Melody is the smartest one of them all.

she should've left this insane family much sooner than she actually did, she knew early on that this family was insane, so why wait until she married Jory? Why wait after the children were born to run away? SHE decided to stay with this family, NO ONE forced her to stay, SHE decided on her OWN, it was her OWN choice for staying and not running away sooner, so she should've taken responsibility for that decision and live with the consequences of that...and not wait until her innocent children were born so she can then selfishly abandon them. It's not like she was totally ignorant of the insanity of this family, she knew very early into her relationship with Jory what kind of twisted family she was getting herself into, she could've ran away from them much earlier than she did. But no, she decided to stay, marry Jory and have children with him. SHE made that decision on her OWN, she got herself into this mess, and her OWN decision to stay with this family only dug herself deeper into that hole. NO ONE forced her to stay with Jory and get involved with this crazy family of theirs, she had plenty of chances in the past to run away from this twisted family, and she chose not to take those chances, again, her OWN choice, her OWN problem.

She only further complicated things after she had the affair with Bart and the babies were born.
Contrary to what you believe, Melodie was as selfish and really not much better than the twisted family she married herself into. She only has herself to blame for all her own selfish actions, she got herself into this whole mess to begin with, so she should've taken responsibility for her own decisions, instead, she was a coward, she PURPOSELY dug herself deeper into a hole only to then selfishly run away when the children were already born. Once those babies were born, she had responsibilities as a parent to look after those babies. I would not have blamed her if she decided to run away from this family before she married Jory...and perhaps she would've stayed a decent person if she had just left this family back then. But no, SHE chose to stay, her own problem, SHE chose to have the babies, again her OWN decision, her OWN problem, SHE chose to have the affair with Bart, again her OWN decision. So don't try to blame the other characters for Melodie's OWN stupid choices & mistakes.
Any sane person who was in Melodie's position, would've ran away from this twisted family the first chance they had. I know that if I was in her position, I would've ran away from this insane family as soon as I found out about their family secrets, I would NOT have let myself be trapped in this twisted family in the first place.
But Melodie chose to stay, hence, she got herself into this mess in the first place, she only has herself to blame for that decision, and NO ONE else to blame for her selfishly abandoning her responsibilities and cowardly running away from the consequences of her OWN actions. By the time Melodie FINALLY decided to run away, she pretty much already made the situation much worse and complicated for herself.

And don't try to give me this nonsense about her "wanting to protect the children", if she really cared about those babies, she would NOT have abandoned them, she would've stayed and tried to protect those children from this insane family, like a decent parent should. Instead, she just abandoned them, left them with this insane family, did she really think that just by leaving them with this twisted family was really going to make them any safer? No, contrary to what you believe, she was selfishly only thinking about herself and her own needs, she did NOT care about those babies at all, heck she said so herself that she did not want those babies, yet she selfishly & carelessly decided to have them anyway, just to become completely irresponsible of them afterwards. She really only cared about herself and her own interests.
If I was in Melodie's position, no matter how scared or vulnerable I was in that family, I would still try to gather up the courage and strength to protect those children from this insane family, or try to do everything in my power to persuade Jory to move out of Foxworth Hall with me and the kids, to get away from his family. Even if we didn't have much money, I would still try to do whatever I could in my power to care for and protect those children, like any decent parent would and should do.

Contrary to what you believe, Melodie is NOT "smart" in any way, a real smart person would NOT have decided to marry into a family she/he knew was insane, a real smart person would NOT agree to have babies if she/he did not want them, a real smart person would NOT just abandon his/her children, and a real smart person would NOT have a affair with her brother-in-law or even have any affairs period. But Melodie did NOT have the brains nor the sensibility to avoid doing any of those things, she is the complete opposite of "smart". She is actually a very stupid woman for not running away from this insane family alot sooner, and a selfish & irresponsible person for waiting until the babies were born to run away.
She is actually one of the most stupid characters in this series. Jory and Toni were alot more decent than she was.

I seriously hope you're not someone who constantly blames other people for your own actions & mistakes, otherwise the person who needs professional help may just be you. And frankly, I would worry if you're ever going to have children of your own...I sure hope you're not as selfish and irresponsible as Melodie was.

I taped this movie (never read the book) and am just watching it now. I cannot stand Melodie. She seems very selfish. The way she treated Jory after the accident was horrible. And to sleep with his brother? Ugh....I just didn't care for Melodie.

The film made her seem less unlikable. The books made her seem like a truly worthless selfish horrible human being. She really could have taken the kids, it was Bart who had the money not Jory. And no matter how much money you have, she came from a good family as well and is the mother. Which in court cases means a lot.

She was a pretty miserable human being throughout the books once Jory was injured. She refused to ever help with the kids, she didn't even want them.

No her biggest mistake was getting pregnant when she didn't want to be a mother to begin with. So no, she isn't the smartest of the bunch.