Milly Scott Pt. 03: The Artist and Her Young Lover 02

"Fiona and Milly are on the phone, she has news about graduating," Fiona told her the news.

"That's great news Sis, knew you would do it. Well done."

"Jane, I need a favour."

"Okay, what?"

"I need a bridesmaid?"

"I need to give it some thought, what about ..." she paused for dramatic effect, "About time, I'll check my diary. Milly, hi sister to be."

"Thanks, Jane, you okay?"

"The best news I've had in a while. It's good for Fiona as well, I thought she'd never pull, I mean you're taking one of the ugly ones off the shelf Milly."

And so it went on for a while.

I sat at the top of the bed with my legs tucked under me waiting until Fiona came out of the bathroom. She walked towards me naked, except for her ring, the one that I gave her that meant that she would be my wife and now it was close. It was dark apart from the little fairy lights on the headboard, but it was enough for me to see how beautiful she was. She reached out and touched my hand; I felt it, the spark, the one that told me she was the one for me. She sat on the bed and raised my hand to kiss it, "Milly, I've already chosen my dress, my wedding dress."

Now my hearing seemed to be faulty, "What? How?"

"Milly, I knew that this day was getting closer and I wanted it so much I started dreaming about it. I don't know what we'll do or where, but I started browsing the net and I found the dress that I want to wear for you. You make me so happy, the last three years have been magical and the two before that were difficult because I knew what I wanted, but thought that I couldn't have it. Now I can, now I know that it's close." Her tears started to fall gently and I pulled her close.

"I know what you mean. I get excited when you're due home and every time I see you after we've been apart for a few hours, I gasp a little because you're so wonderful and the way you smile makes me weak at the knees."

"Very pretty knees; it's such a shame that they're so weak. Very pretty ankles, lovely proud nipples, cute nose, sparkly eyes, kissable lips, delicate hands, sexy freckles and then there is this little thing here." She touched my clit, I jumped almost clear of the bed and thirty seconds later she made me come. Thirty seconds, that's all it took.

I grabbed her and rolled her onto her back with me on top of her. "Now listen to me you randy little girl, you disrespect your elders and for that, I need to teach you a lesson." I taught her several lessons, although perhaps revision would be more accurate, but by the time we finished we were a sweaty mess, tangled together, perfect, just the way that I liked it.

A few weeks later we drove down to spend a few days with Jess and Victoria. There was a wedding to plan and a house to find. We shared the driving, played loud music and sang. I felt, and yet again, behaved like a teenager, actually, I'd never behaved like that as a teenager. Fiona stopped everything dead with one question. "Will you tell your parents, Milly?"

What the hell? I sat silent, thinking before I spoke. "A couple of times they've had the chance to call me a pervert and disrespect my life choices. They told me they never wanted to see me again. That's very sad for all of us and I'm ashamed of them. I'll never give them the chance to do that again. No, I won't tell them. I'm sad to say that I have no feelings for them at all. I do have feelings for a few other people who make me happy and who are pleased for me, so I think that I'll stick with them and you in particular. Let's not mention them again."

"Sorry, Milly. I didn't mean to upset you, I'm sorry."

"You've nothing to be sorry for and thank you for the thought. It would be awful, what I have and how I live is not awful."

That evening Jane showed us a list of properties that she'd been looking at what she thought might be suitable. We eliminated a few immediately and another that Fiona dismissed as too expensive. There was a small number left; perhaps we could have a look at them.

That night I was lying in bed and thinking about the houses. It bugged me all night.

After breakfast the next morning Fiona was off doing something and I went to find Jane. "Can we look at those houses again? Which was your favourite?"

"The one that Fiona dismissed as too expensive. It's perfect, a couple of years old, all mod cons, it was based on a four-bedroom floor plan, but they changed it to three large bedrooms, all en-suite. Huge, open plan ground floor, separate dining room and a smaller cosy lounge. In a good area, nice garden with patio, garage, parking, I thought it was perfect."

"It's been bugging me all night, I want to see it."

"But Fiona said..."

"She didn't look at anything except the price. Bless your sister, a genius in many ways, but she can be clueless about some things. Jane, I think that we could afford that, not easily, but maybe."

The next day we set out to look at a few things; a wedding venue, dresses and a couple of houses. Dresses quickly became a challenge because Fiona was adamant that she'd already picked hers, so we dropped that idea, but we found a hotel that had a function room for the service and seemed to offer good catering. The two houses that we saw were of no use whatsoever. Despite that, it'd been good for the four of us to spend time together.

The following day we set off again to look at two more houses. The first was so bad that we only just made it back the car before we burst out laughing. As we drew up outside the second house Fiona turned to me and snapped, "I said that this was too expensive, why are we here?"

"Listen, I think this might be good, Jane and I have spoken about it." She jumped in her eyes flashing.

"So behind my back, you speak to her, maybe you two should be living there together." She was annoyed.

Jane grabbed her shoulder, "Don't be a little shit! Milly loves you and thinks that this is okay; you just dismissed it without thinking about it. Get your arse inside, look at it and don't give me any crap. You've no fucking idea how lucky you are. Everyone can see how you feel about each other and every single thing that Milly's done over the last few years has been to ensure that you achieve your goals to be a success, because that's important to her, to you both. Now stop with your petted lip and get your arse out of this car. Now."

By the time that we got back in the car even Fiona conceded that this house was perfect for us, she just kept saying that we couldn't afford it and was brooding.

After a quiet dinner Jane dragged Fiona off to her room, I suspected for another talking to, because she was clearly unhappy and miserable. Bless Jane. I was still sitting at the table and tears were not far away when Jess and Victoria joined me again. "I've never made her that angry, I've screwed up."

Victoria took my hand, "I've never seen her like that either, but from what Jane tells me she feels that she's been sponging off of you for the last few years."

I felt like I'd been punched. "No, no she hasn't, that's so stupid. She pays the running costs for her car, it doesn't cost any more for two of us to live together apart from the cost of food and drink, money doesn't matter. She never asks for anything." I thought that I'd screwed up over a house that was nice, but so what.

"Milly, come on. You buy her clothes and spend lots of money on her. I think she feels that now she should carry her own load." Jess tried to cheer me up, but it failed.

I was now almost about to burst, "After all these years of fretting that it would end, I can't believe this. I don't want to go back to my little cottage on my own. It was great for a while, but I want something else, I want my life, I want my life with your daughter, I really don't care about anything else." On reflection I was being incredibly stupid, this was a blip, but my fears had remerged no matter how irrational they were.

Victoria handed me another tissue and said softly, "Come let's see what we can do." She put her arm around me and suddenly I felt a little better in that instant.

I set out how much I thought we could get for the cottage and how much I had in savings and investments. I told them about my income over the last few years, pension, everything. Finally, I summed it up. "After paying for the wedding, legal fees and everything else we'd be about a hundred grand short to buy that house outright and sort out the things that it needs. We'd need a mortgage, but with a lot of my income not being guaranteed and Fiona having no history it might be difficult in this climate." I sighed.

Victoria looked at Jess who nodded and she turned to me. "You'll get a mortgage; I'll stand as guarantor for as much as you need. When Fiona starts to earn you'll be fine."

"Would you really?"

"Of course we would. Fiona's our daughter, you're our friend, and we'll chip in with the wedding costs, we're parents of the bride after all."

I smiled, "Well one of the two brides!"

Jane appeared wearing a dark look. "I've given her a talking to and Milly; I have ten grand saved that you can have. It'll save me having to buy a wedding present."

I stood and gave her a hug. "Thanks, Jane, but we may not need it. Now I need to slay a dragon or something even fiercer."

Fiona was sobbing on her old bed. "I'm sorry Milly I've fucked us up, I'm sorry."

"What are you talking about? I thought that I'd fucked up. Now listen to me; I need you to tell me what you really thought about that house, set aside the price."

"I loved it, it would be perfect, maybe more room than we're used to, but it would be great."

"Okay, I agree, so let's see it again tomorrow. Victoria and I have sat down and gone through the figures. We can make this work with a small mortgage, which we can afford.

An hour later and after much discussion Fiona went to apologise. Victoria smiled at her. "Something that I forgot earlier, you're entitled to the balance of your trust when you reach twenty-five or get married. I think there's still about £10,000 there; you didn't use much because you were living with Milly. You need to put that into the bank with her, it should help."

That night in bed Fiona cried her apology. "I'm so sorry for being a bitch after all that you've done for me and all that we've gone through. Please forgive me, Milly." I held her; I could forgive her almost anything, except leaving me.

A few weeks later our offer for the house had been accepted, a few thousand below the asking price and there had been a lot of interest in Rose Cottage. It was expected to sell for about ten per cent more than I'd expected. That was good news, I wanted that house because it could be a home for us for the rest of our lives; it had everything that we'd need.

Jess was in her element. She went shopping with Fiona and Jane for a dress, despite Fiona telling them that she knew what she wanted. They tried several and then she found the one that she'd set her heart on months ago. They told me nothing except that it was white.

I spent an evening talking about what I wanted. "I don't want white, that's for Fiona. I want something a little different, but not too much." On our second trip Jane spotted the very thing and when I tried it on the three of us agreed that this was it.

Names

"Milly, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"Is Milly short for something?"

"Like, Mildred, Millicent? No, it's just Milly, no middle names either."

"I've no idea why I've never asked you that before. You've changed names a few times haven't you?"

I laughed, "Yes, Milly Scott-Morgan, Milly Nelson and back to Milly Scott. My artwork has always been Milly or Milly Scott. Why are you asking? Want me to change it again?"

She looked a little shy, not like her at all. "No, no." She seemed to be struggling.

"Come on, deep breath and ask me or tell me." I took her hand.

"I, I, oh Lord, I want to change my name." She sighed as if she had just confessed to a crime.

"What? What to?"

"When we do it, get married, I'd like to change my name, how would you feel?"

"Change your name to what, I don't understand?" Maybe I was dumb, I didn't get this at all, I'd never given it any thought and assumed that I'd end up as Milly Ward-Cook, Fiona's wife, partner, whatever.

"I'd like to take your name and become Fiona Scott. Milly and Fiona Scott, I think it sounds good."

That knocked me for six. "You're joking, aren't you?"

She looked puzzled, "No, no I'm not, are you upset or angry?"

I sat beside her, "Why would I be angry over that? I've never really thought about it."

"Okay, think it over, but you're the senior partner here and I'd like us both to have the same name, so that's how I arrived at Scott."

"The senior partner? You mean the old woman?" I was teasing her.

"No Milly, that's not what I meant. I want to marry you; I've always wanted to marry you, I love you, I don't care what I'm called as long as it's you and me." She looked as if she was about to burst into tears, this was new, it was touching. I could no longer see her as the little girl that I first met almost fifteen years ago; she was a mature woman, a beautiful one at that. I saw her as my partner, lover, fiancée and soon, my wife.

After a minute or two, she muttered, "I should've kept you under my bed all those years ago. Just think how long we'd have been together?" She was laughing now.

"Do you realise that in a couple of months I'll be marrying one of my former bridesmaids?"

"I'd never thought about that. I wonder how often it happens."

"I'd be honoured for us to be Fiona and Milly Scott. I need you to take me to bed now, I have a funny feeling in my nether regions and I happen to know that the cure is lying down and being kissed."

This is not the end. The story will continue in The Artist and the Trouble-shooter.