Previously…
– Claudia Bishop overheard Tim and Claire discussing the fact that Sonja Kahele is secretly back in King’s Bay and spilled this news to Loretta. Loretta, in turn, used this information to force Natalie to place an anonymous phone call that got Travis out of his apartment.
– While Travis was out dealing with the anonymous phone call, Rosie and Gabrielle both went missing. 
– Samantha awoke from her coma. She relayed a hazy memory of a visit from Rosie, during which Rosie vowed not to allow anyone to take Gabrielle away from her. 
– Brian Hamilton surprised Diane by showing up to visit her and Samantha. 

The steady, persistent beeping of monitors, which only yesterday sounded so ominous to Tim Fisher, now seem like a mark of hope. He stands in his daughter’s room in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, watching as Samantha reunites with her older brother. 

“Holy shit,” Spencer Ragan says as he hovers at Sam’s bedside. “I can’t believe you’re finally awake.”

“I can’t believe I was out for that long,” she replies. Her voice sounds hoarse and weak, but Tim attempts to take solace in the fact that she is speaking at all. 

“Your body had to, like, repair itself,” Spencer tells her. 

Samantha smiles; Tim can see that even the small gesture costs her quite a bit of energy.

“How’s Peter?” she asks.

“He’s good. He started soccer a few weeks ago.”

“No way.”

“I don’t know if he totally gets that he’s only supposed to kick the ball into one of the goals,” Spencer says, “but he makes up for that with, uh, enthusiasm.”

“We’ll all go to one of his games once you’re out of here,” Tim chimes in.

“And that might be pretty soon,” a nurse, a 30-something man in blue scrubs, says as he enters the room. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask your visitors to step out. We have a few more tests to run.”

“I just got here,” Spencer protests.

“It’ll only be 10 or 15 minutes,” the nurse says. “Then you’re welcome to come back in.”

“Let’s go get a snack downstairs,” Tim tells Spencer. “I can fill you in on everything else going on.”

Spencer steps away from Sam’s bedside and raises a hand in a wave. “We’ll be back, okay?”

“Good,” she says, smiling again, as her brother and father step out of the room. They stroll down the corridor out to the waiting area and the elevators.

“She seems pretty good,” Spencer says.

“Yeah, it’s making me hopeful that her recovery won’t be too difficult.” Tim pauses as they walk past the nurses’ station. “There is something else I need to talk to you about.” 

Spencer cuts a sideways gaze at his father, concerned. “I know you’re freaking out about Rosie and the baby…”

“It isn’t that. This is, um…” They arrive at the elevator bay, and Tim quickly presses the down button. It lights up in response. “Hold on a second.”

They wait for the elevator in silence. Once its doors close, sealing them in alone, Tim speaks again: 

“Natalie came to see Sam, and she was asking Diane about Sonja being back in town.”

“What? How did she–” Spencer shakes his head. “I swear, I didn’t tell her.”

“Are you sure?”

“One hundred percent. I know how sensitive that is.”

Tim grits his teeth. “I can’t figure out how she’d know that. Diane denied it, but if she knows–“

“I’ll make sure Natalie doesn’t breathe a word of this to Loretta,” Spencer says. 

“Please don’t even confirm it to her.”

“I won’t. I know how serious this is.”

“It’s beyond serious,” Tim says. “Sonja is terrified of Loretta as it is. I promised that I’d keep her and TJ safe. If Loretta were to find out that she’s in King’s Bay — there’s no telling what could happen.”

—–

Diane Bishop unlocks the front door of her condominium and pushes the door open.

“The place is looking good,” Brian Hamilton comments from behind her, as he scopes out the condo for the first time in several years. “Look at that new sofa.”

“I wanted something a little bold,” she says.

He nods approvingly at the deep, wide, pink velvet sofa. “Looks great. Crazy how long it’s been since I set foot in this place.”

“Crazy that I haven’t moved in all this time. But it’s home.”

A warm grin spreads over Brian’s face. “It feels like it. I can’t tell you how nice it is to be back here. I’m just sorry it took something so horrible to get me back to King’s Bay.”

Diane lets out a loud, forceful exhale, and her entire body seems to go limp with relief. 

“At least we have good news now,” she says.

“Yep. Sam is awake, her prognosis is looking good, and now you can finally get some rest yourself.”

“I know, I know.”

Brian’s phone begins to vibrate in his hand. He quickly checks the screen, then silences the call and continues.

“You must be starving,” he says. “How about I order us some dinner and you go take a nice, hot shower?”

“That honestly sounds like a dream. There’s a bottle of white in the fridge if you want some.”

“Great. I’ll pour you a glass, too.”

She disappears down the hallway and into the primary suite. Brian moves to the refrigerator but continues listening as the bathroom door closes and the shower turns on.

Assured that the running water will muffle the sound, he glances at his phone again and then taps the screen to return the call.

—–

After visiting with Samantha some more, Spencer bids her farewell so that she can rest and drives his BMW home. He parks in the expansive driveway and heads inside, where he finds his wife climbing the stairs with a basket of laundry. 

“Where’s Peter?” he asks without bothering with any kind of greeting. Often his marriage seems so routine that he doesn’t even think about how bizarre it actually is; at times like this, he almost cannot process how this woman has been his wife, how they have been raising a child together, for a few years. 

“Coloring at the kitchen table,” Natalie says. “Where have you been?”

“The hospital. I guess you hadn’t heard. Samantha’s awake.”

Natalie audibly gasps. “She is? That’s amazing. How is she?”

“Seems okay, honestly. Tired, obviously, and kind of slow, but good.”

“That’s really good news,” she says. “Do they know when she’s being released?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, I’ll go see her tomorrow. Thanks for letting me know.” Natalie turns and ascends another step before Spencer speaks up:

“There’s something else I need to talk to you about,” he says sternly. 

She turns back, with a glimmer of something — fear? annoyance? — in her eyes. Then she uses her chin to indicate the laundry basket. “I’m busy.”

“It’ll only take a minute. Come here.”

He waves for her to follow him into the living room. She sets the basket on the stairs and trudges after him.

“What is it?” she snaps.

Spencer leans in, lowering his voice. “Why were you asking about Sonja Kahele?”

Natalie’s eyes go wide. “What about her?”

“Tim said you were asking about her being back in town.”

“Damn Diane. Of course she had to go tattling–“

“She told Tim because she thought it was weird for you to be asking,” Spencer says. “So what’s up? Where did you get that idea?”

Natalie hesitates a beat before answering, “Because I’m nosy and I like gossip.”

“But why would you be asking that?”

“Because I heard this whole story about how Sonja has a kid who might be Tim’s,” she says. “I don’t know. What does it matter?”

Now it is Spencer’s turn to pause. He knows that he is walking a very fine line here and has to select his words carefully. 

“Just stay out of it. We don’t need Loretta getting any ideas.”

“Ideas about what?” she asks.

“Finding new ways to torture everyone,” he says in his hushed voice. “Besides, Tim has enough on his plate.”

“At least Samantha’s awake. That must be a huge relief.”

“Yeah, but now there’s this whole thing with Travis and Rosie.”

“With the DNA test and all that?”

“No, Rosie and the baby are missing,” Spencer tells her. “Tim was filling me in while I was at the hospital.”

Natalie’s entire demeanor seems to shift as soon as he speaks those words. She grips the back of the loveseat as if to steady herself. 

“What do you mean, missing?” she asks.

“They’re missing. I don’t know. No one does. Travis thought they had been kidnapped, but Rosie’s keys and phone and stuff are gone, and Samantha had this memory of Rosie talking to her and swearing she wouldn’t let anyone take her daughter away–“

“Well, that would make sense. She got scared of what the DNA test would say and ran. Right?”

Spencer’s jaw flaps open and then closed again as he searches for a reply. “Tim said that’s what Molly thinks.”

Natalie swallows hard and then fixes an intense stare upon him. “I hope they’re found soon,” she says. “I need to put that laundry away.”

“I’ve never seen you so excited to do chores,” Spencer says. “Is there food?”

“There’s pasta and meatballs in the warming drawer. Go see your son.”

“I was going to. Thanks for the tip.”

Natalie heads for the stairs, while Spencer goes in the other direction to pass through the dining room into the kitchen. 

Only once she is alone again does Natalie let out the breath that it feels like she has been holding for minutes. Her mind runs back to that phone call she made to Travis on Loretta’s orders, lying to him that there was a burst pipe down at the restaurant. At the time, she didn’t know what that could have to do with Loretta’s plan to switch the DNA test being performed on baby Gabrielle…

“What did you do, you old witch?” she mutters as she hauls the laundry up the stairs.

—–

Diane turns on the shower and steps back to allow the water to get hot. She looks into the mirror above the pedestal sink and sighs; as much as she didn’t want to admit it, everyone has been right. She has been burning the candle at both ends ever since the car accident that left Samantha in a coma, getting only the bare minimum of sleep so that she could do the radio show and then spend as much time as humanly possible at her daughter’s side. 

“You look like hell,” she murmurs to her reflection. 

She disrobes, letting her casual clothing fall to the floor. She stares down at the pile of athleisure garments, the only things she has bothered to wear in weeks and weeks, and wonders if she will now feel like putting on some of her dressier, more glamorous clothes again. 

“You’re going to pull yourself together now that Sam is okay,” she says under her breath.

Using the dimmer switch, she lowers the lights, then reaches for the matchbook resting in a small dish atop the vanity. She strikes a match and uses it to light the eucalyptus-scented Diptyque candle. The flame crackles softly as it begins to burn down the wick.

Diane draws in a deep breath. It has been some time since this bathroom was anything other than functional, but she is finally seeing it for the spa-like atmosphere than she has always intended it to be. 

“Music,” she says, deciding what the perfect finishing touch would be. Just as quickly, however, she realizes that she does not have her phone with her.

“Dammit.” Realizing that the phone is still in her purse, she reaches for her plush white robe, slips her arms into it, and closes it around her body. She turns the doorknob and steps out onto the soft carpet of the primary bedroom in her bare feet.

She has barely made it two steps into the hallway when she hears Brian’s voice. 

“No, I haven’t told her,” he is saying. “And I’m not going to.”

He goes quiet, and she realizes that he must be on the phone. She ducks back into the bedroom but strains to hear Brian over the running shower.

“I don’t want her finding out,” he says. “And that’s that.”

Diane’s brow furrows as she listens.

“I have to go. She’s in the shower,” Brian says. “I’ll keep you posted.”

Realizing that his call is winding down, she retreats into the bathroom, deciding to forego music for this shower. She gently closes the bathroom door again.

What the hell don’t you want me to find out? she wonders as the steam from the shower begins to envelop her.

—–

Natalie deposits the laundry basket in Peter’s bedroom, looks over the second-story railing to be sure that Spencer won’t see her, and beelines for the guest room that Loretta has commandeered for herself. She raps insistently on the door. 

“Yes?” Loretta’s voice asks from within.

Rather than respond, Natalie opens the door and steps inside. Loretta is sitting on the bed, legs stretched out before herself, in a silk pajama set with a paperback book in hand.

“Excuse you,” Loretta says at the sight of her daughter-in-law.

“No, excuse you.” Natalie closes the door before saying more. “What did you do to that woman and her baby?”

“What woman? What baby? I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”

“You had me make that call to Travis Fisher,” Natalie says, her hands clenching into tight balls. “And you’ve obsessed with switching that DNA test. What have you done?”

“Are you off your meds, dear?” Loretta asks, with the slightest glint of pleasure in her green eyes. 

“Don’t try and gaslight me–“

“You do an excellent job of that all by yourself, Natalie.”

“I did not agree to help you kidnap Travis’s wife and that baby!”

Loretta rolls her eyes. “I’m aware. That was certainly never something we discussed. Why would we?”

“Because you have your fingerprints all over this situation,” Natalie says. “You’ve wanted revenge on Molly and the Fishers ever since your son became a lunatic and started murdering people. That’s why you wanted to switch the test, right? So Molly would think that baby isn’t actually hers?”

A disdainful stare is Loretta’s only response.

“And when you couldn’t pull that off, you made the baby and Travis’s wife disappear. Where are they? Are they safe?”

“That seems like a matter for Travis, Molly, and the rest to figure out,” Loretta says blithely. “Isn’t Molly’s husband — ex-husband, I can hardly keep track with those people — the head of the police force? Not that he strikes me as a particularly astute man, but nevertheless…”

“Cut the bullshit, Loretta. You had me place that call for some twisted reason. I don’t want to be a part of this.”

“That’s too bad, dear. Because should you and your guilty conscience decide to run and tell anyone this crackpot theory of yours, it seems likely that everyone would find out that you are the one who hired that unscrupulous nurse Sonja to keep Spencer from regaining his memory of all your misdeeds. And then, who’s to say he wouldn’t make a case to take Peter away from you altogether — never mind this house, and the money you so enjoy spending, and maybe even your freedom, if he were to pursue criminal charges.”

Natalie wants to scream. She knows that everything Loretta is saying is true, and as much as she wants to find a loophole, she can’t. 

“Rosie and the baby had better be okay,” she says, suddenly breathless. 

“Or what?” Loretta sneers. “Or what?”

Ready to explode with rage and frustration, Natalie lets only a grunt escape before she turns and stomps out of the room.

That bitch has to be stopped, she thinks as she returns to Peter’s room, her hands too shaky even to pick up the laundry basket. 

END OF EPISODE 1147

Will Natalie sacrifice herself to save Rosie and Gabrielle?
What kind of secret is Brian keeping from Diane? 
Is Samantha truly on the road to a full recovery?
Discuss all this and more in the comments below!

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