Episode 37 – Fighting Proposals
Previously on Lives To Live:
– Nicole and Celia were shocked to discover the truth about Justin and Heather/Lisa, after the tape was played. Nic told Justin that she couldn’t take him back – yet, but in time she would be able to. A few days after the tape being played the two of them went out on a date at the hotel. Things went well, and they left together. Later that night someone broke into Lisa’s apartment and killed her. The following day the police arrived to arrest Justin.
– Camille got a job as a receptionist as well as a new apartment. Craig bumped into her, again, and they talked.
– Jacob arrived at the Robertson Mansion to meet Paris, but instead they ended up kissing each other. Meanwhile there was tension between her parents.
– A taxi pulled up outside the Ritz Bar, and a dark haired man stepped out. He walked into the bar, and had a drink. The man started talking to a blonde haired woman, who introduced herself as Elektra Bradshaw. The man introduced himself as Max Samson.
Thursday,
May 8th 2003, The Hotel, Lunchtime
“I knew I should have went after him.” Nicole Vincent said, as she paced the apartment floor. She was still reeling from the shock of Lisa’s death, but now her husband had been arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. She knew that he could never do such a thing.
“I can’t find out a single thing. They won’t tell me anything.” Celia said, putting down the receiver of the phone.
“Look, Nicole, I’m sure that Justin will be okay. They won’t be able to keep him in if they have no evidence.” Jean Luc said, patting his sister on the back.
“Your brother is right.” Henri Laurent said, as he sat holding his granddaughter. She seemed unaware of all that was going on.
“What if they don’t believe him though dad? What if he gets sent to prison? He’d never survive.”
“We will make sure that he won’t go to jail. We’ll get the best possible legal team. Kim Robertson is already with him.”
“But dad, what if it’s not enough? I’ve just found out the truth about Justin and Hea-Lisa, and now this?”
Before Henri could reply the door of the apartment opened. Justin Vincent walked through the door. He was happy to see the surprised faces on everyone.
“Justin.” Nicole exclaimed, delighted to see her husband had been released. She stood up and ran towards him.
“What happened?” Celia asked, almost immediately.
“Did they believe you?” Luc asked.
Justin was slightly overwhelmed by all the questions, as he held his wife very close. “Wait a second. Just give me a moment to think.”
“Sorry.” Luc said.
Nicole pulled away from Justin, waiting to know the answers of the questions that had been asked. She looked up at her husband. She could see how drawn and pale his face was, from three hours of questioning. Earlier on his shirt has been perfectly clean, and tie straight, but both had obviously been loosened. Justin also smelt bad. Nicole looked down at his jacket, which he had been holding in his hand, and realised that it smelt like someone had thrown up over Justin.
“I’m free to go. They didn’t have any evidence and Kim made sure they knew that. She was great.”
“Thank god.” Nicole said. Celia sighed, relieved, as her husband and son both smiled, also relieved by the news. “I was so worried I was going to lose you again after everything we’ve been through recently.”
There was silence from Justin, who looked like his wife’s word had made him realise something.
“What is it?”
“They might call be back in, to talk to me again when they have investigated everything a bit more.”
***
Samson
Enterprises, Early Afternoon
“There you go. I’ll have one ticket.” Macy Rodgers said, handing her friend the money for the raffle.
“Thanks. This should really help us. I really want to get the classes up and running.” Elektra Bradshaw replied, smiling. She was attempting to start up dance classes for poorer children in the town, and different shops had agreed to give them prizes for a raffle. “I better go, and thanks for lunch.”
“Yeah, we really have to do it again sometime.” Macy said, smiling. She and Elektra had known each other since their schooldays, but they had lost touch over the years. Then, one day, Elektra had arrived for a meeting with Gabe about Samson Enterprises helping set up a dance school in the area, and they had caught up. “See you soon.”
“Yeah.” Elektra said. She turned around and walked down the corridor towards the elevators. She pressed the down button and one opened immediately. Elektra selected the ground floor, but just as the doors started to close, a man got it – Max Samson.
“Hello again.” He said, smiling.
“Hi.” Elektra said.
“I didn’t know that you worked here.” Max began. He didn’t know what, but there was something he really like about Elektra. He’d spent most of his life having one night stands, with only a couple of relationships. When he had tried to settle down, things hadn’t worked out and soon he was back to his old ways.
“I don’t.” Elektra said, taking a deep breath. Max looked down and noticed that Elektra was holding the rail very tightly.
“Do you not like elevators?”
“It’s just I’m a little claustrophobic.” Elektra said. “I’ll be fine when I get off.”
Suddenly the elevator came a sudden halt. Elektra was jerked forward, and into Max’s arms. Their eyes met for a moment, before Elektra realised that the elevator had stopped, and started to panic.
“Oh my god. The walls…” She started to scream, pulling away from Max. She grabbed hold of the side rail and immediately started to curl up, shaking.
“Calm down. You’ll be okay.”
“No I won’t be. I’m going to die.”
“Trust me.” Max said. Suddenly an idea hit him. He extended out his hand. “Look up at me, look into my eyes.”
“What?”
“Like I said, trust me.” Max said, determined. Elektra looked up into his dark eyes, and took hold of his hand. “Imagine you are far away from here, walking through a field. It’s summer, and you can feel the sun shining down on your face. You spot a small stream, at the edge of the field, and walk slowly towards it. Breathe in deeply the fresh, pure air as you walk towards the stream…”
Max stopped realising he was having an effect. Elektra’s grip on his hand had loosened and she was breathing deeply, as she looked at him.
“Ahem, oh yeah. When you reach the stream you sit down on the bank. You dip your feet into the water, it’s cold, not icy though. Just refreshing. You…”
Without warning the elevator started to move again. Elektra slowly regained her composure, as Max looked down at her.
“Thanks.” She said eventually. “That really helped.”
“Anytime.” He said, as he looked into her eyes now. The elevator came to a stop again, this time on the ground floor, and the doors opened.
“You have to let me repay you, properly I mean.”
“Okay then. Dinner tomorrow night. Eight pm at Mirage.” Max said, before turning around and walking away. Elektra watched him go, puzzled but also pleased.
***
Friday, May
9th 2003, The Samson Mansion, Early Evening
“It seems like so long since we’ve been here.”
“Sadly not that long.”
“I can’t wait to see Chardonnay and Nate again.”
“Should be great.”
“Rosa, hi.” Greeted the man warmly.
“Mr and Mrs Samson. It is great to see you again. Come in.” The maid said. She looked over Ethan’s shoulder and spotted Alicia, Kyle and Ryan stepping out of the car.
“Thanks Rosa.” Ethan said, kindly. “It is great to see you again too.”
Calista coughed, the disapproval obvious in her cough. Calista looked up, and spotted Chardonnay as she ran down the stairs, followed by Gabe.
“Uncle Ethan, you’re early.” She greeted warmly.
“Well we weren’t held up too long at the airport. Where are your dad and Leslie?” Ethan asked.
“Mom is in the kitchen, and dad isn’t back from work yet.”
Calista smiled at Gabe. “Jean Luc, it is great to see you again.”
Chardonnay turned to her fiancé, who she could tell was annoyed at Calista’s deliberate mistake. “Where are my bridesmaid, and my cousins?”
“Here we are.” Ryan Samson said, walking through the door with his girlfriend, and fiancée. Behind them were his siblings Alicia and Kyle.
“I thought I heard voices.” Leslie said, emerging from the sitting room. She smiled walking over to her husband’s family.
“We are a little earlier than expected.”
“Oh that doesn’t matter Ethan. Hello Calista, how are you?” Leslie greeted.
“I’m fine. Oh, Leslie, I just have to say that you look great.” Calista said.
“Thanks.”
“The weight has really dropped off since the last time I saw you. You really have stuck with the diet.”
Leslie managed to hold back her tongue and smile, politely, despite secretly wanting to throttle Calista. “Thanks.”
An hour later the men were seated in the lounge room, laughing, joking and catching up. Max and Victor had arrived back home from Samson Enterprises and were now discussing business. At the other side of the room Gabe and Ryan were talking about being engaged, as Nate caught up with Kyle. Upstairs Chardonnay, Alicia, Kate, Leslie and Calista were all gathered. Alicia was trying on her bridesmaids dress. Chardonnay held up her wedding dress.
“Oh, that is really nice. I hope mine is as nice as that.” Kate said, smiling. She was looking forward to her own wedding, even though no date had been set. She hoped that this would really set things moving forward.
“You look lovely.” Calista said. “I just wish Alicia would hurry up.”
“Here I am. Oh it’s lovely isn’t it?” Alicia said, walking through the door. The stunning red dress clung to her body.
“Oh, you look so great.” Kate began.
“Mum?” Alicia asked, turning to her mother.
“I suppose you do look okay. With a few adjustments you’ll look far better.” Calista replied. There was obviously a lot of disapproval in her voice.
“I’ll just go and change back, so I won’t spill anything on it. I’m so clumsy.” Alicia said. She ran back into the bathroom, and closed the door. A tear travelled slowly down her cheek. Alicia quickly took out a tissue and wiped it away.
***
Russell’s
Apartment, same time
Cleo Brady yawned as she walked out of
her room and towards the drinks cabinet. She smiled to herself, as she opened
the door. She knew that Russell wouldn’t notice if she took a few sips of his
alcohol. Cleo started to look through the bottles but she heard a knock on the
door, and Camille’s voice. Cleo quickly closed the cabinet and quickly walked
towards the door.
“Camille, what are you doing here?” Cleo asked, slightly out of breath.
“I just finished work, and thought I’d drop by.”
“Come in.” Cleo said, pulling back the door. “So how was it?”
“Just like the old times. Most of the same people are there.”
“And when are you moving into your new apartment?”
“Tomorrow or Sunday I hope.” Camille answered. She looked around, and noticed how disorganised and untidy the apartment now was.
“Where’s Russell?”
“I don’t know. Work I suppose. I haven’t seen him since yesterday. I thought he would have been here last night when my friends were over, but he must have had a double shift or something.” Cleo said. She took a seat.
“How about I put on a cup of tea and we talk?” Camille offered.
Cleo smiled. “Yeah sure, that’d be great. I should be doing it though, you don’t live here anymore.”
“I don’t mind.”
Camille walked towards the kitchen as Cleo picked up a magazine. Camille smiled to herself, as she remembered all the times when she had previously been in the kitchen. Camille poured the two cups of tea and took the teabag out with a spoon, before walking towards the bin. She looked down and was shocked to see two empty bottles of vodka, as well as several empty cans of beer.
Camille picked up one of the bottles and examined it. It was completely empty, not even a drop left. She walked back out to where Cleo was sitting.
“Cleo, you lied to me.”
“What?” Cleo asked, slowly looking up from her magazine. She was shocked to see a bottle of vodka, an empty one. “I…”
“Last night, when you had your friends over. This is what you were doing, is it?” Camille asked, as she brandished the bottle around, shouting.
“It’s not mine.” Cleo replied loudly.
“It has to be. Russell…” Camille trailed off, realising what she was saying. She turned and walked towards the drinks cabinet. Most of then bottles were empty, or close to it. And two bottles of vodka, which Camille had bought shortly before she and Russell had broken up, were gone.
***
Mirage
Restaurant, 8.25pm
“Thanks.” Elektra said, as she handed back the menu to the waiter. She turned to look back at Max. “So, tell me more about yourself?”
“What’s there to tell?” Max asked.
“Plenty. Any… ex-wives, children, anything?”
“No, no and no.” Max replied, his eyebrow arched. “What about you?”
“No kids and no ex-wives. So why are you in town?”
“My niece, Chardonnay, is getting married next week.”
“Chardonnay Samson.”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“It’s all that has been in the newspapers recently. The gossip columnists are having a field day. Apparently some pretty wealthy people are going to be there.”
“I didn’t think you were the sort of woman who read the gossip column. I thought proper fiction was more your thing, rather than the rubbish straight from the columnists imagination.”
“They are not releasing a thousand white doves, or getting a trip in a hot air balloon then?”
“I doubt it.” Max replied.
“Damn, I really believed those parts.”
Max smiled. “Would you like to go?”
“Go…”
“To the wedding. It is a week away and I thought you’d like to go. You wouldn’t have to read about it in the newspapers then. I’ve got an invite which says bring a guest and I’ve got nobody to bring. So if you’d like to go then…”
“I really don’t know what to say.”
“Yes?”
“No, no I can’t. We’ve only known each other a few days.”
“We can get to know each other.”
***
The Samson
Mansion, same time
“What do you think?” Alicia asked, as she walked into her mother’s bedroom. “I’m going out with Chardonnay, Kate and the rest.”
“Alicia, my dear, that dress is simply frightful. You should change now, or gentlemen might get the wrong idea about you. Not that they should get any idea about you, since you do have Felix.”
“You know that I can’t stand Felix. He talks about horses too much. Oh, and I’m wearing this dress. Chardonnay gave it to me, and Kate said it looked lovely and that it’s really fashionable.”
“Fashion, that piece of string. I don’t think so. Typical Chardonnay though, just like her mother. Victor took Leslie of the back streets, so what can you expect? And Kate, well you know how I feel about her. She takes the words less is more a little too seriously when it comes to her wardrobe.”
Alicia and Calista were both unaware that Kate was standing outside the door, and had overheard Calista’s comments. She pushed open the door.
“Think you are so high and mighty, do you Calista?”
“Kate.” Calista said loudly.
“Believe me, you are very wrong. And your own sense in clothing, well…” Kate ended with a small laugh.
“What’s going on? I heard shouting.” Ryan asked, putting his head in around the door.
“You’re mother was just bitching about me behind my back. She hasn’t got the spine to say it to my face. I really do pity her.”
“Ryan, are you going to let her speak to me like that?”
“She’s right mother. Although I really don’t know why you hate Kate so much?”
“Don’t you see just how below us she is? And at least my husband is faithful to me, unlike your father, the disgraced MP who got sent to jail.”
Kate slapped her future mother in law as hard as she could, leaving Calista shocked. “How dare you bring my father into this you wicked cow.”
***
Monday, May
12th 2003, Mirage Restaurant, Lunchtime
“It has been ages since we’ve had lunch.” Camille Elliot said.
“Hasn’t it?” Leslie Samson replied. “I can’t believe so much has happened in both our lives.”
“So is Chardonnay nervous about Friday?”
“I wouldn’t know.” Leslie said. “We’ve sort of had a falling out.”
“Over what?”
“It doesn’t matter. Just a big mistake that I made. So how is Cleo?”
“I’m worried about her, and Russell too. You see she started drinking.”
“What? Who with? Nate?”
“No, well, I don’t think so. She’s fallen in with a completely different crowd. I found bottles in her room, and asked her about them, but then I had the miscarriage.”
“That’s what caused it. And you are still talking to her?”
“It was just one of those things. It was just a coincidence that it happened when I was fighting with Cleo. The other night I went around to visit her, and she hadn’t seen Russell more than a day and a half. I also found several empty bottles, and confronted her. I think she’s annoyed at me now, because I thought they were hers, when I found them, and she had told me that she’d given up alcohol.”
“What about Russell?”
“He walked in shortly after, and he was drunk. I don’t know what is wrong with him.”
“What happened between he and the woman he had been sleeping with?”
“I don’t know. But Cleo said she thinks that it’s all over between them.” Camille answered. She noticed, in the corner of her eye, a familiar face pass by on the other side of the window – Craig. He didn’t see her, but she most definitely saw him.
“Who is that?” Leslie asked, staring at the man as he walked by.
“Oh, nobody. Just a friend.” Camille answered, before changing the subject. “How are things with Calista? I know the two of you don’t get on?”
Leslie sighed. “Kate, Ryan’s fiancée, slapped her the other night. There’s been tension between them all weekend, so she hasn’t really been able to say much to me.”
Camille was about to ask more, but before she could Leslie jumped up. “Sorry I just feel like I’m about to get sick.”
Leslie ran towards the toilets, and pushed open the door to one of the cubicles. She then started to get sick. She wiped her face, and then exited the cubicle and looked at herself in the mirror, shocked and also puzzled.
***
School,
same time
“Cleo. Are you in there?” Paris asked, as she waited in the girls toilets. Cleo and herself had been talking when Cleo had claimed to have felt sick and ran towards the girls toilets.
“I got sick.” Cleo said, as the door opened. “I feel so bad.”
“Do you want me to go get a teacher to send you home or bring you to the hospital?”
“No, I’ll be fine. It was probably just something I ate.”
***
Samson
Enterprises, same time
“How are you doing?” Gabe asked as he stuck his head around the door of Chardonnay’s office.
“Fine, though I have to stay here and finish things up. It is my last day for a few weeks.”
“No lunch then?”
“Sorry.” Chardonnay said.
“Can you believe it? Only a few days until you’ll be Mrs Chardonnay McLoughlin.”
“Has a ring to it, doesn’t it?” Chardonnay said, smiling. She hadn’t experienced too many nerves yet, just about the catering and flowers.
“See you later.”
“Yeah.” Chardonnay said, looking down at the paperwork she was working on. Gabe smiled to himself before walking down the corridor towards the elevator. The door of Chardonnay’s office opened again a couple of minutes later.
“Hi.”
“Chardonnay, we need to talk.”
“Luc.” Chardonnay said, looking up. “I thought you were… What do you want?”
“We need to talk. There is something I
need to tell, to ask you.” Luc said dramatically. Chardonnay was puzzled. What
could it be?
“What?”
“Will you call off the wedding and marry
me instead of him?”
Next Time:
Chardonnay gives Luc her answer, as more guests arrive and things heat up with the teenagers.