May 25th – Early Afternoon

Maggie's head filled with cotton. She could hear things that sounded like voices, and she could make out forms of people moving. What was in front of her though was in crystal clear focus. Lena Kundera.

She hadn't seen Lena since she had left to go back to Poland to be with her sickly mother. Though Bianca and she had parted as girlfriends, the distance finally got to be too much, and they broke up. Maggie had never said anything, but it didn't exactly choke her up. Sure, she was sad for Bianca, but she had never exactly been a member of the 'Lena Fan Club'.

It wasn't even that she so much had anything against Lena, it was more…who was she kidding, she disliked Lena…a lot. From the association with Michael Cambias to making Bianca choose her family or even her telling her she had to come to Poland to keep their relationship going. It all irked Maggie, but, if you pressed her to answer, there was probably a dash of jealousy also.

It wasn't until Lena smiled at her, and moved forward, that she came out of her stupor. Her vision returned to normal, and sounds once again flooded into her ears. Not sure of what Lena was up to, she stepped aside and saw that she was grabbing up two lattes and paying for them. She turned and handed one to Maggie. "Over your shock of seeing me yet?" she asked.

Maggie took the latte from her and said, "Getting there."

Lena smiled, and her eyes lingered with Maggie's for a moment. She broke the look and glanced around the café. "There's a table over there if you would care to join me. I would love to catch up with you."

"I guess I can…." she said, glancing at her watch. "I'm supposed to be meeting a friend here in a little bit."

"Of course. I would just like catch up on what has happened to both of you." She gestured with a hand towards the tables and led the way to a couple of empty ones towards the front. Maggie took a seat at the second table in from the front door, and sat with her back to the entrance, Lena sat opposite her. "I had no idea you were even in Paris!" Lena exclaimed excitedly as she settled in her chair.

Maggie wrapped both her hands around her cup, and stared at it, refusing to make eye contact. "Really? So you just happened in to me walking down the street?" she asked, her tone suspicious.

The question was innocent enough on the surface, but Lena caught the implication. "I am working as a financial officer for a company that has offices in several countries. I am in Paris for a few days of training on our new computer system, and our offices are just down the street." She reached for her purse and fished around inside of it "Ah…here is one of my business cards. It is in French, but it shows the address."

Maggie took the business card and gave it only a cursory glance before shoving it in the pocket of her school bag. Sure enough, even in French, she recognized the address, it was just two doors down from the Cambias building. "So…I take it your mother must have gotten better if you are working again." Maggie scooted her chair forward, feeling the one directly behind her hitting the back of hers as someone sat down.

"She did get better, but either way I needed a job again to pay all her bills."

"So here you are…" Maggie began spinning her cup around in her hands, still staring at it, "in Paris…a new job…your mom's better…and only a few doors down from Cambias…"

Lena smiled. "Running into you was pure chance Maggie. I knew Bianca was working at Cambias, but I had not planned on calling her. Too much time…too much…everything." She paused and stared at her cup. "You know though…I had no idea you were here until I saw you on the street. I followed you for a little ways not believing my eyes."

It clicked in Maggie's head finally that she had been watched on the street. She lifted her cup to take a sip. "Well, sorry to break it to you, but Bianca is gone for a few days to Florida…" she took a long drink of her latte. "Erica is finally marrying Jack."

"Really? That is wonderful!"

"So unless you are going to be around past the weekend, you won't be running into her."

"Like I said Maggie….I wasn't going to call her. I…I have someone else now."

Maggie cocked an eyebrow, not sure whether to believe her. "Really? Tell me about them." She purposefully left the gender out since she remembered Lena had said she was bisexual.

"Her name is Tola." Lena smiled broadly. "It means 'priceless'. She works in the same building as me, but in a different division. We clicked instantly and have been together now for four months."

"Always going for the co-workers huh?" she asked, with an obvious indication to how Lena and Bianca had both worked at Enchantment when they first met.

"It does seem to work out that way, yes."

Maggie nodded and went back to spinning her cup.

"So….why did you not go to Florida with Bianca?"

"School work. I had a paper to turn in today."

"I would have thought you could have arranged something so you could go with your partner to her mother's wedding."

Maggie stopped spinning the cup. "Well….that was about as subtle as a hammer up side the head."

Lena smiled and took a drink.

"For your information, she is not my 'partner'. We are still just friends."

"I see…I just assumed…well…most people don't move to a foreign country just to be with their 'friend'."

"Some….things… happened to me, and I felt like this was the best place until I could get my balance back. Also, the timing worked out well. I had just gotten out of a very unhealthy relationship, Bianca was moving here with Miranda, and so along I came. Now I go to school and watch over Miranda, so there are a lot of reasons for me to be here."

Lena was intrigued by the 'things' that had happened to her, but did not feel comfortable pushing it any further. "Miranda…how is she?"

"She's a little over a year old and about as cute as can be."

Lena smiled. "I am glad she is doing well. As for you and Bianca, I am sorry I assumed. I am sure you can see how I would reach that conclusion with everything that happened back in Pine Valley and then finding you just outside the building she works in."

"I was just dropping off some papers for her. The trip was very last minute." She looked up and studied Lena for a moment. "What do you mean by 'everything that happened back in Pine Valley'?" Maggie asked before taking a sip of her drink.

"Well….your jealousy of Bianca and I."

As was Maggie's tendency, she nearly spit some of her latte across the table, but kept her mouth shut. "Man, I have got to stop eating and drinking when having these discussions." She grabbed a napkin and wiped her mouth with it. "I was not jealous of you two."

Lena laughed so hard she had to cover her mouth. "Oh please Maggie! If there was such a thing as a real stare of death, I would have been killed many times over!"

Even Maggie had to laugh at that. "Maybe I just didn't like you."

"I am familiar with that gaze from others Maggie, yours was very much a look of jealousy. I am sure you would recognize it…as I looked at you with that same stare many times."

Maggie was puzzled by this comment. "I saw you shoot looks at me, but I always just thought it was hatred."

"No…honestly Maggie, I always liked you. If it hadn't been for Bianca, we might have been friends under other circumstances. But I was always very jealous of your relationship with Bianca."

Maggie was shocked by this statement. "Why in the world would you be jealous of our relationship? We are just friends."

"Because you were still number one in her heart Maggie. She never got over her feelings for you, and if you had ever given her a sign that you were interested in her….I am fairly certain I would have been gone from her life."

Maggie gulped. "You…you can't really think that can you? She loved you. There is no way I could have broken that."

"I think you would be surprised Maggie. I don't think you would have had to do very much to convince her."

Maggie took a deep breath, her voice shaky, and asked, "Then why did she reject me….twice?"

Lena's jaw dropped slowly, but no words came out.

Maggie felt the blood rushing to her cheeks in a sign of embarrassment. She looked down at her hands, and there was a long silence before she continued in a voice, not much above a whisper. "It was the day Bianca was thinking of leaving the country because of everything happening at the murder trial for Michael. I was rushing out…well, more like running actually, and almost ran you down. You gave me a suspicious look, like you thought something had just happened between Bianca and I?" Lena nodded in the affirmative. "Well, something did...I'd just kissed her, totally on impulse, just before you got there...I was afraid she was going to leave for Europe with you and..."

"I knew something had happened. I could feel the tension in the room and Bianca was clearly upset about something. And you...you were...what was it Bianca always said? 'freaked out'..."

Maggie chuckled. "You don't know the half of it. I kept replaying that kiss over and over again in my mind and, while I was distracted with those thoughts, I backed out of my parking spot right into Jamie...and then...then I…well…I tried to prove some things to myself with him." She took a long sip of her drink.

"Trying to prove to yourself that you were who you always claimed to be? Defining yourself as a straight girl? That can't still be how you're trying to define yourself, Maggie. Maybe it is, if you shared only that one moment, but…"

"Well…then there was the second time she and I talked about us."

Lena threw her head back in a laugh. When she looked at Maggie again, she could see the anger in her eyes. "I am sorry Maggie, I really am. I am not laughing at you, I am laughing at myself. I had no clue."

Maggie's expression eased some. "That's ok. It is kind of funny when you think about it. You thought she would run into my arms…so did I."

Lena moved her cup to the side and leaned forward, resting on her forearms. She asked, in a soft, encouraging voice, "When was the second time?"

"Last summer. You…" she started spinning her coffee cup again and staring at it, "you and she were still together. We had been playing a drinking game called 'Truth or Dare', and one thing led to another, and…and I told her I thought I was in love with her." She stopped spinning the cup, but continued to stare at it. "Which…I know was wrong of me Lena, but both times…it was just so spur of the moment…"

Lena smiled and leaned further forward, placing her right hand on Maggie's left. "It's ok Maggie…really. I'm not upset. I'm not upset you kissed her on impulse, and I'm not upset you told her you loved her. That's what love is, that's the core of it, you no longer control what is happening. If you felt it for her at those moments, and you did what was in your heart, then who am I to say you were wrong for doing it?"

Maggie looked from Lena's hand to her face and studied her for a moment. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Were you this easy going when you were with Bianca, and I just didn't notice, or did this happen since you left Pine Valley?"

Lena retracted her hand and smiled a softer smile. "As I already said Maggie, I think if we had met under other circumstances, we could have been friends. We just always felt like adversaries because we both were in love with the same girl."

Maggie heaved a sigh. "If only I felt it was that clearly defined."

Lena's smile turned to more of a smirk. "You can not tell me you are still confused about her! Not after this long."

Maggie took a drink of her latte and said nothing.

Lena lowered her head and shook it, mumbling something in Polish. She looked back at Maggie. "Do you or do you not have feelings for her?"

"I love her…I just don't know how I love her."

Lena leaned her head back in frustration, and then leaning forward again, she locked eyes with Maggie. "Is it because you still find men attractive?"

Maggie leaned back in her chair, not sure of what to make of what Lena was doing. "P..partially."

"And do you think admitting you love Bianca would be announcing you were gay?"

"Yeah, I suppose that's part of it."

Lena arched her eyebrows in an expression of disbelief. "Maggie…have you never heard of the word 'bisexual'?"

"Of course I have…" she said with an exasperated tone.

Lena cut her off, quickly firing back. "Then why do you feel loving Bianca would automatically make you 'gay'? You could be in a loving relationship with a woman for years and still be attracted to men. Just because you are with one at this time does not close all the doors." Lena leaned back in her chair some. "Don't forget, I was with one man and hitting on another when I feel for Bianca."

Maggie sneered at the thought of Michael Cambias. "Not the best case study Lena."

Lena's mouth narrowed into a thin line as that comment did sting some. "I know….all I am trying to say Maggie is…sexuality is fluid, ever changing. Like anything in life, it is not a black and white subject. Just because I do prefer women doesn't mean I don't still look at the occasional man. For instance, there is a very handsome middle aged man sitting behind you right now. Just because I am with Tola, it doesn't mean I don't look at men still. And just because you would be with Bianca doesn't mean you would forever be locked into that." Lena sighed, relaxing her face, and her voice at the same time. "Maggie, society is the one who makes and issues the labels. If your heart feels a certain way, why should you care about what the rest of the world will think, or call you?"

Maggie started drumming her fingers on the table and screwed her face up in concentration.

Lena felt uncomfortable under this stare and shifted uneasily in her chair. Finally she asked, "What? What is it?"

Maggie continued to stare for a moment. "I am trying to figure out, number one why I should listen to you and number two, why your advice is actually making sense to me."

"Because, Maggie, I only want what's best for Bianca, and that, no matter how much you fight it, is you." Lena looked at her watch. "Ah….I have to get back to the office for another round of training." Lena stood up and collected her things.

Maggie stood up to bid her farewell. "Thanks Lena. I can honestly say when I woke up this morning, I did not expect to be getting advice on my love life from you of all people."

"Maggie, I….I know this couldn't have been easy for you….to sit down with me I mean."

"I've done more painful things, I promise." she said with a crooked smile.

Lena cocked her head to one side and smiled. She spread her arms slightly. "Maggie, may I….can I give you a hug?"

"Promise you don't have a knife in one of your hands?" she said with a nervous giggle, her eyes darting back and forth between Lena's palms.

Lena put her arms around Maggie and hugged her tightly. She put her lips near Maggie's ear and whispered, "We both know Bianca is loyal...to a fault even. I know she did love
me, in her way, as much as she could. But I was never the love of her life. That's you, Maggie. It was always you. Once you accept that, you can accept yourself."

Maggie broke the hug and looked into Lena's face, trying to decipher if she was sincere. It appeared she was. "What….do you…do you have any messages for Bianca?"

Lena became straight faced, and almost sad. "I tell you what Maggie….why don't we just agree she never needs to know today ever happened? I won't tell if you don't. Agreed?"

Looking deep into Lena's eyes for any sign of betrayal, she finally said, "Agreed. You had better go, you don't want to be late."

"Good-bye Maggie." And with a final squeeze of Maggie's shoulder, Lena departed the café.

Maggie stood there for a moment, staring after her. She looked down at the man who had been sitting behind her for the majority of the conversation. "You moving over to my table or not?"

Patrick turned and looked at her. "I didn't want to interrupt."

"I figured. Move over here and you can give me your opinion."

Patrick stood and swung around Maggie's small table, taking the seat that had been occupied by Lena. Maggie sat down again in her chair and looked at Patrick. "So….I assume you know who that was."

He rested his forearms on the little table and interlaced his fingers, knitting his hands together. "Yes. When it was first discovered she was working with Michael, I was briefed on her to make sure she never came anywhere near Alexander Cambias. She is also in Bianca's dossier."

"And what do you think of the advice she gave me? About defining myself." She lifted her cup and took a long drink from it.

"Well, I think she was oddly sincere. It sounded to me as if she did only care for what would make Bianca happy. And you do make her happy."

Maggie lowered her cup and set it down. She stared at the table top, and said in a low voice, "And she makes me happier than I ever thought I had a right to be."

"Isn't that the root of the problem then? That you don't feel you deserve to feel this way? Or do you think it is because you can't define your sexuality?"

"I have no clue Patrick. I really don't."

Patrick smiled a broad, fatherly type smile at Maggie. "Well, it is certainly not anything you have to figure out today." He paused for a moment, then asked, "So, if I may ask, are you going to tell Bianca you saw her?"

"Part of me wants to, part of me is afraid to and yet another part of me knows she will find out someday anyway. When I got up today, the last thing on my mind was Lena." She paused to take a drink. "And I do have to admit, it kind of creeps me out she followed me."

"Don't worry…I was following her." he said with a grin. "I got done with my errand sooner than I thought, and as I was walking here, I spotted you quite a distance ahead, and then I spotted Lena, and thought it best I hang back and see what she was doing."

Maggie smiled. "Chauffer…father figure…guardian angel…is there anything you don't do?"

"Cook. We already covered this, remember? Speaking of, why don't you come home with me for dinner tonight. Guilia has been asking about the both of you, and I am sure it can't be any fun sitting in that big apartment by yourself."

Maggie went silent for a moment, thinking that very subject over. He was right, it wasn't. She had barely wandered past the kitchen for fear of being swallowed up by the void that was the rest of the domicile. "You know, that does sound like an awfully good idea. However…I'm not joining you on the balcony if you're smoking." she said with a grin.

Patrick turned pale. "Thanks for that reminder." He grumbled.

May 28th – Late Night

Maggie was standing in the kitchen, fidgeting nervously. She was excited Bianca and Miranda were almost home, but she was trying to calm herself so she didn't seem too anxious. It obviously wasn't working as she had jumped at the sound of the elevator rumbling up the shaft. Unable to contain herself, she went to the entrance hall and opened the door.

The elevator doors opened and the first thing she saw was a sleeping Miranda in her stroller, followed by an exhausted looking Bianca, and finally, a suitcase ladened Patrick.

"Aw! Look what Miranda brought me from Florida! A tired mommy and a pack mule!"

"Lovely to see you too." Bianca mumbled back.

Patrick shot Maggie a look indicating Bianca, and then shook his head with an emphatic 'no'. Maggie caught the gist, and cut the usual smart ass tone. She looked at Bianca. "Are you ok? You look exhausted. Here….let me take Miranda for you." She took the stroller from Bianca and wheeled the little girl into the apartment.

"Thanks." came the tired and hoarse reply. "I think the trip was too fast of a turnaround time for her, she is all messed up in her sleeping. She was wide awake for the entire flight. She only closed her eyes in the car on the way here."

"Aw…poor thing!" Maggie said, lifting Miranda from her stroller. "Well, I will go put her to bed after I clean her up and change her. You just go on up to bed."

"Wish I could! I'm tired, but also wired at the same time. Plus, Patrick brought along some paperwork that Aurélia says needs my immediate attention. So, I think I'll take a shower and play it by ear." Bianca looked over at Patrick. "Again, thank you so much for picking me up so late."

"Not a problem ma'am. I will just take these bags upstairs for you."

"Thank you Patrick." Bianca again turned back to Maggie. "Are you going to be up for awhile?"

Maggie and Bianca started walking towards the stairs as they talked. "Yeah. I'm going to put Munchkin down, and then I have some homework to do."

"Ok, I'll knock on your door if I come back down, and I will fill you in on all the gossip."

As they crested the staircase, and turned to go to the separate bedrooms of Bianca and Miranda, she said over her shoulder, "alright, but only if you're not too tired."

"Oh trust me, there are a few things you'll want to know."

Bianca and Maggie were seated on opposite sides of the butcher block. Bianca's hair was wet and slicked back, and she was wearing a turquoise colored, silky robe. Maggie was in the ever present 'Tigers 35' jersey, and sweat pants, her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

After her shower, Bianca had gone down to the kitchen and asked Maggie to join her for some tea. She gave Maggie all the highlights of the wedding first, and then broke into the gossip.

"So let me get this straight….not only did Kendall give up on 'love' and Ethan…she's trying to marry Zach Slater, Ethan's dad for crying out loud, for 'business reasons'?" Maggie inquired, making air quotes with her fingers for the last two words.

Bianca nodded in the affirmative as she flipped through the paperwork Patrick had brought her.

"Well, would have been nice to have had that little tidbit of info about Ethan and Kendall when he was here." Maggie snarled.

"Oh trust me, he heard about that from me. Nothing I like better than an unknowingly ambushing my own sister. She did finally calm down, but I still felt bad doing that to her."

"Of course you did." Maggie shook her head and laughed. "Man, I so do not miss Pine Valley some days."

Bianca smiled, still looking at her papers. "You and I both. Things are so much calmer here. Multi-million dollar company or not, there is a lot less drama around this place."

Maggie set down her tea cup and went a little bit quiet, her mind darting back to her conversation with Lena. "Yeah….less drama."

Bianca looked up from her papers for a moment. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah…of course…just think I'm getting tired is all."

"Well, don't stay up on my account! You're not the one with jet lag."

"Actually, I need to go finish up some homework and send it over to my professor, so I think I will go do that real quick, and then hit the sack." Maggie stood up, putting her arms above her head and stretching from side to side. All done, she picked up her tea cup and walked over to the sink to wash it later.

As she turned around, she looked at Bianca and smiled as a thought crossed her mind. She stepped over to stand next to Bianca, placed her hands behind her back and while rocking back and forth on her toes, she cleared her throat."

Bianca looked up at her and laughed at her. "What?"

"I believe…" she said, biting her lower lip, "I am owed…" she squinted one eye, and looked deep in thought, "I think it's five hugs. Pay up woman!"

Bianca laughed, stood up, and pulled Maggie into a hug. Though she wouldn't say anything, even this small amount of closeness always felt good. Breaking the hug, she looked at Maggie. "Do we just do one long hug, or five distinct hugs?" she asked with a devilish grin.

"Oh five distinct hugs young lady!" her face looking stern. She stepped back, paused, and stepped forward again to have another hug. They repeated this little dance three more times until they were all done, and both in fits of giggles.

"You know what?"

"What?" Maggie replied.

"I think that's another reason I'm glad I'm no longer in Pine Valley. You're not there."

"Let's not get into a 'which came first' discussion at this hour! I would be there if you were there….if you weren't there would I be there…yadda yadda yadda." She said, waving her hands back and forth like a ball being batted back and forth.

"Oh fine…go do your homework." Bianca said with a laugh.

"Yes mom!" Maggie said, her voice deepening and her eyes shooting skyward. As she turned to leave, she felt her hand get grabbed at the last second. She looked down to see Bianca holding it.

"All kidding aside Maggie…it does feel good to be….home."

Maggie smiled warmly. "And it's good to have you home."

Their hands lingered as the silence deepened, their eyes locked, but neither said a word. Finally, in a mutual break, they parted ways.

Maggie stared at the cursor blinking at her from her laptop screen. In time with it, she said, "I mock you…you know nothing…no smarts here…ha ha…"

She groaned in frustration and stood up to walk over to her bed and grab another book from her school bag. As she picked it up, something fell out and hit her bare foot. She looked down, and not recognizing the item she picked it up…..it was Lena's business card.

Landing hard on the bed, she sat down and stared at it. She hadn't thought about it since the other day, and had actually forgotten she had it. She looked up from the card, and over at the door to the kitchen. Bianca was still in there, she could see the light from the kitchen under the door, and it would be so easy to walk in and hand this to her…

"No! Lena had said she wouldn't tell her, so why should you?" Maggie thought. "Because you also know, the way things work with you and Bianca, the truth always comes out some time."

Maggie leaned back and laid herself down on her bed. She lifted the card above her face, and held it with both hands. "Silly girl…it's just a card. Just paper with ink….why not give it to her?"

She rolled over on to her stomach, placing the card on the bed, and supporting her chin with her hands, continued to stare at it. "Yeah..a piece of paper with all the vital info needed to bring Lena back into Bianca's life…leaving you where in that picture?"

Heaving a sigh she stood up, grabbed her book, and walked back to her laptop. "That can wait, this paper can't." she mumbled out loud to herself. She plopped down in the chair, and went back to staring at the cursor.

The blinking continued to mock her, but slowly, the wording changed. "Tell her…she deserves to know…you will always question 'what if' if you don't….". She ran her hands over her pulled back hair and groaned.

Turning around in her chair, she stared at the card lying on her bed.

Bianca continued to flip papers, some of them making sense, some of them not. She was finally starting to feel tired, but not entirely. Some of the words on the pages were starting to mush together, but she thought she could make it.

She lifted her right hand, and rubbed her eyes with her fingers. When she looked down again, sitting on top of the papers was a business card written in French. She picked it up and studied it. She looked up from it, and saw Maggie standing there, hands clasped behind her back, biting her lower lip, but now, looking concerned, instead of happy as she had earlier.

Bianca smiled at her. "Is she doing ok?"

Maggie sucked in her breath, not expecting that question. "Yeah…she has a new job…her mom's better…and…..she's dating a co-worker….her name's Tola, and they have been together for awhile now."

Bianca's smile grew even wider. "Good." She handed the card back to Maggie. "If you don't mind, could you send her a couple pictures of Miranda? If you think she would want to see her that is."

"Uh….yeah…of course."

Bianca grinned. "Thanks for telling me…I appreciate it." She looked back down at her paperwork and flipped through it again. "All done with your homework?" she asked.

"What's going on here Bianca? Are you mad at me I didn't tell you sooner?"

"No…NO! Not at all!" she said looking back up.

"Well then why do you want me to email her? Why are you giving me back her card? Don't you want to contact her? She might still be in town!"

"Maggie…." she softened her voice more than usual, "if she really wanted to talk to me, don't you think she would have made the effort?"

Maggie hung her head, staring at the floor. "I guess. I….I just don't get this." She held up the card at waist height and looked at it again. "She's right here Bianca….all you have to do is call her."

Bianca sighed and stood up. She placed her hands on Maggie's shoulders, and bent at the knees to try to look into Maggie's eyes. "Will you listen to me for just one minute?" Maggie nodded yes. "I loved Lena…I really did, and a part of me always will, but that's over now. She has someone new in her life, and I have everything I need in mine for right now. I have my mom finally married off to Uncle Jack, I have a new brother, two new sisters…"

Maggie snorted a laugh, and raised her head to look at Bianca. "Lucky you. You get to claim Greenlee as family now."

Bianca smiled, and raised back to her full height, since Maggie had finally looked up. "Yep. She's family now. Let's see…I have the best relationship with Kendall that I've ever had. And then there's here. I have a beautiful daughter upstairs, and I have my best friend with me. What more do I really need right now Maggie?"

"A girlfriend." she said sheepishly.

Bianca cupped Maggie's right cheek with her left hand, and smiled at her. "Not right now….I have everything I need in my life at the moment."

Maggie finally smiled, and croaked out a hoarse "ok".

Bianca pulled Maggie into a hug and squeezed her as tightly as possible, Maggie returned the gesture. "Thank you for telling me Maggie. And someday, when you feel up to it, you can tell me the whole story of how you even ran into her."

"I can tell you know if you want."

Bianca pushed away from her. "Did you send your work off to your professor?"

"Um…well….I…I kinda got distracted by this…" she said, holding up the business card she still had in her hand.

Bianca spun Maggie around by her shoulders, and placed her hands palm first on Maggie's back, shoving her towards her bedroom door. "March! No story telling until you finish your homework young lady!"

Maggie dug her heels in and raised her voice to the imaginary pitch of a small girl. "You can't make me! I don't wanna! Read me a story! I want a glass of water! Where's my blanky?"

Laughing, Bianca said, "I take back what I said earlier….it seems I have two daughters! And here I was telling everyone at the wedding how giddy you were about being back in school!"

Maggie went spread eagle, holding on to the door frame. "You can't make me! I'm a big girl now!"

"A big girl with a foot up her behind!" Bianca raised her leg, placed her foot on Maggie's backside and uncoiled her leg shoving Maggie into her room with her foot. She reached over, slammed the door and let out a triumphant, "HA!"

Maggie scratched at the door from the other side, moaning, "Meanie!".

Bianca had to fold her arms over her stomach she was laughing so hard. Very quietly, under her gasping breath, she muttered, "She's almost back...Maggie's almost back."