(Author's Note.

I do not own these characters, nor do I have any rights over them. This story is part of my on-going Miranda's Sabbatical series and develops some of the newer characters. Apart from the very first one, The Touch, all my Miranda stories run in sequence, one after the other, and build on the one before, but I hope each story can also be enjoyed separately. Following and Favouring the stories is immensely appreciated as it helps people find them. )

Summary

The April before their wedding, Miranda takes Andrea and the twins on a road trip round Italy, where several strange and wonderful things happen to them all.. But before they get to Europe they have to organise their own wedding, and sort out the problems for everyone else in their circle who decide to follow suit and follow them up the aisle. It will be a very busy eight weeks ahead for the entire cast of characters, but of course our main focus as always will be on Miranda and Andrea. The story is also unashamedly romantic.

Chapter 1. – All one enormous happy family, well maybe.

It was Valentine's Day in Provincetown, but someone wasn't happy.

"Darling girl, please. Stop crying and tell me what the matter is! No. Stop it! How can I do anything to help if I can't understand a word you're saying?"

Andrea looked across to Miranda who was on her cell-phone to a sudden mystery caller. They were still at the beach house, confined to quarters because of the huge gale which had just sprung up, and Miranda's Italian novel had slipped to the floor from the futon sofa where she's been reading. She stood up and walked to the window to try to get a better signal.

Andy, who was playing with Matilda the puppy in front of the fire, tried to figure out who was on the phone. There seemed to be a lot of emotion coming down the line. Miranda eventually managed to get some sort of grip on the conversation, but Andy still had no idea who was calling.

"No. . . . .Not too late. . . . I am sure we can fix something. . . . It will be fine. . . . We can come over tomorrow. We're up on the Cape anyway . . . Yes . . . . No . . . . Let me call you back when you're calmer. Stop crying!"

She put the phone down from her ear, and shook her head slightly as if her ears were burning.

"Huh? What was all that about?"

"It's Cindy. She urgently needs to choose a wedding dress and is crying because she says she looks like a tea-pot. Her mother is insisting on traditional white, veil and everything, so Cindy wants me to step in and find something more suitable for a bride who will be eight months pregnant when she ties the knot. This marriage thing is obviously getting to her."

"Oh, that's a bit funny, you having to dress your ex-husband's new wife for her wedding to him! But I'm sure you're up to the challenge. Cindy was right to call you. Do you think Geoff put her on to the idea?"

Miranda laughed. She looked quite cheerful at the thought of finding Cindy something appropriate to wear for her wedding

"Maybe, but all our roles are rather fluid these days. She is even younger than you are, and I am certainly old enough to be the mother of the bride. Anyway, from what she's told me before, Cindy's own parent is not the most sensible of women."

"When are they planning to marry?"

"Saturday April 3rd."

"Wow, that's only six weeks away. I expect we're all invited. The twins will want to be part of it anyway, now that they don't hate Cindy any more. Do you think she will ask them to be bridesmaids?"

"We need to find out, diplomatically of course. It could get rather complicated. But Andy I've been thinking . . ." Miranda bent to pick up her novel off the floor where it had tumbled, and then closed it with a look of concentration on her face.

"What, Miri darling?"

"Do you realise as well, as well as Geoff and Cindy, just how close you and I are to getting married. We said May, didn't we?"

"Yes. Lilac time up here."

Andy started to hum, "We're going to the chapel, and we're gonna get married . . .. "

"But we've done nothing to organise it! Whatever have I been thinking of? I've been in a dream. We need to book the ceremony, and the venue, and send out the invitations, not to speak of the dresses! Where has my head been all these weeks?"

"On sabbatical, where it should be! Sweetie, calm down! We can sort it all out now, while we're up here in Provincetown. I know Nigel has already made a start on thinking about what he'll sort out for you to wear, and I don't really matter. "

"You certainly do! If anyone wears white well, it will be you. And you deserve it."

"Not exactly virginal."

"No, maybe, but you are certainly pure in heart and it is your first and only wedding day. You need a dress as lovely as you. You are very, very beautiful, don't you realise? On the other hand I think I might wear scarlet, with little horns and a trident."

"Enough of that nonsense! I would rather like to see you in cerulean, to match your eyes and my old sweater. How about that? Anyway we have this current holiday weekend to do all the necessary booking up here, and to find out about applying for a licence."

"Monday is Presidents Day. The Town Hall will be shut."

"Just for a day. We can look at some local venues in the meantime. But as for tomorrow, didn't you say something about going over to Boston, to sort out Cindy? Let's prioritize that first. I do think it's very sweet of her to want to cry on your shoulder, a change of tune for you both. Didn't she used to think you were an absolute dragon, while you told me she was a bimbo?"

"If I did, I apologize. That was before we met! Cindy is family now, going to be the twin's other step-mom, and the mother of their brother. Besides, I like the girl. She has spirit, and she's stopped Geoff drinking. "

"Is that confirmed, that it's a boy? "

"Oh yes. Geoff is tickled pink, even though he pretends not to be gender biased."

"It is high time for a boy in the family, according to Cassidy at least. So are we postponing the Italian trip? Geoff and Cindy can't easily have the twins with them for spring break as they planned, if she's so close to giving birth, and they've also just got married. They'll want a short honeymoon at least."

"Not a problem. My original plan was to take us all to Italy anyway. The twins are old enough to appreciate and remember everything. You don't mind them coming, do you?"

"Of course not. I adore them. We'd be very sad not having them with us."

"Then we'll work on that premise. I have in mind a road trip. Rome, Firenze, Milano, Venetia . . . "

"Sounds divine."

"I also promised Sophia we would try to visit her mother in Perugia. She lives in a retirement home there."

"So it's good we haven't booked our flights yet. But we should do it as soon as possible. The Easter weekend will be super busy, won't it?"

"Heck yes!"

"I like it when you talk like that, like a proper hayseed."

"I do it to amuse you, my darling. Or maybe you are just having a terrible influence on my vocabulary."

Matilda, the puppy, was meanwhile jumping up and down hoping to be let out the door, but the wind would be far too strong, and the sea was roaring up and down the beach like a hungry lion. Andy, who was now standing, picked her up into her arms and then pulled Miranda towards them both for a group hug.

"When the wind drops, I'll walk Tilly into town and pick up some brochures, and then tomorrow we can drive to Boston. It's only a couple of hours by road. Do you think it's time we had Wi-Fi installed here? If we were online properly we could research everything simply sitting by the fire."

"Yes, I suppose so. You had better put it on the list of to-dos. I've just enjoyed the isolation so far, of having you to myself. And it has been good for the girls to know that life can carry on without the internet."

Andy hugged her tighter.

"Kiss me!"

"Why?"

"Because I'm asking. And I love you."

"Magic words I used never to think I'd hear from your lips."

"I'll never stop saying them, not until the day I die."

"Hmm. I think you're slightly squashing Matilda."

"Shall I put her down on the floor?"

"That might be wise."

" . . . . . . . "

"Hmm. Shall we go to bed then, just for a little while?

". . . . . . . "

"Very well . . . if you insist."

So it was a full two hours later before Tilly got her walk into town, and it wasn't simply the weather causing the delay.

The following morning, after another lengthy phone conversation with Cindy, and then later with Geoff, Miranda and Andy set out in the Porsche to drive to their rambling old house on the outskirts of Boston. There the internet connection wasn't a problem, so Miranda settled down next to Cindy on the sofa.

She used her lap-top to show her a range of options from various designers, which she could have for a formal dress. She knew what the girl needed, one she could wear for the wedding, one which would look both stylish and elegant, and be comfortable smoothed over her bump. They settled on a couple of designers and Cindy chose the styles she liked the best.

"We need a fitting day of course. Can you manage a trip to New York sometime next week, and I'll set something up, some trips round these design houses?"

Miranda was in her element and for the first time in six months actually relished re-engaging with all the frivolities of fashion, which had once been her absolute obsession.

At the end, Cindy breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you so, so much. You've saved my life. Would Cass and Caro be my bridesmaids? I'd like them to do it anyway, but I also don't have any young nieces or sisters or anybody else."

"I'm sure they will. When you have chosen your dress, then we will think about theirs."

Andy broke in. "I'm sure they'd like to be involved in those decisions. They have quite good ideas themselves."

Miranda remembered the previous debacle over the Christmas concert, centred around her notion of putting her twins into Scottish kilts, and nodded her head.

"Of course. Why don't you call them yourself this evening, Cindy and ask them? They'd appreciate that, hearing it from you instead of just relayed through their old mother."

"I do love you, Miranda. You're so kind to me."

"Kindness is my middle name, isn't it, Andy?"

Andy had the temerity to laugh out loud.

"Yes Miranda, of course," she said drily. "Now what else do we have to sort out?"

And she started to write down a long and complicated list. It was definitely going to be a very busy spring, and she was already excited.

Miranda gazed on Andy's curly head of short chestnut hair bent over her notepad, and pondered again just how much she loved being with this carelessly graceful sprite of a girl. She visualised strolling with Andrea through the Forum in Rome, over the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, and across the Piazza of San Marco in Venice. It would be their first trip to Europe as lovers, and it would be enchanting. Then it would be time for them to return to America, to get married! She couldn't be happier.

"Miranda," murmured Cindy on the sofa beside her.

"What?"

"Would you mind very much if we included my mother in our trip round the New York designers? I think she'd listen to your advice . . . She also still doesn't care at all for Geoff, but you might bring her round to what a good guy he really is."

Now it was Miranda's turn to nearly laugh out loud.

"If you think so, dear," was all she could manage to say. "If you're sure that would be helpful."

How her world had changed!

Andy caught her eye, and raised her eyebrows, but she said nothing. She had absolute faith in Miranda to achieve the impossible, and even twice on Sundays. Cindy's mother wouldn't know what she was up against, and they would all end up one enormous happy family, she was sure.