Wedding plans resumed after the meal was finished. They had only moved as far as the small sitting area outside the kitchen for their continued discussion so they were all aware when the front door opened to admit Bethany with the Book. Miranda’s eyes met Andrea’s and the brunette nodded as she rose from her seat.
“Be right back.”
Miranda leaned back in her chair and relaxed for a moment, “I didn’t realize the hour. Tomorrow make the appointments necessary with the caterers and bakeries.” She absently gestured to the pages scattered around the area. “The rest of this can wait.” She rested her head on the back of the chair and closed her eyes. “I have a doctor’s appointment in the morning, I’m not sure how long I’ll be, it will depend on what the blood test shows. You may need to reschedule my morning.”
Pulling her eyes away from the resting woman’s face, Emily nodded then began to gather the brochures and informational literature. “Of course, Miranda. Whatever you need me to do.”
###
Andy walked down the hall toward Bethany. When she saw the newcomer's dilemma her pace quickened, in five stretched steps she met the short assistant, struggling to hold the dry cleaning and the Book, relieving her of the bulky dry cleaning bag. “Let me get that.” Andy smiled and opened the closet door, hanging the clean clothes in their proper space. Closing the door, Andy smiled at the woman’s grateful look. “In the future if there is too much dry cleaning, bring the Book in first and leave it here.” She indicated the correct table. “Then go back to the car for the dry cleaning.”
“Okay.” Bethany sighed. “Thanks, Andy.” The woman checked her watch. “Wow, it’s late, I wonder if Tony’s home yet. At least I don’t have to take the subway, right?”
“Yeah, that is a plus at this hour.” Andy remembered how nice it was once she started delivering the Book, she didn’t have to deal with the subway and its late night patrons anymore. She also remembered how Nate reacted to her late nights. “Is this going to cause you problems… at home?”
Bethany waved off that concern. “Nah,” She shrugged. “It’s my job, he’ll deal with it.” She smiled at the worried look on Andy’s face. “We’ve been together a long time, through a lot of different schedules. There were times we went for months and barely saw each other!” Bethany chuckled. “I think that’s one reason we’ve stayed together for so long.”
“Okay then,” Andy walked Bethany back to the door and opened it, leaning against the edge. “Guess I’ll be seeing you from time to time now.”
Nodding, Bethany walked through the politely held door. “Yup, I guess so. Have a nice night.”
Andy smiled. “You too.” She shut the door slowly, thinking back to her own days as the one who delivered the Book and chuckled to herself. Oh how things have changed. Turning around, intent on retrieving the Book and taking it to Miranda, Andy was surprised to find her path blocked and her arms suddenly full of her partner. “Oh! Hello.” Now her chuckles were all for Miranda. “Something on your mind?”
“Bed.”
Dark eyes twinkled in the dimly lit hall. “Imagine that.” Looking over Miranda’s shoulder, Andy met Emily’s eyes. “All done for the night?”
“Yes.” Emily exhaled softly. “She’s all yours.” You lucky cow. Shaking that thought from her head, she adjusted her bag over her shoulder and walked toward them, toward the door. “I’ll just be going then.” She reached the door and had opened it slightly when Miranda’s voice stopped her.
“Emily.”
Turning, the long-time assistant met her boss’ eyes. “Yes, Miranda?”
“Good night, Emily,” a small smile ghosted across Miranda’s lips, “and thank you.”
“Good night, Miranda,” the redhead shifted her gaze slightly to include the younger woman in her parting words, “…Andy.” Her shoulders dropped a little and Emily nodded as she acknowledged Miranda’s gratitude. “You’re welcome.” Then she was out the door, knowing it would be locked behind her; putting Miranda and Andy inside, warm and together, leaving her outside, alone, as the night air whipped around her. Only now did she realize that there was no car for her and she was going to have to walk, at least to the subway station. Rolling her eyes at the sky, she mumbled, “Brilliant,” and headed home. She walked nearly three blocks when she noticed that a car had been slowly following her for the last one, and she tried to ignore it. She was startled by the driver’s voice.
“Get in.”
Ducking to look through the window, Emily squinted as she recognized the driver, “Andy?” Emily shook her head in confusion. “What?”
“C’mon…” The journalist waved her ex-coworker into the vehicle. “I don’t have all night.” Rolling her eyes, Andy asked, “Would you rather walk home?”
“No.” Emily took her seat in the Porsche and sighed. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” Andy smiled and pulled away from the curb. “Miranda was worried when she realized you’d have to walk, or take the subway.”
“She was?”
Nodding, Andy shifted and accelerated. “She was going to call Roy, but by the time he got here you’d have been home.” The brunette stopped at the light. “So I offered to give you a lift.” The light turned green and Andy hit the gas as she worked the stick shift.
Emily braced herself against the door and the dashboard, trying not to think that there was only a thin layer of fabric between her and imminent disaster. Convertibles suddenly didn't seem like a good idea at all. “I’m not sure this is any safer than the Tube.” She glanced over at the younger woman. “Do you even have a driver’s license?”
Laughing at that, Andy assured her passenger. “Yes, I have my license and trust me, you’d rather have me behind the wheel right now than Miranda.”
Emily held on as Andy turned the corner. When she sat straighter in the seat, the redhead muttered. “I doubt that.”
“No, really.” Chuckling, Andy stopped at another light. “Miranda doesn’t drive at night if she can help it. The street lights and oncoming headlights play havoc with her eyes. She can do it, but she doesn’t like to because she can’t see the turns and things very well.”
“Oh, I had no idea.”
“Most people don’t.” Andy saw the red change to green and hit the accelerator, “most people don’t think about her driving at all.” The brunette shrugged. “Hardly anyone knows anything about her. She’s a very private person. She always has been.”
“How did you…” She was going to ask how Andy found out about Miranda’s problem with driving after dark, but as she looked over to ask, a streetlight glinted off the ring on Andy’s left hand. Oh, right. She sighed. “I suppose you know a lot of things about Miranda that most people don’t.”
“Yes.” Andy agreed. “But then, so do you.”
“Me?” Emily shook her head. “I don’t think…”
“Yes, you do.” They drove for a while in silence until Andy pulled the car up to the curb, in front of a fairly nice apartment building. Andy put the car in park and turned toward her passenger. “I wanted you to know I really appreciate you taking on the girls’ birthday party as well as the wedding plans and if you need me to do anything just tell me okay?” The brunette grinned. “I used to be pretty good at that kind of stuff.”
Rolling her eyes at that, Emily protested. “You shouldn’t have to plan your own wedding.”
“People plan their own weddings all the time, Em.”
“Ordinary people, yes.”
“I am ‘ordinary people’, Em.”
“No,” The British woman sighed and put her hand on the door. “You’re not, not anymore.” She took Andy’s stunned silence as her chance to exit the car. “Thanks for the ride.”
Nodding, Andy made sure Emily entered the building safely, then she slowly pulled away from the curb. Emily’s words floated through her head the entire drive back. She parked the car in the garage behind the house. Why would she think I’m not ordinary? She walked slowly through the backyard garden. Emily has always thought I’m ordinary. Hanging the brand new set of keys to the car on the hook by the kitchen door, Andy made sure the doors were locked and the alarm was set, then walked up the stairs. She went through her nightly routine quickly, still distracted by Emily’s words, protesting them in her head. I’m nothing special.
She honestly couldn’t think of anything that could possibly make Emily’s opinion of her change so much. Then she shut out the lights and climbed into bed. The other occupant shifted in her sleep and Andy felt an elegant arm drape across her waist. Miranda’s shift brought her head to rest close enough to Andy’s that a bit of soft white hair brushed her cheek and each even breath warmed her shoulder. Oh… Andy smiled as she closed her eyes. You’re right, Emily… She relaxed under Miranda’s protective arm.
I am special.
###
Miranda felt the softest flutter against her cheek. A slightly different pressure followed as Andrea placed soft kisses along her jaw. “Andrea?”
“Mmmmm…”
“What time is it?’
“Early.” The young woman murmured and didn’t stop her gentle exploration of Miranda’s soft skin. She felt the older woman beginning to assist in her quest to reach the harder to access spaces. “Miranda…” The heat between them was growing and Andy whispered into a convenient ear. “…I love you, Miranda.” She lightly traced around the outside of the editor’s ear with her tongue. With infinite care, she reached out, gently tracing every curve she found with trembling hands. “I love you so much.”
“Andrea…” The editor melted into the younger woman knowing this encounter was going to be similar to the last several they’d enjoyed. Andrea’s light touches were wonderful, but today, when Miranda knew it was going to be a long grueling time before she returned home, the older woman wanted more. She knew her young love was frightened, she knew Andrea didn’t want to hurt her, but the tentative touches only served to highlight the difference between them. Andrea probably thinks she’s treating me like something precious… Miranda thought and loved the woman for it, but at the same time Andrea being so careful with her made her feel precious, it also made her feel a little old, less like a delicate flower and more like an antique vase. “Andrea,” she captured the wandering hands in her own. “I want you to listen to me.”
Andy blinked and focused on Miranda’s beautiful eyes. “Yes?”
“I will not break, Andrea.”
Wrinkles appeared on Andy’s forehead. “Ummm…”
“Ever since the unfortunate incident in the Closet, you have been worried about hurting me again.” She saw Andrea’s eyes close at that memory and gently kissed the backs of the fingers, still held in her hands. “I know you would never hurt me on purpose.” Smiling at the young woman’s honest concern, Miranda shifted closer. “I haven’t had an aspirin in almost three days now, I’m fine.” She placed Andrea’s hand on her forearm and covered it with her own smaller one, squeezing firmly. “You won’t hurt me. I won’t break.”
“I…” Andy swallowed hard, the memory of Miranda saying that she was being hurt, that she was hurting Miranda, drifted through her head. “I never want to hurt you again.”
“I understand that.” Running her fingers through Andrea’s long dark hair, Miranda smiled encouragingly at her young love. “Don’t treat me like I’m some fragile thing… I’m actually a pretty tough old broad.”
“Miranda…” Andy sighed. “I really wish you wouldn’t say things like that about yourself.”
“You don’t think I’m tough?”
“You know what I mean.” Andy rolled to sit on the edge of the bed. “Talking about yourself, calling yourself old…”
Rising up, Miranda pressed against Andrea’s back and kissed her fiancée’s elegant neck. “I will try to stop calling myself old, if you will try to stop treating me as if I am.”
“What!? I’m not…” She stopped herself from leaning back too hard against the editor and then realized what she was doing. With a sigh she melted into Miranda’s embrace. “I just don’t want to hurt you… again.”
Miranda pressed a kiss between Andrea’s shoulders. “You won’t.”
“You don’t know that.” Andy allowed herself to be pulled backward; to once again be stretched out next to Miranda. Reaching up, she lightly covered the previously bruised area on the older woman’s arm. “I didn’t know I was hurting you the first time, how can I stop it from happening again?”
“You did know.” Miranda corrected the concerned woman. “You knew because I told you, and as soon as I did you stopped. Immediately.” Leaning in, Miranda tasted the skin she found just below and behind Andrea’s ear and whispered, “Don’t hold back, Andrea.” Closing her eyes as Andrea’s hands slid over her sheer nightgown, Miranda shifted into the trembling touch. “Don’t hold back.”
“Oh, Miranda.” Andy’s voice reflected her need. “I have to hold back.” Pressing the slightly smaller woman back into the mattress, Andy supported herself on her elbows and looked into desire darkened blue eyes. “If I don’t hold back,” the muscles in her throat convulsed, emphasizing the need building within her, causing her voice to break. “I’ll swallow you whole.”
“Andrea…” Tiny shivers ran the length of Miranda’s spine. Elegant fingers tangled in Andrea’s soft dark hair and Miranda pulled the woman down to her. “Show me.”
Tugging on the silky material Miranda was wearing, Andy spoke softly. Her voice trembled. “Take this off.”
In the time it took Andy to rid herself of her own clothing, Miranda had finished her task. Andy hesitated as long as it took to blink twice before sliding against the love of her life. It was intoxicating, Miranda's skin, her scent. Andy's hands roamed over the older woman’s curves pulling the lithe body into her as tightly as she dared, Miranda’s protest that she wouldn’t break had been noted, but the woman still needed to breathe. Capturing the soft lips with her own, Andy’s hands continued to explore as her legs tangled with Miranda’s. Writhing together, Andy found herself kissing, nipping and biting any bits of slick salty flesh her mouth happened upon. It was, animalistic and out of control and Andy didn’t care, the taste of Miranda’s skin was dizzying. She wanted more, needed more.
“Miranda…” Andy’s breath came in heaving gasps and she was quickly losing the ability to stop herself. She looked into eyes nearly black with desire. “Are you sure?” She was shaking now, all over, this was Miranda’s last chance to stop it.
“Yes.” Miranda smiled and pulled the young woman back down to her, crashing their lips together as she mumbled between the desperate contact. “Oh God, yes.”
Miranda was barely able to think as Andrea’s lips and hands seemed to be everywhere all at once. She knew though that this was more than lust, more than desire, it was need; a deep abiding need. No one had ever made her feel like this. Her blood was on fire and she moved on instinct alone, but this wasn’t just anyone. This was Andrea, My Andrea, the thought ran through Miranda’s mind repeatedly as the sensations washed over her. My Andrea… She had never been able to give someone this kind of power over her, but she could, and did give it to Andrea. For a long while there was no hesitation, no fear, just the mind-blanking ecstasy that only Andrea could evoke in her.
It was glorious.
###
“You are making it very difficult for me to leave.”
“Mmmm…” Andy shifted and snuggled closer. “I can’t wait until I can spend a whole day with you in bed… a whole week…”
Miranda chuckled, knowing Andrea was talking about their honeymoon. “It will be two weeks, my darling.” She took a deep breath as she traced the young woman’s high cheekbone. “Two weeks of nothing but you and me.”
Andy’s hands absently roamed over Miranda’s curves. “Sounds like heaven.”
“Really?” Pulling back slightly, Miranda studied her partner’s face. “Do you believe in Heaven, Andrea? You’ve never struck me as a particularly religious person. Do you require a religious ceremony for our union?”
“Heaven is a great idea. A wonderful place you can stay and be happy for all eternity… who wouldn’t want that?” Andy shifted closer, wrapping herself around Miranda. She rested her head on the older woman’s chest, listening to the solid rhythm of the editor’s heart. If she could pick a moment to live in forever, this one would be high on the list of choices. After a moment of silence, she answered the question.
“As far as the ceremony goes, no, I don’t need it to be religious. I don’t need a ceremony at all really. I love you, Miranda,” She smiled as the heart under her ear did a double thump. “I don’t need a ceremony to confirm that.” Kissing the skin under her cheek, Andy whispered. “I don’t care what anyone says. I’m already yours, forever.” Then a thought occurred to her. “Do you need a religious ceremony Miranda?”
Lifting her head off the pillow slightly, Miranda kissed the top of Andy’s dark head. “No, the ceremony need only be legal. As you said, we supply the spiritual side of it ourselves.”
“Who better to supply the spiritual side than the Goddess Herself.” Andy shifted so she could see the outraged expression she knew Miranda was now displaying. “C’mon Miranda, don’t deny it. Emily worships at your altar every day.”
“My altar?”
Andy licked her lips and grinned. “Runway, of course. You have millions of followers.”
Rolling her eyes, Miranda laughed quietly. “Subscribers you mean, Andrea, you’re so ridiculous sometimes.”
“Yeah,” the young woman didn’t deny the accusation, “but you love me anyway.”
“Yes,” Miranda smirked as she continued her agreement. “Despite your myriad of exasperating qualities, I love you.”
“Myriad?” Andy laughed and touched her fingertips to the spot just between her breasts. “I have a myriad of exasperating qualities?”
“Of course you do, as I’m sure do I.” Miranda’s eyes twinkled with mischief, “but you love me anyway.”
Nodding at that, Andy winked. “You bet I do.”
Miranda tapped her fiancée’s cheek with her fingertips and chuckled. Her mirth ended as she glanced at the clock. With a sigh, she ran her fingers through her hair and moved to get up. “Time to start the day.”
Mock frowning, Andy groaned, “I probably won’t see you much now until…when… Saturday night?”
“Mmmm…” Miranda was already up, shrugging on her robe. “Make it Sunday morning.” She reached down to trace across Andy’s forehead, down her jaw to her chin and promised, “We can sleep in.”
“Yay.” Andy quickly kissed the palm of the hand on her face and grinned. “Okay then, time to get on with the day.” Standing to stretch her hands over her head, Andy rotated her shoulders. “Coffee?”
“Thank you, Darling.” Miranda nodded as she headed toward their bathroom.
Andy chuckled as she moved to the door, mumbling. “Still bringing you coffee…” Miranda called after her.
“Andrea.”
“Hmmm?” Turning to face the older woman, Andy tilted her head in question. “What?”
“You don’t have to… bring me coffee.”
With a shake of her head, Andy snorted and waved off the statement. “I know that,” with a saucy grin, the brunette shrugged. “But at least now you say thank you.”
Miranda blinked as the young woman exited the room. Running her hand through her silver-white hair, Miranda chuckled as she continued her journey to the bathroom. Her thumb absently brushed the bare skin on her left ring finger.
“She's going to marry me.”
###
Miranda was surprised three hours later when the doorbell rang. She looked up from her study of the Book and was about to rise from the couch to answer the door when thunderous footsteps on the staircase told her it was being taken care of and who it was at the same time. James. The girls had been watching through the upstairs window for his arrival. She heard their enthusiastic greetings, some whispered words and another round of elephantine stomping back up the stairs. A knock on the door frame of the study again pulled her attention from her work.
“Mira, can I speak to you for a moment?”
Ignoring the hated diminutive of her name, Miranda gestured toward one of the chairs next to the couch. “I am quite busy.” She made a show of setting the Book aside.
He nodded, knowing that Miranda was always ‘quite busy’. “I wanted to speak to you about… something.”
Obviously. The editor displayed a great deal of patience waiting nearly fifteen seconds before she urged, “So speak.”
He looked around the room and nervously wrung his hands together. “Where is… Um…”
Barely containing an exasperated sigh, Miranda waved her hand in the air absently. “Andrea has not yet returned from her morning run.”
Nodding, James ran his fingers through his graying hair. “I… um.. I wanted to let you know… I’m, um seeing someone.”
“Someone…” Miranda repeated, analyzed the word along with the man’s tone and concluded, “Someone you believe will upset me.”
“Possibly.” He sighed. “One of the reasons I want to take the girls for a few days, is so they can get better acquainted with Candice.”
“So it’s serious.” Miranda knew that James wouldn’t bring the girls into it unless it was. “You intend to marry the woman?”
“I… um.” He sighed. “She’s pregnant, so yes, I intend on marrying her.”
“Preg…” Miranda was glad she was sitting. Her eyes narrowed. “How old is this woman?” His continued silence was not reassuring. “James, how old?”
With a deep breath, he confessed, “Twenty seven.”
Running her tongue over her teeth, Miranda pressed her lips together. James was slightly older than she was so the age difference between the man and this Candice person was larger than the one between Andrea and herself.
She wasn’t jealous. She had loved him at one time, but that was long over. However, she didn’t want to see the man made a fool of, for the girls’ sake. “You are sure the child is yours?”
“I…” He shrugged, “reasonably sure.” Miranda’s relative lack of venom obviously surprised him. “Is that all? Don’t you want to slam me for her age?”
“I am many things, James.” Miranda shook her head, “I try not to add hypocrite to that list, whenever possible.” At his confused expression Miranda rolled her eyes. “Andrea recently celebrated her twenty-eighth birthday.”
“Oh.” James digested that information. He hadn’t spent much time with the woman his ex-wife had chosen to consort with, but from what little he’d seen of her, and what the girls had told him, Andy seemed… older than that. Not older, he admitted to himself remembering his interactions with Miranda’s… companion she seemed quite young, but the way she handled herself was far more, mature, than his current girlfriend even if his was about to become a mother. Miranda’s voice pulled him from his musings.
“My advice to you would be to get an iron-clad pre-nuptial agreement, should the child turn out not to be yours.” Miranda didn’t care how James wasted his time, but if some newcomer thought they were going to come in and take anything that rightfully belonged to her children, they were sadly mistaken. Miranda sighed at the timing as Patricia padded into the room and settled at her feet.
“Do you have one?” He managed to meet Miranda's eyes. “A pre-nup...”
“No.” Miranda clenched her teeth together, making the muscle in her jaw jump. “I don’t want one.” The new voice was expected.
“But I do.” Andy ran her fingers through her sweaty hair as she walked into the room. “And Miranda knows I do… but she refuses to consider it.” Leaning over the back of the couch, Andy murmured, “So stubborn,” before she placed a gentle kiss on the older woman’s angled cheek. “I’m going to take a shower.”
Miranda took a deep breath, nodded and watched Andy go before refocusing on her ex-husband. “You were saying?”
“What did she mean, you refuse to consider it?” James tilted his head. “Why? Don’t you want to protect yourself? What if things don’t work out with you two?”
“It has to work out.” Miranda took a deep breath and admitted to the man she once loved. “If things don’t, work out, between Andrea and I, there will be nothing left of me to protect.”
“Wow.” James felt his eyebrows rising. “She’s really got you wrapped up then, huh?”
“Mmm…” Miranda’s mind wandered upstairs for a moment, knowing Andrea was currently preparing for her shower. “Indeed.” They sat in awkward silence for several long moments neither of them knowing what to say to the other. The strain was beginning to wear on Miranda and then thunderous footsteps on the stairs and two thumps next to the door heralded the arrival of their children. She braced herself as they jumped onto the couch next to her. “All ready for your stay at your father’s?”
“Yeah, our bags are by the door.” The girls snuggled close on either side of her and looked over at the man; their eyes clearly asking. Did you tell her?
“I have informed your mother about Candice.” He smiled at them. “We’ll have fun for a few days and you can get to know Candice a little better, then your Grandmother wants to see you for a few days too.” He spoke for a few moments about the activities they could do both with he and Candice and with their grandmother then looked at Miranda. “I can have them back on Wednesday night.”
Miranda asked. “Is that acceptable, girls?” She reminded them. “You’ll miss your study group.”
Caroline shook her head. “No we won’t.”
Cassidy spoke up. “Next study group meeting is Thursday. Some of the others had things to do on Wednesday.”
“Well then, it seems as though you have most of your next week planned out.” Miranda smiled at the children. “I’ll miss you.”
“So will I.” Andy grinned from the doorway, her hair still slightly damp from her quick shower. She made her way to the couch and settled in the space Cassidy created for her next to Miranda. Only now did she look at the man in the room. “How are you, James?”
“Can’t complain.” He studied the woman now fresh from her shower and admitted she did look very young but it was her easy interaction with the girls that caught his attention. It was quite heartening to see. He hoped Candice would, could, achieve that at some point. “Okay then, if you’re ready…” He stood. “We should probably hit the road.”
“Goodbye my darlings…take care…” Miranda hugged the children tightly.
“Bye, Mom.” Caroline assured Miranda, “We’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Cassidy grinned. “It’ll just give you wrinkles.”
Andy wrapped her long arms around Caroline. “Be good, Munchkin,” she switched her embrace to Cassidy and whispered, “and if you can’t be good, be careful.”
Caroline grinned, but Cassidy glanced at their mother and then gave Andy a pointed look. “You too.”
With a twinkle in her eye, Andy leaned down and whispered in Cassidy’s ear.
The girl’s eyes widened and she grinned. “Really?”
Andy winked and nodded.
Laughing, Cassidy grabbed her sister’s arm. “C’mon, Ro…”
“But…” Caroline didn’t like being left out of the loop.
Rolling her eyes, Cassidy assured her mirror image. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
Miranda waved and watched them go. When the door closed at their exit, she turned her attention to Andrea. “More secrets?”
“Yes.” Andy confirmed and grinned at the narrowing blue eyes. “But it’s nothing bad…”
“Hmmm…”
Moving closer, Andy wrapped her arms around Miranda’s tense frame. “I swear, I’ll tell you on….” Andy pretended to think about it. “…Monday.”
“You require I wait four entire days?”
“Patience is a virtue.”
Miranda sniffed in annoyance. “Patience is over-rated.”
Andy grinned and kissed Miranda’s forehead. “I might be persuaded to tell you on Sunday… if you are very, very good.”
“Andrea.” Miranda shook her head sadly but spoke with amusement. “You should know by now…” the older woman grinned wickedly, leaned in to find one of Andrea’s ears and whispered, low and seductive, “I’m always, very, very good.” There was a smirk on her face as she moved away from the embrace and the younger woman sighed.
“It’s going to be a long three days.” Andy pulled the smirking woman back to her and brushed their noses together. “I’m gonna miss you, until Sunday.”
Nodding, Miranda smiled. “And I you.”
“Do you want me to come with you, to the Doctor's office?”
“Not necessary,” Miranda waved off the offer. “It's just a blood draw and won't take more than ten minutes.” She smiled at the younger woman. “I believe I can manage on my own.”
With a deep breath Andy smiled, “Okay.” She was trying very hard to honor her end of the bargain and not overprotect Miranda. She waved as the editor moved away and walked out the door. “Try not to fire too many people.” When she heard Miranda’s laughter echo down the hall, Andy smiled wider. She loved that sound.