Meghan: A Hollywood Princess(30)
Meghan knew a month before their nuptials that Suits had been picked up for a second season, a cause for celebration but also uncertainty as, once more, the newlyweds would be long-distance commuters, seeing each other every two or three weeks, depending on if Trevor had meetings or had arranged to see his family, who lived on Long Island. The couple was determined to enjoy a long weekend of parties, including beach wheelbarrow races, culminating with the wedding ceremony.
With the ocean as backdrop, the couple recited vows they had written themselves, promising to love and care for each other. One of her bridesmaids recalled, “It was such a moving wedding. I started crying the moment I saw her in her dress.” Though the couple had officially married in Los Angeles in a brief civil ceremony, this was the real celebration for family and friends, complete with a rousing chorus of the traditional Jewish “Hava Nagila” sung while the bride and groom were hoisted up in chairs held above their guests’ heads.
On return from their Jamaican celebration, Trevor and Meghan were able to spend more time with one another before shooting began once more in Toronto. It was just as well that she was enjoying a brief break, as her father was in need of her support. For the last few months, he had cared for his increasingly frail mother, Doris Markle, who he had flown from her home in Florida to his house in Los Feliz. As his home is close by the ABC TV studios where he worked, he was able to visit during the day to check that she was okay. Sadly, as her chronic forgetfulness slipped into dementia, that was no longer a practical option. The last straw was when she absentmindedly left a pan on the stove, causing a small kitchen fire. He arrived home to find the fire department and paramedics at the scene.
The only option was to place her in a specialist facility, moving her into Broadview Residential Care Center, an affordable nursing home in Glendale, Los Angeles. Once the first season of Suits wrapped, Meghan visited her as much as she could, making the twelve-mile drive from her cozy house on Hilldale in West Hollywood to see her grandmother. She read to her, brushed her hair, and did simple arts and crafts with the aging matriarch. As she slipped deeper into the gloaming of dementia, Doris did not recognize her son, Tom Senior, nor her grandson, Tom Junior. Yet her eyes would light up when she heard Meghan’s voice and felt her comforting touch. “With her dementia, grandmother got weird about me and dad but was always okay with Meg,” recalls Meghan’s brother, Tom Junior. “I saw the private side of Meghan, a genuinely caring, loving person. She had an amazing relationship with Doris even though she didn’t know her that well.”
In October, she and Trevor walked the red carpet at the Anti-Defamation League Entertainment Industry Awards dinner at the Beverly Hilton hotel, the most high-level event she had ever attended. More importantly, she was master of ceremonies for the evening. She dressed the part in a simple Stella McCartney velvet cocktail dress, while Trevor, beaming with pride, looked his usual slightly rumpled self. They mingled with other celebrities, and Meghan glowed. She was on her way.
Meghan also continued to visit her ailing grandmother at the nursing home. Tom Senior and Tom Junior could only be there on weekends, but Meghan came frequently during the week as well. With Doris fading fast, Tom Senior flew in his brothers to say their last goodbyes. She died on November 25, 2011. Trevor and Meghan were present at her funeral. It was the first time that most of the Markles had met the TV producer. Meghan’s brother remarked, “She was completely head over heels and seemed really happy when I saw them together, despite the sad circumstances. They seemed extremely happy together.”
These family reunions were few and far between. The last time Meghan had seen her half sister Yvonne, who had rechristened herself Samantha, was when she and Tom Senior made the trip to Albuquerque for the eldest Markle daughter’s college graduation. “She was lovely, very polite and sweet,” recalled Tom Senior’s first wife, Roselyn, about Meghan’s visit. During the graduation ceremony, Meghan sat next to Samantha’s preteen daughter, Noel, and made small talk with the girl, then posed for photos, smiling and trying to make everyone feel at ease.
It was the last time Meghan would see her Markle relations. The actor also left Trevor behind when she flew to Toronto to settle back into her new life, filming for nine months for the show’s successful second season. Of course, the couple Skyped and FaceTimed, but it was wearing being apart, especially living through the long, gray Canadian winter. She did her best to get the Californian vibe going in her rented house in Seaton Village, lightening the wall colors and trying to convey a bright and airy feel amid the chilly gloom. Candles, leafy plants, and of course white hotel-style bedsheets with a high thread count helped to bring a touch of Hollywood to Toronto.
It might have been cold outside, but it was hot on set, the budding, but often thwarted romance between Rachel Zane and Mike Ross fueled Suits’ growing success as much as the Machiavellian plot twists about a law firm and its clients. On screen, sparks flew between Rachel and Mike, enthralling viewers, especially after the second-season finale, which climaxed with their characters having heated sex in the fictional law firm’s file room. Fans had become really invested in the fictional couple, Adams recalling a chance encounter with a Swedish hiker who had twisted his ankle on a backpacking trail in New Zealand. When Adams, who was on holiday, went to help, the young man forgot his injuries and told the actor how badly he wanted Mike and Rachel to “figure things out.”