EPISODE 1257 / 05.06.25

The cold of the rink barely registers as Bree Halston slices across the ice. The blades on the bottoms of her skates hiss with every movement, sending almost imperceptible flurries of snow skittering through the air. The scuffed-up boards echo the pushes and stops and landings of the handful of skaters currently practicing.

Bree takes a decisive push onto her left outside edge, sets her balance, and then lifts her right leg. The spiral pulls her body into a line of balance, arms extended at her sides, face focused. The sound of the arena door opening and then closing joins the echoes, but it otherwise doesn’t attract her attention until she concludes the spiral and notices the figure walking toward the ice.

Natalie Bishop wears an immaculate beige trench coat and has designer sunglasses perched atop her head, despite the early hour. Bree glides to a stop, slow and reluctant, breath fogging in front of her face. She hovers several feet from the barrier, hoping that the silent message is clear: Not now.

From our 20th anniversary in 2017:

Restauranteur Bill Fisher and his wife, Paula, raised four children in the scenic Northwest town of King’s Bay, Washington. Those children — Tim, Molly, Sarah, and Jason — grew up to have lives full of intrigue, passion, danger, heartbreak, and more. Since October 1997, Footprints has been telling the uninterrupted story of the Fisher family and their friends and foes… a story told in the vein of television’s great daytime dramas… a story with no end.