EPISODE 229
Written by: Bre L. Drew
March 27, 2023
Last Time on Town and Country
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The Jacksons and Covingtons came down to the hospital when Max and Shauna were brought in after sustaining injuries when Max swerved to avoid a despondent Jordan standing in the middle of the road. Later on, a pregnant Shauna started experiencing pain in her abdomen. Meanwhile, a guilty Daniel, who had gaslit Jordan, came to his son's bedside.
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Samuel informed Ernest and Thora that Jordan needed to be admitted to Stonecrest, a mental health facility outside town.
RADCLIFFE RECEIVING HOSPITAL
"Yeah, I'm all right," Mae Jackson says over the phone to Esther Saunders.
She is currently walking through the hallway of Radcliffe Receiving Hospital, carrying a duffle bag on one arm and her purse on the other, as she speaks to her best friend, who is checking in on her after what all happened last night with her granddaughter Shauna and her husband Max being rushed here after getting involved in an incident where their car ended up in a ditch on the road at Lake Hudson on their way to the cabin for a weekend getaway.
She, Antoine, and the Covington's spent most of the night in the E.R. waiting for word. Despite their injuries, they were both alive, which they were all thankful for. However, during their visit, Shauna began experiencing pain in her abdomen, which worried them all due to her pregnancy.
It's morning, and Mae is surviving only a few hours of rest and coffee.
"Thanks," she sighs. "I will tell her when I see her; I'll talk to you later; bye," she proceeds to say when she ends the call arriving at the private hospital room on the second floor, where she decides to enter since it's open.
The woman's eyes lay upon Shauna in bed, looking distressed.
"Hi," she tells her granddaughter. "How are you doing?"
"I don't even know how to feel, grandma; last night, I thought I had everything I'd always wanted: a successful career, a husband who lavished me with attention, and we were about to start a family... but now," she ends. "I don't have that anymore."
​
Mae goes over to her and embraces her delicately. "You take it any way you feel, baby."
Last night, Shauna's obstetrician, Dr. Jamison, informed her she miscarried her and Max's child. The impact of the loss made her toss and turn most of the night.
"I'm ready to get out of here," she states wholeheartedly.
Mae lifts the bag. "I went over to the mansion to get a change of clothes and other things I thought you needed."
Soon, a tap on the door gets their attention as a forty-something white, plump nurse with short-cropped brown hair and a blue cardigan over her scrubs approaches.
"Mrs. Covington, you're cleared by Dr. Jamison to go home today, so we're getting your discharge papers already; I called to ask about the current condition of your husband; he did sleep throughout the night," the nurse informs her.
Shauna nods at her. "Thank You,"
As the nurse leaves, she gets out of bed in her standard hospital gown, grabs her duffel bag, and goes into the bathroom to change.
In the bathroom, as the lights come on, she stares at herself in the mirror; her hair needs a comb, and she needs coverall for the bags underneath her eyes. But when she places her hand over her stomach, she remembers that the life inside her is gone.
HOME FARM
"Don't worry, I'm not letting you go from my sight until you're ready to drive," Tommy Covington says to his son Jeremy, who is in his arms.
He moves into the expansive, luxurious living room, where he almost immediately sees his father walk down the grand staircase.
"Morning, son; how is my grandson doing after that fiasco last night?"
Tommy grabs himself bottled water from the minibar.
"Honestly, I think he's forgotten. I wish I could say the same thing for Jordan and me."
That statement grabs Daniel's attention since not only was he gaslighting Jordan into thinking she was losing her mind, but it ended up with her taking off with Jeremy to Lake Hudson, where anything could've happened to them.
Tommy has suspicions not only about Jordan's so-called psychiatrist, Dr. Pierre Toussaint, being part of her breakdown, but about his father too, yet he has nothing official to go on. Except for Daniel going to see the shrink to ask about Jordan's progress and the bottle of pills he found underneath her bed,
"Any word on Jordan?" Daniel questions
Tommy takes a sip of water before answering. "All I know is that she's still in the hospital for observation. I'm going to be spending the day with this little guy after last night it made me realize I can be a better father to him and hopefully teach him right from wrong."
Daniel flatly nods while going over to look at his grandchild.
"Well, I'm going to the hospital to check on Max and Shauna."
"I might stop by later to visit them too," he replies. "Max is going to be crushed when he finds out about the baby."
"I know," the wealthy businessman replies. "But most importantly, your brother and Shauna are alive. Besides, once they recover, they can try again."
Last night, Daniel stopped at his eldest child's bedside, emotionally pleading for him to be fine.
"Mommy," Jeremy coos.
"Your mommy loves you and misses you so much," Tommy tells his son, who is trying to reach for the water.
Daniel remains silent, knowing he set all of this in motion.
RADCLIFFE RECEIVING HOSPITAL
As Jordan McKnight opens her eyes, she starts to notice the surroundings of the hospital room in a way that makes her feel groggy after sleeping in a sort of haze from last night when she lost her son. The young woman finds herself in the same clothes she had on last night too.
"Jeremy!" she calls out.
Immediately, Thora McKnight, who had managed to talk Samuel into letting her stay in the room with her overnight, rushes over to her daughter's side.
"It's okay; he's fine; he's at home as healthy and handsome as he can be," she reassures her.
Jordan's heart rate decreases slightly upon being told this, as she thought he was still missing even though she was notified of his whereabouts last night.
"I'm such a terrible mother; I don't even know where my son is; she was right; I only think about myself."
Thora sighs, knowing she is referring to the voices in her head. "Don't worry. Those demons will be outta your head for good."
Right outside the room, Samuel Gupta stands at the front desk going over the paperwork with Ernest McKnight, detailing the treatment Jordan will receive during her stay at Stonecrest, an inpatient mental health facility outside of Radcliffe.
"This facility better return my daughter's sanity for the price it is costing."
"I'm sorry that your insurance didn't cover all, if not most, of her stay," Samuel apologizes. "But trust me, Jordan will get the best of care. I will see to it."
"Well, at least some doctor is," the police chief abruptly states. "That Dr. Toussaint or whatever is a quack. I mean, my daughter should be getting better, not worse."
"Sometimes patients don't always hit it off with their doctor, but Dr. Toussaint has an excellent reputation; I don't know how this can happen on his watch," Samuel says of his colleague. Then he recalls his odd acting behavior from some time ago, which he brushed off as his personality.
By now, Daniel, who came off the elevator, sees the police chief and Samuel conversing. He waits for a couple of seconds before he marches over there.
"Ernest, Samuel, how is Jordan doing?" He greets them, knowing neither is aware of his role in Jordan's instability.
"What do you think, Covington?" Ernest says. "After the hell, she went through last night thinking something happened to her child. God knows what else is messin' with her in her mind."
"Is there anything I can do?" "Please let me know; after all, Jeremy is my grandson as well," Daniel says matter-of-factly.
Figuring this isn't his place, Samuel decides to excuse himself. "I'm going to check in on Jordan."
"In fact, there is," Ernest counters.
Just ain't no need for words to speak
'Cause every touch
Be talkin', talkin', talkin', to me
The soulful vocals of Amerie fill the empty bar this morning as "Talkin' To Me" plays on his Spotify playlist via his iPhone as Antoine Hall gets The Waterfall together before he opens in an hour.
With Mae going to the hospital to see Shauna, he offered to get the place together for her since his boss and maternal figure hardly got any sleep after they spent most of the night there.
He is cleaning tables with a towel when he hears footsteps at the door, which makes him look up to see Martha Saunders sauntering toward her good friend and boss.
"I hope you don't mind that I used my key," she said.
Mae had given keys to the bar for emergencies to her employees.
"No problem," Antoine says over the music. "You alright?" he asks her.
She nods while taking off her black faux leather coat, revealing a black round-neck lattice elbow-sleeve knit top and skinny jeans.
She puts down her coin purse from the collection of bags she inherited from her grandmother, Rosemary, years ago. "I will be, but I doubt Shauna or Max will be for a while, though,"
Martha found out from Tanner last night about everything that happened with her best friend, her husband, and their baby. As a mother herself, she mourns for their loss.
"Yeah, I know," he says empathically.
"I know most guys don't like to talk about their feelings, but if I saw someone go through the worst pain in their lives, I wouldn't be able to function, let alone work."
Antoine knows what his friend is doing by trying to get him to open up about him being there when she started bleeding and the reaction of being told she lost the baby.
"We gotta get this place together, or Mae will be on our asses," he says, trying to change the subject.
Martha crosses her arms over her chest as she sees him behind the bar. "I'm not one of those girls you hook up with; I know you better than that."
"Whatcha want me to say, Marty?" he asks outright. "That it was hell to watch the person I love the most go through hell losing her baby is what you want me to say because it was," he admits. "He pounds his fist on the counter." "Dammit!" he swears.
Martha goes behind the bar to wrap her arms around him. "It's going to be all right," she whispers.
Antoine finds himself letting the tears flow, which deep down he hates due to growing up having to defend himself, which meant he had to suppress his sadness, especially when it came to the issues with his mother, Debra, who struggles with her mental health. It also makes him want to protect Shauna even more.
​
THE WATERFALL BAR
RADCLIFFE RECEIVING HOSPITAL
Shauna, along with Mae, gets off the elevator and onto the ICU. The floor is relatively quiet as a few nurses walk past them while a nursing assistant covers the front desk.
Shauna is now dressed casually in a purple pullover hoodie with matching sweatpants, and her hair is in a sufficiently neat ponytail.
"Grandma, you didn't have to come with me; I'll be fine," she tells her.
"No matter how old you get, you'll always be my grandbaby," she says. "Anyway, I'll let you two be alone; I'll be out here if you need me."
The two then arrive at Max's room.
Still, you don't have to do that, but thank you anyway."
She again embraces the woman who raised her before she takes a breath and enters the room.
Mae, meanwhile, stays nearby as she goes into the waiting room, where she pulls out her iPhone.
Four long rings, and she hears the voice on the other end.
"Cassie... I've got something to tell you,"
Concurrently in the room, Shauna walks to her husband in his private room, where he is connected to several machines monitoring various of his vitals.
Max Covington turns when he hears footsteps coming toward him, and once he sees his wife, he can't help but smile at her, thankful that she doesn't seem to be as seriously hurt as he is.
"Hi," he says.
"Hi," she softly says as she stands near him.
"Tell me this is some nightmare I'm unable to wake up from?" Max says somewhat sardonically.
Shauna does her best to hold back her tears while taking a seat in the chair beside the bed. "Oh, baby, I wish it was too," she divulges. "How are you feeling?"
"A little uncomfortable, but the doctor said it's normal, he answers. "We should be waking up together in a big bed at the cabin right now."
To Shauna, the getaway felt like a lifetime ago, despite them heading there only yesterday.
"Were they able to find Jordan and Jeremy?" he asks.
"Yeah," she nods. "Grandma told me that Ernest, Thora, and Tommy found them at Lake Hudson. Jeremy is fine, but I don't know much about Jordan."
Max now shows an incredulous look on his face when his wife mentions Lake Hudson. "Oh, my god!"
"What?" Shauna asks, hoping he isn't experiencing any pain from the operation.
"She was in the middle of the road when we were driving," Max informs her. "I swerved the car to avoid her; she isn't hurt, is she?"
"Well, not physically anyway, from what I hear."
Then it also dawns on her that Jordan is the person she couldn't remember hitting last night.
"That is one hell of a coincidence," Max admits. He then shakes his head, realizing that shouldn't be his priority right now. "How is our future senator doing?"
The tenderness in her voice and her knowing what she has to tell him make tears start streaming down her face.
"Hey, what's the matter?" he asks with consideration.
"Uh, last night, I started having some pain, and then I started bleeding,"
Max didn't need to know anything else; knowing what the response is already, he uses his hand to wipe the water from his wife's eyes.
​
***
Outside in the hallway, Mae is still on the phone while standing outside the room, looking through the narrow window inside the room, as it's obvious she has told him due to the emotional countenances on their faces.
She then turns around when she delves more deeply into the conversation.
"I will tell her, but Cassie, you can at least try to reach out to Shauna. I'm sure she would appreciate you calling her," she says to her daughter. "Well, when you get back to Miami, you can reach her then. "Cassie, your daughter had a miscarriage; she's in pain; fine, I'll tell her; yeah, I'll talk to you later."
It takes so much to hold in her disappointment at her daughter's once again choosing herself over her child, especially at this moment.
She proceeds to take a seat in the waiting room as she feels herself crying. "Damn that girl," she groans. Mae quickly opens her purse to grab a tissue.
She lifts her head to see a hand with a tissue in it. Mae shifts to see a black man standing beside her, wearing a long-sleeve dark blue shirt with his name tag and pants the uniform of a hospital janitor.
"It looks like you could use it," he says good-naturedly.
Mae proceeds to glance at the man who is around her age with thinning hair and clean shaven to whom she looks Are you sure?"
"One thing about me is that I hate to see anyone cry, especially someone as beautiful as you."
She reluctantly accepts the tissue.
"It ain't easy to be on this floor," he says.
"You got that right," she remarks. "And thank you for this." she gestures to the handkerchief.
She uses it to wipe the tears from her eyes.
"I know this ain't any of my business, but do you have a loved one here?"
At first, Mae didn't want to get into this with a stranger, but something about him she found somewhat comforting. "Yeah, my granddaughter's husband; they were in a terrible accident last night."
The guy respectfully nods as he understands he shouldn't press further into her personal life. "I'm Gus Hewitt, by the way."
"Mae Jackson," she introduces herself.
"Well, Mae, I gotta get goin', but it was nice meeting you and I hope everything will be fine for your granddaughter and her husband."
​
"Thanks,"
Mae places the tissue in her purse while clearing her throat. "Let me thank you properly. If you get a chance, come down to The Waterfall for a drink on the house."
"I'll take you up on that offer. Well, it was nice meetin' you, Mae."
"You too, Gus."
She watches as the man takes off down the hall, grateful she didn't fall apart and that he came to her at the right time.
"Name it; I will do anything for the sake of our grandson," Daniel remarks to Ernest.
"I know I'm far from perfect, but my daughter wasn't this distressed until she started living under your roof," he claims. "I know you aren't responsible for my daughter's well-being, but your son is responsible for my grandson's."
"Tommy is spending the day with Jeremy, trying to keep his mind from what happened yesterday." Daniel articulates.
Ernest sighs tiredly, detesting having to do this. "Samuel was able to get Jordan a spot at Stonecrest; however, my insurance only covers a couple drops in the bucket, and since our grandson needs his mother and my wife and I need our daughter, can you cover the rest, and I will pay you back when the sale of my house goes through?"
Daniel pulls his checkbook and a Montblanc pen from his blazer pocket. "Just give me the details of who to write it out to, and by the way, you don't have to pay me back as you said; Jeremy is our priority."
Ernest wishes he had the funds to pay for it himself, but he knows he's doing this for his family, putting his pride to the side for now.
Daniel knows that by doing this, he gets Jordan out of his house for the foreseeable future, and seeing his grandson call out for his mother did touch something inside of him.
Although he knows his role in this and has to remain composed, knowing no one about this as he knows he has Gabriella's silence, Toussaint wouldn't want to risk his sterling career by incriminating him.
​
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When Samuel comes out of the room where Jordan is, he feels the vibration in the pockets of his slacks, which he retrieves as his phone is on vibrate.
"Hello," the psychiatrist answers promptly. "Yeah, sure, I can do that; I can meet you around then; bye." He ends the call as he heads to his office.
​
END OF EPISODE
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ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF TOWN AND COUNTRY
Tommy gets confirmation.
Sarah Lynn advises Louise.
A setback occurs for Max.
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