Previously…
– Loretta Ragan’s sudden release from jail alarmed the Fishers.
– After being ousted from Objection Designs, a devastated Finn confided in Trevor that Camille Lemieux was his biological mother. Finn and Trevor had sex, but a frenzied Trevor rushed out afterward.
– Tori returned to work at Objection but suffered a panic attack when visions of Zane overwhelmed her.

“Where is she?” Sarah Fisher Gray demands as she rushes into the anteroom of the office suite on the eighteenth floor of Winston Tower.

“In my office,” Molly Taylor tells her sister. The executive has been waiting in the front area of the suite for several minutes, with periodic breaks to go inside and check on her niece.

Sarah’s head whips toward the double doors that lead to Molly’s office.

“What happened?” she asks in a tone that sounds rather accusatory.

“I think it was a panic attack,” Molly says. “I asked if she wanted me to call 911, but she insisted I shouldn’t.”

Sarah contemplates this for a moment, then lets out a weighty sigh and pushes past her sister. She moves swiftly into the office, where Tori rests in an armchair, clutching a bottle of water between her palms. She wears the printed maxi dress that she left the house in this morning; her blazer is slung over the arm of the chair, leaving her arms bare.

“How are you feeling?” Sarah asks, in a much softer voice than she used with Molly.

Tori appears shaky as she sits up straighter. “I’m okay.”

Moving toward her daughter, Sarah says, “This was your mind playing tricks on you. Keep telling yourself that.”

“I know.” Tori takes another sip of water. “But it felt so real. Like Zane was here.”

Sarah lowers herself onto the arm of the chair and wraps an arm around her adult daughter.

“He’s not here,” she says. “He’s in prison. And he’s going to be there for a long time.”

Standing by the door with her arms folded, Molly adds, “These things force their way into your mind even when it doesn’t make sense. After what happened with Craig, and with Philip…” She trails off, shaking her head as if trying to shake away those demons.

“I don’t think we need to bring up Philip right now,” Sarah says curtly. “Tori, why don’t we go home–“

“No,” Tori replies, her voice nearly pleading. “I swear I can do this.”

“We know you can,” Molly cuts in. “Maybe you could work from home for a few days while you see your therapist.”

“That would be good,” Sarah says.

“How would that even work?” Tori asks.

“I’m still getting settled back in,” Molly says. “With cell phones and e-mail and Google Docs… it won’t be a big deal at all.”

Tori nods slowly, as if not quite believing that this is possible.

“I promise it’ll be fine,” Molly insists. “Why don’t you go with your mom?”

“My car is here,” Tori says.

“I took an Uber, so I can drive your car,” Sarah tells her.

“Take the rest of the day to relax,” Molly says, “and you can clock in from home tomorrow morning. Does that work?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Tori nods uneasily as Sarah helps her out of the armchair.

—–

A subtle breeze rustles the leaves on the trees spread throughout Bayside Cemetery. Gentle sunshine cuts through the foliage and warms the sprawling lawns, creating a peaceful atmosphere in this solemn location.

Finn Campbell stands before the gravestone inscribed with the name of his biological mother, a woman whom he never got to meet but somehow feels that he knows. A bouquet of pink carnations rests in front of the memorial. Since he found out about his roots, thanks to Loretta Ragan, Finn has always felt that Camille Lemieux‘s interest in fashion and entrepreneurial spirit must have been passed down to him; learning about her has helped him feel grounded in a way that he never felt with his adoptive family, who took him in as an older foster child and provided a safe, if distant, upbringing.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do next,” Finn says to the gravestone as he works his fingers together anxiously. “It all blew up in my face and… I don’t know now.”

He watches a single leaf skitter over the grass lazily, propelled by the soft wind.

“I know you left the company to Molly,” he continues, “but it should’ve been mine. If you had kept me, it would’ve been.”

Emotions swell within him. The recent past has been a whirlwind of tumult, and he feels so unmoored that he wants to jump out of his skin.

“So I’m unemployed, and I lost my chance at Objection,” Finn says to the gravestone, “and I even screwed up what I had going with Trevor.” He lets out a sigh. “He’s completely ignored me ever since… well, you don’t need the details, but I thought we had a future together, and now… it’s nothing, just like everything else.”

He kicks the toe of his Converse x Comme des Garçons sneakers against a patch of dirt, smudging the white cap of the shoe.

“I don’t know what to do,” he laments, and then he simply stands there for a few minutes, scanning the etchings in the gravestone as if they might hold some secret answer. Finally, when no further clarity comes, he decides that it’s time to go and turns. But he only makes it a few steps in the grass before he hears a voice calling out:

“Finn! Finn, is that you?”

Looking up, he sees Helen Chase and her granddaughter waving at him in the distance.

In Tim Fisher‘s professional but modest corner office at Vision Publishing, the sandy-haired, middle-aged man sits across the desk from his dark-maned son.

“So she’s staying with us again,” Spencer Ragan says, leaning forward with his elbows planted on his knees. “The way she showed up, it was like she’d gone out to lunch, not been in jail for a few months.”

Tim wags his head in disbelief. “I cannot fathom why the judge granted her bail. I mean, we can guess…”

“Loretta can pull strings no one else even knew existed.”

“Right. On the plus side, you and Natalie can keep an eye on her while we wait for this trial.”

“Natalie booked it out of the house so fast that my head almost spun,” Spencer replies. He leans back, leaving impressions of his elbows on his navy blue dress pants. “I’ll say this much: my mother — er, Loretta — gets to her in a way almost no one else does.”

Tim clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth and gazes off to the side. His eyes land on the framed book covers that line one wall of the office; two of Alex Marshall‘s most successful works are among the bunch.

“I don’t believe for a second that Loretta is going to wait around peacefully for this trial,” he finally says.

“Well, they confiscated her passport, so at least she can’t leave the country.”

“The United States is a big place. If Sonja and TJ can disappear, then Loretta can, too.” He pauses and claps his palms against the desk. “But the fact that she went straight to Molly’s house is telling.”

“You think she’s going to try something?” Spencer asks.

“I know she is,” Tim replies. “I don’t know what, or when. But Loretta has had it in for my sister and my mother for years. Granted, it took her focus off Claire and me, but it’s the same energy.”

“Well, we can keep an eye on her. And I know she raised me, but…” Spencer goes quiet as he gathers his thoughts before continuing. “If she tries anything to hurt Molly, or Paula — on top of what she did with Gabrielle–“

“We won’t let it happen,” Tim says firmly. “If she does a single thing that could help us get her bail revoked–“

“I’ll let you and Brent know right away,” Spencer says, with a sincerity that Tim does not doubt for a moment.

Since it is still on the early side for lunch, Bill’s on the Pier is very sparsely populated when Tori and Sarah step through the front door. There are only a few diners scattered throughout the space, enjoying early lunches accompanied by conversation or a perusal of the newspaper.

“You’ll feel better after you get some food in your system,” Sarah tells her daughter as they approach the host’s stand, which is currently unattended.

“I hope so,” Tori says dully. She feels drained from the panic attack that she suffered at the office, and if she weren’t working so hard to convince her mother — and herself — that she’s okay, she would already be curled up in bed with the curtains pulled closed.

They wait for a moment before Tori says, “I can probably just go grab our order from the back. They know me.”

Sarah shrugs in assent, but before Tori can move, a pleasant voice cuts across the quiet restaurant.

“Tori! Is that you?”

Both women look to see Lucy Champlain, dressed in the white chef’s coat that all the kitchen workers wear, coming toward them. Her strawberry blonde hair is pulled back into a neat ponytail.

“I thought you’d be at your fancy new job,” Lucy says.

“Oh, uh, my start got delayed,” Tori says uncomfortably.

“Did you come to see your dad? He isn’t supposed to be in for another few hours–“

“No, we’re just picking up a takeout order for lunch. Lucy, this is my mom. Mom, this is Lucy. We worked together while I was here.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sarah says, extending her hand for a shake.

“You, too.” Lucy reaches out to shake Sarah’s hand, and as she does, the sleeve of her white coat rides up slightly, revealing something that Tori cannot miss: a yellowish-purple bruise on the underside of her wrist.

Then, noticing the unattended host’s stand, Lucy says, “I can go check on your order. I’ll be right back.”

“Thank you,” Sarah says, as Lucy retreats to the kitchen. Tori manages to squeak out her thanks, too, but all she can think about is that bruise on Lucy’s wrist — just like the one she spotted on Lucy’s forearm back when she began working here, as well as the way that Lucy’s boyfriend came to pick her up and Lucy practically jumped out of her shoes when he honked his horn to order her into his truck.

—–

Finn’s nervous system goes into overdrive when he realizes that Helen and Sophie have not only spotted him, but are approaching. After a moment of panicked thought, he moves toward them — not so much to meet them in the middle as to distance himself from Camille’s burial site.

“Mrs. Chase,” he says with all the politeness he can muster. “How are you?”

The senior citizen, dressed in a bubblegum-pink sweater and khaki pants, with her blondish-gray hair falling loosely over her shoulders, smiles as she leads her granddaughter toward Finn.

“Sophie is staying with my husband and me while her father is out of town,” Helen explains. “We decided to come see her mother — my Courtney.”

“Of course. Yeah.” Finn stuffs his hands into his pockets. “Hi, Sophie.”

“Hi,” the raven-haired teen says to him, her head dipped and her eyes raised in a manner that reads like she is suspicious of his very presence. “Why are you here?”

“Don’t be rude, Sophie,” Helen says. “A lot of people come to the cemetery to visit loved ones and find solace. Between visiting Courtney… and my old friends Bill, Roz, and Patrick… and Sandy… I have a lot of folks to see here!”

“It’s, um, it’s good you’re able to do that,” Finn offers.

Helen subtly lifts one eyebrow. “I didn’t know you had any departed loved ones buried in King’s Bay, Finn.”

“Oh, my, um, adoptive grandparents were from here. I didn’t know them that well, but it helps — I don’t know, it grounds me.”

“Of course. That’s very sweet.”

“Yeah, sometimes I like to bring them flowers and sit and think and… it helps process whatever’s going on in my life,” he says.

“I think my mom can hear me when I talk to her,” Sophie tells him.

Finn looks at the teenager, and despite her brash exterior, he can see the wounded child just below the surface. There is a pain brimming in her eyes, something that he recognizes all too well — maybe it is a pain that comes from never having actually known one’s mother.

“I should get going,” he says. “Good seeing you both.”

“You, too,” Helen says, and then Finn peels off, across the expansive grounds and back toward the parking lot.

“That was unexpected, but nice,” Helen comments as she and Sophie continue walking. “I didn’t think it would be right to bring up that whole mess he got himself into at Objection… but I’m sure that’s part of why he needed to come here today.”

Sophie nods, mulling something over as she walks beside her grandmother.

“Are you all right?” Helen asks after several prolonged seconds of silence. “I know it can’t be easy coming to visit your mom.”

“I’m okay,” the teen says, but her mind continues to churn. She couldn’t help but notice one thing: Finn said that he was visiting his grandparents, but the only grave anywhere near them with fresh flowers on it was a grave marked “Camille Lemieux,” a name that Sophie recognizes from reading old news articles about Nick Moriani‘s reign of terror.

I wonder why he would be visiting that lady, she thinks as they continue moving through the cemetery.

END OF EPISODE 1223

Will Sophie figure out Finn’s origins?
Should Tori intervene to help Lucy?
Can Spencer and Tim keep Loretta in check?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

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