Beautiful Pieces

2

CHAPTER 2

M I R A N D A

"How was the honeymoon?" Aunt Jo asked.

Landon and I were having dinner together with his entire family in  a special restaurant where we reserved a VIP room for all of us. I was worried when I arrived because I know Charlotte is here and I still find it difficult to actually talk to her. She still scares me even though I know that she's learned to accept me for Landon.

"You've both been gone for one month. I bet the places you've been to were marvelous." Felicitè commented and smiled at me.

"It was. Purely fantastic, wasn't it love?" Landon asked me while he forks his steak into his month.

"Yes. I was completely in awe. Dubai got me pretty badly. Still haven't gotten over it that’s for sure." I commented with a smile.

"We should go and do shopping at Dubai together, Randy." Charlotte blurted.

I could tell that aunt Jo and her husband were surprised and so did Landon. I quickly smiled at her, happily, and I was too joyful that she wanted to go to Dubai and do some shopping with me. I don't know if she's faking it but I'm just glad that she's finally talking to me nicely. I feel like I'm totally accepted in this family now that Charlotte seems to be nice to me, at least.

"I would love to Charlotte." I answered right away.

"Lottie." She says back. "Call me Lottie. Now that we're family, I guess I couldn't hate you forever." She smiles.

I smiled back and my heart feels like it’s on cloud nine.

"I'm very glad that you've totally gotten matured enough, Lottie." Landon jokes.

She playfully rolled her eyes at Landon and then chuckles.

"Thank you." Landon adds.

After dinner, I headed out of the VIP room and searched for the bathroom because I needed to take a wee. I stood in front of the mirror and never felt this happy my entire life. I've never felt the love and care from a complete family before and this is really amazing. My life was totally broken when my dad left us and up until now I don't know where he is. But for what it's worth, I think I don't need to know were he is because he's abandoned me since I was little and if he wanted to see me then h3 would have tried looking for me at least.

Once I was done taking a wee, my phone stopped me from leaving the bathroom because someone was calling me and it was Vivian. I hurriedly answered it, knowing that it's from her since she calls rarely which makes me worry about something related to Ben while I am away.

"Has something happened?" I answered right away even before she could talk.

I hear Vivian chuckling on the other line, "Relax worrisome mother. Ben's totally fine."

That's a relief. "I thought something has happened."

"No, silly. You are so overreacting sometimes. By the way, you were all over the tabloids, girl! Everyone's talking about your one month honeymoon with Landon and you need to tell me everything about that entire month has happened."

"Oh you know, we did what newly wedded couples do during honeymoons." I smiled.

"I bet there were lots and lots and lots of sex." She giggles.

I blushed because it was indeed true despite the growing bump.

Also, when you’re pregnant there’s just this endless need of having s*x. It feels like I am so horny all the time and it is so frustratingly embarrassing knowing I am pregnant and having s*x.

"Did you just call me up to ask if me and Landon had lots of that?" I smirked as I fix my hair in front of the mirror.

Vivian laughs, "Not really. I called because Ben misses you."

I gaped. "Ben's with you right now and you're talking with me about s*x? Viv!"

"Relax pregnant woman. He's with Arthur in our bedroom. I'll go up and check on them right now."

I hear her rushing up the stairs, "Guess who's on the other line Benny?" Vivian chimes happily.

"Mommy and daddy Landon!" Ben screams.

I smiled.

"M-mommy?" Ben answers.

"Hey baby." I cooed sweetly and felt instantly happy hearing his adorable voice. "I missed you so so much."

"I missed y-you too mommy. Very very very much."

"Have you been a good boy to everyone while me and daddy Landon were away?"

"Yes!" He answers loudly. "I... I... I have been a very very good boy mommy. I can already write my name. And your name. And-and daddy Landon's name. And d-daddy Hugo's name too!"

I sigh when I heard Hugo's name.

"That's a very good news, Benny. Mommy and daddy Landon will be home in a few hours, okay? We have so many gifts for you." I tell him with a smile.

He cheered.

"When you come home, is daddy H-Hugo going to be w-with you?" He asked.

I quickly felt an aching pain in my heart.

It felt like I was stabbed.

I don't know Ben. I'm sorry. And I feel so mad at Hugo for beginning to abandon you, now that he has another son. It felt like be totally forgot about Ben when Alex was born and it sounds so selfish of me knowing Alex needs a father too and that even if Hugo is not around, I have Landon to fill his spot. I feel terribly bad that Ben couldn't feel the love that Hugo can give because he's so busy with Audrey and their new baby. I'm sorry Ben.

"Daddy Hugo hasn't even called you?" I asked him.

"He calls sometimes. I just miss him so much too." Ben's voice saddens.

I sigh. Me too, son.

"I'll try to do the best I can, okay? Now cheer up, me and daddy Landon will see you soon." I tell him.

"Okay mom. I love you. Tell daddy L-Landon that I love him and I-I-I missed him."

I smiled. "I will. Love you very much."

I hang up.

I quickly spin around and bumped onto someone.

"Oh I'm sorry." Both of us said in unison.

I helped her pick up her things that were scattered on the ground. When we finished, we stood in synch and stared at each other.

My heart drops.

It was Hugo's older sister.

"How clumsy of me, sorry." She says.

Recover, Miranda!

"No. No. I should be the one that needs to apologize." I muffled.

She gaped and pointed her finger at me, "I know you. You're Landon's wife." She chimes with a smile.

I smiled back at her, "I am."

"Oh my goodness what a small world! Hello. It's nice to meet you. Finally, I've been wanting to meet you."

Why? Does she even know that Ben is her nephew? I asked myself.

She suddenly hugs me as if she has known since before. This was my very first time to actually meet her and she's so relaxed, chilled and laid back. She's very friendly too.

Unlike how Charlotte treated me.

"Mum will be so happy to know I bumped to you." She tells me.

Mrs. Anne, she remembers me? She told Gladys about me? I thought.

"Oh! I feel that huge bump of yours." She jokes as she pulls herself away.

I smiled at her and I couldn’t stop smiling at all. I am so happy to see her and it’s surreal.

"I have been forcing Hugo to meet us up but he keeps telling me that he's very busy and so do you." She says.

"I think I was busy with the wedding preparations. I sent an invitation." I answered.

"I was in Morocco for some business that day. I'm sorry I couldn't come. And this is a very unpleasant place for us to meet." She chuckles and I join her.

“Yeah but it’s fine.” I responded.

"Are you with Landon?" She quizzed.

I nod. "With his family too."

"Oh! What a really small world. Come." She holds my hand.

Come where? I panicked.

"Give our table a quick visit. Mum will be thrilled." She gently pulls me out of the bathroom and I couldn’t even say no to her.

Gladys was totally different form Lottie the first time I met her. Gladys is more fun. She's a lot nicer. She's very accommodating and she's very kind to me too. I wonder if she knows about Ben but I'm sure she does.

"I hope you brought Ben. I've been wanting to meet Hugo's little twin." She says as if she reads my mind.

Weird.

"You knew about Ben?" I asked her.

She nods, "Of course dear. When I saw Ben on TV, I knew he was little Hugo. They looked totally the same and I remember Hugo when he was Ben's age."

I smiled at myself.

"Are you with Ben?" She asks in hope in her eyes.

"He's in New York. Landon didn't want Ben to get his tantrums while we're on vacation so we thought it was better to let him stay in New York with his aunt."

"It's much safer too." Gladys agrees.

I nodded, "Plus he needs to visit his pathologist as well. And do some of his rehab activities that's helping him through." I smiled at my answer.

"I felt bad I haven't visited you during those days. I'm sorry."

"No need to be sorry. It's really okay." I muffled.

We continued walking arm in arm around the restaurant.

"Mum! Look who I bumped into." Gladys chimes.

I felt relieved when I didn't see Hugo around the table. It was only her and Mrs. Anne. She gapes and stands on her feet whole she welcomed me with her arms wide open. I hugged her and I felt her hugging me tighter.

"Dear, it's really really good to see you." Mrs. Anne tells me.

Wow, I've never thought of this.

She releases me, "You look incredibly beautiful with your pregnancy."

I smiled shyly with her comment. "Thank you Mrs. Anne. And I'm also happy to see you again. It's been a very long time since the first time we met."

"It's been, hasn't it? C'mon. Sit down. Join us." she offers a seat.

I sat down to be nice.

"Are you alone? Or with Landon?" She asks.

"Landon and his family." I answered.

"Ah! The entire Thompsons. I'm glad you visited them after your honeymoon." She says.

I smiled.

"Mum and I talked about visiting you, haven't we mum?" Gladys blurted happily.

"We did. But I have been getting sick lately. You know when people age." She jokes. "And I get easily ill these days when I board a plane. The flight just makes me feel anxious and utterly sick.”

I nod, "I understand. It's better if you take a lot of rest Mrs. Anne."

"Call me mum. I feel too old when you call me Mrs. Anne when you're not somebody else to us." She tells me with a smile plastered on her face.

My heart melts.

"I hope you and Hugo are fine." Mrs. Anne blurted.

I stared at her under my eyelashes because I didn’t know how to actually react to her words. "We're actually... Good. Great friends." I faked a smile.

Gladys smiles at me and holds my hand to hers. "I really admire you. To be honest, when I found out that Hugo got you pregnant and you hid it from us, I was mad at you. You hid something from us that would make us happy, we could've accepted the baby right away. I was immensely mad at you for hiding it."

Honest.

Brutally honest.

She is so incredibly frank just like Lottie.

"But then I realized that what you did was the most amazing and strongest thing you've ever done. You protected your son from everyone that would hate you because you knew Hugo was on top of his game. You thought it would ruin Hugo's career so you hid it, all by yourself. You raised Ben on your own. That's why I admire you." Gladys smiles.

“Thank you.” I answer shyly with overwhelming feelings inside me.

"You're a strong woman Miranda. And I wish I was as strong as you." She adds.

I wiped the escaping tears from the corner of my eye. "I never thought I'd hear such words coming from you."

She hugs me and rubs my back. "If I was Hugo, I'd choose you over Audrey. You're much more worth it."

I sigh. I feel my heart broken into pieces again. So much meaningful words from Gladys and I feel so much love coming from these two women even when it's our first time to be all together.

We pulled ourselves away from each other as my phone interrupts me.

LANDON: Taking a long wee?

"It's Landon." I tell them.

"Oh, you should go then. We wouldn't want your husband to come looking for you and I bet his family is waiting for you to come back to their table too." Mrs. Anne tells me.

MIRANDA: Bumped into Gladys Saintclare at the bathroom a while ago. I'm at Mrs. Anne and Gladys's table right now. Come and say hi?

"Maybe Landon’s coming over here." I tell them.

"Great timing brother." I hear Gladys speak.

Brother. I quickly pulled my head up from my phone and saw Hugo standing right across where I was sitting down.

I swallowed my saliva hard.

He eyes me.

Damn it.

"I'm sorry I am so late." Hugo speaks while he glued his eyes on me. He sits on the chair across mine and he got me wondering where the hell is his wife.

"Where's your adorable wife?" Gladys asked disinterestedly.

I noticed that Mrs. Anne stared at her eagerly, like a warning of some sort.

"She had something else to go to. Sorry." He apologized.

"Where's little Alex?" Mrs. Anne asked.

"At home. The nannies are taking care of him for me." Hugo says.

He moved his eyes to me, "It's good to see you Rose. I didn't know you were in London."

I cleared my throat, preparing myself to talk to Hugo after a month of not conversing with him.

"Just arrived from my honeymoon with Landon." I answered very very awkwardly. I could not even look at him in the eye.

Slowly, I travel my eyes back at him and I see him nodding his head while he glances at my wedding ring but he's not looking at me anymore. "Well you're looking very pretty carrying your baby." He says even if he was not looking at me.

"Thank you." I answered him.

He pulled his head up to me and we were both silently staring at each other. Hugo stares at me with his sad eyes and it makes me sad too. There is just something about Hugo that catapults me so quick back to him and it seems as if we can never pull ourselves away from each other when we are together. I feel my heart racing again. Damn it heart!

The table was awkwardly quiet and I noticed that Gladys would look at me then back at Hugo as she glances at her mum. I think she noticed something different awkward in between us. I snapped myself out from the staring contest I had with Hugo realizing that I was being an absolute dum-dum. I stare at each of them and they were all quiet, it's as if they know something that I don't. Gladys was pressing her lips together and Mrs. Anne was silently drinking her glass of water while she stares at Hugo.

My phone beeps.

LANDON: Wow! What a coincidence. Maybe I'd drop by their table and say hi :)

MIRANDA: Hugo just arrived by the way.

I bit my lower lip as I waited for Landon to reply.

"Is Landon with you?" Hugo asks.

"Yes. We thought that we should visit his family after the honeymoon." I answered.

"After Hugo and Audrey's honeymoon, Audrey never dared to visit us." Gladys whines.

With that tone of voice and words, I think she hates Audrey. "She's such a drama queen sometimes." She adds.

"Gladys, please." Hugo warns.

She rolls her eyes at Hugo and Mrs. Anne quickly placed her hand over Gladys knuckles, I think she signaled her to stop.

LANDON: Great! I already see you.

"Ah! Landon!" Mrs. Anne chimes.

"Auntie, it's good to see you. Looking perfectly great tonight." Landon pops out from behind me. He leans over and hugged Mrs. Anne while his other hand was over one of my shoulder.

"You're looking great yourself Landon dear." Mrs. Anne says back.

Landon smiles at Gladys and gave her a quick hug too, "Gladys. Looking good as well."

"Thank you Landon." Gladys smiles.

"Hugo, nice to see you man." He shared a handshake with Hugo.

Hugo smiles, "You as well. You look like you've gotten weight." He jokes.

"That one month vacation was indeed by far the most amazing vacation I've ever been to." Landon answers.

I smiled.

As I take a good look at Hugo, he wears his usual black suit and tie which always fits him great. And I think his hair has gotten a little bit shorter than the last time I saw him but he looked like he was sad.

Hugo looked...

Tired.

Stressed.

And problematic.

What's wrong Hugo? I wanted to ask him that question.

I know there's something terribly wrong with him. He doesn't look happy as he sits here with us. He looks so stressed as if something awful happened or has been happening in his life.

"Miranda, could you go with me for a sec?" Gladys snaps.

"Oh. Sure." I say right away.

Both of us stand and drags me to the bathroom. "I need to take a wee." She says and walks to the cubicle.

I chuckle softly. I fix myself in front of a mirror and pushed my hair behind my ears.

"Randy?" Gladys calls out.

"Yeah?"

"I really like you."

I'm surprised.

"I mean not in a lesbian way of course. But I really like you for.... Hugo." I hear the flushing of the toilet as she steps out of the cubicle.

She eyes me on the mirror and smiles then she walks next to where I was. "I really like you for him. I just loathe Audrey too much and my mother seems to be questioning why Hugo chose her. She's stubborn, such a diva and she's too much for Hugo."

I chuckle. "She is."

"Yeah. She gets into my nerve when she visits us or have some dinner with us. That's why it's too bad you didn't end up with my stupid brother." She chuckles and holds my arm.

She smiles and I smiled back.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this coming from you." I say.

"Well it's true. I just wish he realized what he lost after not chasing you." She tells me seriously.

I sigh inwardly.

"I just can't totally believe that he chose a trash over a diamond." She adds.

I gaped, she didn’t just say that?

She smiles. "Let's go back now."

I nodded and we chuckled our way out of the bathroom.

She really meant that Audrey was a trash and I was a diamond.

As happy as I was marching my way back to the table, Hugo’s sad eyes stared back at mine.

You with the sad eyes.