by Cher Etan
“Well, you look well,” she said placing one coffee cup on the bedside table next to him.
Max looked her up and down. “You look good too. Did you get more sleep?”
“Yes I did. You?”
“Yes,” he said folding the paper.
“Liar,” Christine said sitting down on the hard chair. “You need a new chair for your guests. This one is hostile,” she said.
“I’ll have Andrea take care of that right away,” Max said smiling as he sipped his coffee.
“Are you allowed that by the way?”
“Allowed what? Coffee? Who cares? I’m drinking it,” he said sipping again.
“So. Mother dearest.”
“Yeah.”
“Plan?”
“Send her back to Paris with her tail between her legs?”
“You’re not well enough for a knock down drag out.”
“Who said anything about fighting?” Max asked with a smug smile on his face.
Christine narrowed her eyes at him.
Chapter 10
“We’ve been outed,” Cordelia said shaking Kevin awake.
Kevin groaned in response and tried to move away from her hand. She just followed him and tried to shake him into wakefulness again.
“What C?” Kevin said at last, irritably.
“They know it's us wanting to sell their story to the tabloids Kevin, what are we gonna do?”
“It could be anyone; there’s no proof it's us.”
“The circle is too small; and we’re the only ones in it without jobs. Sadie has her online shop, Angie has her hair salon and Aisha is doing her masters. They all have income they can rely on. It's definitely not Andrew cause he has his auto shop that’s doing well and Carl’s an EMT whose biggest expense is his half of the rent in that big old house he shares with his “roommate” slash boyfriend; and I suspect he don’t even pay no rent coz that guy owns half the city and he’s gone over Carl. I don’t know why they just don’t get married. It's legal in Boston and nobody cares that he’s gay.”
“He cares apparently,” Kevin said.
“He must know that we know,” Cordelia said thoughtfully.
“Digress much?” Kevin reminded her of her original worry.
“Yes, so I think we need to talk to Mr. Cosby and see how being busted is going to affect our bid.”
“Okay if you like. You wanna call him or shall I?”
*****
Mr. Cosby ushered them into his dingy office and then sat down, looking at them expectantly.
“So do you have more titbits for me or…?”
“No, the thing is, I think my family found out that it was us that were going to sell the story. So I’m thinking maybe we should take a step back for now.”
Mr. Cosby looked at her intently. “Hey, Ms. Richards it's your decision but do you really want to give up the possibility of a huge pay day just because a member of your family may have discovered that it's you selling the story? Sooner or later, it’ll come out. So why not profit from it? Who are you hurting really?”
Cordelia’s face twisted in anguish as she thought about it, “I don’t know sir, my daughter is pregnant. I don’t know if this is gonna cause her a lot of stress but I don’t know if I should risk it. If anything should happen to her…”
“What could happen?” Mr. Cosby said. “She has access to the best health care in the city, the best doctors. You said she’s living with him right? She’s living in the lap of luxury, why would anything happen to her?”
Cordelia’s face softened but she still looked troubled. “She seemed very distressed about the news getting out…” she tried again.
“Of course, nobody likes their business in the streets; but don’t you think she’s being just a little bit selfish? She has this rich man who has to pay child support for the next eighteen years and she begrudges you one pay day? Does that seem fair to you?” Mr. Cosby said reaching out to envelope Cordelia’s hand in his.
Cordelia shook her head and then nodded it and then shook it again. “I don’t know,” she wailed.
“It’s a good deal,” Mr. Cosby wheedled.
“I know it is. I just…I don’t wanna like…lose them over this.”
“You won’t lose them. Why would you lose them? You’re trying to make some money of your own. They can’t hate on your hustle.”
“They actually can,” Cordelia said wryly.
“They don’t have to know and there will be no way they could prove it. Trust me. I got your back.”
Cordelia sat…lost in thought for a long while. Then she sighed and shook her head. “I can’t do it,” she said standing up. “Call it off.”
She walked out of the room, clearly expecting Kevin to follow.
Kevin stood up facing Mr. Cosby, “Go on with the deal. You're right; ain’t nobody got the right to hate on our hustle. I’ll handle C,” he said as he left the room. Mr. Cosby nodded his agreement.
*****
Claire Lestrange arrived at the hospital at 11am to see her son. She had his lawyer trailing in her wake because she needed to persuade him to sign over power of attorney to her. He had come willingly enough when she explained what she needed but she wasn’t sure he would back her up in her demands. Still it was a good sign he was here. The bodyguard she’d left outside Max’ door wasn’t though and that was not a good sign.
Max was still asleep when they walked into the room, just as he had been for every visit she’d made. She turned to Clarence with a significant glance but he was looking at Max and didn’t see her. She turned back to her son and his eyes were open.
“Oh,” Claire said startled.
“Hello mother,” Max said.
“Max,” Claire said a bit breathlessly. “You’re awake.”
“Yes I am. Is that too disappointing?” Max asked.
“Don’t be ridiculous Max, of course I’m happy if you’re feeling better,” she said.
“Mmhmm,” Max said sounding extremely skeptical of her. He turned to Clarence. “Good morning sir. Do you have my pre-nup ready?” he asked.
“Pre-nup?” Claire exclaimed.
Max ignored her and continued to look at Clarence waiting for his answer. Clarence rolled his eyes and pulled a document out of his briefcase.
“I have a preliminary draft here for you to look over. I think it covers all the points. Now legally, we cannot include custody issues in a pre-nup-“ Clarence stopped abruptly and stared at Claire. “Er, perhaps we should discuss this later.”
“Yes, absolutely, you’re right. So mother, it's nice to see you but I’m fine. It's not really necessary to be here. You can go back to Paris with absolute peace of mind.”
“Don’t be silly chérie, I’m going to be here until you are all well,” she said. Max sighed deeply, leaning his head back on the bedstead.
“Clarence, could you come back later please. It looks like I’ll be visiting with my mother at this time.”
“Wait no Clarence needs to stay; we have to discuss power of attorney.”
Max stared at her for a good ten minutes. “I beg your pardon?” he said.
“You’re very ill Max and you need to put someone in charge in case something happens to you. As your closest kin it's my responsibility to make sure that happens. That’s why Clarence is here; to write a power of attorney for moi.”
Max and Clarence stared at each other as if to say ‘can you believe her?’ but neither said a word.
“I already have somebody designated as in charge if something happens to me. Thank you though mother-”
“Somebody else?” Claire screeched. “Who is more qualified than me?”
“My wife to be,” Max said resigned to having to tell her now.
“Your…wife to be? I had not heard you were engaged.”
“I am,” Max said.
“Who is the lucky mademoiselle then?” she asked.
“You’ve met her grandmother; Martha,” Max said.
“Your houseke
eper?” Claire said incredulously.
“Yes,” Max replied impassively.
“Have you lost your mind. Insensé!”
“Mother, I don’t really have the time or energy for your hysterics right now. Would you kindly leave us?”
“Well…I never,” Claire said tossing her head back and stalking out. Max rolled his eyes.
“So you were saying Clarence…” he said with a sigh, settling himself into the bed. “And you can find out when we can leave this dump?”
“Not for another two weeks and nobody’s trying to bend that rule Max; you’re staying here the entire time; no questions, no negotiations.”
Max gave him a betrayed look. “Who died and made you the boss?” he snarked.
“You did. You’re going to get well this time Max – you have a kid now. You wanna live to see it or not?”
“Low blow Clarence,” Max complained.
Clarence shrugged, “Whatever it takes.”
“About the prenup…?” Max reminded him.
“Ah yes, well the arrangements about the baby and the prenup are two separate issues and cannot be in the same contract. I have a standard prenuptial agreement here; division of assets before and after the marriage, the marriage settlement in case of dissolution – I put it at ten million but of course that’s subject to change if you disagree – and a list of assets that pre-date the marriage. Does Christine have any assets I need to know of?”
“I’ll ask,” Max said with a smile.
“What’s funny?” Clarence wanted to know.
Max shrugged, “I’m getting married; that doesn’t sound funny to you?”
“Sure it does. In fact, I’ve been tempted to think maybe you lost your mind but you seem fairly sane in spite of what your mama said.”
“Not just sane Clarence,” Max said, black eyes fixed on him. “Happy.”
“Yeah. I see that too.”
*****
Claire Lestrange left the hospital in very much of a huff. She was flabbergasted at Max’ news. She had gotten complacent in recent years as time passed and Max had stayed single. In his late twenties and early thirties she had been worried he’d find some sweet young thing who would turn his head and give him a couple of kids to dote on. For one thing, she wasn’t old enough to be a grandmother, for another, children would play havoc with her game plan to be the sole heir to the Lestrange fortune. Also if Max had kids, he probably wouldn’t spend so much of his money on her. She could not allow this; really with the cost of living what it was these days, a drop in income was just not an option. She had to do something…but what? She fished out her phone to call Andrea who had clued her in to what was happening in the first place.
“Andrea? Can we meet for lunch?” she asked.
“Sure. Where would you like to meet?” Andrea asked.
“The Ritz Carlton; bring one of Max’s black cards would you?” she said.
“Of course. I’ll just run it by him first in case he thinks I’m stealing from him,” Andrea said with a laugh.
“I’d prefer he didn’t know about this lunch,” Claire said a bit coldly.
Andrea was torn; on the one hand she wanted to snap at Claire and ask her if maybe she’d make up her mind whether she wanted to have a secret lunch or if she wanted her son to pay for it. She can’t have her cake and eat it. On the other hand, she needed Claire’s help in getting rid of Christine…there was always the corporate card after all; and Andrea could report the expense to accounting instead of to Max directly. Even if he eventually found out about their lunch it would not be soon. Short term goals vs. long term goals.
“Okay I understand Mrs. Lestrange,” she said.
“Good,” Claire said sounding pleased.
They met at 1pm and Claire wasted no time in getting down to business; after she’d ordered some chilled champagne and caviar off the menu.
“Who is this Christine girl and where did she come from?” she asked.
Andrea shrugged. “She’s kind of always been around since her grandmother is in charge of the household. She and Max have been…I don’t know acquaintances? Friends? I don’t exactly know what to call them but you know how Max looks up to Martha so he kind of always felt a responsibility for the granddaughter. He went to her aborted wedding and everything.”
“Aborted wedding?” Claire asked perking up.
“Yes. She was going to marry some guy she met in college but it turned out some other girl had prior claim. It was messy,” Andrea said with an amused smile. “Max whisked them off to an island in the Caribbean for three weeks.”
“Just the two of them?” Claire asked in surprise.
“No. They went with the grandmother too. They were trying to get her to forget about the guy. She was pretty cut up. I thought she still was according to the grapevine. Then suddenly she up and links up with Max and they’re having a baby.”
“When did this happen?”
“Just after he collapsed the first time,” Andrea said fingers steepled and head resting on her hands.
“I get why she would want to have his baby but why would he want to have a child with her? What’s so special about her?”
Andrea shrugged. “Like I said he looks up to her grandmother. He treats her more like his mother than…” Andrea looked up remembering who she was talking to. “I’m sorry.”
Claire shook her head. “It's okay; I understand. I was maybe not the best mother in the world.”
Andrea shook her head and leaned in to cover Claire’s hand with hers. “You’re still his mother and that means something.”
Claire grimaced wryly. “I would hope so…but given that I’m hearing about his impeding marriage and baby from you…”
“There must be a reason he didn’t tell you; a reason he doesn’t want you to know,” Andrea prompted.
Claire thought about it. “He knows she’s no good for him,” she said.
“So what are you going to do about it?” Andrea asked barely suppressing her glee.
“Tell me about this ex-fiancé. What happened exactly?”
Andrea put her hand up to signal the waiter. She needed some water to get through this conversation. It was going to be a long one.
*****
Clarence walked into Max’s room with a bunch of papers.
“We have a winner,” he declared prompting Max to turn toward him from his contemplation of the sunset outside the window.
“And who is it?” he asked.
“It's definitely Cordelia Richards and her husband Kevin Brown. The private investigator staked out the lawyer’s office and those two were seen leaving there recently. More than once.”
“Great, so what’s our plan? Are we paying them off?”
“Don’t you think that’s setting a bad precedent?”
“Okay then, what?”
“I was thinking we could start with mediation; get Martha to speak to her daughter and maybe get her to stop what she’s doing.”
“If that doesn’t work?”
“I have faith in Martha,” Clarence said.
“So do I but Cordelia is a bit of a druggie. She might not be thinking straight.”
“Yeah yeah I get that. It's still worth a try.”
“Fine. I’ll talk to Martha and see if she’ll do it.”
The tread of light footsteps coming down the hall distracted them. They both paused to see who would pass by the door. The footsteps stopped at the door however and they both looked to see who it was.
“Christine,” Max called in a pleased voice.
“Hey you,” she replied and then saw Clarence. “Oh, am I interrupting business?”
Clarence smiled. “Not at all, in fact we could use your help.”
“Oh? How?”
Chapter 11
Christine drove up to her mother’s apartment still breathing heavily. The anger was coursing through her veins like bolts of electricity with no grounding. She lunged from the vehicle and dashed into the house banging on th
e door and calling for her mama.
“Okay okay, hold your horses,” her mother said as she opened the door.
“Mama what the fuck are you doing?!?” she screamed not even waiting until her mother had the door closed.
“What am I doing?” her mother asked sounding honestly bewildered; Christine was impressed with her acting.
“You want some MONEY? Is it MONEY you WANT? I’ll give you some. HOW MUCH?” her voice was rising and falling in her agitation. Her hands were shaking so hard she couldn’t keep them still and she was slightly dizzy with too much adrenaline.
“Chris! Calm down,” Cordelia tried to catch hold of Christine’s arm but she ripped her arm out of her mother’s hand.
“Oh, now you’re concerned about my health,” she growled.
“Baby, I admit it okay? I did it; I went to a lawyer to try to get some money. But I stopped it. I did. It's over.”
“Oh it's over? Is that your story? Are you sticking to it?”
“It is over. I told Mr. Cosby to drop it.”
“Oh you did huh? Was that before or after he’d asked for a meeting with Max’s lawyer to discuss terms?” Christine asked arms crossed to prevent herself from strangling her mother.
Cordelia opened her mouth…and then closed it again; looking genuinely puzzled.
“I didn’t ask him to do that,” she said. Christine stared at her. She really looked like she was telling the truth.
“Well then if you didn’t who did?” she demanded.
Her mother’s brow stayed furrowed and her eyes were puzzled yet frantic as if she was looking for a way out. Christine moved closer, glaring at her. Suddenly her brow unfurrowed and she looked…there was no other word for it…crestfallen.
“What mama?” Christine asked.
Cordelia’s eyes slid to Kevin who was sitting on the couch watching the game and smoking a blunt. Her eyes grew shiny with moisture.
“Kevin?” she said.
He glanced at her overly casual and lifted his brow, “Yeah?”
“Er, you didn’t go behind my back and tell Mr. Cosby to…”
Kevin shrugged. “It's our pay day. I figured you didn’t want to be involved that’s fine. No reason why the rest of us shouldn’t.”