A Starring Role

"That's why I'm here, I want your advice."

"That the marriage has survived is a small consolation, by your actions they have been put through a great deal of pain and suffering, a factor that will not be overlooked by the judge. He will look at intent rather than result, it was your intention to use wrong information to generate publicity for two of your clients with the view to increasing their marketability and financial rewards and, by so doing, increase your commissions from said increases, a point that will not be lost by their legal counsel. My advice, should you choose to take it, is to pay the full amount of their demands before it comes to trial because, believe me she will stack the court with witnesses from cast members, who will deny that they had witnessed the affair, to the media who will state that they printed nothing more than information given to them by you, or your agents, and then only under your assurances to the veracity of the information. She will stretch the process out as long as she can in the knowledge that the judge will award costs to her. Take my advice and pay up."

Any possibility of Sol getting any sympathy disappeared at an afternoon press conference called by my mother, the Attorney Andrea Lambert. The place was crowded with media trying to find out what this was all about. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for all coming here on such short notice, We are here to set the record straight on recent happenings in the marriage of my clients Rob and Madeline. I will start at the beginning, when Rob and Madeline first met, a meeting arranged by Amity Studios, she was hired to escort him to a movie Premiere, nothing more and, I stress that it was not as an escort in the Heidi Fleiss scenario. There was an attraction there and they became an item. The studio realised that this relationship was having a positive effect on Rob's demeanour and acting, so they sought to continue this relationship, initially for the duration of the current shooting, but with the view to further extending this whenever they were to cast him in one of their movies."

"Madeline came to me for legal advice and I agreed to act on her behalf to secure as watertight a contract as I could. Because of my experience in this industry, I took further steps to ensure that this relationship was not damaged in anyway. I knew intimately how the publicity machine operated and how the quantity of publicity was the most important, not the quality. Now the person who stood to gain most from this was Rob's agent, so with this in mind I drew up a further contract that would ensure that my client's best interests would be preserved."

"The inevitable happened and allegations of an affair between Rob and the female lead in his next movie began to surface. I was quick to investigate the truth or otherwise of these rumours and found them to be totally baseless. It was at that time that both Rob and Madeline came to me seeking my advice and for Rob to engage me as his Legal Representative. In taking the actions that I have, I am merely acting in the best interests of my clients by instituting legal proceedings against his Agent Solomon Levis for breach of contract."

"If you have any questions, please keep to the subject and keep it orderly. Yes?"

"Madeline, did you ever have any doubts that Rob was not having an affair?"

"No, none whatever. I know my man and knew that he would never betray me, he loves me too much for that."

"Rob, any comments that you would like to make?"

"Yes, I would like to say that Amity Studios have always acted in my best interests, they were in no way involved in the circulation of these rumours and are, themselves, seeking legal representation against those people involved in leaking of publicity stills to the media, and purporting them to be evidence of an affair. While she was involved in this I don't hold it against Rebecca, her only sin was to be un-prepared for the machinations of one of the less scrupulous people in the industry. She has apologised to Madeline for any hurt that she might have caused us, and we have accepted her apology."

"Madeline, how much money is involved in this and what do you intend to do with it?"

"A lot, I don't know exactly how much, that depends on the judge, but however much it is, I will put it to good use. Part of it I will put to furthering my education, and the rest of it I will donate to several charities. Having said that, any charity that contacts me with requests for donations will get nothing, I will donate to charities of my choosing, those that I support."

Mother smiled at that, by telling the world that I was not in it for the money I would gain some extra kudos with the judge.

The conference dragged on for some time with me getting the impression that some of the media were asking questions, not so much to gather information, but to be seen as gathering information. This was brought home later when a selected few were granted one on one interviews with us, not one of them touched on the most important matter of the moment, me and our unborn child, this just wasn't newsworthy enough for them.

In the month leading up to the birth Rob was granted time off to be with me. We fitted out a room as a nursery, he wanted to decorate it with manly stuff like baseball bats and gloves, while I suggested that we waited until after the birth before deciding on decorations. He drove me up the wall by constantly telling me to take it easy and not overdo it. I tried to explain that my wanting to do things was a part of some primitive nesting instinct and that there was nothing I could do about it.

Our lovemaking had become more gentle, in deference to my condition, and we both loved it, vowing to continue the gentle lovemaking after the birth. "You'd better believe it, you'll be on short rations for I don't know how long after the birth. If I have to have stitches you'll be waiting for weeks."

"I don't know whether I can last that long." He smiled as he said it but I thought that I'd wind him up regardless.

"So, I suppose that you'll head for Rebecca and fuck her the minute I go into hospital." I smiled too, something that he picked up on straight away.

"I just might do that, she's not a bad fuck, not as good as you of course, but okay as a substitute."

"If I come out of hospital and find out that you've been shoving your dick into that scrawny bitch I'll cut it off."

He grabbed his cock. "No, don't even think about it. I promise to be a good boy while you're in hospital, I won't even look at another woman, not even the nurses. Promise."

"Cross your heart and hope to die?"

"Cross my hear et cetera."

The dial of the clock radio beside our bed told me that it was two o'clock in the morning. "Rob." I nudged him. "Rob, darling, wake up." I nudged him even harder.

"What. What time is it?" He rolled towards me. "Christ woman have you pissed yourself?"

"No stupid, my waters have broken, I have to get to hospital."

I'll give him this, once he was fully awake, he took complete control, throwing a gown over my shoulders he led me out the front door, grabbing my already packed back on the way (it had been just inside the front door for at least a week). He dialled the hospital as he placed me into my seat, telling them when they could expect us and that I was well on the way with my labour. He drove fast but smoothly and we arrived at the hospital unshaken. There was a reception committee of a nurse and Midwife waiting for us. I was bundled into a wheelchair and whisked off to the birthing room with Rob tagging along. He was prevented from entering the room until he was scrubbed and gowned. Once here he sat at my bedside holding my hand and trying not to look at the horrible sight of me laying there with my feet in stirrups and the Midwife between my legs.

"Push now, that's it, the head is out, just hold it for a second and take a couple of deep breaths. That's fine, now when I tell you to push, give it your all. Breath in and, push." I pushed hard for what seemed like hours but was probably only a few seconds, and them there was relief as he slid easily from me. "That's it he's here." I heard the sound of his airways being cleared followed by a loud cry. "At least his lungs are working. Rob, do you want to do the honours?"

"What do you want me to do?"

She handed him the scissors. I'll clamp the umbilical cord, when I tell you I want you to cut it, can you do that?"

"Just tell me when." He cut the cord and my baby was placed on my stomach and his mouth was presented to a breast, with a little fiddling he latched on and I began my new starring role, mother to Evan Robert Stone, our son.