Previously…
– Loretta told Finn all about how his biological mother, Camille Lemieux, had given him up for adoption to protect him from his father, Nick Moriani. 
– Loretta was arrested for kidnapping Gabrielle and Rosie last year. Molly and Brent felt confident that being able to pin the baby switch on Loretta would bolster their chances of winning custody.
– Travis expressed reservations to Rosie about whether they should proceed with fighting for Gabrielle, feeling that their chances of winning custody might not be worth the interpersonal damage. 

The jovial sounds of Brenda Lee’s perennial Christmas favorite, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” plays throughout 322 Bar & Grill. Green garland and red bows are spread throughout the eatery’s interior to create a festive mood. In a booth against the back wall, Travis Fisher sits across from his best friend, with a half-decimated stack of pancakes between their individual plates of eggs, bacon, and toast.

“It’s just this, like, nonstop feeling of anxiety,” Travis is saying. “I go to bed thinking about how many more nights I’ll get to put Gabrielle to sleep, and I wake up panicking that she’s already been taken away from us. Or last night – I had a nightmare that she was a teenager and we’d actually gotten to raise her–” 

“That seems like a good thing,” Landon Esco offers as he chomps on a bite of syrup-laden pancake.

“Yeah, except in my nightmare, she had just found out that Aunt Molly and Uncle Brent were her biological parents and was pissed at Rosie and me for hiding it from her.”

“I mean, with the internet and everything, I highly doubt she’s going to make it to high school without finding out–” Landon stops himself mid-statement. “Er, scratch that.”

Travis rolls his eyes. “Thanks. That’s reassuring.”

“Sorry. All I mean is, your brain’s gonna cook up all kinds of crazy scenarios. They’re not reality. You’ve gotta remind yourself of that.”

“I’m trying. I’m really trying.” Travis takes out his frustration on a piece of bacon as he angrily spears it with his fork. “And I feel like if I even dare to say any of it around Rosie, she won’t hear it. Like, at all.”

Landon takes a sip of his coffee as he thinks, then replies, “She’s protecting herself. She can’t even imagine the possibility of having to give up Gabrielle.”

“I don’t want to,” Travis says miserably before taking a crunchy bite of the well-done bacon. 

“I know you don’t. You and Rosie are awesome parents to that little girl. And she loves you. But you aren’t a bad person for thinking about the possibility. Not with everything going on.”

Travis finishes chewing the bacon before saying, “I feel like I’m betraying both Rosie and Gabrielle by even thinking it. But – yeah. I can’t not.”

“Of course you can’t. Can’t not. Cannot?” Landon gazes off at the ceiling for a moment before refocusing on his friend. “All you guys can do now is make the best case to the judge about why it’s right for Gabrielle to stay with you.”

Travis’s face falls. “But what if even that isn’t enough? What if this is a losing battle we’re fighting and we’re only making it worse by continuing?”

—–

“Thanks for taking my call. We need to talk,” Rosie Jimenez says. She stands in the bedroom that she and Travis have been sharing inside her mother’s home, holding her iPhone to her ear. 

“Of course,” responds the voice of her attorney, Jaimie Thompson. The steady hum in the background makes it sound as if Jaimie is driving while taking the call via Bluetooth. “I assume this is a follow-up on Travis’s call?”

“What call?” Rosie asks. She was with Travis just this morning – when he awoke from a nightmare, and as she comforted him, they made love. 

“Oh.” Awkwardness comes through the line, loud and clear. “Never mind.”

“You talked to Travis alone? Recently?”

“He was only checking in,” Jaimie says, sounding not at all steady.

“He called you and didn’t tell me?”

For several seconds, there is no answer. Rosie can hear the faint whooshing of road noise in the background. 

“What was he calling about, Jaimie?” she presses.

“He’s my client,” the attorney says. “I shouldn’t–”

“And so am I. In the same case. You can’t conceal information about my own case from me. That’s unethical.”

“Rosie, I’d rather not–”

“Too late,” Rosie says sternly. “Was he calling to tell you about Molly and Brent’s little visit?”

“Um, yes. That was it.”

The uneasiness in Jaimie’s response sends a current of panic through Rosie.

“Oh my god,” she says, as much to herself as to Jaimie. “Did he want to talk about dropping out of the suit? I knew they were getting to him, but…” She pauses to catch her suddenly ragged breath. “Travis is actually thinking we should, what, hand Gabrielle over?”

Jaimie’s silence is all the confirmation that Rosie needs.

Finn Campbell sits behind his desk in the anteroom of an executive suite, inside the offices of Objection Designs. The office is largely still quiet, given the early hour, and Finn has a half-finished mug of coffee resting on the desk as he stares at a news article from the King’s Bay Chronicle on his computer monitor.

Loretta Ragan Has Latest Bail Attempt Denied, Will Remain in Jail

“Dammit,” Finn mutters. “She needs to be out, now.”

The knot of apprehension that has taken up residence in his chest in recent weeks pulls even tighter as he reviews the morning’s news. He had hoped that Loretta would be freed soon; he has not been able to make contact with her since her arrest, and although it seems entirely related to that kidnapping last year and not at all connected to their efforts to wrest control of Objection, he cannot help but fear that his own association with Loretta might come out in the course of the investigation.

This was not how this was supposed to go, he thinks, nervously drumming his fingertips against the edge of the desk. He has worked so hard, been so diligent, about inserting himself at Objection. He has been patient about waiting for the right time for all the pieces to fall into place. He has been helping Gia turn board members against Molly for months. And now Loretta – the one who made him aware of his birthright in the first place, and the one who claimed she could help him finally take hold of it – is locked up and totally unreachable. 

He knows that he can’t visit her in prison, for fear of being connected to her, and although he has considered reaching out to the legal firm that is representing her, he knows that could be problematic, too. 

He feels a horribly, sinking feeling in his gut. Damn you, Loretta, he thinks spitefully. I’m not going to have my life ruined because you let things get out of your control.

He startles slightly at the sound of someone approaching. A moment later, Gia Vincent strides into the anteroom in a belted, shearling trench coat, with a Birkin bag dangling from her forearm.

“Good morning,” Finn says cheerfully to the acting Chief Creative Officer of the company. 

Gia offers him the briefest of smiles. “Could you get Bisch on the phone? I have a bone to pick with him.”

Finn swallows his irritation at her curtness and responds, “Sure. I’ll have him for you in a minute.”

He picks up the receiver and watches as his boss disappears into the sanctum of the main office. An office that should, by all rights, be his.

Forget Loretta, he thinks as he begins to punch in the number on the phone. It’s time to get things done on my own.

—–

“It would be pretty dumb of me to tell you not to be worried,” Landon says across the table to Travis. “But everyone copes with stress in their own way. Sounds like Rosie is digging in her heels to try and keep her head above water.”

“I know, and I can’t blame her for that,” Travis says. “It’s like she doesn’t even want to consider the reality that we could lose. I don’t want to, either. But I can’t not think about it.”

Landon nods, as a waitress appears beside the table with a pot of coffee.

“Refills?” she asks, and both men accept the offer and move their cups nearer to her so that she can top them off. Travis picks up the steaming cup and thanks her before she moves off.

“Enough about us,” Travis says. “How about you? What’s new?”

Landon shrugs as he picks up his own coffee. “Not much. Business as usual.”

“That’s not a bad thing.”

“Nah… but it’s not a good thing, either. I kinda feel like I’m in a rut. I drive at whatever hours feel right, I go home and play video games or watch Netflix at the apartment alone, I see my family and, like, you when there’s time… Sometimes I think, like, is this it?”

“It’s not it,” Travis says. 

“But what else is there?” Landon wonders. “If I’m keeping it 100… I didn’t really think I’d still be driving for Uber at this point. It was supposed to give me freedom and flexibility, but now I look at my life and I think: flexibility for what?”

Travis finishes a sip of coffee before responding, “That’s a good question to ask yourself. What do you want to do next? What do you want, period?”

“More than this.”

“Would any of that happen to involve my cousin?”

“Tori?” Landon sits up straighter, as if jolted by the question. “Why would you say that?”

“Dude, it’s not like it’s a huge surprise that you have a thing for her,” Travis tells him. “And have for a long time. And I’m not mad at it. Tori’s been through the wringer.”

“Yeah.” Landon sighs. “That’s why I think… maybe… it’s better if I keep that to myself. I don’t want to put pressure on her or anything.”

“She’s healing, and I would bet you’ve been a big part of that.”

“Still…”

“Still what? Tori’s working at the restaurant now. She’s putting her life back together,” Travis says. “And you’re looking ahead, too. Maybe 2024 could be your year.”

“Maybe I need to figure out what I’m doing with my life before I try to wedge my way into hers,” Landon replies.

“Or maybe you guys could figure it out together.”

Landon grabs his fork and uses it to pick up another bite of the pancakes. He chomps on them as he mulls over what Travis has said.

“Let’s try and make 2024 a good year,” Travis says. “Less drama and stress for me, more excitement for you. Deal?”

“Deal,” Landon says, raising his coffee cup in his friend’s direction.

—–

After she gets off the phone with Jaimie, Rosie goes downstairs, where her mother has just finished feeding Gabrielle breakfast. 

“Thanks for handling breakfast,” Rosie says to Juanita.

“She had three of those waffle sticks,” Juanita reports. “And she ate all her strawberries.”

“You did? Good girl.” Rosie smiles as she picks up the toddler. “How about a bath? Wouldn’t that be nice?” 

“I bring toys,” Gabrielle announces.

“Of course you can.” Rosie looks at her daughter and feels overwhelmed by love. She plants a kiss on the child’s forehead. “Let’s go upstairs and have that bath.”

“I have to get to my doctor’s appointment,” Juanita says. “You girls have fun.” 

“Let’s say bye-bye to Abuela,” Rosie says, and immediately Gabrielle starts waving her hand excitedly.

“Bye, Abuela!”

“Good luck at the doctor,” Rosie tells her mother.

Juanita smiles. “I’ll be okay. It’s only a check-up.”

“Good.”

With Gabrielle still waving excitedly, Rosie carries the child up the stairs. They go into the spare bedroom that has been serving as Gabrielle’s makeshift nursery ever since the family moved in last year. As Rosie goes to the dresser to pick out some fresh clothes for Gabrielle, she hears the front door closing and then the sound of her mother’s car starting up and driving away from the house.

“What do you want to wear today?” she asks Gabrielle, who is busy stacking several blocks and doesn’t seem to hear her. Rosie’s gaze fixes upon this little girl – her daughter – the child she never expected to have at this point in her life. But Gabrielle was sent to her and Travis, and the course of their lives has been changed irreversibly. Emotion swells within her; she feels love and fear at war, battling for dominance, as she watches this innocent child play. 

Something inside her cracks open, and she knows what she has to do.

“How about we go on a little trip?” she says, hardly able to believe that she is speaking the words. 

Gabrielle looks up from her blocks. “What kind of trip?”

“A fun trip,” Rosie says, her body vibrating with the rush of adrenaline as she retrieves a tiny suitcase from the closet and opens it up.

END OF EPISODE 1206

What is Rosie going to do with Gabrielle?
Will Travis and Landon heed each other’s advice?
What will Finn’s next move be?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

Next Episode