Episode 19
Scene 1:
On the whole, Maura
would have called the ME dinner pretty boring. But Jude kept her laughing
through the dull parts. When he left her side after the speeches were
over, her eyes followed him across the room as he shook hands and mingled
with the other guests. She liked him, she thought, more than she had
thought she would. He was easygoing and polite, considerate and
interesting. It had certainly been a long time since she had met someone
she had gotten along with so quickly. The last one had been.... Yes, she
told herself, it's okay to think his name. The last one had been Rick.
She turned her gaze away from Jude for a moment and let her eyes sweep the
room. Rick was no where to be found and perhaps that was just as well. The
last thing she wanted or needed was a convoluted confrontation with Rick
Upton. He had discreetly left her alone since the night she had met Jude
and that was exactly what she wanted. She needed time to think, time to
sort out her feelings. They were mixed up and confused most of the time.
Up until a month ago, before he had shown up at Connie's, her life had
been ordered and safe. But now, with him so close, it had become suddenly
unstable and that alone was enough to confuse her. His presence confused
her. It made no sense. Fate was being cruel just now and she wasn't sure
just why.
"Maura." His voice startled her out of her reverie. She straightened in
her seat and kept her eyes forward. He didn't need to see her confusion
playing across her face. "May I speak with you?"
"Yes," she replied, though in her heart she wanted to say no. He pulled
out the chair next to her and sat down.
"You look beautiful," he said simply. She turned her eyes toward him, but
kept silent. "I know I've upset your life by being here," he started. "But
I didn't take this job to be disruptive to you. The fact that you were
here was an added bonus. All I wanted was to talk to you and maybe see
what went wrong."
"Rick...what can we possibly say that hasn't already been said?" She asked
at last, breaking her silence.
"Plenty! Maura, please talk to me. Tell me why you left me," he pleaded
gently, reaching for her hand. She pulled her hand back quickly, her face
flushing red.
"I don't want to rehash this," she whispered staring at him. "I left
because I didn't love you anymore. That's all. Why do you have to make me
keep saying it? "
"I guess I just needed to hear it," he muttered, scraping his chair back.
"I'll let you get back to your date with...who is it now? Jude Fontaine?
I'm sure he's very interesting. Maybe he can tell you a little bit about
how he spent his time in Washington," Rick added with a hint of sarcasm
and bitterness. He stepped away from her and she watched him go, feeling
terrible. He had forced her to say it though, she reminded herself. Even
if it wasn't true.
Scene 2:
Luke did his best to keep his attention off his sisters, but he hated
having them here for this. He had no idea how publicly Hallie had planned
to embarrass Jude Fontaine and he really didn't want to know. He just
wanted this evening over with. Mason's speech had been pretty good he
thought and politically sound. Even Hallie had been silenced for a time.
Once the speeches were over though, she flared to life again and stared at
Jamie with renewed vengeance.
She tapped her fingernails against the table impatiently, watching Jude
make his way across the room. When he paused to shake the hand of some
lowly intern, she stood and moved forward, graceful like a cat going in
for the kill. His eyes caught sight of Maura looking uncomfortable and
alone at the head of the room. At least she would be spared this, he
thought briefly, before moving on to look for Jillie. He heard Hallie purr
Jude's name and cocked his head closer to hear what she would say.
"That was a lovely speech Jamie gave," Hallie said smiling pleasantly.
Jude eyed her cautiously before nodding.
"Yes it was," he replied carefully.
"It's a shame you didn't say much. I would have loved to heard you talk
about your role at ME. And I know that the rest of the staff would have
too."
"It's Jamie's night, Hallie. He did a wonderful job. Still is."
"Oh I know! It's amazing isn't it?" She paused for a moment before setting
up for whatever bomb she was going to lay on Jude. "You know, I can't
thank you enough for asking me to join the Foundation. I have met so many
interesting people! In fact I met one just the other day that you probably
know. Cynthia Mitchell? Didn't you work for her husband before you came
back to the Glen?"
Luke could almost hear the discomfort in Jude's voice as he replied
stiffly, "Yes, I know Cynthia."
"She's really very nice," Hallie smiled. "Did you know she's expecting a
baby?" Luke turned at that and watched as the color drained from Jude's
face. Oh, Hallie did have something good, after all. Judging from the lack
of color in Jude's face, she had something very good. "The really
interesting thing," Hallie went on, "is how far along she is. Four months
and wasn't her husband in Mexico for those trade talks or something like
that about four months ago?"
Luke wanted to giggle. Of course, Hallie would have something like that.
Now it just remained to see what Jude would do with her unstated threat.
If he was a betting man though, he's say Jude wouldn't play Hallie's game.
Which was exactly what Hallie wanted.
"That's nice," he heard Jude say. "I've really got to get back to my date.
Excuse me Hallie?" Hallie flipped her hair over her shoulder and smiled
triumphantly at Luke. At least his embarrassment wasn't public, Luke
thought, yet.
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