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When Cassadines Fall
Odds and Ends
On the front porch of the house, Stefan takes a seat across from Maddy's chess partner. He'd seen the guy go in the house long enough to pay his respects and then head right back outdoors again. People in the neighborhood gather in the front yard, the back and inside the house. All the doors had been thrown open after the funeral. People gather in small groups catching up or gossiping depending on their conscience. "Did you bring your board?"
The man reaches into his pocket and pulls out the traveling chess set that he is never without. Opening it up on the small table between the two men. Stefan assists in setting up. Maddy who'd seen her old friend earlier and known he wouldn't be able to tolerate the indoors for long comes out of the house carrying a coffee mug. She grins when she sees that he and Stefan are already at it. Maddy places the mug next to her old friend's free hand and slides in next to him, resting her cheek against his shoulder.
Stefan looks over at his opponent and sees a little black girl-- pigtails going this way and that, fastened with some kind of elastic with hard colorful balls at the end-- leaning up against him. Her legs swing always moving as are her eyes as she studies every square of the board and every piece on it. Stefan blinks. In place of the little girl from the past is Maddy. Maddy reaches for one of his opponent's pieces and gets her hand smacked. "My game." Stefan's opponent reminds her.
"Yes, well you guys play too slow." Maddy pouts.
"And you have no patience." Stefan tells her automatically used to Maddy's complaints. "How are you doing?"
"It's starting to get creepy." Maddy admits. "Some of the people have been really nice and kind but some of them I can tell the question they really want to ask me is what Lisette looked like in the end."
Stefan winces and tries to change the subject since the ghoulish nature of mankind stopped surprising him long ago. "The... procession was unexpected."
"Robideau gives the best funerals in N'Awlins." His opponent says absently as he slides a piece across the board.
"I wasn't expecting it either but I should have I guess." Maddy admits. She looks over to the base of the porch steps where the small brass band is still jamming. "Poppi didn't have the band play at his mom's funeral. She would have hated it. Instead it was a quiet service with lots and lots of flowers. Lisette through? She would have loved having the band at her funeral." Maddy is distracted by a tall man in a dark suit coming up the walk.
He comes up the stairs and sees the small gathering on the porch. "I'm looking for Madeliene Reynolds?"
"I'm Maddy." Maddy rises to her feet.
"Is there somewhere... private we could talk?"
Maddy looks over at her friends and then back to the stranger. "Who are you?" She asks flatly.
"Bill Crispin. I'm very sorry for your loss, Miss Reynolds. I represent the Acme Life Insurance company. Your mother was one of our clients."
Maddy starts shaking her head. "My mother?! Life Insurance? You are in the wrong place. Have the wrong Lisette Reynolds."
"If we could talk privately?" The man suggests again.
"You're wasting your time." Maddy shrugs and then leads the man to her mother's vacant apartment.
Nikolas who had been watching from inside Sophia's apartment excuses himself from Emily to go outside. "Who was that? What did he want from Maddy?"
Stefan studies the board not looking up. "Some insurance representative. Perhaps you should get her aunt to assist Maddy in going over the papers."
Nikolas looks at Stefan suspiciously. Stefan's behavior is too casual. Nikolas nods and goes back into the apartment whispering in Dara's ear where she is going through Lisette's scrapbooks with Pete and Jerry. Dara looks at him in surprise and then rises to her feet and goes across the hall. Dara quietly opens the door listening to the conversation between her niece and the man she's never seen before.
"If I can have you sign right here then I can release the funds." The man opens the papers up on the counter and pulls out a pen.
Maddy crosses her arms in front of her not taking the pen. "You don't get it. It's some kind of set up, some kind of mistake, My mother would never get life insurance. Or she might get some but she'd never remember to pay the premiums. I paid the bills and I never saw anything from Acme Life Insurance."
"We're an umbrella corporation. We bought out the original company ages ago. If you'll look at the original paperwork you'll see that the policy is eighteen years old. And you are correct the purchaser of the policy quit making payments ten years ago. But there is a clause for dividend reinvestment. That was sufficient to cover the premiums."
"My mother would never..."
"But my mother, your grandmother, probably would have." Dara interjects.
"What?" Maddy realizes that Dara is there for the first time.
"It sounds like something my mother would do. Especially before you were born. Lisette was still living at home then. They didn't have the big blow out til a couple years later. May I?" Dara holds a hand out for the papers.
The agent hands the papers to Dara relieved to have some back up. This was the hardest he'd ever had to work to give money away. "Of Course."
Dara reads through the papers quickly. Insurance fine print had been covered in law school; it was a basic contract. She verifies the facts given against her memory as well as the signature. "Maddy, this looks solid."
"It's bull. I'm not having someone coming back on me later telling me I owe them a quarter million dollars. Because they screwed up."
"Miss Reynolds..." The insurance man protests.
"Maddy, he can't come back on you."
"Oh and that's bull too. You can't tell me that if you whoops'd on a quarter mil that you wouldn't try to get it back."
"Maddy, if it makes you that uncomfortable sign the papers and then put the money in trust. Don't touch it just let it sit until you're sure that it isn't a mistake. I'm advising you to take the check and because I am-- I'll defend your right to have it if anyone decides they screwed up. I really think this is your grandmother's doing."
"Fine." Maddy scrawls her signature on the bottom of the form offered to her by the insurance man and then walks away before he can hand her the check. Dara steps up and gets Maddy's copies of the paperwork and the check. She tucks them together and puts them in her purse.
"I appreciate your assistance in this matter." The man sighs with relief. He was used to all kinds of reactions to disbursement of funds but seldom met with outright refusals.
"Yeah, right." Dara replies. "Just know if you decide later that this was a whoops as my niece called it that you will have a fight on your hands. Playing that kind of game with a grieving family puts me in a real pissy mood." Dara looks down at her watch. "Now if you'll excuse me I have a plane to catch."
"I'll see myself out." The insurance man reaches out a hand to shake. Dara reluctantly takes it and shakes the man's hand and then both of them leave the apartment. Dara to go back to Miz Sophia's place and the other to leave. Maddy is back on the front porch and doesn't look up or over as the insurance guy leaves. Stefan watches with interest. He'd set things in motion and was impatient to find out what happened but questioning at this juncture would be ill advised.
Dara finds Miz Sophia first and informs her quietly of her need to leave and head to the airport. Sophia starts to protest but then bites her tongue. Jerry overhears the conversation. "I'll give you a lift to the airport. I have a few errands to run myself before everyone else heads back to Port Charles."
"Thanks." Dara says quietly. "Just let me go tell Maddy." Dara looks around the room not seeing her niece.
"She's on the front porch with the boys watching them play chess." Miz Sophia tells her. She rises from her chair.
Dara bites her lip and then gives Miz Sophia a hug. "I'm glad to have met you I'm just sorry it was under these circumstances. I'm glad that Maddy had, has, you in her corner."
"Here. You should take this with you." Sophia gathers up a couple of the scrapbooks and gives them to Dara. "I know you won't need anything to remember your sister but I think they'll be a comfort to you."
"Yes, thank you." Dara takes the scrapbooks and tucks them in her overnight bag. "Let me go talk to Maddy. Find out what her plans are and make arrangements to see her back in Port Charles."
"I'll bring the car around." Jerry informs the ladies and then leaves.
Dara goes out to the front porch looking for the "boys" and then realizes that Miz Sophia had been referring to Stefan Cassadine and an elderly gentleman who are playing chess. "Maddy? Can you give me a minute? I'm going to head back to Port Charles and I just want to touch base with you make plans for lunch or something when you get back." Maddy nods and rises to talk to her aunt. They go out in the front yard and talk quietly. Dara gives her hug as she sees Jerry in the rental car. Walking over to the front passenger seat she slides in the car putting the bag at her feet and buckling up. Maddy closes the car door and steps back.
Jerry puts the car in motion. "Smile for the cameras."
"Excuse me?"
Jerry nods in the direction of across the street where a van sits. There are orange cones at the back like it is a service van but there is no work being done. "The feds are here taking pictures. Seeing who is coming and going. They were at the funeral too."
It's suddenly just a little too much for Dara and she flips the van off. "There-- let them have a picture of that."
Jerry snickers. "I didn't think you had it in you."
"Damn ghouls." Dara mutters.
"You're going to hear about that one later." Jerry warns.
"Let them make something of it."
"Hi. I'm Emily Quartermaine. I didn't get to meet you when you stopped to pick Maddy up in Port Charles."
Ricky turns around still taking a sip of his soda. He looks Emily over from head to toe. "Rick Robideau."
"Poppi's son right?"
Ricky quirks a brow. "Poppi?"
"Sorry. I guess I should call him Pete or Mr Robideau. It's just that is the way that Maddy always thinks of him and that's my first impression. I got to meet your dad for about half a second when he was visiting up in Port Charles. It was a coming and going thing at my boyfriend's restaurant."
"You mean the restaurant your boyfriend works at." Ricky tries to clarify.
"No, she means her boyfriend's restaurant." Poppi comes up behind Emily. "It is good to see you again. You are looking much lighter."
Emily looks at him blankly and then realizes. "Oh yeah, the cast. I got that off a couple of weeks ago. So much has happened since then."
"Yes, I must have misunderstood. I thought you and young Cassadine were..."
"Nikolas? We're good friends. The best. He's always come through for me. But more than that..." Emily shakes her head. "I thought maybe once but he doesn't think of me that way. He was really great about giving me space to get over my crush." Em turns a little pink. "How embarrassing talking about how I made a fool of myself. Luckily Nik doesn't hold it against me."
Pete gives the little one a little breathing room. "So your boyfriend is John Cook of Porter's restaurant." Pete looks over at Ricky. "The guy is an excellent chef. He really should set up shop down here. It was the best food I had in Port Charles."
"And everyone knows it." Emily says proudly. "Actually there are some great places up in Port Charles, but Porters is the best. You'll have to check them out the next time you come up to see Maddy. You know Jerry wouldn't stay anywhere that there wasn't great food."
Pete laughs. "True. But I think he's found other attractions there. I've seen pictures of his wife and stepson."
"Bobbie and Lucas." Emily nods. "Lucas is in school and Bobbie is head surgical nurse at GH, general hospital. It makes it tough for them to get time off. And Bobbie and Jerry just got back from their honeymoon."
"I hear you own a cosmetics company." Pete prompts.
"Not really." Emily holds two fingers together. "I have a piece of one-- this much. My cousin Ned and Jerry's brother Jax have more to do with the actual running of the company. They just give me the busy work. I should go touch base with Maddy. I haven't gotten to tell her how things are going on her projects. It was good to see you again. Nice to meet you too." Emily excuses herself.
Ricky watches her leave. "Let me guess her grandfather gave her a piece of a cosmetics company to keep her busy. Most little girls get Barbies." Ricky was up on Edward Quartermaine since he'd shown up in New Orleans.
"Not quite." Poppi shakes his head. "John Cook is a former bodyguard for Sonny Corinthos. He got out of the business to open his restaurant." Poppi knows that Ricky will recognize the name. Sonny wasn't as big a player as the guys in New York but Poppi had used him as an example of how to build a secure distribution network. "Her brother, Jason Morgan, is Sonny's partner in his legit businesses. According to Jerry the little girl who just left has a mind like a steel trap and does a lot more than she claims at this Cosmetics company-- Deception. And her involvement in the company was very much a surprise to her grandfather. He has nothing to do with the company. Emily bought into it using modeling money, her own money. Quartermaine would rather she was playing with Barbies."
Edward harrumphs from behind Pete. "Damn straight. It was that blasted company and the modeling that got her kidnapped. And little Rita right along with her. She's too young to be hooked up with Johnny Cook even if he does have a fine hand with the eclairs. At least with him I know that he'd shoot anyone who looked at her funny." Edward stomps off to go visit with Sophia again.
"That guy always looks like he sucked on a lemon." Ricky says after Edward leaves.
"He's got it rough." Pete commiserates with a grin. "You haven't met his granddaughter-in- law. I met her once and that was enough."
Emily gives Maddy a big hug with an extra squeeze. "I won't say I know what you're going through. I hated that when everyone told me that after my mom died. Mom and I at least had time to say the things that needed saying before she died. Just that I'm really sorry, Maddy."
Maddy gives Em an extra squeeze back. "Me too. I wish we would have had more time but that's my heart talking. My head knows that if we had more time then we would have fought just like we always did. My mom was hardheaded."
"Oh Gee. So that's where you get it from!" Emily widens her eyes dramatically.
Maddy laughs and wipes away a tear. "Yeah, I guess. Hardheaded, stubborn, look before you leap and never say... yeah, I guess that's where I get it. I suppose there are worse things to inherit."
"Way worse. And hardheaded and stubborn can so come in handy with the guys we deal with." Em takes a half step back but keeps a grip on Maddy's hand holding it to keep the connection. "So would talking business take your mind off things?"
Maddy runs a hand through her hair. "Oh Gees the business. I haven't even.."
"I figured. Johnny has the kiosks covered. The suppliers and the staff have been great keeping things steady. But you are going to have such a backlog on the other business when you get back. I've seen some of the journal notes. I think Benny was making his list and checking it twice on his way down here. Your voice mail is probably full from the kids over at PCHS wanting you to firm up their plans for winter break. The requests are already coming in for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Ramadan-- which I really don't get since isn't that a month of fasting? Some chinese lady stopped by the kiosk downtown wanting to talk to you. Something about a sewing machine? I did as much as I could but I was clueless on that one."
"Eid-Ul-Fitr." Maddy says absently and then explains. "That's the first day after the fast. If you've been fasting from dawn to dusk for a month, even a blessed month, you'd celebrate too." Maddy nods remembering the other situation. "Right. That's the lady that made the outfit I wore to the Cassadine party she also did all the curtains at Nik's place. She wants me to middle man getting an industrial sewing machine. She knows just what she wants but the company is giving her a ration. Which is stupid 'cause money is money. I told her to line up about five of her friends and then I'm going to get a group discount and get the difference as my commission. They'll get a good deal and the company will so not mess with them again. Larry's partner was very impressed with the work they did on Nik's house-- getting the window treatments done on such a tight timeline. He's already got ideas for some of his other projects."
"I met him the night of the party. Gawd what a hunk, he looks just like Pierce Brosnan."
"Oh yeah, but he only has eyes for Larry. They are so cute together. Partner is very ambitious-- he wants the guild award for Nik's house. That's why it was so important to him to have pictures of everything that was done."
"Grandmother is up for an award too... for the theater but I think she is a shoe in since there aren't many commercial projects done like that-- taking an existing structure rather than tearing down and starting anew. She's being really low key about it but I know that Reggie has nominated her on the national level. He's proud of what Grandmother got done and he wants the publicity for the theater."
"It is beautiful." Maddy agrees. "Does Mr Q know any of this?"
Emily shrugs. "Who knows. He's kind of caught up in the Prominade, ELQ and you know as soon as we get back to Port Charles he is going to bring on the big push with Carly now that he knows she is pregnant again. I am almost glad I'm going to Thanksgiving in Italy. Living at the mansion is going to be very interesting for the next few months."
"The mansion is always interesting... when it's not being explosive." Maddy reminds her. Maddy looks around at her hometown. "I think it's time."
"Time?"
"Time for me to go back to Port Charles. Go back to classes, go back to work. I'm going to miss Granny Sophia though."
"Granny Sophia can come visit. I know it's great here now but I bet it really sucks in August-- hot, muggy. She'd probably love a trip up North. And Poppi and Jerry seem tight it wouldn't surprise me if he started visiting more too. I bet Jerry will introduce him to the wild and crazy past time of ice fishing."
Maddy grins and shakes her head. Emily snickers. Together they say... "Nah."