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Laid Up: Another Season 3 – Chapter 27B
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Dear Bette (my dear girl),
I am thinking of you as always. Here in heaven, I watch you and think of you.
I know as I write this that I’m not gone yet, but it will be soon. I promise you this–I will think of you, watch you, and love you, my girl, from heaven.
You’ve now met Clayton, my son, your half-brother. For many years, I had wanted to tell you about him and during several misguided fantasies I saw you, Katie, and Clayton together as a family.
This is a most difficult story to tell, but you have a right to know what happened, why, and how. I shall begin with my greatest truth, one of two things that I don’t doubt—I loved Maxine. I loved your mother with all of my heart and soul. I loved only the three of you more, perhaps as you were truly, physically a part of me, my flesh and blood.
I hope after you hear this story, you will come to, if not love Clayton as your brother, at least respect him and honor him as someone important to me.
As you know I was deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement. There were Marches, rallies, sit-ins, and protests almost every weekend. Some were small gatherings, but many were large, organized activities. One was a march down in Selma, Alabama in ‘65. I had already missed the first one. Historically, that one was called Bloody Sunday. There had been a great deal of violence and death. Your mother and I watched it on television and I said that I should be there. She didn’t want me involved now that we had a baby. I gave in and missed the first march, but I felt it was imperative that I attend the next one. We fought hard about it that day, but it was something I felt I had no choice in doing. I had to be there.
Well, I had to convince your mother that I should go to Selma and that she’d be fine watching you on her own. You were a quiet, introspective baby, so I didn’t expect she’d have trouble at all. I packed my two best suits and drove down to Selma. It was early March 1965 and there were hundreds of people down there. Most I didn’t know, but there were some from Philadelphia and New York with whom I’d worked. When I arrived, there was chaos, but among the havoc, I found a friendly face—Ruth. Ruth Moskowitz was an old friend of mine through Maxine. Maxine and Ruth had been classmates at Brandeis and had stayed friendly. Ruth was a former member of the Communist Party, a rabble-rouser, and a bleeding heart, dyed in the wool liberal. She was a single girl with what she used to call moxie or chutzpah. She did have it. She’d stand up to a state trooper with a hose ready to spray her down as easily as she’d stand up to a waitress who brought her burned toast. I loved her energy and the three of us had great times together. There was a great deal of energy down there those days—it was kinetic and in the air. We marched. We faced off with cops and Governor Wallace. We had powerful discussions about Civil Rights. It was an odd time for me—away from my wife and infant daughter and missing them terribly, but fighting the good fight for rights and equal protection and feeling like I was making a contribution to the world.. I confess I was caught up in the excitement of the March and that one night, instead of just going to the hotel room I had agreed to share with two other men, I followed Ruth back to her hotel to talk. I was looking forward to heady discussions, but we were drunk with excitement and before long, drunk with wine. One thing led to another and I ended up sleeping with your mother’s close friend, Ruth Moskowitz. The next morning, sober and ashamed, we both agreed that Maxine must never learn about that night. Two months later, Ruth called me to tell me that she was pregnant and the child was mine. I begged her not to abort. One, I was terrified at the idea of a back alley abortion and two, it was my child, too. I couldn’t let it happen. I told her that I would support the child and make every attempt to be in the child’s life, but my priority was with my family—my wife and my two daughters. Ruthie was a free-spirit anyway, so she wasn’t particularly interested in snaring me into a new relationship.
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I think you are one of,if not the best writers on this site. I really appreciate all the time and effort you put in to this story. I love that each posting is long, I don’t read a book 2 pages at a time. You are faithful to the characters and expand on things in the show that should have been given more time. Thanks so much for writing. PPS
WOW!!!
wow… what a book you have here… and a nice new twist… bette has a brother… maybe she will ask tina and they will ask clayton to be the donor of their next baby… hmmmmmm… PPS
“I think Tina’s idea for a baby is too soon, but we have a perfect new donor–one that looks just like Bette :).” ….Portia, you are beyond brilliant. Your inventions make it all fit, make it all work in such a credible fashion. I believe it’s called, “Good Writing.” BTW – where is that woman “writere” who wrote the miserable dirge that was S3? Withered up under a fallen house, I hope. Could have had Portia, but noooooooooo. …Portia, could you go to LA/Vancouver and help them sucessfully wrap up the series?
I’m not being cute, Portia could you/would you go? …Could you go ahead and write your version of S6 for us? I’d love to see what an accomplished writer could do. You and Angela Robinson would be a team made in heaven. Thanks!
This story is so amazing, thank you so much!
i too read this in one seating and was absolutely amazed by every bit of it. it’s not often that i read stories that include much more than Bette and Tina, but you’ve managed (only after chapter one) to have me interested in every single character and their story. i also was able for the first time, to actually feel sympathy for Stephanie and wondered what kind of person she would have turned into without the traumatic incident with her father. i am always amazed at the amount of time that must go into each page that you type and can not thank you enough for it. it is my selfish hope that you never draw this story to a close because at least for me, i will never wish to stop reading it. thanks again for the time and effort involved in creating this masterpiece!
Techgal, you took the words right out of my mouth–Portia, I appreciate that you stayed true to the Melvin Porter character. As painful as that can be to read/hear it was the response we came to expect of Melvin. I also liked how you claified that Melvin calling Tina was a gift to his daughter and son. The introduction of Hilliard as a survivor of sexual abuse did more for Stephanie than any person in her life right now could have. Hopefully she will be able to work through her issues and come out a whole, healed person. I think Tina’s idea for a baby is too soon, but we have a perfect new donor–one that looks just like Bette :). Helena and Dylan, what can I say? I love how open the are with their wants and needs coupled with a little dirty talk–brilliant. Thank you so much Portia, I know you must spend a great deal of time creating these stories. I appreciate you sharing it with us. And PS…please don’t be gone too long–I gotta have my Portia fix :)
Magnificent! You have captured Melvin Porter as faithfully as Ossie Davis portrayed him. All of your characters are true to their source and yet, they are expanded upon. The actions you have given them are logical and consistent with the foundations we saw in S1. Your Helena is the Helena of S3, vulnerable and truly in love with Dylan. I thought their love scene at the beach house was the single most authentic and erotic moment in all five seasons. I thought I was seeing actual love making on the screen. Your Helena and Dylan extend the truth of those moments for me. …Your even-handed attention to all the varied plot lines has me interested in every story here. You’ve even managed to turn around my attitude toward Stephanie. I feel compassion for her plight. …And Clayton — how do you do it, come up with total invention. Your developments seem more organic to the characters than anything in S2 or S3. Oh my gosh, where were you when we needed you in Vancouver to perform an intervention on our behalf? I’m sending you a PM because this gushing, while well deserved by you, may be boring the other readers. Brava! I read all 55 pages in one sitting because if you can commit to writing this well for us, I will commit to reading what you have presented so well. It’s all there. It’s a whole world with all the details, the Nepalese Buddha by the pool, Maxine, the Civil Rights movement, Ossie Davis’ voice. Magnificent! Thank you.
Spot on, Portia. You’ve got everyone, everything in this wonderfully crafted story so spot on. Techgal and Bailey have already said it better than I’m able to right now, so I’ll close this by just saying thanks for the chapter, and thanks for every word of this story.
Any future comment will pale by comparison to techgal. What she has said really speaks for everyone, I’m confident to say. I believe that you truly are the BEST, number one FanFic writer on this site. Your attention to detail, your commitment to us as readers is unmatched. I enjoy 90% of the stories that I read and there are authors out there that I can’t wait for them to post and hope they never stop. But Portia one true spot of best among best remains solely yours. You are brilliant, wonderful, everything that TLW should have been each and every season. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Portia, you are marvelous! PLEASE write more Shane+Carmen, they way you write their sex scenes is so amazing, I never read anything like that before. SO AMAZING, please,please keep it coming, I love Shane&Carmen in your fic!