Hey there ! Here is a new chapter that I hope you'll like !

So sorry for the delay !

...

"Emily." Sharon gasped and ran to her daughter , tears in her own eyes too.

Both women dropped their handbags on the floor. Their hug was strong and a big mix of tears, smiles and hair.

"I missed you." Emily whispered.

"I missed you too, honey. I'm so glad you're here."

"Well, I wanted to come but that's a surprise only thanks to Andy." Emily took a step back and laughed through her tears. She saw Andy a little behind her mother and let go of her completely.

Andy walked to her and put both of his hands on her back when Emily threw her arms around his neck.

Sharon's breath caught in her throat. She saw Andy whispering things into her daughter's ear, probably to smooth her because Emily had started to cry again. She laughed at something he said, she pulled back and kissed him on the cheek.

"Mom? You okay?"

Sharon nodded, "Yes, why?"

"Well, you're crying." Emily said.

Andy came close to Sharon and wiped her tears away with his fingertips.

"I'm happy. I'm just happy. Thank you, I... Thank you."

Sharon knew that her kids would always tease her about the PDA rule, but right now she didn't care. She put both hands on Andy's cheeks and kissed him long and sweet. When she pulled back, she expected her daughter to make a comment but instead, Emily just looked at them with tears back in her eyes and looked at Andy with an 'I've told you so' look. Sharon very intrigued but said nothing. She would have plenty of time tonight to figure what those two had been up to.

"Shall we?" Andy asked taking Emily's bag in one hand and Sharon's hand in the other.

"I can't believe you let Andy blindfolded you." Emily said laughing.

"Well, I trust him." She answered and squeezed his hand.

The trip back to Sharon's condo was nice and Sharon and Emily chatted happily, including Andy in the conversation. He was glad that Emily sounded better than the last time he talked to her on the phone.

When he stopped his car in Sharon's parking lot, Emily jumped out it.

"I'm so excited to see my little brother."

"He is probably home by now. So you can run to him." Sharon teased her daughter.

Andy laughed and grabbed Sharon's hand when he was done locking his car.

Back in the condo, Rusty greeted his sister and they both go into the boy's room to have a chat.

"We should start diner." Andy said.

Sharon waited until Andy was facing the sink to sneaked up behind him and put her arms around his waist.

"Thank you." She whispered against the skin of his neck. Andy put his hands on hers where they rested against his stomach.

"Well, you're welcome but I didn't do anything actually." He turned in her arms and put his hands in her hair.

She hummed before answering him, "I don't know exactly why yet, but I'm sure that's not entirely true."

After dinner, Rusty excused himself, he had promised Gus to spend the evening with him, so that his sister could have his room.

After closing the door behind her son, Sharon turned to her daughter who had become silent on the couch.

"Honey? You okay?

Emily nodded but her eyes started filling with big tears.

"I'm going to take a shower." Andy said standing from the couch.

"Andy, you don't have to..." Emily started to say but Andy cut her off, "To what? I'm just going to take a shower." He squeezed her shoulder while passing by her. He also put his hand on Sharon's hair before he disappeared down the corridor.

Sharon sat closer to her daughter and pulled her in her arms. As soon as Emily was securely wrapped against her mother, the girl let her tears fall. Sharon rubbed soothing circles on her daughter's back.

"Oh, baby girl... You okay?"

"Yes." Emily sobbed, "I feel ridiculous right now."

"Don't be, what's wrong?"

"I... I fell in love with someone."

Sharon smiled sadly, "And that's a problem because...?"

"You want the long or short story?"

"Andy is a real teenage girl in the bathroom... We have plenty of time."

"Well, some time ago, I met a man. Sam. He is English and a teacher in art history. We met when he bought one of his class in the theater I was dancing into at the moment. Oh, Mom, it was so nice! I mean, I've always been a romantic but it was like love at first sight. We talked for hours that afternoon. !then we went for coffee. I saw him every day for almost two weeks. One night, he asked me to dinner and it was just perfect. After that, we went back to my apartment and..." Emily felt the knot in her throat came back.

Sharon caressed her daughter's hair before whispering to her, "and then you made love." She felt Emily nodded against her and heard her quiet sob. "Did he leave you after that?"

Emily shook her head, "no... But I wish he had. We saw each other every day, when we were not together we were either texting or speaking on the phone."

"Then what happened, honey?"

"He is married." Emily whispered and felt rather than heard her mother's gasp. Emily quickly looked back at her mother, "I swear to you Mom, I didn't know."

"Oh, of course not honey." She wiped her daughter's tears.

"He has a family in England. A beautiful wife and 2 kids. But I didn't know it. I wouldn't have done it otherwise, I would have stayed away, I wouldn't have left myself fall in love with him." Emily cried miserably against her mother again. Sharon felt her heart break for her daughter. "He wants to leave his wife. But I don't want him to. I don't want to break his family. I love him, but I won't be the "other woman". I..." Emily's voice broke again and Sharon gathered her closer.

"Oh, honey, it will be alright. Shhh... you're alright." Sharon had seen her daughter with a broken heart before, but that was not the same, and Sharon knew it.

"He discovered that I know everything. He wanted to talk to me but I couldn't... I just couldn't... I wanted to spend time with you, so I called Andy, because then I could surprise you."

"And it's a great surprise, honey, no matter the circumstances." Sharon dropped a kiss into her daughter's hair.

Emily wiped her tears with a little smile and then turned to her mother, "You know, the other day, while I was talking with Andy on the phone I called him "stepfather" and I think he kinda freaked out."

"You did? He did?" Sharon asked surprised.

"Yeah, but not in the bad sense of the word!" Emily added when she her mother's face.

"In what way then?"

"Well, when I called him that, I explained to him that to me, it was a serious thing you know... And for you too, otherwise you wouldn't have let us meet him."

Sharon nodded.

"And I told him that I had talked to him more in the few months you've been together than I talked to my real dad. But then he told me that he was no better than Jack."

Sharon had to contain the tears that were threatening to fall. She knew that Andy probably had doubts about their relationship but it was the first time that she truly heard about them.

"And you want to know the very cute part?" Emily asked.

Sharon just nodded against her, incapable of speaking.

"Well, he told me that he don't want to make amends or replace our father, but that if Ricky and I want to give him a chance, he would do anything to keep our trust because he isn't planning on leaving any time soon." Emily smiled and looked up at her mother who had a blank face.

"Mom? You okay?"

"Yeah, just tired. I think I'll go to bed now if it's alright with you. Good night, honey." Sharon said quickly before dropping a kiss on her daughter's head. Emily muttered a quiet "good night" surprised by her mother's attitude.

Sharon stood in front of her bedroom door for a few seconds. She could hear Andy moving on the other side. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

TBC...