Written by MichaelSeptember 4, 2020September 14, 2020

Episode 1035

Previously…
– Loretta made oblique threats to Tim and Claire about keeping Peter away from them.
– Tori began working at Objection Designs as Molly’s second assistant.
– Reeling from the news that the late Therese DeLuca was actually her biological mother, Diane abruptly announced that plans to go on an Alaskan cruise.

“A cruise? You?”

Samantha Fisher stares across the master bedroom of her mother’s condominium at Diane Bishop, who is standing over an open suitcase that lies on the bed. Small stacks of folded clothes cover much of the cream-colored duvet as Diane strategically packs the Tumi suitcase.

“I know, it isn’t very me,” Diane says as she fits a few items of workout apparel into the luggage. “But maybe that’s what I need right now.”

Samantha moves into the room and regards her mother with the sort of intensely sympathetic look that forces Diane to meet her eyes.

“I’m sure this has been a lot to process,” Samantha says. “It has been for me, and it doesn’t even directly affect me.”

Diane drops a shirt onto the bed. “It does affect you. This is your family history, too. How are you feeling about it?”

“Like I’ve been saying, I’m fine. It’s weird, but I’m fine. I’ve never been that close to Grandma Claudia, so finding out that she’s not my real — biological, whatever — grandma isn’t that crazy. It’s mostly weird that I have this other grandmother I’m never going to get to meet. And I know that has to be throwing you off.”

“To put it mildly,” Diane replies. “As much as I’d like to pretend this hasn’t knocked my world off its axis… it kinda has. The idea that my mother isn’t my mother, and some other lady who isn’t even alive anymore is, and no one bothered to inform me for half a century…”

“It’s a lot.”

“A lot.”

“I just don’t know if a cruise is the best idea right now.”

“Why not? I was at Patrick Brooks’s funeral, and hearing the way Trevor and Lauren talked about him and Roz going on all those cruises…” Diane shrugs, as if there is some cosmic force at play that she is better off not even trying to understand. “When I showed up at the station and they had free cruise tickets that employees could claim, it was like, maybe this is something I should try out.”

Samantha pushes up the sleeves of the navy blue cardigan she wore to work as she gathers her next words.

“A trip to Paris, or a yoga retreat, I could see,” Sam finally says. “But a cruise? Voluntarily trapping yourself on a boat with all those people? That feels like a setup for you to go on a killing spree, not relax and get some perspective.”

She sees Diane’s hesitation instantly, and the fact that there isn’t an immediate retort tells Samantha that she’s getting through to her mother.

“I’ll even do a spa day with you,” she says, going in for the kill, “and you know how much I hate that stuff.”

“You don’t hate it,” Diane says with a smirk. “It just takes you a while to appreciate it.”

“Right. So–”

A loud knock from the front of the condo interrupts Samantha. Before either woman can speak again, another knock follows.

“Who in the hell could that be and what in the hell do they want?” Diane asks as she stomps out of the bedroom and through the living room.

Samantha tails her by a few feet. “If that’s how you feel when someone knocks on the door, think about being stuck on a boat with them for days on end!”

Diane stops at the door and looks through the peephole.

“For the love of God,” she mutters.

“Who is it?” Samantha asks.

“Diane, I can hear you!” Natalie Bishop shouts from the other side of the door. “Let me in right now!”

—–

Helen Chase stands over the cheese case inside J&M Supermarket, turning over a wrapped block of Stilton cheese in her hand.

“You don’t want that one,” a voice says from behind her.

Helen turns to see a redheaded woman, about the same age as her, in an emerald-colored silk blouse with a black, crocodile-skin purse hanging from her forearm.

“Excuse me?” Helen says.

“Do you see that shiny yellow bit? It means the cheese is turning.” The redhead scans the contents of the case and picks up another plastic-wrap-covered cut of the same cheese. “This one is much fresher.”

“Thank you,” Helen says as she places the first piece back in the case and accepts the new one.

“Of course. I can’t believe I’m shopping for cheese in a supermarket, but you’d be shocked at how difficult it’s been to find a decent cheesemonger in this sleepy little burg.” The woman leans in, her forehead crinkling as much as her Botox will allow. “Are you Helen Chase?”

Helen freezes mid-movement. “Do I know you?”

“I believe I owe you a thank-you myself,” the woman tells her. “If not for you, I might’ve continued to be deprived of knowing my grandson.” She extends her hand. “Loretta Ragan.”

After a moment of hesitation, Helen accepts her hand and shakes.

“If you hadn’t spoken up at that wedding, Natalie might have gotten away with her ruse for who-knows-how-long,” Loretta says. “It’s because of you that Jason Fisher finally dumped her and let go of little Peter.”

“I felt awful doing that to Jason, I really did,” Helen says. “But Natalie had to be stopped. She’s vile!”

Loretta’s lips, highlighted with a bold red color, twist up. “I have to share living space with the woman!”

“I can’t say I envy you.” Helen drops the wrapped cheese into the basket sitting by her feet. “She still makes my blood boil.”

“Don’t get me started, Helen… although Natalie has been more helpful than expected in some ways.”

Helen narrows her eyes. “How’s that?”

Carefully, Loretta says, “She isn’t an entirely awful mother to Peter or to her daughter. I’ll give her that much. And she’s been generous enough to allow me to stay in her and Spencer’s home so that I can spend as much time as possible with Peter.”

“That’s good, but I still can’t believe she hoodwinked Spencer into marriage! He’s a young man. He has his whole life ahead of him!”

“It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement… for the time being,” Loretta says. “I have to say, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Helen. Any woman who can be arrested for a murderous rampage twice and still hold her head high is a woman I admire.”

“I knew I was innocent,” Helen says, but then she stops short, her expression morphing. “Wait a second.”

“What?”

“You had Spencer’s nurse read the results of Peter’s DNA test out loud at the wedding — but how did you have those results in the first place?”

Loretta grins mischievously. “I have my ways.”

Helen’s eyes light up with rage. “Would any of those ways happen to be having me mugged the night before Natalie and Jason’s wedding?”

—–

“And these are the four fabric samples for you to approve,” Tori Gray says as she sets the individual squares on her aunt’s kitchen table. She points to the one furthest to the right. “They said to make sure you test out the stretchiness on this one. It’s–” She references the note on her iPad. “–more pliable than the one you used for the skirts last year.”

Molly Taylor, who sits in one of the white kitchen chairs pushed back from the table to allow room for her very pregnant stomach, regards the samples with great care before turning to Tori.

“Thank you. You’ve been such a huge help already,” she says.

“Really?”

“You have no idea. Being able to rely on you like this… it’s helping me relax, as much as I can right now.” Molly rests both hands atop her stomach. “And I can tell you have a knack for the work already.”

Tori is unable to suppress the smile that spreads over her face. “I’ve been worried I wasn’t doing a good job. Like, there’s so much to learn.”

“There’s always so much to learn,” Molly says. “Every day. The important part is that you’re asking questions and figuring things out as you go.”

“It’s pretty cool to be around actual fashion all day. Even just listening to people talk about which fabric samples to send you…”

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Molly offers her niece a conspiratorial sort of grin, a look that tells Tori that she’s on the inside now.

“Yeah,” Tori says with a nod. “It really makes me feel like it’s all worth it.”

“The work? Of course it is.”

“Obviously! It’s just… Zane had some… reservations about me taking a job with someone I’m related to.”

The change in Molly is swift and perceptible, although she attempts to conceal it and goes quiet for several seconds.

“You know,” Tori adds, “with everything that’s happened with my parents…”

“I’m really glad that you took this job,” Molly tells her. “You haven’t had the most traditional path from college to starting your career, and I know that all began with what Philip did to you.” She lets out a heavy sigh. “After bringing him into our lives in the first place, the least I can do is help you jump-start your career.”

“Thanks, Aunt Molly.”

“And you need something for yourself, too! I know you and Zane are… I know your relationship is important to you, but you need to make sure you’re doing things for you, not just for Zane.”

“I am,” Tori says, a little too quickly and a little too defensively.

“Good. You probably don’t remember my mentor, Camille, very well, but that’s one of the many, many things she taught me: don’t prioritize a man over yourself or your ambitions.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.”

Molly recognizes that she’s swimming against the current and holds up both palms. “It’s some advice, that’s all. What you’re doing right now is a great job, and I’m thankful for it. Let’s keep it up — I’m going to need all the help I can get in a few weeks when this baby comes.”

“You must be so excited,” Tori says.

“I am. I never thought I’d be having another baby at this stage of my life, but it’s such a blessing.” Despite the positive nature of what she’s saying, though, there is a bittersweet tinge to Molly’s words. “I’m sorry to bring this up in front of you. I know it must be hard.”

“It’s okay.” Nevertheless, Tori now fixes her attention on one of the buttons on her boldly striped blouse as she fiddles with it. “I don’t want people to feel like they can’t mention babies around me because of what happened with Chiyo. But that’s why Zane is so important to me. We went through something together that no one else can really understand.”

Molly nods sympathetically. “I get that. Keep your priorities in order, that’s all I ask of you.”

“I will. Thanks, Aunt Molly,” Tori says, once again looking up and setting a brave, bright expression on her face.

—–

Diane scowls at the sound of her sister’s voice coming through the front door. Samantha stands very still by the sofa, not wanting to make the wrong move.

“Not now!” Diane finally calls back through the door.

Natalie’s first response is to pound the door with her fist several times in quick succession.

“I’m not going away until you open up!” she adds.

With an exaggerated groan, Diane slumps her shoulders and yanks open the door.

“What do you want? I’m packing for a trip,” she snaps at Natalie.

“I spoke to Mom,” Natalie says as she barges into the apartment. “Hi, Samantha. Can you open a bottle of wine? We all need some girl talk.”

“The only thing we’ll be doing with a bottle of wine in here is hitting you over the head with it, Natalie,” Diane says. “I’m really not in the mood tonight.”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly in the mood to find out that I grew up in a house of lies,” Natalie responds, “but clearly, that’s the hand I’ve been dealt.”

Diane does a double take, her shaggy brown hair shimmying around her face. “Are you trying to make my shock of a lifetime about my own DNA about yourself?!”

Natalie again looks toward Samantha and rolls her eyes. “It really is about all of us, Diane. We’re a family! To find out that Dad was in love with some other woman, and she had his baby, and then our grandfather paid her off to go away and give up the baby… whew!”

“Yeah, and you know who doesn’t even warrant a B-level mention in that story? You!”

Natalie grabs a wine glass hanging from the rack nearby and moves into the galley kitchen. “Do you have a pinot grigio…?”

Diane storms around the end of the counter, essentially trapping her sister in the kitchen.

“Why did Mom even tell you?” she asks. “She didn’t even want me to know, let alone other people.”

Natalie stands on her tiptoes to peer over Diane’s shoulder and points at Samantha. “She’s pissed at you, by the way.”

Samantha sighs, not even sure how to begin involving herself in this altercation.

“She said she didn’t want me finding out from you,” Natalie tells Diane, “because she assumed you’d tell it in a way that made her look bad.”

“For failing to tell me for fifty years that she’d adopted me from the woman my father actually loved? I don’t think she’s coming off great in any version of that story!” Diane says.

“See? I agree.” Natalie pulls open the refrigerator, scans its contents, and then takes out a bottle of white wine. “Chardonnay? Ugh.”

Diane moves into the kitchen, slams the refrigerator closed, and grabs the wine glass from Natalie’s hand.

“We’re not doing this, Natalie. Not tonight,” she says. “I don’t have anything resembling the bandwidth to make you feel better about something devastating that happened to me. So get out. Please.”

Natalie studies her sister for a long moment but finally reads just how serious Diane is.

“Fine. I was just trying to, like, bond with you,” Natalie says. “But push me away, sure. See how that goes for you.”

“It’s gone great for the past few decades,” Diane answers.

Natalie brushes past her and waves at Samantha on her way back to the front door.

“Bye, Samantha,” she says before turning back toward Diane. “Call me when you feel like actually talking, sis.”

Natalie exits the condo, and when the door closes behind her, Diane simply stares at it.

“Are you okay?” Samantha asks softly.

Diane tears her gaze off the door. “I’m fine. But you know what? If it’ll get me away from people like that, I’m going on that cruise!”

She marches past an exasperated Samantha, who merely leans against the wall in defeat.

—–

Loretta slowly folds her arms across her chest as she glowers at Helen. The tinny sound of an assistant manager being paged to the pharmacy comes over the store’s P.A. system.

“I should have known you’d be prone to throwing around wild accusations,” Loretta says at last. “You’re friends with those Fishers, after all.”

“I don’t think it’s that wild,” Helen replies. “I was mugged right after I confronted Natalie with the DNA results. Then you had the wedding interrupted the very next day — with the same DNA results.”

“They’re DNA results. They were accurate. Of course they’d be the ‘same’ results.”

“Results that I got because I managed to have a lab test Peter’s DNA against Spencer’s!”

“What would you like, Helen? A medal?”

“An apology, for starters,” Helen says. “You had me mugged! Do you know how terrified I was? Or how badly I could’ve been hurt? I have arthritis!”

“I don’t have to stand for this nonsense,” Loretta says. “Frankly, I expected more from a woman with your sordid history.”

“My sordid history? You’re the one who was behind bars for a decade while your maniac son went on a murder spree through King’s Bay.” Helen notices another shopper giving them the side-eye but can’t help herself as she continues: “He killed three dear friends of mine: my daughter’s skating coach, her best friend’s mother, and Bill Fisher! Not to mention how he almost killed dear Victoria, too!”

“I didn’t make Philip do any of those things, and it’s disgraceful that you would throw his mental breakdown in my face like this.” Loretta shakes her head in disgust. “I really pegged you as being less pathetic than this.”

Helen stoops down and picks up her basket. She takes the block of Stilton out of it and flings it back into the cheese case.

“You know what would be pathetic? Taking advice from a lunatic like you!” Helen says. “Goodbye, Loretta.”

With her basket clutched in her hand, Helen pushes past Loretta and toward the checkout stands.

“If you were the one who had me mugged, I’m going to prove it,” she murmurs as she gets into a line, though she can still feel Loretta’s eyes boring a hole into her back.

END OF EPISODE 1035

Will Helen prove a formidable foe for Loretta?
Is Diane making a mistake going on this cruise?
Will Tori be able to climb the ladder at Objection?
Discuss all this and more in the comments below!

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