Chapter 28

"Alright," she sighed as if this were difficult for her. Taking a long look Randi saw herself, as she hadn't in many years, and what she saw there actually surprised her. She had been pretty in her youth, and that was always what her husband had told her that she was pretty, not beautiful or lovely. But AJ had said she was beautiful…no he had said amazingly beautiful. So she looked to see if she could see what he saw.

Her eyes were the color of the ocean on a calm day, kind of a sea-foam green, nice, but nothing out of the ordinary there. She had blonde hair, but so did a lot of women, and a good percentage of them got it from a bottle. If she had to describe the color, she would have to say it was somewhere between honey and gold. The best thing about it was that it always looked good; whether she just combed it, or if she spent time styling it. Even when she'd gotten some lousy haircuts it had still found a way to lay that made it look like it was meant to be like that.

Miranda's skin was smooth and unblemished, with what her mother used to call a peaches and cream complexion. Her lips were just full enough to look pouty without having people think that she'd had collagen treatments. What surprised her when she stood there staring at herself was that maturity seemed to have added an extra dimension to her looks and the woman that looked back at her was lovely!

The entire package really seemed to have come together quite well and she could actually believe that AJ saw a beautiful woman. Amazingly beautiful might still be a stretch for her to believe, but she finally smiled at the tall man behind her. That was one of the things that made her feel comfortable with AJ, he was at least three inches taller than her own six foot.

When she started to speak, he smiled back at her; she admitted that she did see a beautiful woman. What she didn't mention to him was that she also saw something in her own eyes that she hoped he didn't. She saw the first stirrings of love in her eyes! Shutting them quickly, she turned in AJ's arms and kissed him.

"Not that I'm complaining, Miranda, but what was that for?" he asked when they parted for air.

"For making me see myself as you do," she answered and then as she led him back to the couch she said, "Miranda is such a mouthful and everyone close to me calls me Randi, why don't you?"

"But your name is as lovely as you are, why would you shorten it?"

"Just because it is shorter, but if that's how you feel about nicknames what's your excuse A…J?" she asked with a laugh.

"Ouch, you got me!" he said with a wince. "Although I know I will never win any male beauty contests, I still hope that you will assure me that I don't look like an Albert Jethro."

"Oh dear," she sighed in sympathy. "You certainly don't look like an Albert Jethro. What were your parents thinking?"

"That either or both of my bachelor uncles would leave all their money to their namesake. Sadly one left his to cancer research," he said with a mock sigh to let her know he was kidding.

"And the other?" she asked with a smile of understanding.

"Oh even more tragic! At the ripe old age of eighty-three he married a looker of twenty-four and then died leaving her everything only a year later."

"Tragic! I can see how broken up you are about it!" she giggled.

"Oh I am!" he assured her. "But if Uncle Jethro can marry at eighty-three it gives me hope for the future."

"I'm sure you'll be married again before that!" Miranda insisted.

"Do you know something I don't?" he asked.

"No," she lied. "But who wouldn't want a handsome eligible man like you?"

He was about to protest her description of him when she looked at him and threatened, "Do I have to pull you into the foyer too and make you take a look at yourself?"

"Okay! I won't fight you on it if you promise not to do that!" AJ laughed.

Smiling at her victory she promised that she wouldn't.

To Be Continued….