Pamela and Joseph have gone to sleep, exhausted, after the long and crisis-filled night. They awake in bed early Sunday afternoon. Joe is sleeping off his hangover. Chris is sleeping to escape the reality of her date rape. Judith and the others have escaped the reality of the family by going to friends. The house is quiet.
Pamela opens her eyes and sees Joseph already awake, lying there quietly and looking out the window. She moves closer to him in bed and lays her head on his chest. He puts his arm around her and strokes her hair.
Pamela:
I can't believe what we've just been through. I feel like everything is falling apart.
Joseph:
It's like we've been dropped into the bottom of hell.
Pamela:
It wasn't supposed to be like this. I think about last year in Paris and I don't understand how we got from that point to this. Remember sitting at that wonderful sidewalk cafe near Pompideau, talking about joining our lives and our families? I was so excited and hopeful. Is there something we're doing wrong, something we should have done differently?
Joseph:
I wish I knew.
He pulls her closer. She begins to softly cry. He wipes away her tears.
Pamela:
Joseph, I love you and I want so badly for this to work. I'm so confused and scared.
Joseph:
So am I, Pam. Look at us. You and I both work in the ER. It's so much easier dealing with someone else's crises. I can always leave the hospital and go home. Now... I just don't understand what happened to Joe and Chris. They had their problems, but never anything like this.
Pamela (hesitant):
Joseph, maybe the problems were already there, and you just didn't see them? Maria was sick for a long time. You were busy with her, with working to hold the family together.
Joseph (after a long pause):
Maybe. I don't know. Maybe things were going on that I was just too busy to see, too busy first with Maria and then with my grief.
Pamela:
They're good kids underneath it all. I'm not a psychologist but I know that both Chris and Joe have been through some heavy emotional trauma. They've lost their mother, they've moved to a new city, they've got a new brother and sister and I know Judith is not easy to get along with...worst of all, another woman has taken their mother's place.
We have to deal with this together. Maybe if we took time off from work and got back to where we once were we could find solutions to these problems. The kids have got to understand that we love each other and that we're going to make this work.
Joseph:
I don't know if it's enough. When I suggested going for family therapy, you resisted. We can't do it without help. I agree that we need time away from the stress of work to reconnect, but we must go for therapy. Things are too far out of control.
Pamela (She's silent for some time):
Joseph, I want so badly for this marriage and this family to work but pouring out my soul to a stranger is not my way. There are some things I just don't want to have to talk about. You and I don't need therapy; we need time together. Isn't it enough that Joe gets counseling? Maybe we should also get Chris into some kind of personal therapy, without the family, to deal with the rape?
Joseph:
I'll talk to the social worker at the hospital tomorrow and see what she recommends. (He is on the verge of angry tears.) How could someone do that to her? Maybe Joe was right. I should have been the one to go back to that party and beat him up, drag him off to the police...
Pamela:
What would that have accomplished? But it's true that we should have gotten her to the hospital, made a police report, gotten evidence...now he'll just roam free till the next innocent girl comes along...It makes me sick, I can't stand the idea of him being free...
Joseph:
She'll never testify.
Pamela:
Maybe she will. Give her a few days, a few weeks.
Joseph:
She'll never be the same again...
Pamela:
Joseph, she's a strong girl inside. We'll help her and somehow she'll get beyond it.
Joseph:
You know she'll never get over it. It will color her relationships with other boys, with men when she's older. I can't stand to think about it...
Pamela:
Then don't. Let's just take it one day at a time. Let's think of the positive. They are all good kids, Joe, Chris, Judith, all of them. They have two strong parents who love each other and who want to make it work. They will get professional help. We'll work it out. It won't be easy but we can do it. I know we can. I love you too much and I love our children too much to let this fail. And when it's all over, we'll be stronger and we'll get through anything.
Joseph:
I love you Pam.
Joseph draws Pamela closer to him...
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