Miranda's Wedding Chapter 3.
It was late that evening when Miranda and Andy finally brought their girls back to the town-house. Andy had taken the Lexus over to JFK airport to meet the evening flight, and scoop up all the luggage and the cello, along with her family.
The girls were drooping, but excited to see her, and Miranda looked exhausted but slightly high from the success of her mission. A round trip to Cincinnati and meeting Jenny and Momma had seemed a day very well spent. Her girls were now home, the family was safely together again, and darling Andy was waiting at the gate to meet her.
Cara had cooked them a turkey lasagne and left it in the warm oven ready to serve, and they plated up the food and took it through to the family room to eat on their laps. The girls never stopped talking and telling Andy all about their amazing week riding and building hen huts, and how they envied her growing up in such a magical place as Cincinnati . Andrea was a little stunned. Compared to their lives, her childhood had been mundane with a capital M.
When they had eaten, she took them upstairs to bed, and quietly talked them down from their high-octane excitement. She could see they were over-tired. She made them think about resuming school the next day, and how everything would be back to normal. She wanted them settled because she needed to talk at length to Miranda about the wedding double booking, without the children eaves-dropping. Then she remembered.
"Have your Dad and Cindy been in touch this week?"
"Oh yes. Everything's fine, he says, except Cindy has got something about clamping on at the moment. She's gone into hospital." Said Caroline. "Nothing to worry about," said Cassidy, "that's what Dad told us."
"When was this?"
"Last Wednesday. They went home from their honeymoon early because they had to get the clamps on or something."
"Goodnight darlings. Mommy will be up in ten minutes to give you a final goodnight kiss."
She turned off their lights and quietly closed their bedroom doors, then flew down the stairs back to Miranda.
"The twins have just told me, though they obviously didn't understand how serious it is, that Cindy has pre-eclampsia and is in hospital! She's been there five days now!"
"Oh my God!" At least Miranda replied with the appropriate level of concern. "I was just thinking about them. I'll call Geoff now."
"Maybe texting might be better. If he's in the hospital with her."
"Then can you do it? You know how bad I am at texting."
"Sure."
Andy rapidly spelled out a message on Miranda's phone and they sent it off. Then Miranda went upstairs to settle the twins with a final kiss while Andrea anxiously watched the phone, as she gathered up the supper dishes and put them in the dish-washer.
She heard the phone buzz and vibrate as a message came back.
"Yes. In ICU. They may induce the baby tomorrow or do a C-section. BP very high. Am v. worried now. Cindy's Mom hysterical. No help. Can you come?"
"Oh no, Geoff assumes he is talking to Miranda! Surely he doesn't need her to go up to Boston right now," thought Andy, knowing how truly tired Miranda must be.
The object of her affections came back into the kitchen shortly afterwards and Andy brought her up to speed. Miranda said, "Text him back and ask if he can take a call. I obviously need to have a word."
When the second text had gone, there was an immediate ringtone on the phone, and Miranda picked it up, pinching the top of her nose to ease her eyes as she did so. Geoff had come out into the hospital lobby to call and was obviously in a fine old state.
"They have Cindy confined to bed with her feet up, and a permanent Vital signs monitor ticking away all the time. Her mother is having a tizzy fit. Look can you come up? I know it's an imposition, but I can only look after one of them, and Cindy is my priority. They think they should see to it that the baby is born tomorrow, even though it's a week early. They seem really worried about Eclampsia setting in."
Miranda could tell her ex-husband was seriously distraught, which was a sign things were bad, as he had usually been the calmer one of the two of them, when they were married. Although rather crucially he had actually passed out in the delivery room when the twins were born. She took a deep breath.
"O.K. I need a night's sleep right now. Let's talk this through first thing tomorrow morning, and if you really need me, I can leave Andy here in charge of the twins and I'll fly up to Boston for the day."
"Thanks girl. You're the best. I know Cindy will feel much better if you are here. Her mother tries hard but simply drives her crazy."
Miranda put the phone away from her ear and shook her head at the incongruity of it all. But it was too late now to fret about. She turned out the lights, smiled at the baby animals curled up asleep together in the basket under the kitchen table, and followed Andrea back up towards the light at the top of the stairs. At least wherever Andy was, there would always be peace and joy, well mostly always.
She could hear Andy vigorously cleaning her teeth in the bathroom, and began to disrobe. The rigours of the day had left her feeling stiff and very crumpled, so she decided to shower before going to bed. She entered their en-suite bathroom behind Andy and teasingly goosed her up as she stood in front of the wash-basin.
Andy's mouth was full of toothpaste, so she couldn't do more than squeak in protest, and watch in absolute appreciation as Miranda slipped past her, discarding the last of her underwear as she went, and stepped into the shower, turning on the hot tap full-blast.
They had an indistinct conversation over the sound of the water. Andy thought Miranda asked "How was your fitting at Runway? Any problems with the dress?" though she wasn't sure. Andy replied cautiously, "No, that's fine, but there is just one big thing we need to talk about."
Miranda misheard her, and responded, "Brilliant, I'm way past talking. Just show me my bed and lead me to it."
She came out of the shower and took the large towel which Andy had ready for her.
"Honestly darling, I think the jet-lag has really caught up with me. Come to bed and let me sleep on your beautiful breast. I'm past logical thought and I may have to fly to Boston first thing in the morning."
"Not a good time to bring up the snafu over the wedding booking then," thought Andy. She wasn't altogether sorry, as the thought of Miranda's reaction on finding out about Emily and Serena's invasion of their special day, wasn't a pleasant one. She do it first thing in the morning.
She led Miranda back to their bedroom, and lovingly dried off the last of the shower droplets from her shoulders. Then helping her into pyjamas, and slipping on her own night-shirt, one with a picture of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet on it, she rolled them both into bed, and turned off the lamp. Miranda was asleep almost before she could draw up the covers, and within minutes Andy was as well.
But there was no time to talk about the wedding arrangements the following morning either. Miranda, having had a solid seven hours sleep, was her old dynamic self again, and was storming out of the house on the way to Boston, while Andy was scarcely awake and the girls were still dreamily stirring peanut butter into their oatmeal. She'd obviously been up at dawn and made some decisions as well as phone-calls.
"You three look after each other now, and girls, Cara will be arriving soon to take you to school and collect you. God willing, I'll be back before bed-time with news of your new little brother. Andy I'm leaving you with a lovely quiet day to complete editing your novel."
Roy had manifested himself at the door to take Miranda through the traffic to the airport, and she'd parted from Andy and the twins with big hugs and quick kisses all round. After she'd gone, Caroline said happily, "Almost like old times. Super Mom leaving the house before eight every morning. Are you really going to work on your novel, Andy? When can Cassie and I read it?"
Andy thought about the several explicit sex scenes within her novel and smiled enigmatically. "Oh it's so boring. You wouldn't like it at all," she lied blandly. "There's nothing about children or ponies, or anything much. Maybe my next book will be more up your street."
Cassie had her mind on other things. "I do hope Cindy is going to be OK. And Bumpy. Is Mom going to Boston to help her push him out?"
"Well, not exactly, more to be a friend and stay with Cindy's Mom while he's being born."
"It's great that Mom and Dad are friends now. That's down to you Andy. When Stephen lived here, we were never allowed to mention Dad."
It was the first time in many months that the twins had even mentioned Stephen, and Andy's head shot up in response. Two little faces looked at her over their porridge bowls. "Can we tell you a secret, Andy?" asked Cassie.
"Of course."
"Well don't tell Mom, but our friend Sally texted us in Ohio to say that stuff about him and Mom getting divorced was all over the newspapers last week, really horrible stuff about Mum."
"We didn't want Granny Jen to know, as she'd be upset, so we decided to take her and Grandpa off camping for a few days away from the TV. They seemed really keen when we mentioned it, so it was a great plan. We don't want Mom to know about all of this. It was great you were in Italy last week."
"My darling girls, you are the most kind and thoughtful poppets. But don't worry about your Mommy. She did hear about it, but it hasn't bothered her too much. Let's forget about Stephen now. He won't ever be coming back here, anyway, and the wedding can now go ahead without any problems."
"Will your wedding be like Dad's? We're getting quite used to being bridesmaids now."
"Well, no, not exactly. But I promise it will be fun. Now let's get ready for school. You have exactly fifteen minutes to pack your bags and finish your teeth and hair before Cara arrives."
A frantic twenty minutes then ensued, but then silence fell over the house, and Andy picked up both her puppy and Pumpkin, and carried them out into the yard.
"'A lovely quiet day'? I don't think so somehow," she said to them as they explored the garden together. She had so wanted to run the new arrangements past Miranda before taking any action, but there just hadn't been an appropriate moment. Then, as if on cue, Emily's number flashed up on her phone as it started to buzz, and she knew a load of angst and rearranging of virtually every aspect of their wedding was coming down the road to meet her.
"Hello Em," she said cautiously. "How are you?"