Bianca and Maggie continued to lock eyes. Even in this dim light, Bianca could see the look of embarrassment in her friend's eyes. Quickly she tried to think of a way to give her friend a graceful exit from the situation.
"Did your nose get cold?" she asked
There was no response, still just that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look.
"I've always found pulling my shirt up to be the fastest way to warm it up." She added
She could see her words were working. Maggie's shoulder's relaxed and slumped slightly signaling she was feeling relief.
"Yeah…I…uh..I don't know why it got cold. It's pl..It's plenty warm in here." Said Maggie in an obvious fit of nerves.
Bianca closed her eyes and pretended to stretch to allow her traveling companion the time to gracefully slide the shirt collar back down. She couldn't deny to herself though that this set off all sorts of bells and whistles inside her head. "What exactly was Maggie doing?" she pondered. "Come on Montgomery, don't read to much into this." She thought. "You are just asking for trouble if you do."
She finished her staged stretching exercises and looked back at her friend. The only thing that had changed was that the shirt collar had been removed from her nose.
"Did you get a good nap?" she asked
"Yeah, although I woke up with a bit of a shock. It took me a minute to remember where I was and what I was doing here." Was Maggie's reply
Bianca felt her heart sink. "Oh" was all she could manage as a reply.
It didn't take Maggie long to pick up on how the meaning of her words had been taken incorrectly. "Makes sense though, I had just finished having a dream of Jonathon coming out of the dark like he was going to hit me again."
Bianca realized she had read too much into Maggie's statement. She now sat up and turned to face her best friend. "Well, he would have to have some mighty long arms to get you here."
Both girls let out soft chuckles at that thought.
"Well he proved time and time again he was full of surprises." Said Maggie
"You don't have to worry about that anymore Maggie. In a short time we will be in Paris and we both can start fresh and brand new." Said Bianca
"You aren't going to go run through a field of daisy's now are you?" was Maggie's smart ass reply.
Bianca grinned from ear to ear and gave an I-don't-know kind of shrug "You never know. France may do wild things to me."
Just then the plane made a slight course correction that made the aircraft dip to the left. As it did so the moonlight began to flood into the cabin and bathed it in that pale white-blue light you can only get from the Moon. The girls were temporarily able to see each other better.
With the light came silence. The girls just looked at each other and smiled tiny, knowing smiles. It was obvious a million thoughts danced behind those looks, but there would be plenty of time in Paris for all of those to come out on their own accord.
As the plane leveled back out, the soft light that had given them momentary sight retreated. Again the darkness won over the cabin, and with it the anonymity and bravery only it can provide, returned.
"Look, B, about the shirt a minute ago, I…."
"I called ahead earlier and made sure your bedroom was ready for tonight. And the Cambias Suite at the hotel will be free beginning tomorrow." Interrupted Bianca.
"Oh…I…thanks Bianca" said Maggie. Her expression of gratitude was two-fold as she realized that Bianca's interrupting her meant no explanation was needed and that gave her a sense of relief.
Bianca watched Maggie for a moment. Though she couldn't read her mind, Maggie's body language spoke volumes. She was still tense and confused by all of the thoughts running through her. And as much as Bianca wanted to help her friend through this, she knew she couldn't. These two had weathered just about any situation you could imagine, but in a scenario like this, she could do nothing but wait…watch….and hope.
It was Miranda who finally broke the momentary silence. She made a little cough almost as if she could sense the tension.
Both girls made to get up, but Bianca said "You sit, I can get her."
She checked and there was no mess, so Miranda must have just had enough of sleep. She held the little girl face to face with her and said "Just had to have some attention did we? Grandma would be so proud!"
Maggie threw her head back and laughed "There just seems something SO wrong about referring to the infamous Erica Kane as "grandma"." She said.
Bianca laughed as she hugged Miranda to her, resting her daughters head on her right shoulder. "Well, no matter how much she may dislike it, the truth is the truth." She said.
The girls fell silent again as Bianca walked back and forth between the couches rubbing Miranda's back. She softly hummed in the baby's ear trying to sooth her back to sleep.
Maggie continued to sit on the couch just watching her lanky friend pass back and forth in front of her. Seeing a Mother with such unabashed love for her daughter made Maggie think back to her own childhood. Her family, if you could even call it that, had been dysfunction personified. There had been no Mother/Daughter bonds, no feelings of belonging to something greater than yourself…but there certainly had been daughters left out in the cold.
Bianca had been more of a family for her than she could have ever hoped for, or even felt she deserved. And in some small way, though it pained her, she had her twin-sister Frankie's death to thank for bringing her and Bianca together.
Maggie had to pause for a moment. She hadn't thought of Frankie for awhile, and that bothered her. They had drifted apart in the last few years of Frankie's life, and though they never had a chance to discuss it, she was fairly certain she understood what her younger sister saw in Bianca. It was a sense of someone truly, deeply loving you in any capacity, of making you feel like that you had some place you belonged in the universe.
It was that thought that made Maggie realize that at this time, at this moment, she knew there was no other place she would rather be…..or anyone else she would want to be with. "Deep breaths Stone….deep breaths" she thought as she tried to gather herself back together.
It was then that Maggie felt she had everything she needed to know. The puzzle pieces in her head had fallen into place and it felt like things made sense again for the first time in a very, very long time. As she gathered up her courage she took a moment and said a silent "Thank you Frankie."
Maggie continued to watch as the girls walked past her time and time again. Finally she shifted her legs to make more room on the couch. It was more of a silent invitation than anything that she wanted Binks and the Munchkin to sit next to her. Bianca caught the meaning and sat down to the right of her friend.
"Well, since we're all awake I guess we can have the lights turned back on" said Bianca as she reached for the intercom phone with her hand. Just as she made to pick it up, Maggie said "Not yet B, ok?"
Bianca could hear a tinge of sadness in Maggie's voice, and she had to admit the lack of light did offer a form of comfort. She thought for a moment how odd it was you spend your childhood afraid of the dark, but the older you got, the more you seemed to crave it. "Sure Mags…sure." Was her reply.
Maggie leaned forward and reached across Bianca so that she could stroke Miranda's back. "Do you have any idea how lucky you are Munchkin to have this lady for your mother?"
Bianca felt suddenly flush having Maggie this close to her. The other girls hair was mere inches from her face, making it impossible for her not to breathe it in. She could feel the warmth radiating off of her petite friend's body, and that didn't help things either. All of this formed a combination that was intoxicating to her. It was as if her senses were filled with nothing but Maggie Stone. She closed her eyes and let it all soak in.
"I think she's asleep again" said Maggie "do you want me to strap her into her carrier? We must be getting close."
Bianca snapped back to reality "Huh? Uh yeah…that would be great."
As Maggie took a hold of Miranda the two girls hands touched briefly. Due to the dryness of the air there was an audible pop of static electricity, and in the darkness, the blue arc had been visible.
"Well would you look at that," Said Maggie as she finished grabbing Miranda "at long last we have conclusive proof that there is a spark between us." She said in her mischievous style.
Bianca couldn't help but laugh.
Maggie walked towards the carrier that had been fixed up for the flight, and quietly she said "Apparently both your Mommy and I have a problem with wanting to sniff things."
End chapter 3….and yes…there is a chapter 4
