|
|
"Don't be late to the church," she hisses.
As she rushes downstairs, she can see through the foyer window that the guests that have arrived are Felicia Bale and Denise Price, here to help her with her wedding preparations as promised. She unlocks the door and greets them with all of her anxiety.
"There's those pre-wedding jitters I remember," Felicia says, smiling as she embraces Rebecca.
"Ditto," Denise says, opting out of hugging Rebecca and brushing past the two women to enter the living room. "Do you need me to go upstairs and grab your wedding dress?"
"No..." Rebecca says, glancing nervously toward the stairs. "I can go and get it, why don't you two just wait downstairs?"
"That's stupid," Felicia says. "Let us go and..."
"No, you're so helpful, but..."
"Rebecca," Felicia says, grabbing the woman's arm. "I will get your dress."
Before Rebecca can resist any further, Felicia heads toward the stairs. Rebecca bites her lip nervously, worrying that she might go upstairs and run into Kane. She knows that Kane is living there as her son, but still, seeing him post-coital could raise any kind of red flags.
Luckily for Rebecca, Felicia is intercepted as Kane strolls down the stairs, dressed casually in a t-shirt and jeans, carrying the wedding dress.
"Hey mom," Kane says with a wry grin. "Brought your dress down for you."
"What a gentleman," Felicia says, smiling.
Rebecca snatches the dress from Kane. "Yes. What a gentleman, indeed."
"It's not that bad," Valerie says. "You get used to the smell."
"It smells a wildfire in here," Robert says, feeling his eyes begin to water up.
"I burned some of Simon's clothes. The stupid neighbors thought I was burning down the entire house. Luckily, the police didn't think I'd be stupid enough to commit another arson so soon after leaving prison."
Robert scoffs. "Yeah. Luckily."
Robert begins to wonder what he's gotten himself into by joining forces with Valerie. He hates this woman with every fiber of his being.
"It needs to happen today," Valerie says, jumping straight into business. "I can't take any more my stupid sister's smug looks. If I have to look at her face again, I might just strangle her."
"Calm down," Robert says. "I hate her as much as you do, but we need to be smart about this. She's got Aaron on her side, not to mention Michael and your ex-husband. We can't let any cracks happen."
"They won't," Valerie insists. "We have everything taken care of. And not a single person will suspect that we're working together. We hate each other, remember?"
"That we do."
Robert can't help but smile. As much as he dislikes Valerie, he hates Felicia even more for turning against him. Accusing him of molesting their son, joining forces with Aaron to strip away from Robert what his wife left him in her will, and the general attitude she marches around town with, as if she's better than him.
But she's not. And soon enough, Robert will have his revenge.
"Let me have a drink and a drag of that cigarette," Robert says, outstretching his arm to take the slender stick from Valerie's hands. "I think it's time for an early celebration."
MADDOCK HOME
Alexis Lopez can feel her life slowly slipping away. As she slips back and forth from blackness to technicolor, all she can see are the brightest lights known to man swirling in her pupils. She tries to move a hand, but she can't even fathom moving an eyelid it hurts so much.
She knows she is outside, she knows she is surrounded by bushes... but that's about it. She has no idea where she is or how she got there. She only knows that before she ended up there she saw something that rocked her to her very core.
Rebecca and Kane Li going at it in his bedroom. Mother and son. The very thought of it would make Alexis sick to her stomach again... if she could feel her stomach at all.
It feels like she's been there for hours when she hears voice somewhere nearby. Familiar voices.
"Climb into the passenger's seat..."
"Should I take that? Denise is pregnant."
"She'll be fine."
"Gee, thanks, Felicia."
"Stop being so testy..."
Once she hears a car door slam, an engine revs up and the vehicle is long gone. Leaving Alexis alone again. To continue slipping in and out of consciousness... in and out of color... and closer to death with each passing moment.
