Manhattan

Keys jangled in the door of a rather exclusive condominium in Manhattan, unlocking and opening to reveal a young woman who looked ....well, frankly, rather too ordinary to have a set of keys that would let her in, really. Bethany Granger was never quite dressed the way her mother would have liked, not making the most of her figure or face as far as her parent was concerned, but given how long her hours were at the hospital, they'd long since come to the compromise that so long as she was presentable, that would do. She'd come straight from the hospital today, pausing only to shower and change at her own, significantly more modest apartment as quickly as she could. She loved spending time with her mother, especially since these days it was difficult to catch the other woman with a free day. The development of a new collection tended to take up all Bethany's mother's time in the weeks before it was launched.

"Mom!" she called, closing the door behind herself and dropping her bag under the table nearby. Inquisitive eyes found the mail on that table, picking it up to flick through with unabashed curiosity. "I'm here!"

"In here!" a voice called from another room that Miranda used for as a makeshift private studio, the one room in the posh upper-Manhattan condo that actually looked a little bit messy. A thump was heard followed by a quiet "Meow" as Miranda's cat went to the door to greet his "other mistress", the one who took care of him when Miranda was off jet-setting around the globe or traveling to and from Rhy'Din.

"Hey, Andy," Beth greeted the cat as he came into view, putting the mail back down again to bend and lift him into her arms. Her fingers scratched fondly under his chin and around his neck as he purred for her, following the sound of her mother's voice until she was standing in the doorway of the little studio. "Wow. Busy much?"

One of two spare bedrooms had been converted into a studio, the other a guest room, mostly used on those rare occasions when Bethany decided to stay over. The studio was small and cluttered, filled with photographs and magazines, pieces of fabric, and books galore, all scattered around the small space in what could only be described as organized chaos. At the desk sat a woman in her middle years, still almost as lovely as she had been in her youth, busily going through various swatches of fabric she had scattered across her desk, a pair of glasses resting halfway down her nose. "What do you think" White, ivory, or cream?" she asked, indicating various shades of organza. From the various drawings on her sketchpad, it looked like she was working on a wedding gown.

It didn't take a genius to spot a side project being busied over, and Beth knew her own mother well enough to be able to guess that the swatches being waved in her direction were examples of some of the most expensive fabrics she'd been able to lay her hands on. Chuckling, Beth let the cat go, moving into the studio to lean over Miranda's shoulder. "Wedding dress?" she asked, dropping a kiss on her mother's cheek fondly. "Who's it for" Can't choose a color without know what she looks like, you know."

"Piper," Miranda replied as she considered the color, more than the fabric. "Desmond finally popped the question. It took long enough," Miranda grumbled quietly and slightly distractedly. Whether her daughter had met the rest of the Granger clan herself or not, she at least knew some of them by name and from her mother's mention of them. Desmond, she would know, was a particular favorite of her mother's, even though she hadn't known him very long, and Piper was the young lady Miranda has introduced him to. Miranda sighed and set the white swatch aside. "White is so passe. I'm thinking pink."

"You're gonna dress a woman in pink on her wedding day without asking her?" Bethany laughed, moving to lean herself against the sewing desk to watch as her mother fussed over swatches and sketches. She knew, academically at least, who Des and Piper were, unsurprised to find her mother quite this eager to get a headstart on a wedding dress. "You know Anne Hathway and Jessica Biel got married in pink kinda recently. Maybe you should pick a different color. Blue, or ..." She smirked to herself, making an effort to suppress the grin that wanted to make itself known. "Fluorescent green, maybe."

Miranda set the swatches down and scowled up at her daughter. "Bite your tongue. No one gets married in green. Not florescent green anyway. She's a blushing bride, not a hazard sign." She sighed again as she glanced at the sketches she'd made and the swatches scattered in front of her, reaching to pull the glasses from her face. "This wedding has to be perfect."

Beth let her laugh loose at her mother's reaction to her suggestion, wrapping her arms about her own waist comfortably. "Mom, they're getting married," she reminded Miranda fondly. "Weddings are never perfect, you told me that yourself. Besides, didn't she already get married into the family' Maybe they don't want a big deal this time around." Now that was going to fall on deaf ears, Beth was pretty sure, but it was worth a go.

"No, no, no....You don't understand..." Miranda started as she rose from the chair. There would be no more work tonight now that her daughter was there. "This wedding has to be a fairytale wedding. It has to be perfect," she insisted, dropping her glasses on the table and turning to face her daughter, furrowing her brows to take a hard look at her. "You look tired, dear. Long day at the hospital?"

Beth's smile gentled at the hard look her mother gave her. "Not so much today as yesterday," she assured her warmly. "Fourteen hours yesterday - today was only eight hours' training. And, you know, I have the next two days off, so I should recover pretty quick." She shrugged; her long hours at the hospital were a compromise, really. She did three fourteen hour shifts a week, and had neatly talked herself out of doing nights at all, a feat that her colleagues were a little gobsmacked with. "Why does this have to be a fairytale" What you told me about Des doesn't make him sound like a fairytale kind of guy. And isn't he dead?" She frowned, confusion making itself known as this snippet rose up from the back of her mind.

Miranda linked her arm with her daughter's as she drew her from the room, through a hallway, which opened up into a larger living space that encompassed a kitchen and dining area. "Good, I'm taking tomorrow off. You can stay overnight, and we'll have a girl's day. Just the two of us. Promise. No cell phone. No work. No family problems." As for the explanation regarding Des and Piper, it would take more than a sentence or two to explain. "Tea?" she asked as she let go of her daughter's arm and filled an electric kettle with water.

It took a moment for the full import of this unexpected statement to make itself known, but as the weight sank in, Bethany's expression went very carefully neutral. She didn't know Rhy'Din; she'd only visited once or twice, and even then, she'd seen only a very small part of it. As far as she knew, Manhattan was home. But she also knew that Rhy'Din was home for her mother, and as much as she might want her to stay, she couldn't keep Miranda here out of some selfish desire not to be away from her Mommy. "You're going back to Rhy'Din?" she asked softly, wanting to be clear. "But what about your collection, all your contacts and your career" It means everything to you."

Miranda shrugged her shoulders. For a long time, she'd allowed people to think it was her career that had kept her in Manhattan, but the truth was it was the young woman sitting across from her that had kept her from going back home. "I can do the same thing from there. There's no one left here but you. I was hoping maybe you'd come with me, but I know it would be selfish of me to ask that. I was thinking maybe we could give it a test run. Six months. See how things go. You're not a child anymore, Beth, and I miss my family."

Beth bit her lip thoughtfully. It was a tempting offer, despite the obvious uncertainty of going to live in a place where barely anyone knew she even existed, much less that she was a part of a very large family. But she only had her mother, really - friends came and went, and most of them were barely missed when they were gone. Family was something else entirely. She didn't want to be too far away from her mother; it was the one relationship she cherished most of all. "When were you thinking of moving?" she asked in a pensive tone.

"I don't want to make any permanent changes yet. If I up and poof, people will notice. Maybe take a leave of absence to focus on this wedding. Tell people we're taking a trip to Europe for a few months." She sighed again and reached for her daughter's hand. "It doesn't feel safe in New York right now, Beth. I've already lost one nephew and almost lost another. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you, too."

Beth's hand turned under hers, fingers gently twining with her mother's with fond affection. "I can give my notice any day, you know that," she assured Miranda gently, accepting her mother's "feeling" about the city as fact without needing to be told anything more. Miranda's feelings tended to hold true, which in this case was a little worrying. Even though no one had yet connected Bethany Granger, nurse, with Miranda Granger, fashion designer, it was only a matter of time before someone went out on a limb and found the thread. "It'd be two weeks, and then I could come with you. Hell, I could even sublet my apartment - people are crying out for places to live in the city."

"I know it sounds crazy, asking you to uproot yourself for no other reason than a feeling, but this is the mob we're talking about here." Miranda had uprooted them once before to keep her daughter safe, and she wasn't afraid to do it again. Her daughter was the center of her world, and she would do everything in her power to keep her safe, including calling on her father for help, if she had to. "I'm sorry, Beth. I just....I don't feel safe here right now."

"Mom ..." Beth was smiling now, understanding her mother better than perhaps Miranda was comfortable with. Her hand squeezed gently. "All you have to do is ask. All I've got here is a job and an apartment ....and you. And if you're leaving, then there's nothing here for me to stick with, is there" I can pick up easy enough. There's gotta be hospitals there, right' And I'm always up for more training if I need it." Her smile deepened a little teasingly. "And you thought nursing was a bad idea."

"I just want you to be happy, sweetheart. That's all I want," she told her daughter, as she returned the hand squeeze. ?"We'd be safer on Rhy'Din. We have family there and....It's past time you know them. Besides, I want you to be part of this wedding. There are so many people I want you to meet. I should have done this a long time ago, but....Oh, darling, all I've ever wanted was to keep you safe." Tears glittered in the other woman's eyes. All the hard choices she'd had to make in good part for her daughter's sake. She'd built a life for them here in Manhattan, but in the end, the only thing that mattered was Bethany's safety.

"Mom, I get it, I really do." Beth rose from her chair, moving around the table to wrap her arms around her mother, hugging her lovingly. "Everything you've ever done was to keep me from getting tangled up in something you couldn't protect me from. And even though I'm a big girl now, I still need looking after. I'm never going to not need my Mom to look out for me. And if upping sticks and going to Rhy'Din, and meeting this huge family who don't know I exist, is how I stay under my Mom's eye, then I'll do it." She smiled gently, stroking Miranda's hair out of her eyes. "Just remember to tell Dad we've moved, okay' He'll freak if he can't find us."

Miranda smiled as her daughter's arms went around her, reassuringly. As much as she knew she needed to let go, she just couldn't imagine life without her daughter. For a long time, it had been just the two of them, at least, until she had gotten to know Desmond and his mother. She had hoped to introduce them at some point, but then his mother had died and he'd moved to Rhy'Din, and she'd never had the chance. "They're going to love you," she said, smiling up at her daughter, that smile faltering a little at the mention of Bethany's father - Miranda's most well-kept secret, even more of a secret than Bethany herself. "The last I heard, he's on Rhy'Din."

Beth couldn't help the faint glimmer of hope that made itself known in her eyes as her mother offered up this little tidbit of information. "So ....so I could meet him, sometime?" she asked as gently as she could, not wanting to upset her mom with this close-held wish. "I mean, not right away, obviously. When I know my way around, and you don't have so much on your mind, and when things are settled. Maybe I could write to him myself?"

Miranda sighed. They'd been over this a million times before. "Beth, I will always care about your father, but he can't be part of our lives, and you know why. His job is too dangerous. We'd only be a liability to him. We decided long ago that things are better this way. It's for your own protection. You know that." Miranda paused, seeing the glimmer of hope in her daughter's eyes. She wasn't a child any longer, and if she decided on her own that she wanted to see her father, there wasn't much Miranda could do to stop her. In a way, moving to Rhy'Din could be a little like going from the frying pan into the fire. "If you really want to meet him, I won't stand in your way any longer."

As the talk turned to her love life, Beth snorted with laughter, rolling her eyes. "There are plenty of single doctors, not so many nice ones," she told her mother, breaking her own cookie and tapping the crumbs loose before raising it to her mouth. "And seriously, I never want to hear Martin's voice again. You know I said that little nasal flick when he asked a question was cute" It gets old real fast when you hear it twenty times in a single conversation." She nodded quite firmly. Martin had been quite nice, but very shy and unsure of himself. She'd gone out with him for over a month just to be able to let him down easily rather than blow him off.

Miranda knew all this already, of course. Mother and daughter confided in each other like the two best friends that they were, but if Bethany was going to poke and prod and tease her, then she had to expect a little of the same in return. Miranda's expression turned serious once again, a small frowning touching her lips. "You know I just want you to be happy, darling."

"I know, Mom," Beth assured her, that fond smile lighting up her face once again as she met her mother's eyes. "And I am, mostly. You can't force a good relationship into my life by will alone, although I'll admit if anyone could, it would be you." She reached out to gently squeeze Miranda's wrist. "Same goes for you, you know. There's no point in me being happy if you're not."

"I'm happy, darling," Miranda replied with a warm smile. "You make me happy. You're the best thing that ever happened to me." Her smile grew as another thought came to mind. "I can't wait until Humphrey sees you. He hasn't seen you since you were little. Just remember when you meet him that he's not as grumpy as he lets people think. Deep down, he's an old softie. He adores his family. He's going to be so pleased to see you."

"Humphr - oh! Christmas card Humphrey!" Bethany chuckled, taking a long gulp from her teacup. She had no memory of ever having met the Granger patriarch, but just from her mother's descriptions of him - let alone the incredibly generous gifts every year on her birthday - she liked the old man already. "I deal with grumpy old folk every day. I guess it'd be easier with one in the family."

"I should have done this a long time ago, but I just didn't think it was safe. I'm sorry, Beth. I shouldn't have kept you from your family." There was that frown again, full of regret and worry. How had the years passed so quickly' Wasn't it just yesterday that her Bethany was just a little girl"

"You did what you thought was the right thing at the time," her daughter reassured her gently. "No one can ask you to do anything but what you think is right. And it's not like I've suffered. I had an awesome childhood, I was probably the only teen in the family who only crossed the line once - and that was for a rock concert - and I'm a pretty normal adult. That's all you, Mom."

"Most of the family doesn't even know you exist. You're going to come as quite a shock to some of them. There's going to be some explaining to do on my part," Miranda said as she contemplated all that. There were only two people who were aware of Bethany's existence, other than her parents and that was Humphrey and Gordon Granger. As close as Miranda felt to Desmond, not even he knew of Bethany's existence. There was a lot about Miranda that the family didn't know.

"I could come over all Bad-Sandy from Grease, if that'd help you give them an excuse for keeping me out of sight," Beth offered with a faint shrug. She honestly had no idea how Miranda was going to weather the storm from her cousins as to why she'd kept her daughter out of sight and knowledge for twenty-four years, and if they were going to move to Rhy'Din, she knew she'd be in the middle of it, too. "I won't let them rag on you too much, you know. It's not anyone's business but yours why you did what you did."

"No, most of them will understand, I think, or at least try to understand. We're a pretty big brood, spread far and wide. Humphrey is glad for every lost sheep that returns to the flock. Des was one of them, you know. So was your cousin Cian. And Jon, and a half dozen others. There's an old saying....Once a Granger, always a Granger." She reached across the table to give her daughter's hand a fond pat. "It will be fine. You'll see. They're going to love you."

"I'm not lost, I'm just ..." Bethany frowned comically, searching for a way to land her metaphor and failing. "Extra woolly' No, that doesn't work. Anyway, whatever I am, I won't be it for long. You just gotta tell me when, and I'll hand in my notice and put my apartment up for rent. There's nothing in New York for me if you're not around. I guess being single comes in handy sometimes, huh?"

"You're not lost. Figure of speech. I suppose I was lost for a while. Maybe I still am, but I've lived in New York for so long it's become home." Miranda frowned again, wondering just what it was that had triggered this bit of homesickness. Was it the frequent trips back and forth of late" Was it the upcoming wedding" Was it the children who were being born" Was it Frank's death and Cian's return home" Was it just a strange sense that New York was no longer as safe as it once was" Was it all of those things, to one degree or another" She wasn't quite sure. All she knew was that something was drawing her back home, and she wasn't quite sure what it was.

"No, it hasn't." Bethany was a born and bred New Yorker, yes, but she knew her mother wasn't. Manhattan had never really been more than a half-way house for Miranda, a place to build her career and raise her daughter in relative peace and quiet, away from the nebulous danger that had come into her life with the conception of that daughter in the first place. "You're always gonna call Rhy'Din home. There's no reason why you - we - shouldn't go back there. It'll be a whole new adventure for me. I can do that."

Miranda's expression softened, her eyes tearing up, warm with love and affection for this very special woman who'd come into her life. She reached for her hand again, smiling softly through her tears. "I really don't deserve you, Bethany. You have always been an angel, from the very first moment I laid eyes on you. You are the best thing that ever happened to me, and no matter what happened between your father and me, I have never regretted for a single moment bringing you into the world."

Bethany's smile grew as her mother spoke, deeply touched by this gentle affirmation of the bond they held between them. She didn't know what she'd do without her mom, where she'd be or even who she'd be. Miranda's influence on her life was deep and heartfelt, and no matter what the little trials they went through threw at them, Bethany knew she'd rather have nothing to her name than be without Miranda. "Right back atcha, hot stuff."

((What's this" A Granger parent/child relationship that isn't fraught with angst and pain? No! They're going to ruin the family's reputation! :lol: Loads of love and kisses and huge thanks to Miranda's player for letting me attach a daughter in the first place, as well as for being AWESOME!))