

"Yes," Cassidy says and light up. "But that's not all. She did such great things that your former assistants wouldn't have thought of, ever. Like when she borrowed your car without asking and came to get Caro and me that time."

I wince. I have thought of that so many times. It was Andrea who brought my girls to the office when she Emily wouldn't let her interrupt the meeting I was in with Irv, my boss, and the board of directors.

"I remember," I whisper, more to myself than to Cassidy.

"If Andy hadn't come, when dad was acting so strange…who knows what could've happened." Cassidy comes over and hugs me.

I hold my darling girl close. That moment when I got back to the office after the meeting is forever etched in my memory.

"What are my girls doing here?" I asked Andrea tersely, but my stomach clenched at the sight of the distraught Caroline in her arms and the angry Cassidy sitting on her sister's other side. "What's going on?"

"Dad was drunk and hurting Caro," Cassidy said bluntly and wiggled her tablet at me. "I've written everything down. Like a testimony. He was calling you names and when Caroline talked back at him, he got really mad and grabbed her arm." She jutted her little chin out. "So I filmed some with my phone and wrote stuff down. Just in case."

"Dear Lord," I said and sat down next to them. Caroline pivoted and wrapped her arms against me instead. Cassidy held out her phone and I took it and pressed play on the small screen.

"Your bitch of a mother is doing her best to fuck things up as usual," James shouted. "This is my week to have you and she has to schedule things to screw things up." He was slurring and waving an empty glass at Caroline who took a step back. James grabbed her by the arms again. "And you have the nerve to—"

"Sir? James?" Andrea's voice came loud and clear over the phone and then she was in the picture as Cassidy zoomed out. "You're scaring Caroline. Please. Let her go."

"How the hell did you get in here?" James snarled, still shaking Caroline's arm.

"Your door was not only unlocked, but half open. Let Caroline go and I'll take them back to their mother." Andrea walked up and placed her hand on James's where it held onto Caroline. "Now. Or I'll call the police."

"You? Miranda's meek little assistant? She'll fire you for causing a scandal." James nearly tripped over a coffee table as he took a step back.

"I don't think so. She loves these girls more than anything and when I tell her what went on here—"

"And I'm filming you, Dad," Cassidy interrupted, her voice a mere growl.

"What the fuck?" James blinked at his other daughter. "Oh, what the hell…" He shoved Caroline toward Andrea who caught the crying girl in her arms.

"Let's go, girls. Now, Cassidy. Stop filming and come with me." Andrea waved at Cassidy and the screen went black.

I looked up at Andrea. "How did you know?" Her eyes were the darkest I had ever seen them.

"They called me. Or Cassidy did, I mean." Andrea spoke with tense lips. "I apologize, but I borrowed your BMW and drove to their father's house in New Jersey to get them. When Cassidy said that James was scaring Caroline and I couldn't reach you—"

"Why didn't you alert me?" I asked angrily.

She hesitated before she answered. "I—I should have."

"That was my fault, Miranda," I heard Emily say from the door to the outer office. "Andy tried to tell me, but—I was afraid to let her disturb you as the meeting was so important."

My fury exploded. "Not as important as my daughters' safety and wellbeing, Emily!" I roar. I could tell everyone was startled as I never raise my voice.

"I'm sorry, Miranda." Emily went pale.

"It's not her fault either," Andrea said firmly. "You forbade us to interrupt the meeting no matter what, and even I am reckless enough to pull such stunts, Emily is not. You have instilled this type of fear and intimidation in her and the rest of the staff deliberately. They lose track of what's reasonable because they want to keep their jobs." Andrea met my gaze without wavering.

And I backed down. Not sure how it happened. Perhaps it was Caroline's tearstained cheeks, or Cassidy's disapproving stare. Or, most likely, it was because I knew it was the truth. There were times when my employees would rather do something stupid, than be the object of my scorn.

Right then and there, my gratitude toward Andrea, and my relief that my girls were indeed safe, I knew things had to change. It was one week before Parish fashion week and I had yet to find out what the future would bring me, but I knew this second assistant, so unlike anyone I had met in the last decade, had put on the path of change.

"Yes, Bobbsey, I'll ask if Andrea has time to stay for dinner as well. She may have to go back to the Mirror, but if so, I might be able to persuade her to come back—tomorrow or on some other evening." I don't know who all those words, and making promises at that, leaves my mouth so easily. It's insanity. It's even beyond that.

"Thanks, Mom. I'll go tell Caro. She'll be ecstatic." Cassidy kisses my cheek and I know I have created yet another hurdle for myself climb. To watch Andrea stay for the girls' sake, will peel away another protective layer around my heart. I might have to confess things to myself that I'm not prepared for—and perhaps never will be. I can hear the clatter in my chest as one piece of heart-shielding cover falls off. Who am I kidding? I haven't even seen Andrea yet and it has already begun.