Happiness is subjective chapter 4
Popcorn, anyone?
Andy had been looking at a blank screen for a good fifteen minutes now. She had a deadline for a freelance job for the New York Times, but she just couldn't concentrate enough to write. To make it worse, her phone was ringing nonstop to the great delight of her assistant, Daniel, who was trying to work on his laptop and not to laugh at his boss's face each time her cell or work line rang. She had just finished talking to her brother who promised he would come to visit her and his nephews a few days later, when her cell phone started to ring again.
"I hate my job, I totally hate my job." Sarah said as soon as Andy picked up.
"Hello to you too, Sarah."
"What did you do to Miranda? She is in a terrible mood," Sarah accused her friend.
"I'm innocent this time, I didn't do anything."
"It can't be. She just arrived from the bikini photo shoot and she made a poor model cry saying that she looked like a Sumo player wearing a bikini and she fired two people of the publishing department of Elias-Clarke," Sarah stopped so she could breathe after her tirade. "You're not depriving her of sex, are you?" Sarah asked.
Andy couldn't help but laugh, "no I'm not, in fact we had an incredibly night of makeup sex last night after the whole Jonathan fiasco."
"Ok Andy, I don't need to know about my best friend and my boss's sex life, I already have enough traumas with her terrorizing me on a daily basis."
"Why do you still work for Miranda? You can get a job at any place you want now, I can hire you to work for me here at the Mirror."
"I like what I do Andy, I like to work here," Sarah said honestly.
"Yeah Sarah, as if working for Miranda was the eighth wonder of the world."
"It's not, she is hard to work for but she expects something from me. She demands and pushes me to do my work properly and I like what I do here, I always wanted to work in this world and you know it."
"Ok, I got your point," Andy said, "but then, my friend, you have to deal with her temper today."
"I knooooow," Sarah grunted over the phone.
"How are you and Emily doing?" Andy asked and Sarah grunted again.
"The same, she only talks to me about work and nothing more."
"You know she will never return your feelings, right?"
"I know," Sarah said sadly and then she cleared her throat, "I gotta go, you have a good day."
"Bye Sarah. I will try to talk to Miranda later."
"Kay, bye."
Andy took a deep breath. "Ok, let me put my brain to good use," Andy said more to herself than to Daniel and again her phone started to ring. "Damn it," Andy said, frustrated, but her face lightened up immediately when she read the ID name shining.
"Give up, Andy." Daniel chuckled.
"Hey baby," Andy said it with a smile which gave immediately away who was on the other side of the line to Daniel.
"So whipped," Daniel whispered with a smile and turned his attention back to his laptop.
"How is your day going?" Miranda asked as a way of greeting.
"Not so good," Andy leaned back on her chair, "I'm trying to write my article but so far, nothing."
"I'm sure you will do your job with excellence."
"Yeah, we'll see, now, do you have time to have a quick lunch later? You still owe me for yesterday," Andy teased.
"Do I? Because I was pretty sure I had paid you with extra fees last night," Miranda teased back.
"This time your debt will only be paid when I say so," Andy had the most adorable grin on her face.
"Be careful Andrea, the pride precedes the fall."
Andy laughed heartily, "Anyway, do you have time or not?"
"I'm sorry darling, I just came from a terrible Photo shoot and I have a board meeting in half an hour."
"It's ok, I wouldn't have much time anyway, Daniel and I are expecting a phone call from a source to meet him later."
"Ok, I will let you do your work now. Have a good day, Andrea. I love you."
"I love you too," Andy replied and disconnected the phone.
"And I love you three," Daniel said with a giggle making Andy roll her eyes at his silliness.
"Get out you jerk," she said putting on her best fake angry boss face, "and come back only to tell me when Matthias has called you, I'm going to turn my phone off so I can write this article or I will never get it done." She did what she said and put the phone inside her purse.
"Oki doke," Daniel said as he shut off his laptop and walked out of Andy´s office to his own desk.
-Dalton school-
"Ok class," Ms. Steinbrecher, the main teacher of the class started trying to get the attention of the little devils, "now that we had planted the trees and watched the video about how nature needs our help, we are going to do the collage with the popcorn. You have to create a picture of what you like the most in nature, ok?"
"Ok," the whole class screamed in union.
"Joshua," Ms. Steinbrecher said with a stern look, "let Frederic alone and give his pacifier back to him, please."
Joshua was Nate´s son. He was a year a few months older than Mikael and Maximilian but the twins had attending Dalton´s Pre School classes since they were two years old and showed highly intellectual development, so they could start kindergarten at the age of three.
Miranda was not so thrilled when she was told her twin boys had to attend the same class as Andy´s ex son but since was the only class available for the twins to remain together. Furthermore, Andy had assure her that the class was well monitored by the teacher and an assistant and that the kids would be fine in a class with older children, Miranda had no other option than to allow her happy boys to start the class.
"Mika," Maximillian called his twin, "let's draw a tree and Patricia."
"I want to do a picture of Ollie too," Mikael said as he received from his teacher the package with some popcorn, a few crayons and glue.
"That is a great idea Mikael," she said with a smile to her youngest student, "can you help Frederic with his drawing too?" she asked the boys.
"Yes, ma´am," they replied and Ms. Steinbrecher sat the sobbing boy on the small table with the twins and another mate. It was not the first time that Joshua had tormented Frederic.
An hour later, Maximillian was almost done with his tree drawing. Ms. Steinbrecher was watching his paper. 'This boy for sure has an aptitude for art, no wonder he is a Priestly, she thought and smiled to the boy and moved to the next table to watch the other student's creations.'
"Max," Joshua called for him as he approached the table, "look what my daddy gave me," he showed to the others a few corn grains.
"What is that?" Mikael asked amused with the yellow little balls.
"My dad said is that thing that turn into popcorn." Joshua answered.
"Nice, did you use it on your drawing?" Max asked already thinking of asking some of the yellow balls to use on his own drawing.
"No, I did this, look." he took a step back.
Joshua put a corn grain up his nose, he inhaled and blew away making the corn land on Frederic´s shoe.
"That´s gross," Mikael said with a face.
"Yeah," Max continued for his brother, "it's not nice, he is your friend."
"You're a girl," Joshua said laughing at him.
"I'm not," Max fired back indignant.
"I dare you to do the same, if you hit Emily, you win," Joshua said pointing at a pretty Redhead girl sitting on the next table and then offered Max a corn grain.
On the 4th floor, Caroline was bored looking at the board, to what the teacher were writing, she already knew how to solve all of those math equations, until she looked at her side and saw her sister taking deep breaths.
"Cassy, are you all right?" Caroline asked with a hint of concern.
"I feel funny," Cassidy said to her twin.
"Funny how? Tummy ache funny?" Caroline put a hand on Cassidy´s forehead.
"No, it's more like a bad feeling." She took her sister´s hand off her head.
At that, Carolina giggled, "yeah, yeah, be honest and say that you are bored with this damn math class."
"I'm serious Caroline, I think I'm going to ask to go to the restroom and take a look on our brothers." She said already leaving her seat.
"Whatever Cassy," Caroline said half laughing at the smart idea her sister had to miss class.
-The Mirror Newspaper-
After a soft knock Daniel put his head inside the office.
"Andy, did you finish your article?" He was about to say more when Andy held up a hand for him.
"Now I did," she smiled at him leaning back on her chair and exhaled a satisfied sigh.
"Great, because Mathias just called, he said he finally got the photos you asked for and he is waiting for us at the same location."
"Finally, give me a second to send my article and I will be right down," Andy answered and in less than a minute she sent her email and left the office.
-Runway Magazine -
"Miranda," Sarah stormed into the conference room holding Miranda's coat and bag and Miranda frowned at her for her audacity to interrupt such important meeting, "I'm so sorry," Sarah said already knowing the reason of Miranda's look.
"What do you want?" Miranda's cold voice filling the silence of the room.
"There was an emergency at Dalton with Maximilian and they are taking him to the hospital. I called Roy; he is waiting for you already."
Miranda felt all her blood vanish from her face, but she didn't have time to faint now and in one fast move she stood up from her chair without another word and took her coat and bag and in her natural fashion way ran to the elevator.
-Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital-
Andy came running up to the hospital front desk.
"Excuse me," she said trying to find her voice after all the running. "I'm looking for Maximilian Priestly, he was brought here maybe an hour ago?" Andy said in a rush. She will only be able to let her heart to beat normally again when she finds out that her son is ok.
The nurse looked at the chart in her hand and turned her attention back to Andy.
"Yes ma'am, he is in observation room 2 with Dr. Kwok, his father brought him in…"
The poor nurse didn't have the chance to finish her sentence.
"He does not have a father," Andy said and walked away leaving the nurse with no other option than to run after her.
"Ma´am, I'm sorry you can't get in there," the nurse said trying to take a hold of Andy´s arm. "Are you related to the patient?" she asked in vain as they reached Room number 2 and Andy stormed inside.
In the room, Miranda was holding Maximillian close to her chest, his cheeks red from crying but he had calmed down a little. Cassidy held his hand and Jonathan was standing close to his daughter.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Andy said directly to Jonathan, loud enough to startle Max who started to cry again. "You're not his father, don't you ever say that again," it was clear to all of them why Andy was so angry.
"Andrea," Miranda tried to intervene and nodded to the nurse that everything was under control and the nurse, that wanted nothing more than leave, did exactly that.
"I didn't say I was, they just assumed and I didn't deny because was the only way I could stay with him until Miranda or you arrived," Jonathan defended himself.
"Andy," Cassidy said with tearing eyes, she didn't want to cause any trouble when she called her dad for help.
Andy kneeled down in front of Miranda and Max immediately melted in the warmth of his younger mother.
"It's ok baby, you're going to be fine," Andy soothed, caressing his back. She felt her eyes filling with tears but had to try to sound confident to her child and herself.
"I called you but your phone went to voice mail, I called Mom but she was in a meeting, I tried Grandma but she flew this morning to Boston with her friends, so I called dad, his office is just two blocks away from school, I was worried about him." Cassidy said looking at Max who was still holding her hand. "I'm sorry I upset you."
"I'm not mad darling, I was just very worried about your brother. No one said anything about what happened to him." Andy held Cassidy's hand, "What happened?"
"I don't know for sure, I just took a break to go see how he and Mikael were doing and when I arrived he was crying and Ms. Steinbrecher was trying to look inside his nose, it seems he put something in his nose and couldn't take it out."
"I didn't want to do but he said I'm a girl," Max said between sobs and Andy tightened her grip around him.
"Who said?" Andy asked curious.
"Joshua of course," Miranda answered for Cassidy, "I told you from the beginning that it was not a good idea."
When Andy was about to answer, a male nurse walked into the room.
"Hey big guy, are you ready to try again?" he said with a smile but as soon as he walked over the chair, Maximillian decided to give everyone in the room a solo show of crying symphony and left Andy´s arms so he could be once again in Miranda's embrace. He knew by experience that no one would be brave enough to take him from his mother´s arms.
"Where is his doctor?" Andy asked standing up.
"She is coming, I'm just going to prepare him for the procedure."
"I want to wait for her if you don't mind." Andy said not trusting a nurse to look after her child.
"Andrea," Miranda called her wife, she knew Andy had little control over her words and actions when her children were sick.
"No Miranda, I want to talk with the doctor first," Andy said firmly but inside she was close to panic.
"Ma´am, I'm only going to put him on the exam table and set up the instruments."
"Andrea, he knows what he is doing." Miranda said.
"I'm his mother Miranda, I know what I'm doing too."
After a brief pause to collect her thoughts, Miranda looked up to her wife, "He is my son too, Andrea."
Miranda tried to use her usually neutral voice but Andy´s insinuations had hurt her deeply, however, Andy was too worried about Max to even notice the nuance of her words and for that, Miranda decided to not make a huge deal of it. At least for now.
The door behind them opened up once more, and this time the pediatric doctor was the one to walk inside the room holding an X-ray.
"Hello Mrs. Priestly," she addressed to Andy, "it seems this little guy and his brother can't be away from trouble for long," she said trying to light the mood, she knew already that Andy was visibly terrified.
"Yeah. They have a magnet to trouble." Andy tried to smile and bend over so she could place a kiss on Max forehead.
"Well," the doctor put the x-ray on a film viewer, "the grain is deep in his nose and since his nostril is small it makes it difficult to reach the object, and him crying and stressed makes it even more impractical, so we will have to sedate him."
"What?" Andy felt dizzy immediately and Miranda had to stand quickly trying to hold Max on her lap and her soon to faint wife with her other hand, helping her on the closest seat.
"Andrea, calm down please."
"Miranda he is too young," Andy couldn't hold anymore and tears started to come down freely on her cheeks.
"Don't cry mama," Max tried to comfort his mother, reaching her cheek to wipe her tears only making Andy to cry even harder.
"Jonathan, can you and Cassidy wait outside, please?" Miranda asked and Jonathan nodded guiding his daughter outside the room.
"Mrs. Priestly," Dr. Kwok sat at the chair next to her, "the procedure is simple and I assure you he will be fine."
"Why can't you do that while he is awake?" Andy asked between sobs.
"It will be better for him do to the procedure while he is asleep, he won't feel anything."
Andy looked over to the doctor and then to Miranda, with pleading brown eyes, she needed Miranda's straight right now to assure her that her son would be fine.
"He will be fine," Miranda put her hand on Andy's cheek, "Caroline once put a doll's eye in her ear, and she had to be sedated. He will be fine." Miranda repeated with conviction and Andy laid on her embrace as well.
"Miranda, if something happens to him…" She whispered.
"Andrea, nothing will happen to him," Miranda said and shifted Max in her arms and he naturally laid his head over her shoulder.
"Can we start?" Dr. Kwok asked and Miranda stood up nodding in agreement.
Miranda walked over the table caressing Max´s back all the way there and all of sudden when Miranda´s short hair started to tickle his nose, Max straighten up a little on Miranda's shoulder and let out a big sneeze, making the corn grain and some unpleasant nose stuff fly directly on Miranda's black Valentino blouse.
"Bless you, son," Miranda said and Andy run over them hugging Max close to her chest.
"Sorry mommy," Max giggled at the face his mother did looking at her shoulder.
"Thank you God, thank you," Andy whispered as a mantra over his head.
"Well, it seems someone did the job all by himself," Dr. Kwok said with a smile, handing Miranda a tissue.
"There is no dry cleaning able to make that disappear," Miranda said wiping her blouse with a purse of her lips that soon became a smile. She was glad her son was fine and her wife could finally breathe in relief.
Dr. Kwok came closer to exam his nose for any trace of blood and said that everything was fine.
"Do I get a lollipop?" Max asked making his best charming face. He remember the reward that Mikael got the last time he was in the same emergency room for sticking his hand into a plastic candy jar and getting it stuck in it.
"Of course sweetheart," Dr. Kwok said and took a lollipop from inside of her coat pocket.
xxxxxxx
After leaving the hospital, Miranda called Emily to inform her she was taking the rest of the day off and Andy did the same, she was feeling physically and emotionally exhausted.
As soon as they arrived home they were greeted by a very tearful Mikael. Caroline and Joanna had explained to him that Maximilian was fine but he was worried about his twin and had refused to eat or nap until his brother was home. Miranda had talked to Mikael about what happened and when Max shared the lollipop with him, everything was forgotten.
Andy then gave Max and Mikael a bath and late lunch and the five of them spent the rest of the day snuggling together in the TV room while Miranda had retired to her studio to take care of a last minute crises in the Fashion world that had to be included on the magazine´s next issue regarding mason Chanel and the new jobless, the design Galliano. She would make sure Runway gave the news the attention it required but without much relevance. She had already refused to attend at least 3 of Galliano´s calls and frankly he didn't deserve that much consideration for the inappropriate comment he did.
Around 9:10 pm Andy was leaving the twins bedroom after finally had put Mikael to sleep after reading a few pages of 'The runaway pancake' book, she took the stairs and went to Miranda's studio to pick up Maximillian that by now must had fallen asleep. Andy opened the door without knocking afraid of waking up her child in the process; she peeked inside and couldn't help but smile at the scene she was graced by. Miranda had Maximillian buried on her left side, helping him to hold his warm milk bottle. They had agreed since the boys were 2 years old to end the habit of warm milk at night to avoid harming their oral hygiene, but today was an exception.
Miranda had received the Book early tonight, and was busy between making notes and browsing the pages of the Book with her other hand. Maximillian was visibly tired but his shining blue eyes were interested in what his mother was saying.
"Do you like this color, darling?" Miranda asked him, pointing to the yellow abstract floral bikini.
He only shook his head negatively.
"Me neither," she made another note to make sure Nigel had the last Emilio Pucci photo shoot redone, "Perhaps next season." She added and gave Max a light kiss in his forehead, smiling at the silliness of the ritual she developed with her child.
Andy closed the door once again, she knew Miranda would put him in bed as soon as he finished his bottle. She then went to the TV room.
"Girls," she said after knocking the door, "don't stay up late, ok?"
"We won't Andy," Caroline answered.
"Will you come to say goodnight?" Cassidy inquired.
"Of course darling, let's say… half an hour?" Andy asked.
"Ok," both girls said and Andy winked at them leaving the room.
Andy went straight to her office, she thought of calling Nate to give him a piece of her mind, how irresponsible of him to give a kid corn grains, but she was still feeling nervous for the events of the day so she decided to call him only the next day. She was also feeling very guilty for not answering her phone when the school and Cassidy called. What kind of mother in her right mind would turn off a cell phone while having toddlers and 12 years old children at school? She only knew about what happened when Miranda had instructed Sarah to call Daniel, she knew they would probably be working together.
Andy reclined in her chair and let out a tired sigh, he had no idea what she would have done if something more serious had happened to Max and she was not there to help her child. Tears once again filled her eyes, she needed to be comforted and she knew Miranda would do that later, but right now she needed a particular kind of comfort that only the people she was loved by the most part of her life could give her.
She picked up her phone and pressed speed dial #09 and waited.
"Hello," a male voice said.
"Dad," Andy´s voice was weak and unsure.
"Andy," Richard whispered back. "How are you, darling?"
"I miss you dad and I needed you and my mom to be here today," Andy said quietly wiping off the tears with the palm of her hand.
"Something happened?" His voice was laced with concern.
"Maximilian had an accident at school today, but he is fine now," Andy added the last part before his dad could think of the worse.
"Who is it Richard?" Andy could hear her mother´s voice getting closer.
"It's Andy," her father said and handed the phone over to his wife.
"Hello," Kate said.
"Mom," Andy said broken, she needed her mother to love her again, she wanted her children to have the other grandmother they barely knew.
"What do you want Andy?"
"I just needed to hear your voice mom, Maximilian got hurt today and I was beyond scared and…"
"Are you still living in sin with that woman?" Kate said bluntly cutting Andy off.
Andy took a deep breath; she knew what was to come.
"Yes, mom, I'm still happily married to Miranda and we have four amazing children."
"Then we don't have anything to talk about anymore. And just so you remember, those girls are not yours."
And then the line was dead.
Tbc…