Happiness is subjective chapter 3
The Ex is an Ass, always
Andy thought she was dreaming when she felt the feather light touch on her bare back up her spine to her neck. The touch was followed by soft and tender bites from the mouth she knew and adored so much.
"Wake up, darling." Miranda whispered against Andy's skin making her shiver and then Andy rolled over onto her back.
"I don't wanna." Andy replied groggily.
"Its 7:15 in the morning, Andrea, don't you have to go to work?"
"Not until 10," Miranda's mouth nibbling around her bellybutton was, making Andy to become more and more awake, "I'm waiting for a source to confirm some information."
Miranda stopped and looked up at Andy with a serious expression on her face, "Andrea, you're a respected journalist and a mother, so can you please try to stay out of police lock-ups?"
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Andy assured her, "now come here," Andy grabbed Miranda by the Hermes scarf dangling conveniently near her fingers and brought them close together, "I want you."
"I can't Andrea, I have a meeting at 8." Miranda answered as best as she could with Andy's deepening of the kiss, making it hard to be rational.
"You're the boss, Miranda." Andy answered, moving her lips to Miranda's neck to the exact point where she knew Miranda could not resist for long.
"That is the exactly reason why I can't be late and anyway, Roy will be here in fifteen minutes."
"Fifteen minutes?" Andy smiled wildly as a knowing glint made her eyes sparkle, "we can do a lot of good stuff while you wait." She finished, dragging Miranda more and more on top of her.
"I really can't darling". Miranda stopped Andy, covering Andy´s mouth with her hand, before she caved in and give up the idea of getting to work on time.
"Ok, fine," Andy took Miranda's hand off her mouth, "so, how about we have lunch together and then: Me, you and your office couch for dessert," she waggled her eyebrows, "let's say around 1 pm?"
Miranda only chuckled softly, gave Andy a quick peck on the cheek and stood up from the bed.
"I'll take that as a yes," Andy yelled as Miranda closed the door behind her. Andy turned over and fell back to sleep.
xxxxxxx
Andy was just exiting the elevator on the Runway Magazine floor of the Elias-Clarke Building when she found Sarah chatting with the receptionist while holding tree boxes and two hangers loaded with clothes.
"Hey there," Andy greeted her friend, making Sarah jump.
"Jesus, Andy," Sarah said trying to stop a box from falling to the floor, "sneaky much?"
"Want some help?" Andy giggled pointing to Sarah's load while the both of them started to walk down the corridors leading to Miranda's office.
"No, thank you. God forbid that Miranda would catch me making her precious wife do slave's job." Sarah joked and Andy shook her head at Sarah´s melodramatic choice of words.
"So my dear friend, are you going to tell me what is going on or I will have to torture you?" Andy asked bluntly.
"I have no idea what are you talking about." Sarah evaded the question while juggling her load.
"Cut the crap Sarah, I know something is going on between you and Emily. You two are acting very strange since Nigel´s birthday party.
"There is nothing going on between us," Sarah stopped to walk, "it's nothing really; after you left, Nigel and I were in bed together drinking and having a good time..."
"Did you sleep with Nigel?" Andy almost shouted the words in her shock at the possibility.
"Eww no, we were drinking and then Emily joined us, after that we left together, we shared a cab and I dropped her off. End of story." Sarah tried to resume walking but Andy held her back by gripping a hanger.
"That is more, I can feel it." Andy pressed a little more.
After a few deep breaths, Sarah finally looked at Andy, "Ok Andy, she asked if I wanted to have one more drink, so we got even more drunk, we had sex and the next morning she didn't want to talk about it and kicked me out of her apartment and that is what happened and I really appreciate if you would forget about it." Sarah finished in a serious tone and started walking again and this time Andy let her go, though following right behind like a bloodhound on a scent.
"I'm sorry, I don't want to intrude," Andy said and held Sarah's arm so she could stop again, just a few steps from Miranda's office.
"Then don't Andy, my life is already very complicated."
Andy studied Sarah´s face for a few seconds until Sarah looked away, not wanting Andy to see her cheeks begin to flush.
"Oh my god, you're in love with her." Andy put her hand over her mouth as she realised this.
"Shush, don't you know these walls have ears?" Sarah stomped her heel on the floor, "Just drop it." Sarah whispered fiercely.
"For now I will, but we will talk about this soon," Andy let go of her best friend's arm, "is Miranda busy?" Andy asked and both of them started to walk yet again.
"You will love this," Sarah gave her a sidelong glance before she shared the information, "Nigel called and said the girls' father showed up when they were having a run through and it seems that he is still there."
At the news Andy took a deep breath and opened the main office door so Sarah could pass her with the load of Runway goodies balanced precariously between them.
"Hi Emily," Andy winked at Emily, but didn't wait for an answer, she just continued her path towards Miranda's office.
"Wait, Andy." Emily tried in vain to stop her.
"Hello," Andy said but when she didn't see Miranda at her desk, so she walked to the side of the office and saw Miranda who turned her head to face Andy. Leaning in slightly, with her hand in the back of the sofa, Andy gave Miranda a kiss. The kiss was slow and full of passion. One that clearly said, 'she is mine and no one else's; that kind of kiss.
Miranda was the first to break the kiss.
"Hi my love," Andy repeated more softly and smiled at her wife.
"Hello Andrea," Miranda replied a little surprised at Andy´s attitude.
Jonathan straightened up his tie and cleared his throat.
Andy then turned to the side. "Hi, Jonathan, what brings you here?" She asked and sat very close to Miranda, bringing her wife´s hand to rest on her lap.
Andy had to admit it, Miranda had good taste in men when she choose her ex-husband. He was about 5'10, red-haired and shinning blue eyes; for sure the girls had much of their looks from him than from Miranda.
"Hi, Andrea," he started, "I came to see if Miranda was free to have lunch so we can discuss vacation agreements for the girls."
"I´m sorry, but we already have plans to have lunch together," Andy said in her normal voice and leaned to give Miranda another kiss on the cheek.
"Miranda already told me," he said.
It took him a long while to get used to Miranda's new lover but with time he had to agree Andy was good for Miranda and for his daughters; they were happy around her, so he had to accept it and tried be civil as much as he could in tolerating Andy and visa versa, since is no secret that Andy disliked his guts. Also, now that the boys were in the picture too and he liked them, he had to make an extra effort for the peace remain between them.
"And also, I came to ask if I could take the boys and my girls to go see the holiday on ice this Saturday, it's the last presenta…"
"It's not your weekend with the girls," Andy interrupted him.
"I'm aware of that, thank you," he responded with a hint on annoyance in his voice. "It's not my weekend with my daughters but since I had promised the boys I would take them, I would like to keep my word."
"We will take them ourselves." Andy stated simply.
"Don't you think you were a little too severe with the boys about this punishment?"
"Well, Jonathan," Andy started with her best 'fuck off' smile, "since you have no say about the way Miranda and I raise our boys I won't waste my breath explaining the reasons I grounded them."
"Andrea," Miranda looked at Andy with a knowing glare.
"No Miranda, its ok," he turned his attention to Miranda with a smug smile plastered on his face, "she is right, it's not my call to talk about the boys upbringing."
"Exactly." Andy said.
"Well, I have a meeting that I have to attend." He said fixing his tie again.
As soon as Jonathan started to stand so he could leave he heard the distinct English accent of Emily.
"I'm so sorry Miranda, but she didn't want to wait." Emily rushed as she spoke.
"Hello Mimi," Evelyn said cheerfully and let herself in into Miranda's office, her smile growing bigger when she saw Andy close to Miranda, but that expression changed immediately when she saw who was in her daughter´s office too. "Oh I knew this morning was cloudy for a reason," she said looking at Jonathan. "Hello, Butt-Face."
"Hello, Satan," he fired back, narrowing his eyes malevolently.
"Evelyn." Miranda gave her mother the same glare she had used on Andrea a while ago.
"You know, I was thinking about you yesterday when I was reading my emails, there was an advertisement about Viagra for half the price." Evelyn said seriously and Andy chuckled.
"I know the feeling, I unfortunately think about you all the time I see Botox ads as well." Jonathan replied with a sarcastic edge in his voice.
"Both of you, stop." Miranda said up standing from the sofa and Andy did the same walking over to Evelyn to give her a warm hug.
"Oh my dear, I missed you," Evelyn hugged Andy, "Miranda didn't have much luck or good taste in her previews marriage choices, but with you she won in lottery, you're stunning." Evelyn put a hand on the side of Andy´s cheek as she said the words.
"Thank you, Evelyn," Andy leaned in to give her mother-in-law a kiss on the cheek.
"Anyway," Jonathan fixed his tie once more. "Miranda, nice to see you again," he said taking Miranda's hand and giving it a kiss, obviously knowing Andy wouldn't like the action. "Andrea," he said and obviously didn't make a move to do the same gesture with her. "Satan." He nodded at Evelyn and then left without another word.
As Jonathan walked away, Andy turned to Evelyn, "What the hell is that annoying mannerism with his tie?"
"I know! I thought I was the only one who thought that was extremely annoying." Evelyn laughed out loud at that.
"And what the hell just happened in here?" Miranda asked, looking at the two partners in crime before her.
"What did I do?" Evelyn asked placing a hand on her chest, faking innocence.
"Both of you were completely out of line, with this inappropriate and childish behavior." Miranda snapped crossing her arms and glaring at them.
"Excuse me?" Andy exclaimed. "So it's fine for him to come in here whenever he pleases and I have to back off?"
"We were talking about something important regarding our children Andrea, we were not on the beach having margaritas."
"You're my wife, Miranda, not his any more, in case you don't remember." Andy said resentfully and Miranda could not quite pick out the stronger emotion in her voice; was it anger or sadness?
"Hey, now, enough," Evelyn said reaching out placing a hand on Andy´s arm, "lets go have lunch, my treat," she added brightly. Andy still had her eyes locked with Miranda's, "I'm dying to see my boys, they must be so big by now, it's like what, two months since I last saw them?" Evelyn tried to change the subject and Andy just smiled sadly at her.
"I lost my appetite; you two go and we will talk later at home." Andy said and gave Evelyn another hug, "it's good to have you here, the twins ask about you all the time."
"I brought them lots of toys and for the girls, new cell phones that I bought in Tokyo. Can you believe these silly things can now take pictures under water?" Evelyn was trying hard to make peace between the two women.
"I'm sure they will love everything," Andy smiled and sighed, "I've got to go," she gave Miranda one last look and walked away.
"Andrea," Miranda called after her, but Andy was already out of sight.
Miranda walked to her desk, sitting down and leaning back on her chair, eyes closed praying that Evelyn would not start talking.
"Mimi," Evelyn started.
No prayers answered today.
"Drop it, mother." Miranda opened her eyes and gave Evelyn a serious, icy stare.
"What? I was just going to advice you to not repeat the same mistakes you did before, you will never find another person like Andrea, who loves you so much and who can keep up with your shitty moods."
"I said, drop it." Miranda said firmly.
"Ok, shutting up now." Evelyn mimed zipping up her lips, making Miranda roll her eyes.
A few minutes passed, with Miranda now working on her laptop and Evelyn clearly bored and desperate to say something.
"I'm hungry, can we go now? I still have to meet my Bridge friends."
Evelyn just couldn't be silent for long and Miranda didn't have much choice other than ask for her coat and bag and go have lunch with her mother.
xxxxxxx
Around 6:20 PM Andy finally arrived home. After the argument with Miranda the rest of her day had been simply horrible. Besides not taking any of Miranda's calls or those of her assistants for that matter, nothing had gone well for her at work as either. To add this chaos, the information she was expecting hadn't worked out as she wanted to.
Andy was checking her mail that Joanna had the habit of leaving on the table closest to the stairs. She tore a letter open and started to read it, with a slight frown between her eyes, when she heard the door open and a moment later Miranda came into view holding her Birkin bag in one hand and her cell phone close to her ear with the other.
"I don't care if you have to scale Mount Everest, just make it happen, Sarah." Miranda finished, not waiting for an answer before shutting the phone.
"Hi," Miranda put her coat and bag onto the chair next to the door.
"Hi, you're early." Andy replied distractedly and looked back at the mail in her hands.
"I know. Evelyn wants to take us all out for dinner so I thought that we could wait for the boys to come back from Judo practice and get the girls on our way to the restaurant."
"Sure," Andy said and quickly put the letter she had been reading between her other mail.
Miranda took a step closer to Andy and put a hand on the small of her back. "I'm sorry for today."
"I'm sorry too, I was childish, I just…" Andy exhaled a tired sigh, "… the guy gets on my nerves."
"You have nothing to worry about it, Andrea, Jonathan is a good father to the girls, I can't just banish him from my life." Miranda said quietly while rubbing small circles on Andy´s back.
"I know, I just hope he finds a new Barbie bimbo to date soon, so he stops being so friendly with you." Andy finally looked up at Miranda, "I wouldn't survive if something bad happened with us because of him." Sadness and unease were evident in her voice.
"I love you, Andrea, you don't have to ever worry about something like that, happening. I'm faithful to you and our family," Miranda said firmly, and the look in her eyes gave Andy the sense of security that she desperately needed.
"I love you, too." Andy smiled at her.
"Let's try to forget about today and enjoy some time with our family." Miranda said in reply and brought Andy´s body closer and gave her a sweet kiss on her cheek and small ones down her neck and Andy just melted at the contact.
They spent a few minutes in the same position, with Miranda holding Andy in her arms, neither of them wanting to break apart, but they would had to go soon to meet Evelyn.
"I'm going to get some water, do you want something?" Miranda asked breaking the silence and Andy simply shook her head.
Miranda gave Andy another kiss and then let go of her, but as soon as she reached the anteroom that lead to the kitchen the front door opened again and Joanna walked in with two sweaty twin boys in tow still wearing their little Judo outfits.
The boys were holding Joanna´s hands but as soon as they saw their mothers were already home they let go of Joanna with happy smiles on their faces.
"Mommy, mama," the boys yelled and ran to them, but contrary what Andy expected, the boys ran past her and continued onwards until they were enveloped by Miranda's arms in a hug.
"Hello babies," Miranda kisses her twins.
"You know," Andy put her mail on the table, and turned to them, "I had to carry you little brats for nine months and then suffer hours of labor pain and you run to your mother first?" Andy put her best fake angry face.
"Mama is jelus." Maximilian whispered loudly enough to everyone to hear.
"Yes darling, your mama is jealous." Miranda smiled kindly at them, "now go give your mama a kiss, we are going to pick your sisters at the ballet and have dinner with your grandmother." She explained patiently.
"Yay!" they yelled and Miranda let go of them.
"No yelling, boys." Miranda raised an eyebrow to give emphasis to her point and the boys ran to Andy´s arms this time.
"Oh, now you run to me, huh?" She lifted her sons, tickling them in the process.
"I love you, mama," Mikael grinned sweetly.
"I love you both. Now go shower," she put the boys on the floor again, "stinky boys" Andy held her nose in jokingly.
"We don't stinky mama, we are babies." Maximilian said, explaining his logic and then both boys followed Joanna up the stairs to their bedroom.
"I'm going to bring my mail in my office and then read my emails, you call me when they are ready to go." Andy said and left the hallway to head for her office.
xxxxxxxx
–Outback Steakhouse–
When they arrived at the restaurant Evelyn was already there waiting for them and the twin boys just for a change, ran to greet their grandma.
"Grandma," the boys yelled excitedly and Evelyn only had time to move her chair away before welcoming the boys in her arms.
"Oh my God, who are you?" She asked the boys.
"It's us, grandma." Mikael replied, confused.
"Can't be. You're too big to be my adored grandsons." Evelyn joked and the boys squirmed in a fit of giggles.
"Hey, grandma," Carolina said leaning over to give Evelyn a hug as well.
"Hi sweetie, you look beautiful Caroline and so do you Cassy," Evelyn brought the other girl-twin into her arms.
The family time was going well, Evelyn gave the boys one toy each, a Ben 10 talking doll, the rest she would give them the next day since Miranda had forbidden Evelyn to make the boys too excited with toys and therefore mess up their bedtime. To the girls she gave the new cell phones.
Cassidy and Mikael were on Andy´s lap and Caroline behind them holding Maximilian while Evelyn was taking pictures of them, all. The girls were thrilled with their new gifts and couldn't wait to upload the family pictures to their Facebook pages.
When the food arrived everyone started to eat and girls only sat still when Andy told she was going to take the phones away if they didn't stop to play with them and have their dinner.
"Mommy?" Maximilian put his little hand on Miranda's cheek so she could give him her undivided attention.
"Yes, darling." Miranda looked at her son and watched as with his other hand he got a very stick with cheese French fry and offered it to her.
"Why can't we have dinner here every day?" He asked excited at the idea. It was a rare event to them to be spoiled with greasy French fries with bacon and cheese.
"Because I don't want you to have a heart attack before you reach your fifteen." Miranda said and accepted the fries offered by him, she just didn't have the heart to say no to such kind gesture.
Cassidy and Caroline had Mikael´s high chair placed between them, so they could assist their little brother with dinner even when he had told them countless time that he could eat on his own. He was just telling her sisters and Evelyn that they would have a plant a tree and save the world day tomorrow at Dalton, and then they would draw and make a collage with popcorn.
Miranda noticed Andy was quiet, not like her when they were having family time. She didn't even take anything from Miranda's plate like she usually did. Miranda whispered something into Maximilian´s ear who was sitting on her lap and then she put him on the floor and he scampered over to where Andy was sitting. He lifted his arms indicating he wanted her to pick him up.
"Hi baby, you're getting tired?" Andy asked as he dropped his head onto her shoulder.
Max then whispered something into her ear and leaned back to look at her, grinning wildly at her and Andy could not help but smile back at at her son.
"I love you and your mommy, very much as well, baby." Andy said to him and looked over with a weak smile at Miranda who was sitting just to the other side of Maximilian´s chair.
"Are you sad, mama?" He asked sounding worried and Andy looked at him again; he was still very young but he was also extremely perceptive.
"No baby, I'm just tired." Andy didn't want to make her son worried. She just couldn't stop thinking about the letter she received earlier.
"You don't have to read a story for us tonight." He offered and Andy decided not to think about the letter and the implications of it and just enjoy the night as it happened. She was living her dreams, with a wife who loved her and a family that she adored, and they would always support her unconditionally.
"Hum, can you read for me and your sisters then? She asked smiling at him. "Until we fall asleep."
"Mika and I can try, we will finish 'The tango makes three' book." He was now bouncing with excitement on Andy´s lap.
"Baby, we already read that book four times."
"I like the penguins mama," Max began, "can we have a penguin?" He asked with his dark blue eyes shinning with the possibility of a new pet.
Andy let out a laugh, "I don't think your mommy would like that, but you can ask her later."
"Yay!" Max yelled and Andy hugged him, tickling his sides and the both of them laughed.
Miranda kept looking at her son and wife interaction, she wished she could make Andy laughs and be happy all the time but life just not work as we always plan.
"Mika?" Max called to his brother who was trying to feed Caroline some of his ice cream, "mama said mommy will let us have a penguin."
Miranda was still lost in thought when Maximilian´s words finally reached her ears.
"What?" Miranda snapped, and Andy couldn't help but laugh out loud of Miranda's hysterically funny expression.
Wiping tears that had escaped from laughing so hard, Andy shook off her melancholy and decided that nothing else mattered for now except her family.
TBC…