Previously…
– Diane was rocked by the revelation that she was really the biological daughter of Therese DeLuca, the woman with whom her father had really been in love as a young man.
– Samantha planned to have Tempest accompany her to Sun Valley to find out the truth about her family’s history, but she was thrown for a loop when Jaq showed up at the last minute, wanting to tag along — and Tempest was upset to realize why Sam was trying to get rid of her.
– Alex convinced Trevor to take a romantic getaway out of town and leave their son with Trevor’s father, Patrick. But the trip was interrupted by a slew of alarming messages from back home.

With unsteady fingers, Trevor Brooks adjusts the knot of his black tie. He studies it in the mirror, having tied and retied it too many times to be able to tell whether it looks good or not; his weary eyes decide that it looks good enough, and his hands drop to the sides of his black suit.

Trevor stares at his reflection in the mirror above the dresser. There are creases in his face that he has never noticed before. Dark shadows linger beneath his eyes, showing through despite the concealer that he dabbed on earlier. As a former model and someone who still works in fashion, it is difficult for him not to be overly critical of his own appearance, even though he knows that no one will be judging him for how he looks today.

Not on a day like this.

There is a light rap on the door of the bedroom that he shares with his husband. Still focused on his reflection, Trevor says, “Come in.”

The door creaks open slowly, the way most of the doors in the old bungalow usually do. He continues to gaze into the mirror.

“Ready to go?” his sister asks.

Trevor meets her eyes in the reflection. Lauren steps up beside him, a compassionate, brave smile on her face. Her hair, which used to be so blonde, is now a warmer shade of brown and comes to her shoulders; she wears a simple black sheath dress with cap sleeves.

“Guess so,” Trevor says.

Still, neither of them makes a move. They stand side-by-side, eyes meeting in the mirror.

“This sucks,” Lauren says softly.

“Beyond sucks.”

“Yeah.” She rests her head against his shoulder, though she is so much shorter than him that it is more against his tricep than anything.

“I still can’t believe it,” Trevor says, and the sudden sting of oncoming tears hits him again, as it has so often in the past few days.

“I know.” She draws in a deep breath and then expels it slowly, carefully, but it does nothing to ease either of their agony. “I know.”

They remain this way for several more seconds, their grief encircling them like a toxic mist.

“We should get going,” Lauren finally says. “People will be waiting at the cemetery.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, though as he takes in his own reflection once more, Trevor cannot fathom how he is going to find the energy to make it to the cemetery, let alone get through today.

—–

In the parking lot of Bayside Cemetery, Paula Fisher closes the back passenger-side door of the SUV. The vehicle pulls away, and Paula turns toward the expanse of lawn, dotted with headstones and grave markers as far as the eye can see. 

“Mom!” a voice calls from not too far away.

She looks to her left and sees her very pregnant eldest daughter, in a loose black dress with lace detailing, walking toward her. 

“Are you alone?” Molly asks as she speeds up as much as she can, given how cumbersome her stomach is becoming.

“Sarah and Matt wanted to drop me off here so I wouldn’t have to walk from the car,” Paula explains. “They’re just parking now.”

“Oh, good. Well, you can walk over with me.”

“And what are you doing here?” Paula asks. 

“I wasn’t going to stay home. Not today.” Molly shakes her head, causing her tasteful ponytail to wag behind her. “Trevor needs to know I’m here to support him. Alex, too.”

“You’re supposed to be resting.”

“The doctor didn’t put me exclusively on bedrest. I can come to a funeral for an hour.”

Paula frowns with concern.

“This baby and I might not even be here if not for Trevor,” Molly says, touching a hand to her stomach. “The least I can do is show up for him and Alex today.”

“And you came alone?”

“No, Christian drove. He’s parking the car.”

Paula lets out a sigh of relief. “Good. And Caleb?”

“He didn’t want to come,” Molly says. “I didn’t want to force him. It’s too–” She shakes her head. “If it’s too much for him, I don’t think making him come would do any good.”

“Does that have anything to do with you still feeling guilty about your pregnancy?” Paula asks.

“Maybe. And as you so helpfully pointed out, I’m supposed to avoid any unnecessary stress. Arguing with my teenage son over a funeral definitely falls into that category.”

“I’d agree.” Again Paula gazes out over the well maintained green lawn of the cemetery. “I still can’t believe we’re here. It hardly seems possible.”

“And it brings back some really hard memories,” Molly says as she, too, takes in all the gravestones, all those monuments to loss and pain, knowing that one more is about to be added.

—–

When Trevor and Lauren step out the bungalow’s front door, they find both their husbands, also in black suits, waiting in the driveway.

“All ready?” Alex Marshall asks, doing his best to sound upbeat even though the amount of effort he is putting into it is most apparent.

The Brooks siblings nod somberly.

Josh Taylor holds up the keys to the rental car. “I can drive.”

“Thanks, Josh,” Trevor says. He looks to Alex. “Everything went okay, right?”

“With what?” Before Alex fully gets the question out, however, he comprehends it and hastens to add, “Yeah. Everything’s fine. Chase was playing with Max and Annie when I left.”

“It’s really nice of your dad to watch the kids today,” Trevor says to Josh.

“He hates to miss the funeral,” Josh explains, “but he knows what a huge help it is for all of us.”

“And this way, the kids won’t have any idea that something is wrong,” Lauren says.

Trevor grimaces. “Part of me thinks Chase should be there. It’s only right…”

Alex takes both his husband’s hands in his own. “I was thinking the same thing. But he’s not going to understand. It’s too much — too overwhelming.”

Lauren steps up beside them and rubs the slightly padded shoulder of her brother’s suit.

“Besides,” she says, “there’s something… I don’t know, touching about all our kids being in the house where we grew up today. Like they’re with Mom and Dad, in a way.” 

Her voice cracks on this last part, and Trevor bows his head sadly.

“Except they’ll never see them again. None of us will,” he says. “Not Mom and not Dad. They’re both gone forever.”

All Alex can do is wrap his arms around his husband. Josh moves to Lauren’s side to console her, too, and the four of them linger in the driveway, the grief and the shock too powerful for them to move just yet.

—–

Mourners dressed in black hover around the open grave, speaking in hushed tones. A mound of fresh dirt sits nearby, ready to return to the earth; the black casket, closed since yesterday’s wake, awaits its burial. 

“I can’t imagine how Trevor and Lauren must feel today,” Sarah Fisher Gray comments to her husband.

“It’s been a long, long time since Jake and I lost our parents,” Matt Gray says back to her, “but I remember that feeling — like you’re alone in the world for the first time.”

“You aren’t alone,” she says as she squeezes his hand. “You never will be again.”

He smiles gratefully over at her.

Sarah spots her best friend in the distance, crossing the lawn toward the burial site.

“I should go check in with Diane,” she tells Matt. “I’ve barely been able to get her to return a text since Samantha came back from Sun Valley.”

“Go,” Matt says. “I bet she needs you.”

Sarah squeezes his hand once more and then leaves him to approach Diane, who has just arrived at the back of the small crowd. 

“There you are,” Sarah says. “I missed you at the wake.”

Diane looks at her with uneasy eyes. “I went early. I had some stuff to do.”

Unsure how else to respond, Sarah nods. She waits for Diane to fill the silence, but she doesn’t.

“Are you okay?” Sarah asks her. “I know Samantha went to your parents’ place. Did she find anything?”

Diane considers this for a long moment and then waves a hand through the air. “It’s not a big deal.”

“This is sounding like it is a big deal.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just that you’re not acting like yourself,” Sarah says. “You’ve hardly even texted me back. If something happened…”

“Everything’s fine,” Diane says curtly. “I appreciate your concern. I really do. But I’ve got it under control. Actually–” She pulls her iPhone from her small black clutch. “I need to call the station to check on something real fast.”

“Diane…”

But it is no use. Diane steps away to place her call, and Sarah resists the urge to chase after her. Instead she returns to Matt’s side.

“Everything okay?” he asks.

Sarah cuts a sideways glance toward Diane, who has her phone to her face as she paces over a small section of grass.

“She didn’t want to say,” she tells him, “which gives me the distinct impression that everything is not okay.” 

—–

Some time later, the attendees face the open grave. Trevor and Lauren stand beside their father’s casket as a delicate breeze sweeps over the cemetery.

“If there’s one thing our father taught us,” Lauren says to the assembled group, “it’s that we should all spend our lives doing what makes us happy, not what we think we’re supposed to be doing.”

She sniffles and uses a tissue to dab at her moist eyes.

“He set such a great example for Trevor and me when he decided to retire in his 40s,” she continues. “For other people, working was about status or accumulating wealth or proving something. For Dad… it was a means to an end. A way to provide for his family. And once he felt confident that he could do that without having to work a 9-to-5 job, he retired. He knew that it meant he and Mom wouldn’t have the mansion or the boat or the flashy clothes that plenty of people he worked with would have — but he didn’t care. What was important was spending time with family and enjoying the world.”

Standing only a few feet away in the front row, Josh gives his wife a reassuring smile. She takes a deep breath and manages to go on:

“Once Trevor and I were in college, he and Mom spent so much of their time doing what made them happy: going on cruises and seeing different parts of the world, exploring together. And they never, ever lost sight of how lucky they were to be able to do that.”

Helen Chase, who is standing beside Paula, leans over and whispers, “Patrick and Roz really did love their cruises.”

Paula nods and sniffles herself. Being here, with everyone dressed in black and a casket sitting so near, reminds her all too vividly of the day that they buried her beloved Bill.

As Lauren again wipes her eyes with the tissue, Trevor takes over:

“Dad had this way of guiding you without ever having to tell you something. He always led by example. He believed that you should model the behavior you want to see from other people. That’s what made him such a great father — and grandfather.” 

He looks out at Alex, who is stationed right next to Josh. Alex’s eyes are red and watery, but he does his best to keep from outright bawling, knowing that he has to be strong for Trevor.

Trevor pauses for a moment, collecting himself as best he can, and then says, “If it weren’t for my dad, Alex and I might not even be Chase’s parents. I had so many concerns about becoming a dad and about adopting. I didn’t know if I was ready. I didn’t know if I ever would be. And my dad… he helped me see that I might never feel like I was ready, but if Alex and I had built the foundation that we believed we were building, then we were. And he was right.” 

He smiles, relishing the memory.

“Dad didn’t tell me what I should do, or that we should adopt Chase,” Trevor says, “but he helped guide me to the right answer. He helped me come to it myself. And that’s what he always did — he could be so hands-off and still just as hands-on as we needed him to be. And when Chase needed him…”

He trails off, overwhelmed. Lauren rubs his arm through his black jacket. 

“Dad was there for him,” Trevor continues despite the tightening in his throat. “It’s because of Dad that Chase is alive today — if he hadn’t pushed Chase out of the way of that car, our son wouldn’t get to grow up at all. I wish… I wish we could go back and stop Chase from going into that crosswalk, and I wish Dad could be here with us today, but– Dad, your sacrifice will never, ever be forgotten.”

His tears overtake him, and he bows his head.

Lauren looks right at Patrick’s coffin as she says, “We know you’re reunited with Mom now, like you were always meant to be. And we know you’re going to watch over us and your grandkids and give us a nudge in the right direction whenever we need it. We love you, Dad. We always will.”

She touches her forefinger and middle finger to her lips and then presses them to the maple coffin.

“Goodbye, Dad,” Trevor says, and he touches his own hand to the lid before rejoining Alex as the sound of crying from the other mourners fills the air.

After the casket is lowered into the ground, those who have come to pay their respects to Patrick Brooks linger by the gravesite, sharing memories and struggling to process their grief and shock. Samantha Fisher watches as Tempest Banks talks with Trevor and Alex, and as soon as their conversation breaks up, Samantha gives in to the compulsion she has had since first arriving and beelines for Tempest.

“Hey,” she says, causing Tempest to turn around. 

The gaze Tempest offers her is decidedly cool. “Hey.”

“How are you doing?” Samantha asks, taken aback by Tempest’s tone despite having prepared herself for such a reception. 

“Getting by.”

“It must be so scary for you — what happened to Mr. Brooks, and thinking that Chase could’ve gotten hurt or worse…”

Tempest, in a black dress shirt buttoned all the way up to the collar and a pair of black slacks, folds her arms in front of her body.

“Yeah, it’s scary. I can’t stop thinking about it,” she says. “And honestly, I don’t have time or energy to do this right now.”

“Do what?”

“Make you feel better about doing what you did to me.”

“I just want to say I’m sorry,” Samantha says in a frantic rush of words. “It was careless and disrespectful, and the situation got away from me, and I know my judgment was terrible–”

“You’re right. It was.”

“But my intent wasn’t to hurt you, and if I could do it over again, I’d make different choices. I’m really sorry, Tempest.”

Tempest makes her wait through an excruciating bout of silence. Samantha recognizes the tactic from when they were together, and she is puzzled by the strange yearning it triggers in her, a yearning even for something that always frustrated and exasperated her.

“Thanks,” Tempest finally says, in a deliberately flat tone. “Now I’ve gotta go with Alex and Trevor and make sure my brother’s okay.”

“I’m really glad that Chase is safe.”

“Me, too. And I hope you and Jaq found whatever you were looking for in Idaho. Later, Sam.”

She turns and walks off, leaving Samantha with the urge to chase after her and make her realize how genuine her apology was and how deep her regret is — but she knows that today is simply not the day for it.

—–

The Brooks siblings remain at the cemetery until the last of the mourners have departed. Trevor goes over to the casket, which now sits in the open hole in the ground, and simply stares down at the wooden box that will hold his father for the rest of time.

He feels a hand on his lower back and reflexively stiffens, only to realize that it is Alex.

“Lauren and Josh are bringing the car around,” Alex says. “Claire’s going to bring Tempest to your parents’ house, too. She wants to see Chase.”

All Trevor can do is nod.

“This will get easier,” Alex tells him. “It might not feel like it, but it will. Remember how crippling it felt when your mom died?” 

Trevor nods slowly, lethargically.

Alex grips his husband’s hand. “But time will make it less painful. And he’ll always be watching over us.”

Yet Trevor makes no move to leave. Alex waits patiently, not wanting to rush him or pressure him into anything.

“We never should’ve gone on that trip,” Trevor says abruptly.

The declaration takes Alex by surprise. He turns sharply toward his husband.

“We can’t go back in time and change anything,” he says softly. “I understand the feeling, but…”

“I knew it was a bad idea,” Trevor presses on. “I didn’t want to go, and you convinced me it was okay, and now– now I’ll never see my father again.”

“What happened was an accident.”

“An accident that never would’ve happened if we’d stayed in town. Chase wouldn’t have run out to cross the street on his own, and my dad wouldn’t have had to run after him and push him out of that car’s way, and…” Too choked-up, Trevor stops speaking.

“I am so sorry this is happening,” Alex says.

“Me, too.”

Trevor takes one more long look at the casket in the ground and then blinks his eyes closed, as if doing so might erase this all. But it doesn’t. Alex feels him disentangle their fingers from each other and pull away. Then, without another word, Trevor turns and starts over the expanse of lawn back toward the parking lot.

With an aching sadness in his chest, Alex follows several steps behind him, unsure what else he can do for the man he loves right now.

END OF EPISODE 1032

What did you think of Patrick’s sendoff?
Will Trevor get past his feelings about leaving Chase with Patrick? 
Should Diane open up to Sarah about her parentage?
Discuss all this and more in the comments below!

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