Departure & Arrival - Part 6
HOUR 5
Andy stared in a glazed fashion at a point just over Miranda’s shoulder as she filtered through her memories of the last five years. There was so much to explain and she had to do it in such a way that Miranda understood. She had to soften the blow. Focusing back on the editors pristine features, she began.
“Where to start…” She wondered aloud.
“Why don’t you start from the moment you landed in New York five years ago?” Andy noted the impatience in her voice and decided it was safest not to argue.
“Ok… but there are some things…” Andy looked at Charlie. Her daughter was intrigued in the conversation to say the least. Looking over her shoulder, Andy caught the hostess’s attention and waved her over. “Princess, would you like to go visit the pilot in the cockpit?”
Charlie looked hard at her mother, and then turned her attention to Miranda. Looking up at the hostess she replied, “Yes please.”
“Don’t leave her for a second, do you understand me?” Andy aimed at the hostess, who appeared to have momentarily lost the ability to speak. The brunette levelled a glare at the mute female. “I do not enjoy repeating myself.”
“Of course Miss.”
Charlie threw her mother a smile before she was lead to the cockpit, hand in hand with an extremely scared woman.
Andy turned back to Miranda who seemed to have been too amused by the past minute to remain too annoyed with Andy. “Please continue Andréa.”
“When I landed, even before I saw the tabloids attack you during the divorce, I was sure that writing was no longer an option for me. That, I won’t go into detail about and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ask me to.” She paused to gauge Miranda’s reaction to the comment. A nod encouraged her to continue. “When I returned to New York Nate had left, which left me with the rent check and so I phoned around some of the contacts I made at Elias-Clarke and got a job at a boutique we used for one of the Chanel shoots. While I was there I spent all day everyday around clothes with little to fill my time and so I took to sketching, but it wasn’t anything serious.” Andy allowed a warm smile to grace her lips. “Then I found out I was pregnant with Charlie and, as I’m sure you guessed, my mother disowned me, denied my existence to the best of her abilities.” The fury in the older woman’s sapphire eyes warmed Andy and she suddenly felt comfortable telling her the story of her past. “Luckily for me, I had Nigel and Emily. They were there for me throughout the whole pregnancy. Doctors appointments, baby-proofing the apartment and even when there were complications in the last trimester. I was confined to bed for almost a month and I kept myself occupied with sketching, mainly clothes; dresses, shirts, skirts, shoes. A month of furious sketching and she was with us. My little Princess, after some drama in the delivery room, graced us with her presence.”
Andy allowed herself a moment to become wistful. She could remember vividly the first time she held Charlie in her arms; Nigel and Emily at her bedside, utterly frazzled and tired after an intense thirty-nine hours. Her face reflected back up at her, the tell tale blond hair that linked her to her father not yet grown in. Andy looked up to find Miranda blinking away the wetness that had gathered in her eyes.
“So there I was with a baby, no partner and a job that barely covered my expenses before diapers. But Nigel, being Nigel, had taken it upon himself to show some of my sketches to people in the business. You would know better than I the correct channels for such things. Anyway, when I was made an offer by an investor to help me set up my own company, I wasn’t in a position to say no.” She was usually so good at reading Miranda, but her expression gave nothing away, so Andy decided to wrap up the story and allow Miranda to comment. “From there, it took off rather quickly, maybe too quickly. Anyway, it was no time before I was offered a spot in Paris Fashion Week and I’ve never looked back. I love what I’m doing more than I ever expected to. It felt really good to be back in that world, your world. And that pretty much takes us to meeting you on a plane and explaining the last five years.”
Miranda looked deep into Andy’s eyes puzzled, at least Andy knew how to read that expression. “I think you’ve left something out Andréa.” She stood and took Charlie’s seat next to Andy. “What was the need for all the secrecy? Why no public appearances? Why won’t you feature your designs in any magazines?”
Andy so wished that Miranda could simply work some of the details out for herself to save her the task of having to explain every minute detail. It just forced her to leave out as much information as she released.
“Miranda, no one deserts you. I hate that I have to say it that way, but that’s what I did. It was unprofessional, uncaring and, in the end, uncalled for, but I did it. When, in recorded history, has Miranda Priestly ever let someone off the hook?”
The hurt was evident and it made Andy want to reach out and touch the woman more than ever before. “I thought you knew me better than that Andréa. You of all people should have known…”
“Miranda, I may have known you better than most, but I still knew so little about you. Taking the divorce and the fact that you just had to save your job into consideration, I thought you might have been a little raw when I up and left. Maybe I was wrong.”
She could see on Miranda’s face that she wasn’t wrong, Miranda had been hurt.
“I think that covers the secrecy, which in turn explains why there was no public appearance. As for featuring in magazines, well, my loyalty still lies with Runway.” This appeared to surprise the older woman. “Once I knew my designs were getting attention, I knew that if I couldn’t feature them in Runway, then I wouldn’t feature them at all. I suppose now that everything is out in the open, I could properly apologise with a spread in the magazine. That is, if you are interested, of course.” She smirked at the woman who was now sitting close enough that Andy could feel the warmth radiating from her body.
Miranda had cheered up considerably. “That does seem like a rather fitting apology. Thank you for telling me all this Andréa.” She reached over and placed her hand on top of Andy’s. “I understand there is a lot that you are holding back, but I want to know whatever you want to tell me.”
Andy could concentrate on nothing more than Miranda’s hand on hers. Her skin was incredibly soft, and her fingers so delicate. Her heart was racing, and she was sure that the editor would feel the blood pulsing around her hand. With confidence she didn’t know she had, she twisted her hand so that it touched Miranda’s palm to palm and intertwined their fingers. This drew out a smile from the older woman, who squeezed her hand gently.
She began studying Miranda’s face. Taking in the porcelain skin, tinted lips that looked fuller up close than it would appear at first glance, her cheekbones that were steadily being painted with a natural glow of pink and of course her eyes. Andy could lose herself in Miranda’s eyes, and she used to frequently. Of course, this pass time was being made much easier now that Andy didn’t have to hide her actions from Miranda. The pools of azure twinkled and shimmered in the light, forcing Andy to gaze deeply and pick out the lapis flecks that danced within. The site took the brunettes breath away.
Suddenly, Andy became aware that in the seconds or minutes that had passed as she basked in Miranda’s beauty, they had grown closer to each other. Their lips were an inch apart, their breath mingling. She couldn’t be sure who had leaned forward first or when it had happened exactly but those thoughts were made redundant by the thundering of her heart, forcing her ears to hear no more than a steady thump. Glancing briefly down at Miranda’s elegant throat, she saw the subtle sign of a quickening pulse and knew that she wasn’t alone her feelings.
“Andréa...”
Refusing to think for a second longer, Andy closed the small distance and let her lips slowly brush Miranda’s. A sigh from the older woman encouraged Andy to add a little more force to the kiss. As she lost herself in the silken texture fluttering against her mouth, she let her hand rise unhurried up the length of Miranda’s arm. A flicker of tongue against her upper lip dragged a soft moan from Andy, giving Miranda the gap she needed to let her tongue roam into Andy’s mouth. The brunette reciprocated, grazing the tip of her tongue lightly against the editors. A spark of desire jolted in Andy’s mouth and spread to the rest of her body, settling in between her legs, causing her to shift slightly in her chair. She felt Miranda smirk against her lips and couldn’t help but smile in reply.
“Mommy!”
Andy snapped away from Miranda with a sharp gasp. Looking around her she realised that Charlie was making her way to their seats, out of sight. Knowing that her daughter hadn’t caught her making out with her new friend, Andy relaxed. She didn’t miss the amused look on Miranda’s face at her reaction and found herself wondering if the editor would react in the same way if it was Caroline or Cassidy walking towards them.
Charlie reached them. “Princess, did you enjoy yourself?”
“Charlie’s headed bobbed up and down with enthusiasm. “Yeah, Roy was really nice to me. He even let me press some of the buttons.”
‘Roy?’
“Miranda, you didn’t?” Andy asked, disbelieving.
The older woman chuckled gently. “Coincidence, I swear.”
Charlie ignored her stolen seat and scrambled onto her mothers lap. “Did you have fun while I was away Mommy?”
Andy found the eyes that made her heart stop and restart in the most endearing way. She allowed herself an honest smile. “I did Princess, I really did.”