They walked, hand in hand, through the back door of the private kitchen, and found the rest of the family, including Jordan, seated around the kitchen table. Everyone stared at them for a moment, before Kayla finally got up to greet them.
"Why haven't you two been answering your phones? We've been trying to call you for hours."
"I'm sorry," Miranda said. "But, you knew we were at Drew's house. Why didn't you send someone to get us?"
"We've been kind of busy here." Kayla glanced nervously at her parents. They did not look happy. "Um, why don't I take Tommy into the staff kitchen and have the cook make him a cheeseburger or something?"
Tommy ran up to give Miranda a hug. "Is that okay, Mommy?"
"Of course, it is, sweetheart. Have fun."
The room was silent while everyone waited for Tommy to leave the room. Miranda sat in the seat Kayla had just vacated, glad that Drew had decided to stand beside her rather than sit down himself. She had a feeling she was going to need his support.
"Well," Drew said, breaking the silence. "What's going on? Why was everyone blowing up our phones this morning?"
"Why was—oh, my..." Max's face turned beet red and he mumbled incoherently under his breath. It seemed to take all of Nancy's power to convince him not to bolt out of his chair and lunge straight toward Drew.
"Mom, Dad?"
Drew tried to get an explanation from them, but Max was still visibly upset, and Nancy was too occupied trying to calm him down to pay any attention. It was Jordan who finally spoke.
"Well, Drew, it has something to do with Susie." Jordan glanced apologetically at Miranda.
"What about her?" Miranda bristled, and Drew gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
"Well," Jordan said again, darting nervous glances around the room, then blowing out a sigh, "it seems she, uh..."
"It seems she's gone and gotten herself pregnant," Nancy said, her voice trembling, her face stricken with grief.
"Okay," Drew said. "I still don't understand—"
"With your help," Max interrupted.
"What do you mean, with my help?"
Miranda looked at Drew for clarification, but he only stared down at her, dumbfounded.
"Don't act coy with me, son," Max said. "I thought you were mature enough to handle adult responsibilities. I handed the Inn over to you, for God's sake." He rubbed his temples, shoulders slumped. "You can't even manage to avoid sleeping with the help. At least wear a condom. Do you realize what kind of lawsuit that girl could bring on this company?"
"Now wait just a minute," Drew said. "I already went through this yesterday. I don't know what Susie told you, but I did not get her pregnant, if she’s even pregnant at all. We never even had sex."
Miranda's heart sank. This was worse than she'd thought. Drew had assured her things hadn't gone that far between them, but Susie was pushing some major boundaries if there were no possible truth to the matter. Had Drew lied to her? She needed to know the truth.
"Drew?" Her voice sounded cracked and low, barely above a whisper. Her body felt numb. She could hear the raised voices of Drew and his father and the quiet cries of his mother all around her, but nothing seemed to make sense. She just knew she had to talk to Drew privately. Had to hear the truth from him. She pulled on his shirt sleeve and called his name. Louder this time. "Drew?"
When he glanced down at her, Miranda didn't even try to mask the stricken look on her face. How could things turn from joy to despair in just a few minutes time?
"Dad, can you please just wait a minute?" Drew squeezed her hand, and his eyes begged her to hear him out. "I need to talk to Mandy."
"You can talk to Miranda later. This is too important to wait."
"Well, it's going to have to. Nothing in this world is more important than her, except for Tommy." His heated glance silenced his father's protests. "Nothing."
Miranda led Drew to the corner of the kitchen. It didn't offer much privacy, but there was enough heated discussion going on amongst the others to mask anything they might say to each other.
All she could do was stare at him. As many things as she'd thought she might say, she just couldn't find the words. She felt so frustrated and alone. After all these years apart, they had finally found each other again. And, somehow, during all those years, neither one of them had ever had a meaningful relationship with anyone else. Neither one of them had had any other children, other than the child they had made together. And now, when they were ready to move on with their lives as husband and wife, everything was starting to fall apart. It was just too much. She couldn't stop the tears that forced their way down her cheeks.
"Mandy...Oh, baby, no." Drew pulled her close to him, her head resting against his chest. He buried his head in her hair and whispered in her ear, "I'm not giving you up, not over something like this. Talk to me...please."
"Tell me it isn't true." She looked at him expectantly, wanting to hear the words, but not believing she actually would.
"It isn't true. I swear." He ran his fingers through his hair and cursed in frustration. "Damn, I wish I'd never met that girl."
"Then why—"
"Why would she say it if it wasn't true?" He finished for her. "Hell, if I know. Look, I'm not saying she isn't pregnant. I'm just saying I'm damn sure I'm not the one who got her that way."
"What are you saying? There's no chance at all you might be the father? Were you telling me the truth when you said you never slept with her?"
"I told you before and I'll tell you a thousand times more if that's what it takes." He tilted her chin upward and looked straight into her eyes. "I haven’t been with anyone else since I came back here last spring. It's only been you."
"I want to believe you." Miranda looked at Drew. Really looked at him and decided that she had to trust him. If she couldn't, then what was the point in pursuing a relationship with him, let alone a marriage? They both deserved better than that. "I love you Drew. And because I love you, I have to trust you. I'm going to ask you one last time, and before you answer, know that it doesn't have to change things between us. If she were pregnant with your child, we could still work it out. I'm not saying it would be easy, but we could do it. Together." She placed her hands on her hips and gave him her best angry "mom" face. The one that always scared Tommy into submission. "What I would not be able to handle is finding out later that you lied to me. I'm prepared to support you on this. To stand by you and fight with you, too. But, God help me if I find out you lied to me Drew. Susie Billings and your father will be the last of your worries."
"Thank you," he said, his voice heavy with relief. "I promise you, I have been faithful only to you—and I will be for the rest of my life."
"That's all I needed to hear," she said.
He kissed her then. A deep and sensuous kiss filled with all the love and promise of a bright future together. Wrapped in his warm embrace, it was easy to forget about all their troubles. For a moment, anyway.
"What are you two doing over there?" Max's angry voice boomed. "We're facing a gigantic crisis over here, and you two are playing kissy face."
"First of all, Dad, we're not having this conversation until you calm down a little." Drew led Miranda back to the table, where they sat down together facing his parents. "Second, there is no crisis, because I did not get that girl pregnant. I never slept with her. There was never any inappropriate relationship."
Max's eyes rose, quizzically. "The whole town saw you kissing that girl at the party, son."
"Okay." Drew grimaced, gingerly. "I may have kissed her a few times, but that's it. It never went further than that. She wanted it to, but I wouldn't let it."
"But, son," Nancy said, "she has a sonogram picture of a baby with S. Billings printed on top of the film. What are we supposed to think?"
"Mom, I'm going to tell you like I told my fiancée here, the girl may very well be pregnant. I'm just not the guy who got her that way."
"Then why would she—wait a minute." Nancy's eyes grew wide in astonishment. "Did you say fiancée? Are you two..."
"Yup," Drew said. "Engaged. As of this morning. Miranda is finally going to be an official member of this family."
"Miranda?" Nancy said.
Miranda just smiled and threw herself into Nancy's arms. Nancy had been like a mother to her for so many years. It would be wonderful to finally be able to call her that legally.
Even Max seemed to soften a bit at the news. "I'm happy for the two of you. Your mother and I had hoped for this for some time. It's just too bad it has to be overshadowed by this accusation."
"Accusation?" Drew said. "Does that mean you believe me?"
"I believe you." Max sighed deeply and settled back into his chair. "We still have to figure a way out of this mess, though. That girl is insisting she's telling the truth. She came here this morning madder than hell that you’d shunned her. She was going on like a crazy woman, insisting we were going to pay for it—threatening to sue, even." He paused to take a long drink of water. "I'm telling you, son, we've got to do something about it, and fast."
"Let me talk to her," Miranda said. Everyone turned to look at her. She spoke quickly, before she had a chance to change her mind. "What she's doing is crazy, I know, but she's young and she's feeling desperate. I know a little something about that. I think I might be able to convince her to tell the truth. At least, let me try."
She looked around at the disbelieving faces surrounding her. They might say no, but Miranda was determined. She wasn't a child. She didn't need their permission. Besides, Drew would soon be her husband. She felt as if she needed to fight for him now. For their family.
"All right," Max said. "I don't like it, but I don't have any better ideas right now. You can do it. But you're not going alone. We need witnesses.” He shook his head and swiped at his brow in frustration. “Who knows what kind of crazy thing that girl might come up with next? We can’t risk her sullying our family name or our business. Kayla will go with you."