Previously…
– Rosie was distressed that Travis agreed to Molly and Brent’s request to test Gabrielle’s DNA against theirs to see if she could be the child they were told died at birth.
– After Gia took over for the suspended Molly as interim Chief Creative Officer at Objection, Finn got himself hired as her assistant and continued to scheme against Molly.
– Elly stood up to Loretta and told her that the blackmail Loretta had been holding over her was useless.
Although the bar is not yet open for business due to the early hour, Maren Morris’s “The Bones” plays loudly over the speaker system inside The Wild Lady. Elly Vanderbilt is stationed behind the bar, unloading a rack of glasses fresh from the dishwasher, when she sees Spencer Ragan push his way through the saloon doors at the front of the establishment. He wears gray slacks and a blue-and-white checked dress shirt, open at the collar.
“What are we having?” he calls out as he strides through the empty bar.
“Coffee, if you want some,” she replies. “We have a pot going in the back.”
“No Bloody Marys? Damn.”
“It’s a weekday. And I have places to be.”
Spencer sets his elbows on the bar and leans forward. “Then what’s with summoning me? I have to get to the office at some point, too.”
She sets two more glasses down below the bar. “I wanted to fill you in. Guess who came to see me last night?”
“I’ll take ‘my mother‘ for five hundred.”
“You win,” Elly says. “She wanted my help convincing Uncle Brent and Aunt Molly to drop this entire thing about their baby still being alive.”
“What’d you say?” he asks.
“I told her no! I said I went and found Anatoli and got him to admit I passed the bar on my own–“
“You didn’t tell her I helped you, did you?”
“No! But she was furious, as you might expect,” Elly tells him. “And now I’m worried.”
“I wish I could tell you not to be,” Spencer says, “but this is Loretta we’re talking about.”
Her lips draw together in a tight line. “Yeah. I thought it would feel good to have her off my back, but now…”
“What can I do?”
“I don’t know. Maybe nothing. I thought you could at least keep an eye out. If you get a sense that’s up to something–“
“Of course I will.” He reaches across the bar and grasps her hand. “Elly. I’ll do whatever I can.”
“Thanks, Spencer, but–“
“I’m serious.” His eyes lock upon hers. “If Loretta so much as gets an idea about coming after you, she’s going to go through me first. I’m not going to let her hurt you anymore.”
Seeing the intensity in his gaze, all Elly can do is swallow hard. Her heart thumps as Spencer’s hand clutches hers.
On the second floor of the hospital, the elevator doors open. Rosie Jimenez steps out, holding Gabrielle in her arms; Travis Fisher follows steps behind with the empty stroller, ready for whenever the feisty toddler decides she wants to get down or becomes too heavy for Rosie to hold. In the waiting area, they find Travis’s parents. Tim Fisher sports a white polo shirt and khakis, while Claire is outfitted in her light blue scrubs.
“Hi there,” Claire says, moving swiftly to greet Gabrielle with a kiss on the cheek. The little girl crinkles her nose in response.
“Say hi to Grandma Claire,” Rosie says.
Gabrielle flaps one hand up and down. “Hi!”
“Hi, sweetie,” Claire responds, her face lighting up.
Tim moves up to Claire’s side. “Hi, Gabrielle.”
“Hi!” she shouts with a squeal.
“I’m glad to see someone’s in a good mood today,” Tim comments. “I hope that’s infectious.”
“For real,” Travis says as he uses his foot to lock the stroller’s wheels.
“Is your mom coming?” Claire asks Rosie.
Rosie nods. “She texted me that she was on her way about 10 minutes ago. I told her she didn’t have to, but…”
“It’s good she wants to support us,” Travis says. “I just want to get this over with.”
Claire gestures toward the corridor that leads to the patient rooms. “They’re going to bring you into Room 23. Nurse Jenkins will be waiting.”
Rosie shifts Gabrielle from one hip to the other. The child reaches out to play with a strand of Rosie’s dark hair.
“I can’t believe we even have to do this,” Rosie says. “It’s ridiculous.”
“Once we have results, we can all go on with our lives,” Travis says.
Rosie’s expression hardens. “There’s no way I’m handing over my daughter. I don’t care how much pain Molly and Brent are in — I’m sorry, but Gabrielle is our child.”
“I guess we’ll see about that after the DNA test,” a voice says, and the four adults turn to see Molly Taylor approaching them, with Brent right behind her.
—–
“Isn’t there anywhere else we could have these little meetings?” Finn Campbell asks as he enters the hotel suite on a high floor of the King’s Bay Metropolitan Inn. “I feel like a hooker sneaking up here all the time.”
Loretta Ragan scowls at him as she closes the door and fixes the deadbolt. “Unless you want to risk being seen together in public, no. Somewhere private but with high amounts of foot traffic is the only option.”
“Fine, fine,” Finn says as he goes to the large window that frames the waterfront, which sits about half-a-mile in the distance. “I’m just getting paranoid.”
“Why?” she asks with concern. “Has something happened?”
Finn shakes his head. “Nothing bad. Actually, I have some positive developments to report.”
Loretta’s bright red lips hook upwards. “Is that so?”
“It is so. I had a little chat with my dear boss–” He punctuates this reference to Gia Vincent with an eye roll. “–and it sounds like she’s very interested in finding a way to keep Molly from ever returning to work at Objection.”
“Go on,” Loretta coos.
“Gia was freaking out about the assault charges against Molly being dropped because that doctor bit the big one,” he explains, “so I suggested that we start a little campaign to convince the board members that it still wouldn’t be a good idea to reinstate her.”
“Excellent. That’s the kind of proactive thinking we need. Your father would be proud.”
Finn finds himself unable to suppress a grin. “Really?”
“He was always thinking a few steps ahead, as well,” Loretta says. “I know you never met him, but you’re a chip off the old block, in many ways.”
Turning this over in his head, he gazes out at the rippling bay. Summer sun glints off its surface.
“What about this DNA test?” he asks. “What if it proves that Molly isn’t as crazy as she’s been looking?”
“It won’t,” Loretta says firmly. “I’m going to make sure of that. When those results come back, Molly Taylor is going to look less stable than ever.”
—–
Something about Spencer’s eye contact makes Elly feel as though she can see into his soul — something she wasn’t sure he even had at one point. She can tell how serious he is about keeping her safe, and the idea makes her stomach flutter.
“Thought you were heading to the hospital,” a female voice declares, and Elly immediately pulls her hand away from Spencer. She cranes her neck to see her stepmother, Kathleen Bundy, entering from the back of the bar with a lockbox in her hands.
“Uh, I am. Spencer just dropped by to ask me a question,” Elly says, feeling as though she is stumbling over every syllable. She wonders if Kathleen really noticed the moment between them.
“Hi, Spencer,” Kathleen says, her tone flatter, as she rounds the end of the wooden bar.
“What’s going on at the hospital?” he asks as he removes his arms from the bar and steps back to a less intimate distance.
“They’re doing the DNA test on Gabrielle today,” Elly explains. “My uncle and Molly asked if I’d be there as a third party witness.”
“I’ll make sure Loretta doesn’t find out about that,” Spencer says, half-under his breath.
Elly grimaces. “She already knows it’s happening. Hence the need for witnesses.”
Kathleen goes to one of the registers with the lockbox. “I really can’t believe any of this is happening,” she comments while opening the register. “Travis and Rosie love that little girl.”
“I know they do,” Elly says. “My goal is not to have Gabrielle taken away from them.”
“Then what is it?” Kathleen asks, turning with a hand on her hip.
“To find out the truth. The actual truth, after all the games that doctor played with people.”
Kathleen exhales loudly. “I don’t wanna see Travis get hurt. That boy’s been through enough. And he’s a real good dad.”
“I know he is,” Elly says. “I promise — I’ll make sure everything is on the up-and-up.” She checks the time on her Apple Watch. “I should get going, actually.”
“I can walk you out,” Spencer tells her.
She shakes her head, although it takes a bit more willpower than she’d like to admit. “I have to go upstairs and change.”
He smirks and then says in a much quieter voice, “I could come help you with that.”
Elly feels her cheeks flush and swats at him over the bar. “Shut up.”
“That wasn’t entirely a joke,” he says with one raised eyebrow.
“I know it wasn’t. Now get out of here.”
“Fine, fine. Let me know how it goes,” he says. “And I’ll keep you updated on Loretta.”
“She’d better not be anywhere near that hospital today,” Elly says.
“Seriously. Talk to you later, okay?”
“Okay.”
Looking back at her as he goes, Spencer walks through the saloon doors. They swing lightly in his wake. Elly finds herself leaning against the bar, their encounter swimming through her mind.
Down the bar, Kathleen stands at the register, eyeing her stepdaughter curiously.
—–
Molly and Brent walk right up to where Rosie, Travis, and Gabrielle are waiting with Tim and Claire. Rosie immediately sees the way that Molly is eyeing the little girl and rotates as if concealing the child from her.
“This is a tough day for everyone,” Tim says in a tone that strives for calm but comes across more as pleading for peace.
“That’s putting it lightly,” Travis says.
Molly hikes up her purse on her shoulder, and her gaze remains fixed upon Gabrielle. “We know this is difficult. And we appreciate you bringing Gabrielle, rather than making us go through the courts.”
“We just want answers,” Brent chimes in.
“We’re gonna get them,” Rosie says, a bit defiantly. “If this is what it takes to prove that Gabrielle isn’t your baby–“
“But if the test proves that she is, we’ll need to proceed accordingly,” Molly interrupts. “Dr. Longo took her away from us. She should have been with us since day one.”
“That’s if any of this is even true,” Travis counters.
A gloomy silence settles over all of them. Gabrielle lets out a sudden, loud burble.
“She’s gotten so big since the last time I saw her,” Molly says wistfully.
Rosie’s hold on the child grows a little tighter.
“Let’s start with getting everyone swabbed so the lab can run the test,” Claire says. “Nurse Jenkins should be out any minute to get things started.”
Molly’s brows flatten and her eyes tighten. “You aren’t going to be involved with running the tests, are you?”
“No, Molly,” comes the pointed response before Claire grits her teeth.
“Hi!” Gabrielle shouts, cutting through at least some of the tension.
“Hi, precious girl,” Molly responds in a soft voice.
“Hi!” the baby says again, with an excited wave.
Travis feels a terrible sinking in his stomach at the thought that any one of Gabrielle’s excited greetings could be the last one he experiences as her father. But seeing the fear in Rosie’s face, he pushes the thought down as best he can.
END OF EPISODE 1140
What will the results of the DNA test reveal?
Will Elly give in to her feelings for Spencer?
Is Finn going to regret aligning with Loretta?
Discuss it all in the comments below!
I am so curious as to who Finn’s father is/was now – I don’t recall Loretta mentioning that bit before, or am I completing losing it? A considering all the talk of a Finn/Trevor or Finn/Trevor/Alex three way, his comment about being a hooker could happen sooner than later 😉
Everyone at the hospital was very tense – you could cut the tension with a knife, especially when Molly and Brent arrived. I still think that Loretta will find someway from the truth coming out, I think the baby switch is still so new and fresh that it could go on for much longer … but we will see if they have these witnesses.
The one silver lining of Elly defending herself to Loretta is the fact that she kept Spencer’s name out of it, because who knows what Loretta would do to him if she found out. I am still loving the cat and mouse of their potential romance, despite him still married (and maybe fucking?) Natalie still. What I love most about this is that we barely see Loretta in scenes but she is driving so much storyline – she is a puppet master at the very best!
Lots of exciting stuff happening right now –
Dallas
Thanks for your comments, Dallas!
We have heard Loretta speak of Finn’s father before. It wasn’t TOO long ago, but it was the first hint we got of why he might be aligned with her. All we really know thus far is that he’s someone who Loretta knew, but Finn never met him and likes the idea that his father might be proud of him. There will be more revealed as the 25th anniversary approaches!
Elly has been very smart in not implicating Spencer to Loretta, and that might indicate that she does care about him, at least enough not to want to put him in harm’s way. You’re right that Loretta would absolutely lose it if she found out! Spencer’s already walking quite a tightrope having her under his roof but wanting her gone. He’s gone a whole other step by helping Elly get out from under Loretta’s thumb and brainstorming with Tim about how to neutralize her. Since becoming a Fisher, he seems to have seen how poisonous she can be, but he’s also caught between a rock and a hard place since she is so focused on him and Peter. (FYI he and Natalie aren’t still having sex. Loretta forced Natalie to stop that and has been watching her like a hawk since.) Loretta is probably the most Stefano-type villain I’ve ever had, because Nick was more of a regular mobster and we saw him finding his way through his plots and the complications as they happened. It’s fun to write her because she does everything on such a grand scale, but I also know there’s a time limit on that.
I at first hadn’t planned on a whole episode just being about the wind-up to the DNA test, but it felt like we needed to live in that tension or it wouldn’t mean as much. Getting to play the complications of what this means within the Fisher family — for Tim and Molly, for Travis and his aunt, for Claire after Brent betrayed her with Molly — and in Brent’s mentor/mentee sort of relationship with Rosie is what this story is all about, so I want to make sure we don’t skip over the ‘in-between’ parts.
And sorry you keep being sent to the trash!! My host must really hate you 😉
Put me down for another one who is curious about Finn’s paternity. I have a couple of ideas, especially if Loretta’s in the know. I don’t think it’s been mentioned before either? (Although I keep skipping episodes thanks to life being life, so my bad if I’ve missed it).
Love the conflict between Brent/Molly and Rosie/Travis. Although if Loretta is gonna do what I think she’s gonna do (hello, DNA test switch!), It ain’t gonna go well for Molly. Which I guess is the point.
Loretta is such a good villain! I must admit to enjoying her machinations every time she’s in a scene. I don’t know how much longer we’ll get to enjoy her with the 25th anniversary (!!) coming up.
And I’ve noticed sparks between Spencer and Elly more than once. I love new and improved Elly generally (and your choice of actress for the part!) Wonder what’s gonna happen with Natalie though!
Good episode! 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Joe!
Finn’s mysterious father has been mentioned once before, in a similar scene between him and Loretta, but that’s all the info we have thus far. Loretta definitely knows who it is and knows/knew the man, so that theoretically narrows the list. We will be learning more about why Finn is aligned with her in her schemes and what he hopes to get out of it all very soon. As you point out, the 25th is coming up (isn’t that insane?!) and it only makes sense to have some big reveals and twists to mark the occasion. I’m glad to hear that you’re enjoying Loretta. I know these cartoon-type villains who seem to be larger than life and have endless resources can become tiresome, so I’m trying not to overuse her and to keep her very focused on her (well motivated, I hope!) revenge plots against Molly and the other Fishers.
This whole setup with Molly/Brent and Travis/Rosie was one of those weird umbrella stories that took a while to come together in my head. Having Brent cheat on Claire with Molly kind of brought the whole thing into focus for me; as soon as I thought of that, I knew I had to find a way to create repercussions well beyond just the breakup. These characters are all so intertwined that I had really hoped it would be juicy! Loretta clearly does have something up her sleeve here, too…
I brought Elly back with the idea to chemistry-test her with Spencer, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I wish I were able to write and post more so that their story would’ve moved faster, but at least it’s been pretty organic as they’ve had reasons to cross paths and work together. Neither of them can really deny the sparks at this point, so it remains to be seen how things will progress — and how Natalie will react. I know she’s had a really light year, but I promise she has stuff coming!
Thanks again for reading and commenting!