Sorry - Late post!
...
Once Cara and Griffin had gone Marissa got supper ready and she and Bianca sat down to eat at the table in the kitchen.
"You're sure you're okay?" Bianca asked for the hundredth time, as she swallowed number three of her five evening pills.
Marissa just looked back at Bianca, her eyebrows raised and her smile wide, as if to say I've already answered this question.
Bianca got the message and bit back a laugh.
"Sorry." she said. "Am I being a bad girlfriend?"
"Definitely not." said Marissa reaching across the table to take Bianca's hand, her smile softening. "It's just… I am still me! I'm still the woman who woke up beside you this morning… there's just a little bit more going on now between by ears."
"…and such pretty ears." said Bianca dreamily as she gazed back at Marissa.
"Are you okay?" Marissa asked at Bianca's far away expression.
Bianca closed her eyes and sighed... which threatened to turn into a yawn.
"I think the sleep deprivation is beginning to catch up with me."
"Miranda." said Marissa nodding in understanding. Miranda had been getting her mommy up three or five times a night for the last week. Trouble was mother and daughter was getting better at not disturbing Marissa. This left her feeling guilty that Bianca was having to handle it all alone. "I'm sorry I didn't wake up this morning."
"Don't be sorry." said Bianca, taking back her hand from Marissa's grasp. She still had a couple of pills to take before she could dig into the delicious plate of food in front of her. "One of us should sleep or we will never keep up with the rest of the kids."
Her tone had been light-hearted, but worry clouded her features as Bianca took a long gulp of water as her last pill went down.
"I just hope Miranda will be able to cope if I'm not here." she said.
Marissa had picked up her knife and fork and was beginning to tuck into the scrambled eggs and smoked salmon she had rustled up for them.
She paused over her next bite.
"You've done all you can." she said reassuringly. "She knows that you are just the other end of the phone. We've found a picture to go by her bed so she can see your face if she wakes in the night. AJ will be there and Reggie. We can't do more."
"I know." said Bianca sadly, then she tasted a forkful of her own supper. "Mmm, this is good!"
"The seven minute specialite de la maison." said Marissa with a laugh.
"Still good." said Bianca encouragingly, taking another mouthful.
They shared a grin, but then Bianca frowned,
"Where were we?"
After Marissa's smile she'd lost track of the conversation.
"You were worrying about Miranda and I told you not to." said Marissa.
Bianca sighed as the memory returned.
"Easier said than done." she said. "And the trial..!"
This time Marissa sighed too.
"I just want this all to be over." she said, taking her frustration out in a stray chunk of toast which she stabbed with her fork. "I hate the fact that JR is still hanging over our head. If he gets off…"
"He won't!" said Bianca. This time it was Bianca who reached across the table to touch the back of Marissa's hand to comfort her.
"I just don't want all this to start affecting AJ." continued Marissa. "He's doing so great… he loves being a big brother! I don't want JR turning up and ruining it all!"
"He can't." said Bianca. "You are AJ's legal guardian; you have the support of the Chandlers and Martins! And you will always have me! I don't see there being much JR can do!"
Marissa nodded resignedly.
"Hopefully he'll end up in jail where he can no longer do any harm!" finished Marissa, basking in the tender smile Bianca was sending her way.
"Hopefully!" echoed Bianca.
…
Just then they heard the sound of the front door closing.
Marissa checked her watch.
"That'll be the kids." she said.
Even as they spoke they could hear AJ bellowing for them from the entrance hall.
"We're through here!" Marissa called back, leaning back on her chair in order to direct her voice through the adjoining rooms.
The sound of running feet quickly indicated the kids had heard them.
"Was it a good film?" Bianca asked, giving her girls a welcome home hug.
"It was awesome!" cried Gabby, an excited light in her eyes. "There was a bear in a tutu on a bicycle and she ate King Julian!"
"She ate him?" exclaimed Bianca.
"She spat him out again afterwards." explained Miranda, taking her turn at hugging her mommy.
"But you had fun?" Bianca asked, turning her attention to her eldest child.
Miranda nodded, but a veil of nervousness had fallen over her eyes as she hovered by her mommy's side. She didn't want her to go… Miranda was worried how bad the dreams would get if her mommy wasn't around. Tonight was the last night she'd be there and then she wouldn't see her for three whole days… maybe longer!
Bianca recognised the fear in her daughter and pulled her in against her side, gently rubbing her back. It was an unspoken gesture but it made Miranda relax; it felt so much better knowing her mommy clearly understood how she was feeling.
Reggie strolled in a few seconds behind the kids. He'd taken the kids out for dinner and a movie to distract them from the fact that their mommies were leaving them tomorrow.
"Thanks for taking care of them." Marissa said, taking her turn of getting hugged by Gabby.
"My pleasure." said Reggie, "Did you get you're packing done for tomorrow?"
Marissa's face dropped, after the discoveries in the suitcase, packing for the trial had been the last thing on her mind.
Reggie, reading her expression, simply grinned.
"Well just knock on my door tomorrow morning if you want me to take the terrors off your hands." he said, ruffling AJ's hair as he spoke.
AJ quickly whipped his head away. He'd just got a cool, new, shorter haircut - he didn't want Reggie to ruin it.
"Thank Reggie." said Bianca, smiling gratefully back at her cousin. "We'll probably take you up on that… although not too early!"
"After nine?" Reggie suggested and Bianca nodded in agreement. "Well goodnight." He added, leaving for his new home in the pool house through the back door.
"Good night." the family called in reply.
Marissa now turned her attention to her son.
"So baby, was the film as good as the other two?"
"I'm not a baby!" AJ exclaimed, a sudden look of indignation on his face.
Marissa froze, but she always called him 'baby' or at least she had until the amnesia!
"Um… sorry, …buddy." she said, the awkwardness of the moment showing on her face. "Um…"
Bianca was the one to step in and save the day.
"AJ; girls; Marissa has fantastic news… and we want you to be the first to know!"
"What news?" asked Miranda.
But AJ's expression changed to one of worry.
"Mom, is everything okay?" he asked, nervous what the news might be.
"She found her music box in an old suitcase." said Bianca, happily, "And it helped her find her memories. Marissa has her memory back!"
"Mom!" cried AJ excitedly, Miranda whooped with joy as all three kids bundled Marissa into an excited hug.
"Do you remember everything?" AJ asked, his arms tight around his mother's neck. "Do you remember me?"
"Baby, I remember everything!" sighed Marissa, hugging him just as tightly in return.
…
I think I may have been a little hungry when I wrote this!
Oh - And Happy Valentine's Day!