Family Values (16 page)

Really? So you are going to marry my confused little brother.

ROBIN
I have to. I need the money.

MADISON (walking into the kitchen)

Great so that should make you want to work for me also.

             
As Madison walked pass the television she ran her finger across the dust that had formed.

MADISON
You really need to clean your…(looking around) home.

ROBIN
What do you want?

MADISON

Okay listen…my little plan for you to run Brian off of the road didn’t work but things worked out even better. Brian left and went back to Seattle.

ROBIN
And…

MADISON

For half a million dollars I want you to kill my husband and I want you to stop Dwight from selling the oil company.

ROBIN
Have you lost your rabbit ass mind?

MADISON

What is my grandmother paying you to marry my brother?

ROBIN
That’s none of your business.

MADISON
Well whatever it is…after you complete this you will have more than enough money to start over.

ROBIN
I am not killing anyone.

             
Madison walked closed to Robin. Madison flicked the collar on Robin’s shirt.

MADISON

Awww she has a conscious. Well that conscious is not allowed here.

             
Madison’s faced turned to shock as she stepped back from Robin. She stared at Robin’s face as blood ran from her nose.

ROBIN
Why are you looking at me like that?

MADISON
You don’t feel the blood running out of your nose?

             
Robin rubbed her hand across her nose. After looking at her hand she ran into the bathroom.

MADISON
Are you alright?

             
Suddenly there was a thump that came from the bathroom. Madison ran to the door but could not open it. She took her phone and called E-911.

             
Robin lay on her side in a hospital room. She played with the I.V. hose that was inserted into her wrist. The room door crept open. Slow and steady footsteps approached her bed. Robin felt a hand rub her shoulder.

ROBIN
Why are you here?

NOAH
I was making my rounds and I had to check on you. I must say – this little stunt in the hospital is pretty good. I wished that I had thought of it.

ROBIN
This is not a stunt. (Robin rolled over and sat up in her bed.) I am pregnant.

             
Noah looked at Robin with confusion on his face. He sucked his teeth and frowned.

NOAH
Are you sure?

ROBIN
Why would I lie about something like this?

NOAH

How far along are you?

ROBIN
Three months.

NOAH
Great! Just great.

             
Noah began to pace the room. He shook his head in disbelief. He stopped at the foot of her bed.

NOAH
You are just lucky that I was smart before you went and had sex with him. You are about to blow everything up. First Apollo gets killed for breaking into the office and now you can’t keep your damn legs closed. The only thing that you were supposed to do was marry Dwight. Sometimes I think that mom should have just had me. I am the only one with the damn brain in this family.

ROBIN
I worked my ass sitting with that old man. Cooking, cleaning his ass, and putting up with that hellish biddy.

NOAH
That was the only thing that you needed to do.

ROBIN

Noah why don’t you go to the Westside of hell – where it’s the hottest.

NOAH
I have been there already.

ROBIN

What if all of this blows up in our face?

NOAH
It won’t.

ROBIN

But what if it does?

NOAH

Now that you are pregnant it might. You love dick don’t you?

ROBIN

Just as much as you like it going in your ass and wherever else you put it.

             
Noah went and sat on the couch. He crossed his legs at the knee.

ROBIN

Do you think that Dwight will hate me once he finds out that I am pregnant?

NOAH
Exactly the opposite. At least I have an inside source that I know I can get some money from for the time being.

ROBIN
How?

NOAH
I am fucking Trenity. I have him about where I want him.

ROBIN
Trenity? Isn’t that Madison’s husband?

NOAH

Exactly.

             
Noah stood and walked over to Robin’s bed. He placed the palm of his hand on Robin’s stomach. She looked down at his hand and back into his eyes. She could see the evil that was in his eyes.

NOAH

I put a year into this. I plan on coming out a millionaire. (He begin to squeeze her stomach) So you better pull yourself together and start helping me get this money.

ROBIN
You are hurting my stomach.

             
Noah looked dead into her eyes. He gave her a devilish smile and took his hand off her stomach. Before Robin could say anything Noah punched her in the stomach – hard. Robin let out a loud scream and grabbed her stomach.

NOAH

That baby would mess everything up and I am not the one to share.

             
Noah raced to the door but heard footsteps coming. He turned and hid in the closet. Nurses rushed into the room to check on Robin. Tears ran down her face. One nurse pulled the Covers back and saw a puddle of blood. They immediately wheeled the bed out of the room to the operating room.

             
Once Noah didn’t hear anything in the room he came out of the closet.

NOAH

She better not forget that we are in this together. For the long haul.

              Madison and her grandmother sat on the back porch. Grandmother Ella rocked in her chair sipping on a mimosa. The sun set in high noon. Madison looked over the yard.

MADISON

Gran, what do you think about Dwight selling all of this?

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

He will have to do it over my cold dead body. That Will that he has has got to be a fake. There is no way that Jefferson Davis would make him executor.

MADISON

I thought so also.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

Have you talked to Trenity?

MADISON

A few days ago.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

And?

MADISON
There is no “and”. He wants a divorce. I told him that I was not going to give him a divorce.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

Great.

MADISON
He is blackmailing me.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

Return the favor. I thought that I reared you to be a strong woman. I don’t need a weak bitch on my side.

MADISON (shocked)

Grandmother!?

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

I am serious. Turn all of this around on him. I have already had the bank to foreclose on his pharmacy.

MADISON
You did what?

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

I knew that you could not do it. I made a few calls and made things happens. So now that he doesn’t have any money coming in he will have to come to you. That is when you will decide what you are going to do.

MADISON

He has already come to me.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

And what did you do?

MADISON

I gave him the money.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

Just damn stupid.

             
Madison could not believe what her grandmother was saying to her. She rose from her seat to walk into the house.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

Where are you going?

MADISON
For a drive.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

Make it a long one. Apparently you can’t think on short ones.

MADISON
Tell me gran – how much are you paying Robin to marry Dwight?

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

Enough.

MADISON
Really, why do you want him here. All of this time you have hated him and now you have him running the company.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

Come here and let me explain something to you.

             
Madison walked over to her.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

I know how the people of Waynesboro talk. I sit with them at the country club and listen to the things they say about other families. I don’t want any homosexuals in my family. I don’t want any divorces in my family. I didn’t want any suicides in my family. I will not allow anything to diminish the Cove family name.

MADISON
SO this is all about you?

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

No it’s not. I know what it feels like to have scandals in your family and everything is taking away from you. I know what it is like to have your father leave one day going for groceries and never coming back and then have your mother leave you in a park alone for days. I know what it’s like to be dirt poor and wonder where your next meal is going to come from.

MADISON
I didn’t know.

             
Ella rose from her chair and walked up to Madison.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

Get yourself together and get Trenity back into your house.

MADISON
I am not sure that I want him back. I caught him fucking someone else. That someone else was a man.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

I could give a damn if he had his dick in a man and two dicks in his mouth. YOU MAKE IT WORK!

             
I walked onto the porch slowly and staggered. I pulled the cork out of the wine bottle and turned it up to my mouth.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

Have you lost your mind drinking my wine like that?

             
I flopped down into a chair and turned the bottle up again and took a long drink.

MADISON
I don’t think that I have ever seen you drink like this before. What’s wrong?

             
I looked up at Madison. I placed the bottle between my thighs.

DWIGHT

Robin…Robin was pregnant.

MADISON
What do you mean…was pregnant?

DWIGHT

I just left the hospital. She was three months pregnant. She lost them.

MADISON

She was having twins?

DWIGHT
Yeap.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

Were they yours?

             
Madison and I turned and looked at her. Madison kneeled down beside my chair and placed her hand on my knee.

MADISON
Dwight I am so sorry. I really am. I need to confess something to you.

GRANDMOTHER ELLA

Madison I thought that you were going for a long drive.

MADISON
Grandmother is …

             
Before she could finish her statement Grandmother Ella took a stick and wrapped Madison across her back. Madison quickly fell to the floor in pain. Dwight rushed down to help her. Madison rolled on the floor holding her back with her left hand. Grandmother Ella just stood there.

DWIGHT
What the hell is wrong with you?

             
Grandmother Ella dropped the stick on the porch and walked into the house.

DWIGHT

Do you want to go to the emergency room?

             
Madison could not speak for the pain. As tears flowed from the corners of her eyes Dwight wiped them away.

SIX MONTHS LATER

              Madison walked into her ex husband, Josh Wiley, office. Madison was married to him, privately while in college. She had the marriage annulled after a year. His secretary announced Madison’s arrival. Madison walked into his office with her purse on her arm.