Bianca sighed. She was only half awake, but she felt an arm wrap around her waist; a warm breath on her neck; a soft kiss against her ear.
"Happy twenty-fifth anniversary!" Marissa whispered sweetly.
Bianca gave a light chuckle,
"That was last week."
"I know," said Marissa snuggling closer, "I'm still celebrating."
Bianca groaned happily at the intimacy of the moment.
"So, are you ready for today?" Marissa asked, kissing Bianca's neck.
"Are you?" Bianca asked, not really moving or opening her eyes. She was enjoying the closeness with her wife too much.
Marissa sighed and planted more kisses along Bianca's neck.
"Gabby's flight will be here at four, AJ is collecting the grandkids straight from school… I think we're set."
"I'm still not sure why you're making such a fuss about it." said Bianca softly; finally rolling onto her back and opening her eyes. Bianca stared up into the familiar sight of her wife's warm hazel eyes and bright beautiful smile. They had both changed over the years, hair a little greyer, a few more wrinkles on their cheeks, but whenever Bianca gazed at Marissa she always wondered at how those eyes and that smile had never changed… that they still had the power to take her breath away.
Marissa kissed her briefly on the lips.
"It matters because it's Miranda's big break.. playing Miranda in The Tempest..." said Marissa.
"For the Pine Valley Players." added Bianca.
"But it's getting her out of herself and maybe at some point…"
"Out of the house." finished Bianca.
Miranda was becoming a concern to both her mothers. She hadn't had much luck over the years on the dating scene. First there was the disaster that was Cole, a player who had only been interested in Miranda for her fortune… and who left town under a cloud after making both Jenny and Kathy pregnant. Then Valentin, a nephew of Dimitri's, came to town. Kendall had made a big joke about how the sparks that were once kindled between her mother and Dimitri would be replicated in Miranda and Erica's old love's nephew. Miranda and Valentin did date but he was hiding a secret from her… from everyone. It was only after falling for Spike that Valentin was able to admit the truth about who he really was. Spike and Valentin were now a happy couple but Miranda was once more nursing a broken heart and had once again moved back to her old room in the White House with her mothers.
"Tonight is going to be amazing." insisted Marissa
"And you're not just saying that?" Bianca asked, with a worried joke.
Marissa smothered the concern with a longer kiss.
"She's going to be fine." she insisted, punctuation her point with another kiss. A kiss that lingered…
'Knock… knock… knock…'
Bianca and Marissa groaned as one as the door slowly opened and Miranda peered in.
"Are you up?" she asked.
The women separated and turned to their unwanted intruder.
"We're up." said Marissa, shifting away from her wife and straightening her night gown.
"For someone nicknamed mouse… you don't half make a lot of noise in the mornings." joked Bianca.
"Sorry, I brought you a morning coffee." said Miranda, embarrassed about what she interrupted.
"It's okay." said Bianca sitting up and taking a mug of coffee from her eldest child. "We were just talking about your big day…"
"My…" began Miranda, almost as if she wasn't sure what they were talking about, but then from a look off Marissa she quickly recovered. "Yeah… sure, my big day…"
"We can go over your lines if you want." Bianca suggested as Miranda handed Marissa her coffee mug.
"That's okay." said Miranda, "AJ and I have got it covered."
Bianca looked from Miranda and Marissa, they both looked a little shifty as if something else was going on.
"Are sure there is nothing else I can do?" Bianca asked.
Miranda's face became a mask of innocence.
"Nothing at all." she said. "Just be there on time, that is all."
…
"Dad, I don't want eggs." Noah sulked.
"Eat your breakfast!" warned AJ. "You'll need the energy. There is a lot going on today."
AJ was trying to get his boys ready for school, but the pair never made it easy for him. He was currently living in his mom's pool house with the boys. They had been there a year after Emma unexpectedly left him to go to Chicago, and never came back.
"You mean the show?" Nate asked; his mouth already full of food. Unlike his brother he was enjoying the scrambled eggs.
"Yeah." said AJ. "The show."
"Does Nana Binks…?" Noah began to ask but AJ shushed him as there was a knock on the door.
"Only me." said Marissa, stepping in from patio. "I came to see how my boys were doing."
"Hi Nana 'Rissa." Noah called.
Nate said something similar only it was muffled by his full mouth.
"Are you all ready for tonight?" AJ asked, giving his mother a hug.
"I think so." said Marissa.
"And Binks?"
Marissa grinned,
"She's busy with her exercises…"
"I don't mean…" began AJ.
"She's suspicious but she doesn't know what it's about…" said Marissa following his thoughts.
AJ shook his head.
"You know she hates surprises."
"I know." said Marissa . "But I think she'll forgive us in the end."
…
Later than day Miranda was sitting at a corner table at Krystal's Diner. Camilla had taken over the restaurant a few years back, but didn't have the heart to change the name. Charlie suddenly slumped on the couch next to her, making her jump. She'd been lost in thought.
"So who are you taking tonight then, Mouse?" he asked.
"Sorry?"
Charlie grinned at her
"Who are you taking tonight?" he asked again. "I was hoping that you would ask me?"
"You?" said Miranda with a frown on her pretty face. "You're a little young for me don't you think?"
"Only… what?... ten years younger?"
"Eight!" Miranda corrected.
"Pfft," said Charlie. "Eight years is nothing. Look at Ian and Leora. When he trained to be a nurse that was the first surprise… he was always such a dupe growing up. Then when he picked Leora over Ayesha; that surprised everyone!"
"Why do I have to take anyone?" Miranda asked hotly.
"Because I hate to see you lonely. I know it didn't work out with Valentin…
"It did for Spike." said Miranda. "And I'm happy for them both. And I'm not lonely. I just don't see why everyone thinks I need a man."
Miranda was well aware of all the mutterings going on around her. That she didn't date because she'd lost her faith in men. Because of her history and her father, a man she had never met and who never hurt her but was a shadow under which she could never quite free herself. It's not as if she hadn't known good men in her life, Uncle Jack, Reggie, AJ, Spike… but it was true, she somehow always looked for the bad and generally found it.
Charlie was giving her a charmingly cocky smile. She knew he liked her…
"Look, you are an attractive, intelligent thirty-something who should have men falling at her feet." Charlie insisted. "I know Cole was a jerk, but I'm not. Do you really want to be back living with your moms'…? You should be out having fun with someone who cares about you."
"Don't." warned Miranda.
But Charlie grabbed her hand and stared intently into her eyes.
"Why won't you give me a chance to prove I'm different? Why are you afraid of intimacy"
Miranda stared back.
"When did you become a physiologist?"
"When my friend turned herself into a recluse!"
"I don't…" Miranda began to say. Charlie just stared back at her. "Look I was right about Cole." she insisted.
"And what about me? I'm the good guy here. I really care about you…"
"There is the small fact that you are my Uncle."
"Not by blood." said Charlie. "We couldn't be more distantly related of we tried."
"You are also Cara's son."
"You are not giving me a chance because of our mother's ancient rivalry? You're a grown woman! Stop making excuses…" He tipped his head sideways and gave her a small teasing smile. "I know you like me… just a little bit."
Miranda gave him a withering look, but it softened slightly.
"I like you." she admitted softly.
Charlie grinned.
"Then it's a date." he said. "I'll pick you up at seven!"
…
Bianca was considering her reflection in the mirror. Marissa was insisting they dress up for this evening's performance. She had selected a classic little black dress with a tailored black velvet jacket and a simple diamond necklace. It all went well with the smart back silver topped cane she held in her hand.
"Beautiful." sighed Marissa, pulling on her shoes as she emerged from the closet.
Marissa had selected to dress an equally simple dress, in red, that clung to her figure in just the right ways.
Bianca's grinned at her wife.
"Yes you are."
Marissa stepped closer and kissed her briefly on the cheek.
"Do you have everything?" Marissa asked, pulling a wrap around her shoulder and picking up her purse from the end of the bed.
Bianca nodded. She adjusted her robotic leg brace slightly, took a tight grip of her cane and followed her wife to the door.
…
Miranda's play was to be held at the art centre. It was a huge venue but there was a number of small auditoriums just the right size for a small theatrical production. The chauffeur however was struggling through the traffic that seemed to be incredibly busy even for a Saturday night.
Marissa got a text on her cell just as the car was stopped by another red light.
Bianca leaned closer to see who the message was from.
"It's from Gabby." said Marissa. "Ian picked them up from the airport and she's waiting for us at the theatre."
"It will be good to see my baby again." said Bianca, sitting back with a smile. "It's been too long..."
She looked ahead at the traffic again.
"…If we ever get there."
…
The closer they got to the Art Centre the more traffic there seemed to be.
"Is there something else going on at the centre tonight?" Bianca asked as they followed a news van snarled up in the same column of traffic.
"Maybe." said Marissa, checking her watch distractedly.
Bianca gave her wife a suspicious glare.
"Okay… tell me now what is happening or we turn around and I go back home."
Marissa blinked and gave her a guilty grin.
"Don't get mad." she said. "It is for a good cause."
"What..?" Bianca began to ask.
Just then the car turned into the Art Centre lot. There was a huge crowd at the entrance and hovering over the doorway was a giant smiling holo-image of Bianca's face.
"What is this?" Bianca asked her question, turning to wonder.
"This is you." said Marissa, taking her wife's hand and squeezing it. "This is all for you!"
…
Bianca walked through cheering crowds into an auditorium filled to the rafters; every man, women and child in the room on their feet applauding her. There were also three TV cameras filming her every move and showing it on a huge screen behind the stage.
Gabby hurried forward and gave her mother a hug. Reese and Maggie must had travelled from Paris with her for they were there too, applauding. And there was Gabby's son, Jackson, standing between them and cheering at the top of his lungs.
Miranda came forward too and AJ, and the twins. Kendall, her arms around her son's shoulders, was beaming at her sister. Everyone was smiling and clapping.
"But what is all this?" Bianca asked as Marissa, a hand on her back, pushed her slowly towards the stage. "There's no play?"
"No play." admitted Marissa, "Something much better."
The stage lights came up on another holo-image of Bianca. The technology was expensive… there seemed to be no expense spared for whatever was going on tonight. Then the familiar figure of Ted Gilly, one of the most popular television presenters in the USA, stepped into the stage.
"Ladies and Gentleman… tonight we are here to celebrate one of the most outstanding humanitarians of the twenty-first century, Bianca Montgomery." he announced. The cheers double in volume and Bianca finally made it to the stage to stand beside him.
"Now, Bianca first came to the worlds notice almost fifty years ago as the daughter of socialite Erica Kane. She has from a very young age made it her mission in life to help others. Founding the Miranda Centre when she was just 20 years old she has since been responsible for improving the lives of over a million people all over the world and her kindness has touched the hearts of so many more. "
"And so." Ted announced to the audience as lights in the auditorium lowered once more. "A reminder of the life of one of the most loved people on the world."
Bianca blushed.
Marissa just smiled at her wife.
"It's true. It's all true!"
Ted led Bianca back to a seat on the front row beside Marissa as the story of her life began to play on the big screen.
…
"My sister has the greatest capacity for love that I have ever seen in a human being." Kendall's voice boomed out of the speakers as her smiling face appeared on screen. "She has witnessed the worst humanity has to offer and yet she always finds the positive… the hope… and if she can't find it, then she will make it happen! That is how the Miranda Centre started; as a hope. And now it's more of a miracle and it's all because of my little sister. Now she has had her critics. Some say it's easy for my sister to be generous, with all her wealth and connections... but there are people out there with a lot more money and a lot more power that choose to do a lot less with it. I think it was E.M. Marshall that said 'The bravest souls are the men that stand by their convictions'. My sister is the bravest soul I know!"
"So what can I say about my mother…" Gabby said her smiling face taking over the story. "She is an inspiration."
A narrator's voice took over.
"Gabby is Bianca's youngest daughter; a portrait artist of international standing who was one of the founders of the Back to Paper movement. The beginning of the push away from the dominance of computer screens. Instead encouraging children to write and draw without technology."
Gabby took on the story again.
"My mother has always seen the bigger picture and she encouraged us growing up to do the same. I talked to my mom about concerns about how my son was being told at school from the age of four that he had to use a tablet for his art homework rather than a pencil. She told me that if I saw a problem it was my job to make it better… I never expected it to take off the way it had… but I'm glad it did. And I'm glad I got to help and inspire so many people."
While she was talking the screen was showing Gabby working in her studio and finished with her presenting a beautiful portrait of her mother to the camera.
"It's just a small taste of what my mother must feel everyday…" Gabby finished saying, standing beside the portrait now, "All the lives she has touched. But she will always be my inspiration… always."
"I call her Binks…"
The screen cut to AJ now.
"She adopted me when I was… um… nine, I think. The same day she married my mom. She has always been there for me… supporting my dreams." The camera cut to AJ working at school, talking to his students in the corridor and then giving sailing lesson's at the lake. "There is no one better at helping you make the right decisions. She seen it all; done it all… and if she thinks you're doing the right thing then know it's true."
"AJ Chandler is the hard working head master of Pine Valley High." the narrator's voice explained. "A popular teacher with his pupils. He believes that it is the lessons he learnt from Bianca that are the most important thing he has to pass on to his students."
"Life is all about the decisions you make." AJ said. "Choices good and bad are what shape you. The most important thing is to make sure you make the right choices… and with Bianca backing you it's very hard to make a wrong one."
The screen then blackened and opened to reveal a shot of Bianca after her beating; black eye; swollen cheek; torn lip. And then the screen blacked out again, lightening to show JR Chandler's face.
"I was sick but I hurt her in the worse ways…" he said. "But she forgave me… she saved me. She gave me a roof over my head when I was homeless, she gave me a job… she got me back on his feet again. She didn't have to do anything but she was too good a person to let me suffer. And because of her I got my life back, and a relationship with my son. She's just too good for this world."
The narrator took over again.
"JR Chandler, while suffering from Schizophrenia, assaulted both Bianca and her wife on two separate occasions. But since then he has turned his life around. He started working as a janitor at the Miranda centre ten years ago but since then has turned his hand to fundraising and is now one of the Miranda centre's greatest supporters and most vocal promoters."
"Working at the Miranda centre taught me so much…" JR continued. "And it is where I met my wife Jackie." The scene widened to show JR with is arm around his plump smiling wife. "Bianca has given me so much. There is never enough time for me to make it up to her."
The scene cut then to Miranda's smiling face.
"Growing up knowing that there was this great international charity doing good in my name was a lot to take in. It started because my mom was determined to make sure that no one should go through what she went through when she was raped at nineteen. People forget that was how it started… she was raped and I was born. I was her hope, I guess, and from that hope she built the Miranda Centre. 'No one should suffer alone', that was her motto and from that she has helped battered women rebuild their lives, provided healthcare to those in need, touched people all over the world… And on top that… she my mom! I couldn't love her more if I tried!"
Finally Marissa's face appeared on screen.
"They used her call her Saint Bianca as a joke." Marissa said. "I think it's pretty apt really. We are here to celebrate the woman who had been the love of my life for over twenty-five years which may make me a little biased but there is no one who deserves this honour more. She spends all her time giving to others… you have no idea how much of a struggle it is for her to let you do something for her in return. We fell in love over our kids and our messed up love lives and she showed me so much kindness, compassion and love… well after that I could never let go."
More talking head appeared.
Jackie, JR's wife, talked about how the Miranda centre saved her from a violent ex-boyfriend. There were a few other men, women and children who's lives had been touched by Bianca Montgomery and her charitable work. There were even a few celebrities. The hip-hop sensation GaZ-T talked about how the Miranda centre saved him and his sister from an abusive mother. Action film star Rachel Hernandez talked about the Miranda centre helping her mother improve her education and find work after her father died. TV News Anchorman Lenny White talked about the Miranda centre saving his sister from a life of prostitution. Ted Gilly appeared and spoke about how the Miranda centre helped his daughter's after she was hospitalised by her husband. Dr Osei talked about the hospital's the Miranda Centre set up in Africa and the lives that were saved, including his own. The scene widened and more and more talking heads filled the screen, you could no longer pick out individual conversations, just hundreds and hundreds of smiling people who had been touched by Bianca's kindness.
Marissa, who had been holding into Bianca's hand throughout the whole screening, leaned closer.
"You saved all these people."
"Not really." said Bianca modestly.
"Yes, really." Marissa insisted.
The film ended and Ted Gilly came forward again and encouraged Bianca back up onto the stage.
"And so it is greatest and proudest honour to announce Bianca Montgomery Humanitarian of the Year." he said proudly. "And here to present the honour is perhaps her greatest fan…"
Ted waved his hand towards the right of the stage and a frail, old lady with beautiful coffered white hair and a glamorous smile was wheeled out of the wings.
"… Erica Kane." finished Ted.
Bianca laughed in delight at the sight of her mother.
"My angel." Erica exclaimed. There was a heavy gold trophy balanced on her knee.
Bianca gave her mother a hug and took the trophy from her shaking fingers.
"You look amazing… immortal as always." Bianca gushed.
"No… no…" said Erica, squeezing her daughter's hand. "Today is all about you." She kissed the hand she held. "And no one deserves it more… sweetie… No one."
…
That night Bianca lay in her bed and gazed up at the ceiling, still in a daze about everything that had gone on that evening.
"So." Marissa asked snuggling in beside her. "Am I forgiven for springing all that on you?"
"You're forgiven." said Bianca. "But it wasn't right, not really."
"What do you mean?" Marissa asked.
"Well it wasn't me that saved all those people. It was the people who worked for the centre, who manage the out reach programmes and the hospital services and…"
Marissa groaned and clamped her hand over her wife's mouth.
"You know there is such a thing as being too good. All the good that those people did could only happen because of you. Now be gracious and except that you deserve this."
Bianca nodded mutely.
"Okay." she mumbled.
Marissa finally withdrew her hand.
Bianca turned around and grasped Marissa by the waist.
"And I'm not always good." she insisted.
Marissa laughed.
"Honey, you are an angel… not that there is anything wrong with that."
Bianca leaned closer, a wicked grin on her lips.
"I can be bad too." she whispered, stopping with her mouth inches from Marissa's.
Marissa licked her lips in anticipation.
"You can at that." she said with a laugh, reaching back to turn out the light.
…
Some time later Bianca settled back into her pillow with a wide grin on her lips.
"There is something I was meaning to talk to you about before the distraction." she said.
"What?" asked Marissa, with a happy smile.
"Miranda."
"What about her?" asked Marissa turning to her wife curiously.
"Her date tonight..."
"Charlie?"
Bianca sighed.
"Yeah... I know it was just a first date but they looked pretty serious."
"Is that a hint that I have to make peace with Cara?"
"Well you know from experience how hard it is to be happy when you moms hate each other."
Marissa snorted, half amused.
"Are you comparing my perfectly legitimate reservations about Cara Castillio with to your mother's old vendetta against mine?"
"I didn't say that..." said Bianca with a meek smile. "Just..."
"...I need to make my peace with Cara." finished Marissa unhappily, wondering if Bianca saw her as a version of Erica or Krystal in that scenario. "But only if she'll make her peace with me!"
"Just try." said Bianca. "Our kids deserve to be a happy as us."
Marissa sighed and turned back to Bianca.
"And we are happy."
Bianca grinned and kissed her lips.
"Happy and in love forevermore."
...
THE END... for real this time.
Thank you for reading! :o)