YMAOYA Part 2- Ana's Morning

Ana

As I hang up the phone, I think how nice of a surprise that was. My hubby wants to take me to lunch today. He's so sweet. It breaks my heart to think he ever thought of himself as anything less than wonderful. He's so thoughtful and caring. Oh, and let's not forget he's extremely easy on the eyes. Yes he's possessive, ridiculously jealous, and a control freak, but in a way, that all gets me kinda' hot.

I don't have too much on the schedule for today, but I do have several manuscripts I need to finish. There are two romance novels, one by a guy if you can believe it. It's actually not too bad. Then there are three murder mysteries, which I usually pawn off on other people as that's not really my favorite reading material, but I guess you gotta' take the good with the bad. Some days there's a lot of good. Other days, it's just bad. This was going to be one of those days, but at least with this lunch date, I've got a little ray of sunshine to look forward to now!

I feel a kick and rub my belly. "Your Daddy is taking me to lunch later, Teddy. Let me know what you want to eat Buddy! But if possible, can we get away from the pasta? I know it's your favorite, but really? Enough with the carbs, Bud!" Two and a half weeks to my due date. I'm trying to work right up until delivery since I'm planning a three month maternity leave; perks of being married to the CEO, but this big guy is getting hard on my frame. I can barely fit into anything, my feet are always swollen and I feel like a whale. I've gained almost thirty-five pounds and I feel ridiculous!

I hear some commotion outside my office and try to get up to open my door. Hannah makes it in before I can even get up out of my chair, which isn't very easy at this point. She's holding the largest arrangement of white lilies I've ever seen! I swear, it's even bigger than the ones at our wedding! I love lilies, but being pregnant, smells get overwhelming and this many of them is making my office almost unbearable. "Hannah? What on earth…?"

"You're asking me? Like I did this?" She sets the immense arrangement on my end table near the sofa.

"Where did they come from? Who sent them?" She looks at me like I'm daft. "Oh, yeah. Duh. I guess that would be another 'pregnant brain' comment, wouldn't it?" Of course they're from my husband. I take out the card, expecting something poetic and romantic, as per his usual writings to me… But all I get is

YAIMOYA

I love you.

C

"What the hell…? Did the delivery guy say anything about this, Hannah? Like, what I'm supposed to do with this?" I hand her the card. She reads it and replies with a 'What the hell?' of her own.

"Is this some kind of secret thing between you two, Ana?"

"If it is, I'm totally in the dark. I can't have pregnant brain that badly, that I'd forget some secret Christian-Ana thing. I mean, it can't get that bad, can it?" Hannah shrugs.

"I wouldn't know. Hey! Maybe Sawyer knows!" She leaves to get Luke. I love these flowers but I have to get some out of here. I'll never make it all day with them being this potent. As I'm putting some into an empty vase, thanks to another flower arrangement my husband sent on some other day, Hannah comes back with Luke in tow.

"Here he is, Ana. Show him." Luke looks worried.

"Mrs. Grey, I checked that delivery guy myself and the flowers went through a detector. They were clear Ma'am. Is there a problem? I can have them removed…"

"No. No, Luke. They're lovely. They're from Mr. Grey. But can you help me out with this?" I hand him the card. He looks at it, flips it over, looks up at me, then Hannah.

"I'm not sure what help I could be Ma'am. It's a card. I'm pretty sure this is for you."

"Well, of course it's for me. What I want to know is what it's about." Again he looks back and forth from Hannah to me.

"I have no idea. I wasn't informed of anything if that's what you're asking." Hum. I let Sawyer get back to his duties of sitting in the hall waiting for someone to come in guns blazing. So far he's doing a bang-up job; no pun intended. No guns blazing for… well, ever.

"So?" Hannah brings me back to the current issue at hand. Or rather in my hand. "You really have no idea, Ana?"

"None. I think someone took down the wrong message at the florist. Or I could call Andrea. She probably made the order anyway." I sit back down in my chair and try to reach my purse on the floor. That's a no go. "Hannah? Could you please…?" She reaches over to my desk phone and pushes the speed dial. Oh yeah. Forgot about that option. Pregnant brain strikes again.

"Mr. Grey's office."

"Andrea, it's Ana."

"Oh…" I can tell by her voice, she knows something. "Mrs. Grey. How are you feeling Ma'am?"

"Cut the crap, Andrea." She chuckles.

"I take it you received the delivery? Mr. Grey will be very pleased to know it arrived in all its glory."

"'All its glory?' Is that some hint or clue here? What was this message supposed to say?" Again I hear her laugh. "OK. It's like that is it? Well you can tell Mr. Mogul, that Mrs. Grey has a degree in literature, so weird words don't scare me."

"Yes Ma'am. I'll let him know. I hope you have a great day, Mrs. Grey." I hang up the phone and look at the card again. What the hell is yeah-moy-ya? Is it French? Is he pulling that 'I can speak French and you can't' shit again? I try putting it into my language translator program. Not French. Not Spanish. Not Japanese, Basque or Afrikaans!

"Hannah, this word does not exist!"

"Well… It's in all caps. See?" She's pointing to the card. "These are all caps, but the 'I love you' isn't. So it's not like the florist automatically capitalizes everything. Maybe that's a clue."

"Yes! Right! Like and anagram!" I feel like I just had an epiphany from the muses, even though it wasn't really my idea. I look for an anagram program online.

"Ooohhh!" Hannah sounds like she's just found a lost kitten. "It's an Ana-gram! How cute is that?!" I have to roll my eyes. Even Christian I-May-Act-All-CEO-Macho-But-I'm-Really-Made-Of-Pur e-Romance Grey wouldn't come up with that one. I type YAIMOYA into the 'solves any anagram' online program.

"Are you kidding me?!"

"What? What does it mean?!"

"It says 'YAIMOYA is an anagram for yaimoya.' That is no help at all you stupid program!" I'm hitting the keyboard and yelling at my screen now. How the hell am I going to figure this out now? "I have to know before twelve thirty. If I go to lunch and don't know, he'll just smirk at me form across the table while I try to eat."

No way am I letting that happen! This whole pregnancy he's given me smirks while I eat. I probably would too if I was watching me. I down plates of pasta like a vacuum cleaner. "I mean, who else could I ask? Who would have any idea what this is supposed to mean?"

"Well, not to sound like a know-it-all, but this is a publishing house. We do have people who work here who specialize in words…" Again, Hannah is a genius! Don't let her know I said that.

I decide to send out an e-mail to get a little help:

From: Anastasia Grey

Subject: Outsmarting Mr. Grey with our literary genius

Date: May 9, 2012 10:07

To: Grey Publishing Staff

OK Everyone,

I just received a very cryptic message from Mr. Grey. I need your help to solve it. We believe it's an anagram: YAIMOYA

We can't let Mr. Grey win this! I need the solution by twelve-fifteen. Anyone who helps gets a lily! (He sent me a beautiful bouquet but the scent is a bit much right now.)

We've all got degrees and experience with words, and we have just over two hours.

Get thinking! :)

Anastasia Grey

Very puzzled and desperate CEO, Grey Publishing

Hannah smiles at me and leaves to go back to her desk. I pick up a manuscript and try to focus on my job. Five minutes later, Natalie from the copy editing department sends me her idea:

Yeah, Ana. I'M Over You, Again.

What is that? 'Over' me? 'Again?' No. Not even close Natalie. No flower for you.

Then I get Scott's from our Literary Scouting department:

Yep. Another Interesting Moment On Your Agenda.

Well, at least this one's not predicting our divorce. Don't think that's really it, but he tried, so one flower for Scott.

Hannah comes back in. "Any takers yet?" I let her in on the two so far. "Yeah. Natalie's had her eyes on you for a while. I think she's hoping you'll start batting for the other team." Well that's a surprise to me! "But Scott's wasn't terrible. I mean, you now have a lunch date on your agenda for today."

She starts writing on a sticky pad and putting things on my wall. "What are you doing, Hannah?" She explains that if she puts each word idea up in the wall, we can piece together different words from different ideas. Damn! She's on fire today!

Then I get another massage from Jen. She's another Lit scout:

Yes. Always Interested; Mainly On Your Anatomy.

This is the best so far, and almost sounds like something Christian would say! Two flowers for Jen! But there's something off about the sentence fluency. So we may be on the right track, but not there yet.

Hannah adds this one to the other notes on the wall. As the morning progresses, I get more and more ideas, and slowly, the scent of lilies is waning as I hand them out to my cooperating detectives. Hannah's been in and out with the sticky-notes.

She starts moving things around, then slumps down on my sofa with a deep sigh. "I'm not the 'word' person, Ana. Sorry." I chuckle at her, not yet ready to admit her brilliance to her today. "What's this?" She asks as she picks up a manuscript from the pile. Really? She's seen hundreds of these. Maybe 'brilliant' was a bit premature. "You and I; A Romance Novel By Westley Baker?" Is this the one by the guy?" I nod in the affirmative, then she just leaps out of her seat… "That's it! Look!" She's pointing to the title. "See? You And I Y. A. I… Could that be it?"

Nope, not premature. She is brilliant! She's got to be right. I'm ready to solve this thing already. I try thinking out loud, "You And I…. You And I , what? Make…Our…..Yummy…Ascots!" Hannah bursts out laughing.

"Yummy ascots? Boy, you do have pregnant brain don't you?" She's still laughing when Jerry who works in finances comes into my office with his idea. "Hey Ana, how about this. I mean, you have managed to increase profits this year. You far outdid the estimates." He shows me his idea:

You Acquired Immense Money; Over Yearly Amounts

Hmmm. This one's good. It would be something Christian would notice… Something he'd take me out to celebrate… I let Jerry take a half dozen. He's excited as he tells us today is his anniversary, and he can tell his wife Christian Grey paid for her flowers!

Anniversary? You And I… Our…Year…Anniversary. "But it's not until July."

"What's not until July?" Hannah's question brings me back to the here and now. I let her in on my thinking. She looks at the sticky-notes. "Jerry did say 'yearly.' Yearly Anniversary? That's good!" But it's not July. We didn't even know each other until May last year.

"Oh my god! It's May! Hannah! OK, try this… You And I. May. Over a Year Ago. That would make total sense!" Hannah's expression says she's not in complete agreement with that statement.

"Maybe, but it's weird. It sounds like a Western Union telegram." It's a quarter to twelve now. I need to figure this out in the next half hour so I can be prepared to face my husband. We're getting really close, I can feel it! "Jeez-O-Pete. Give me one minute already!" I hear Hannah call as she heads out to answer the phone.

One… One… The O is the word One! May. One Year Ago… You And I. May. One Year Ago! "HANNAH!" She comes running back but Sawyer somehow beats her to my office.

"Is everything OK Ma'am? Are you in pain? Could this be early labor?" Sawyer is on high alert today! I guess it makes sense with how far along I am.

"No, Luke. I'm fine. Stand on down Boy! Or whatever you guys say. I was just calling Hannah because I figured it out!" I look over at Hannah clapping my hands and she looks at me… "Am I not a genius?"

"I don't know. You haven't told me yet. What is it!?" Hannah looks like she's about to burst.

"Oh. Yeah, right. OK; You And I. May. One Year Ago! Makes total sense, right?" Hanna is jumping up and down, Luke is looking at us like we've gone insane.

"Mrs. Grey, you are the most…. unique woman I've ever met." He turns to head back to his post. I'm stunned.

"Wait. What did you say? I'm the most unique woman you've ever met?"

"I'm… so sorry Ma'am." He hangs his head. "I didn't mean…" I throw my arms around Sawyer's waist. "Um… Ma'am?"

"Brilliant! Everyone around me is brilliant! It's not May, it's MET!" I let go of him and clap my hands again. 'You And I Met One Year Ago!' We met one year ago! It's the anniversary of the day we met! Oh my god I have to call Christian! No, wait. I'll e-mail. I have a great idea…" Sawyer heads back out to the hall, but Hannah is right here with me. "Hannah, lunch is on my today, anything you want. You were, and I'll say it again, brilliant today!" I write my e-mail to my very amazing and romantic husband:

From: Anastasia Grey

Subject: Your Ana-gram

Date: May 9, 2012 11:58

To: Christian Grey

Dear Mr. Grey,

Although I got very little actual work done today, I found out my husband is the most thoughtful and romantic person on the face of the planet!

You And I Met One Year Ago!

You have no idea what it was like to spend the morning trying to figure this out!

You would not believe the other ideas that were brought to the table either. I'll share a few with you at our lunch today. There's one referring to "your anatomy" I know will make you smile! ;)

Until the day I die, I will be grateful that my best friend had the flu and asked me to do her a favor.

I love you more than words can say…. More than even your money could ever buy…. (sorry, our money)

I will love you forever!

Your Ana-gram!

P.S. Hannah came up with that one. Even you're not that brilliant!