The One With the Gazebo" 11

14. CHAMBERLAIN KITCHEN -- 6:30 p.m.

(NOLA IS COOKING AS A.J. WATCHES. SHE OCCASIONALLY SWATS HIS HAND AWAY AS HE STEALS THE VEGETABLES SHE'S CUTTING.)

NOLA: I thought you were going out.

A.J.: Why are you so anxious to get rid of me -- so you can be alone with Dad?

NOLA: No, because you're bugging me.

(A.J. COMES UP BEHIND HER AND HUGS HER.)

A.J.: You know you love me.

NOLA: If I didn't I would have killed you a long time ago. Why don't you help me cut these vegetables instead of eating them all?

A.J.: I know I saw servants around here somewhere -- can't one of them cook?

NOLA: How did you get to be such a spoiled brat?

A.J.: I'm not spoiled. You made sure of that. But if you're going to pay someone to cook you should let them cook.

NOLA: I'd rather do it tonight.

A.J.: You're just like Grandma, you cook when you get upset. When you were in the hospital we had stews, pies... (HE STOPS, REALIZING WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT.) Oh, God, Mom, I'm sorry.

NOLA: It's okay, A.J. It's okay to talk about it.

A.J.: It is? (NOLA NODS.) Since when?

NOLA: Since I realized I don't want to lose your father again, and talking about everything is the only way I can stop that from happening.

A.J.: Do you mean that, about not wanting to lose Dad?

NOLA: Yes.

A.J.: I have waited so long to hear you say that. (NOLA LOVINGLY BRUSHES A.J.'S HAIR AWAY FROM HIS FACE.)

NOLA: I know how hard all this has been on you.

A.J.: Not as hard as it's been on you. Can you really talk about everything now, Mom?

NOLA: You mean without getting all freaked out the way I used to in California? (A.J. NODS.) I don't know. But if I do get upset, I know I can turn to your father and he'll be there for me.

A.J.: You didn't know that before?

NOLA: With all the pain we were both in, it was hard to remember how much he loved me.

A.J.: Well, I certainly think he's proven himself these past couple months.

NOLA (smiling): He has been persistent.

A.J.: Look at you. You're loving it, making him chase you.

NOLA: The attention is very flattering. But not very much of this has been enjoyable....And I'm not making him chase me.

A.J.: You're not making it easy for him.

NOLA: Did you really expect me to?

A.J.: No. I know how Dad hurt you.

NOLA: You know better than just about anyone.

A.J.: But all that horrible stuff is over now.

NOLA: I hope so.

A.J.: It is. I know how much Dad regrets everything that happened, and that he's determined not to hurt you or any of us anymore.

NOLA: So you think I should trust him again?

A.J.: I can't tell you whether or not you should do that. Only you can make that decision. But I think Dad honestly wants to make things right.

NOLA: You're probably right. I mean, we are the only family he had left now.

A.J.: That's not the only reason he wants you back.

(THEY HEAR THE DOORBELL RING.)

NOLA: That's probably your dad. I had the keys for here. Can you let him in while I finish up dinner?

A.J.: Sure. (HE STARTS OUT BUT SUDDENLY STOPS.) Mom?

NOLA: What, honey?

A.J.: He loves you, Mom. And not because you're all he has left but because you're the best thing he has.

(HE DISAPPEARS BEFORE A TOUCHED NOLA CAN ANSWER.)

CUT TO:

CHAMBERLAIN FRONT DOOR AND FOYER

(QUINTON STANDS OUTSIDE THE DOOR, A LARGE, BATTERED PACKPACK AT HIS FEET. HE GLANCES AT HIS WATCH, THEN RINGS THE DOORBELL AGAIN. A.J. PULLS THE DOOR OPEN.)

A.J.: A little anxious, Dad?

QUINTON: A.J., what are you doing here?

A.J.: Don't worry, I'm going to leave the two of you alone. I just wanted to check things out here. Mom said I could stay if I wanted to, since the boardinghouse is kind of crowded.

QUINTON: Of course you can stay here.

A.J.: Did you know Grandfather left my room just the way I fixed it up the last time I came to visit him?

QUINTON: He wanted you to be comfortable whenever you came here.

A.J.: Mom's already making herself comfortable -- she's in the kitchen cooking dinner.

QUINTON: How is she?

A.J.: She's not as emotional as she was before, but we've got the makings of a seven course meal in there, so I know she's still upset.

QUINTON: Why don't you stay and eat with us?

A.J.: Can't. I'm going to see Abby.

QUINTON: I thought she'd be at the service today.

A.J.: She was watching Marah and Shayne for Reva.

QUINTON: I like that Abigail. She has a good heart, like your mom.

A.J.: I know you like her, Dad, you say that every time I mention her.

QUINTON: Do I? Sorry. But I think this is the first time I've liked one of your girlfriends. Why don't you bring Abigail back here for dinner? I'm sure your mom has made more than enough food.

A.J.: Wouldn't you rather be alone with Mom?

QUINTON: I'd love to, but I'm not sure she's comfortable with that yet.

A.J.: So you want Abby and I to chaperone.

QUINTON: I'd like to get to know Abigail better, too.

A.J.: Oh, no, you have that look in your eye.

QUINTON: What look?

A.J.: That ÔI can't wait to marry off my son' look.

QUINTON: Marry you off -- you're only 18.

A.J.: Exactly. And I still have lots of wild oats to sow.

QUINTON: Abigail doesn't seem like the wild oats type to me.

A.J.: She's not. But I like hanging out with her. And there are plenty of girls around Springfield when I'm in the mood for that other stuff.

(QUINTON SIGHS.)

QUINTON: Where did we go wrong with you?

A.J.: Hey, I'm just following in your footsteps.

QUINTON: My footsteps?

A.J.: You had a house full of women living with you before you and Mom got married.

(NOLA ENTERS.)

NOLA: He's got you there, Quinton. You can't criticize him for all his girlfriends when you had your own little harem.

QUINTON: It was not a harem.

A.J.: Let's see, there was Mom, Stace, Rennie...oh, and Helena, one of my personal favorites.

NOLA: Please don't go there.

A.J.: What? I just think she's a very interesting woman, that's all.

NOLA: Yeah, I know what you were interested in.

A.J.: I'm telling you, Mom, you had that situation all wrong. Helena just wanted to show me around a little.

NOLA: What Helena wanted to show you I don't want you seeing. Stick with Abigail.

A.J.: Dad suggested I bring her here for dinner. Is that okay?

NOLA: That would be nice. I'd like the chance to get to know Abigail better.

QUINTON: Uh oh, there's the look.

NOLA: What look?

A.J.: It's nothing, Mom. I'm motoring. I'll be back in about half an hour.

(HE HURRIES OUT THE DOOR. NOLA LOOKS AT QUINTON.)

NOLA: What look?

QUINTON: It's a father/son thing. I'm going to take this stuff upstairs.

(HE STARTS UP THE STAIRS.)

NOLA: I had one of the maids fix up our...your...room.

QUINTON: I can't stay in there. Not without you.

NOLA: I'll have one of the guest rooms made up for you then.

QUINTON: Where are you going to sleep?

NOLA: Stacy's room. Unless you've changed your mind about me staying here.

QUINTON: Of course not. But Stacey's room is right down the hall from where I'll be, and I don't think I'll be able to sleep knowing you're that close.

NOLA: Sure you will. It will be like the old days back on Thornway Road.

QUINTON: I never could sleep back then, either. Why do you think I came into your room to say goodnight every night?

NOLA: I thought you were checking on the baby.

QUINTON: I knew Stacy was fine with you. But I kept coming in, waiting for you to invite me to stay. (NOLA LAUGHS.) What?

NOLA: All those rooms that we had in that house, and Stacy didn't have her own room. Didn't you ever wonder about that?

QUINTON: I figured you just wanted to be close to her.

NOLA: Well, that too. But I also thought you might want to stay one night when you came in to check on her.

QUINTON: I wanted to stay every night when I came in there.

(THERE'S AN AWKWARD SILENCE.)

NOLA: Maybe I should sleep in the other wing tonight.

QUINTON: You don't have to do that. I'll behave myself. Besides, I don't have Stacy to use as an excuse anymore.

NOLA: I should call and check on her.

QUINTON: She left me a message today. She sounds like she's handling everything okay.

NOLA: I hope so. I know she and Vanessa weren't all that close, but losing her so soon after Henry, on top of everything else that's been going on...Are you sure she's okay?

QUINTON: She'll be fine. She's tough, like her mom.

NOLA: I don't feel so tough right now.

(QUINTON PUTS AN ARM AROUND HER.)

QUINTON: All of us have been relying on you to be strong for us. I haven't even thought of how hard that must be on you.

NOLA: It doesn't bother me. It takes my mind off of Vanessa when I can worry about everyone else.

QUINTON: Nola, what was wrong with her?

NOLA: I don't know exactly. She wouldn't give me any details. I just know that it was something that was making her more and more sick. She said it was going to be slow, but I think things were getting bad a lot faster than she expected. And there didn't seem to be anything the doctors could do for her.

QUINTON: God, what a nightmare.

NOLA: I'm sorry I didn't tell you about her being sick.

QUINTON: I don't know if I would have been able to stand it, knowing that she was so ill and there was nothing I could do about it.

NOLA: It's the most frustrating feeling in the world.

QUINTON: I remember. (THERE'S ANOTHER AWKWARD SILENCE.) I better get these things upstairs before A.J. gets back with Abigail.

NOLA: And I better get back to dinner before I burn the house down. Meet me in the kitchen when you're done.

QUINTON: Okay.

(HE PICKS UP HIS BACKPACK AND GOES UP THE STAIRS, LOOKING BACK AT NOLA THE ENTIRE WAY.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15. THE GAZEBO -- Midnight

(NOLA PACES AROUND THE GAZEBO IN HER ROBE, A MUG IN HER HAND. SHE SETTLES ONTO THE BENCH WITH A SIGH.)

NOLA: Oh God, what am I going to do with my life?

(SHE TAKES A LONG SIP FROM THE MUG AND LOOKS AROUND THE GAZEBO. HAPPY MEMORIES OF HER LIFE WITH QUINTON DRIFT THROUGH HER MIND (Readers: Insert your favorite Quola memories here). AS SHE LOOKS AROUND THE GAZEBO, IMAGES OF IMPORTANT MOMENTS SHE'S HAD THERE FLICKER THROUGH HER MIND LIKE A SILENT MOVIE: THE MOMENT SHE AND QUINTON CAME FACE TO FACE; THEIR WEDDING NIGHT; SHE, QUINTON AND HENRY TOASTING THEIR NEW HOME; TELLING QUINTON ABOUT HER PREGNANCY; TALKING THERE WITH HENRY; HER DINNER WITH QUINTON A FEW DAYS BEFORE.)

NOLA: The answer's so easy, I don't know why I just can't accept it.

(SHE SLIDES HER HAND OVER THE BENCH AS SHE REMEMBERS HER ENCOUNTER THERE WITH QUINTON THE DAY BEFORE.)

NOLA (softly): I'm going to spend it with him. (SHE STANDS UP WITH A DETERMINED SMILE AND REPEATS HERSELF, LOUDER THIS TIME.) I'm going to spend it with him. (SHE RUNS OUT OF THE GAZEBO TOWARD THE HOUSE AND RUNS SMACK INTO QUINTON.)

QUINTON: Whoa, where's the fire?

NOLA: Quinton, what are you doing here? How long have you been out here?

QUINTON: I just came out to look for you. I got worried when I went to Stacy's room to tell you goodnight and couldn't find you.

NOLA: I came here to think out a few things.

QUINTON: This is a good place for that. But you looked like you had definitely made up your mind about something when you just flew into me there.

NOLA: I had.

QUINTON: Anything you want to share?

(NOLA IS ABOUT TO ANSWER IN THE AFFIRMATIVE, BUT SUDDENLY GETS NERVOUS ABOUT RECOMMITTING HERSELF TO HIM. SHE WANDERS BACK TOWARD THE GAZEBO. QUINTON NOTICES HER NERVOUSNESS AND FOLLOWS HER AT A BIT OF A DISTANCE.)

NOLA: Do you realize some of the most important moments in my life have taken place in this gazebo?

QUINTON: Mine too. Meeting you...realizing you were pregnant with A.J....yesterday.

NOLA (mumbling): Such important moments, big decisions. What better place to do this.

QUINTON: What did you say, Nola?

(NOLA REACHES OUT HER HAND TO HIM.)

NOLA: Quinton, come in here with me, I need to speak to you.

QUINTON: Sounds serious.

NOLA: It is. (QUINTON TAKES HER HAND AND FOLLOWS HER INTO THE GAZEBO. NOLA LEADS HIM TO THE BENCH AND THEY SIT DOWN. SHE TAKES BOTH OF QUINTON'S HANDS IN HERS.) I don't know if this is the right time to be making major decisions in my life. I mean, my emotional state hasn't been at its most stable these past couple days. And I've let a lot of things happen that I probably never would have let happen under different circumstances. I know this has made things really confusing for you, and I don't think it's fair for me to keep you guessing anymore about how I really want things to go with us.

QUINTON: Nola....

NOLA: Please, Quinton, just let me get this out before I lose my nerve. I've been running everything we've been through over in my mind. All the good stuff and especially all the bad. I finally made myself think about the awful things I swore never to think of again. I went over everything that happened. And it hurt. It hurt like hell. But it made me realize that I'd blamed you for a lot of things that weren't your fault. You were an easy target, since you seemed to be blaming yourself for a lot of the same things. But it wasn't fair for me to pin all the blame on you. Not that I'm condoning what you did. But I wasn't entirely blameless. I shut you out just when we needed to be most open with each other. I didn't want to. I wanted nothing more than for you to take me in your arms and make all the bad things go away, the way you always had before.

QUINTON: I tried.

NOLA: I know you did. But it wasn't that simple this time. Losing...losing... (SHE BREAKS DOWN. QUINTON PULLS HER INTO HIS ARMS, AND NOLA STAYS THERE ENJOYING HIS COMFORT FOR A LONG TIME. NOLA FINALLY PULLS AWAY SLOWLY. QUINTON WIPES THE TEARS FROM HER CHEEKS.) Why couldn't I do this back then, why couldn't I just come to you and mourn with you?

QUINTON: Because you blamed me for what happened.

NOLA: I did. I blamed you because you chose to save my life. How stupid is that?

QUINTON: It wasn't stupid. It wasn't stupid at all. I deprived you of your chance to be a mother again.

NOLA: No, no you didn't. You were trying to give me that chance. You couldn't have known what would happen.

QUINTON: I knew it was a possibility. I knew that we could lose Sean and Stephanie. (NOLA FLINCHES. QUINTON TAKES HER INTO HIS ARMS AGAIN.) But I didn't believe that would happen. The only thing I knew for certain was that I was going to lose you if I didn't let the doctors do what they wanted. I thought if I could stop that from happening everything else would be okay. But the minute I saw Sean, I knew it wouldn't be. Something in my heart told me he wasn't going to make it. Steffie, though, she had me fooled. I never thought we'd lose her. She was too much of a fighter. I watched her go and I still couldn't believe it.

(NOLA, WHO HAS BEEN GETTING MORE AND MORE UPSET DURING HIS ABOVE SPEECH, FINALLY SNAPS.)

NOLA: Stop, stop, stop, stop.

QUINTON: What...

NOLA: Please don't make me talk about them. Please, please, please don't make me.

QUINTON: Okay, honey, okay. Calm down. We don't have to talk about them. (HE ROCKS HER TENDERLY AND TALKS TO HER SOOTHINGLY UNTIL SHE SETTLES DOWN.) Are you okay? (NOLA NODS.) I'm sorry. I thought you were ready. (NOLA SHAKES HER HEAD.) Wasn't that what you were trying to talk to me about? (NOLA SHAKES HER HEAD AGAIN.) But you said you'd been thinking about all that happened.

NOLA: I've started to. But I can't talk about it. I want to. Someday I want you to tell me every detail of every second you spent with them. But not yet. I don't think I can handle it yet.

QUINTON: It's okay. We'll talk when you're ready.

NOLA: You're upset.

QUINTON: No, it's...

NOLA: You wanted to talk about them. You need to talk about them.

QUINTON: Yes I do, but it can wait. We're not going to try to deal with this separately again. We're not going to make the same mistake twice.

NOLA: I hope not....Actually, that was what I wanted to talk to you about tonight. Mistakes. Well, not mistakes really. More like get past mistakes. (SHE LOOKS HIM IN THE EYE.) I want to be your wife again.

QUINTON: What?

NOLA: I want to be your wife again.

QUINTON: Are you sure?

NOLA: As bad as things have been between us, we've had a lot more in our lives that's been good. I can't just throw that away. How can I leave behind the person who could make me most happy?

QUINTON: I'm also the person who's made you most miserable.

NOLA: Yes you've hurt me worse than anyone ever has, but you've also made me happier than anyone else ever could. I can't discount that.

QUINTON: Nola, are you sure about this? I want more than anything in the world for you to love me again. But a lot of things have happened this week because of what we've been going through with Vanessa that I know probably wouldn't have happened this soon, if ever. This isn't another one of those things, is it?

NOLA: What happened with Vanessa made me realize that I had to stop wasting precious time in my life trying to decide about the future and just do it. And I have to tell you honestly that I was going to go it alone. I didn't want to trust anyone again, so I figured I'd just go off and be an independent woman, live my own life.

QUINTON: But now you don't want to do that?

NOLA: Of course I do. But who says I can't be an independent woman and still be married to you?

QUINTON: Certainly not me.

(THEY BOTH LAUGH.)

NOLA: As for living my life the way I want, you're not stopping me from doing that either. I was stopping me from doing that, because I refused to admit to myself that they way I wanted to live my life is the way I lived it for almost 20 years -- by your side.

QUINTON: Nola, I think you're going to have to pinch me, because I must be dreaming.

NOLA: This isn't a dream. Things aren't going to go back to the way they used to be. At least not right away; maybe not ever. I almost decided not to follow my heart and try to make this work, because I'm scared to death, Quinton. I'm scared that you're going to hurt me again, and I know I couldn't survive that. So you're really going to have to prove to me that it's okay to let go of those fears.

QUINTON: I will. To my dying day I'm going to prove that you weren't wrong to give me a second chance.

NOLA: I'm looking forward to that...So, now that I've decided about this, what are we going to do next?

QUINTON: I don't know. Seems like a kiss might be a good thing at a moment like this.

NOLA: Yeah, I think now would be a good time for that.

(THEY MELT INTO A LONG, PASSIONATE KISS TO SEAL THEIR RECOMMITMENT TO EACH OTHER.)

FADE OUT

Go to next chapter of "The One With The Gazebo"