Previously…
– Brent informed Natalie that, since there is new forensic evidence regarding Loretta’s murder, the police need to question her again.
– Tempest facilitated a meeting between Isaac and Sienna so they could work out an arrangement regarding Noelle’s care, but Isaac remained suspicious of Sienna’s motives.

The scent of Chinese takeout lingers in Conrad Halston‘s townhouse, with the remains of dinner spread across the table in the dining nook beside the open-concept kitchen. Crumpled paper napkins, empty containers, and a few errant grains of rice litter the tabletop.

“That was nice,” Conrad says as he holds his wine glass by the stem. “Thank you guys for coming over.”

“Any time, Dad,” Bree Halston replies with a smile, as she twirls a chopstick between her fingers.

“Yeah, thanks for dinner, Mr. Halston,” Marcus Gray adds as he stacks the discarded takeout boxes with calm efficiency.

“You’re both very welcome. And Marcus, you don’t have to clean up. I’ve got it.”

Marcus shrugs as he continues gathering items. “I don’t mind. My mom says you should always help clean up when someone has you over for dinner.”

“Your mom is a wise lady,” Conrad says, “but you really don’t have to–” He is interrupted by the buzzing of his iPhone, which has been resting atop the table. He reaches over to silence it but pauses when he sees the name on the display.

“Everything okay?” Bree asks cautiously, recognizing the sudden tension in her father’s body well.

“It’s your mother,” Conrad says. “I should take this.” Picking up the phone, he slips into the living room to answer the call from his ex-wife.

Marcus rises from his seat to continue cleaning up. Bree gazes toward the living room, concern etched into her face.

“You think she’s in trouble again?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Why would you think that?” Bree anxiously brushes a strand of blonde hair behind one ear.

“Because they’re divorced, and your dad’s a lawyer, and… it’s your mom.”

Bree frowns but doesn’t respond otherwise. Marcus crosses to the kitchen counter with his armful of takeout containers. Seconds later, Conrad returns, still on the phone.

“I’ll call Brent right away to set it up,” he says into the phone. “I’ll text you afterward.” Conrad listens to whatever Natalie’s response is, then says, “See you tomorrow.”

“What’s going on, Dad?” Bree asks. “Is Mom okay?”

“She’s okay,” Conrad confirms as he sets the phone down on the table again. “Physically, at least.”

Bree’s voice goes tight in her throat. “What does that mean?”

“Your mother needs my help with a legal matter.”

“Told ya,” Marcus says to his girlfriend.

With a sigh, Bree slumps a little lower in her chair.

——

Tempest Banks kneels on the living room floor, smoothing the fabric of her jeans as she watches Noelle, the tiny, delicate girl who has just arrived in her life. Noelle sits cross-legged on the area rug next to the coffee table in the cozy living room of Tempest and Samantha‘s apartment, her big, dark eyes occasionally flicking toward the closed door of the room where her mother and Isaac are talking.

Attuning her ear a little more closely, Tempest detects no evidence of an argument from the other room, but the tension in the air is thick enough for even a three-year-old to feel.

Turning back toward Noelle, Tempest offers a small smile. She spent plenty of time with Chase when he was very young, before he had fully worked out their complex familial connections, so she thought that she was well prepared for this; however, it still feels strange and weird and uncertain.

“Your doll’s cute,” she says. “Do you want to show her to me?”

Noelle considers this silently for a moment, then thrusts the doll in Tempest’s direction. Tempest studies the doll’s soft brown curls and the worn pink dress with intense care, as if needing to prove to the little girl how serious she is about getting to know her.

“What’s her name?” Tempest asks.

“Taylor Swift Jennifer!”

A restrained laugh slips out past Tempest’s lips. “Taylor Swift Jennifer,” she says, trying out the name. “Did you, uh, name her yourself?”

“Mm-hmm.” Noelle nods excitedly. “Do you have dolls?”

Tempest hesitates. She never had many toys that she loved when she was younger, due to a combination of Yvette rarely having extra money and their family moving around so often, sometimes being evicted and losing items in the process.

“Not anymore. But I’d love if you showed me how you play with, um, Taylor Swift Jennifer.”

Noelle’s large eyes stare back at her. Then she blurts out, “Who you are?”

“I’m Tempest. Your Aunt Tempest. That’s what you can call me.”

“Aunt Tempest. Aunt Tempest!” Noelle excitedly throws up her hands and shakes her body. The doll wriggles along with her movements. “Want to see Taylor Swift Jennifer do backflips?”

“That sounds really cool,” Tempest says, tucking her legs underneath herself as she settles onto the floor with her newfound niece. She casts one more glance at the closed bedroom door, hoping that there is no sudden outburst from within.

—–

In Tempest and Samantha’s bedroom, the air is thick with the tension of old wounds and unresolved conflict. Isaac Banks stands near the window, his arm folded. Sienna Ridley lingers near the foot of the bed, watching Isaac as the cranberry red sweater stretches across his back.

“I swear, I’m not here to argue,” Sienna says. “All I want is to figure out what’s best for Noelle.”

He exhales sharply, turning his head but not his body. “That’s funny. Considering you hid her existence from me for two years.”

“I couldn’t find you!” she exclaims, though she quickly catches herself and continues in a quieter voice, “Which is what you wanted.”

“You’re right.” Now he turns slowly, his arms still folded tightly, and lets out a dry, humorless laugh. “I never wanted to see you again after the way you hurt me, Sienna.”

She tosses her mane of light brown hair over one shoulder. “I don’t blame you. I’m not even asking you to get over what I did. But we have a daughter who needs to be our priority.”

“She is my priority. Not your feelings.”

“Ouch. But I get it.”

They stand trapped in silence, in impenetrable tension, for what feels like a long time, though it is only several seconds.

“Then tell me what would work for you,” she says. “What are you thinking? Fifty-fifty?”

Isaac’s expression softens a bit. “I don’t want to take her away from you. And I know this transition is gonna be hard for her. Maybe we start a little more gradually. Let her get comfortable with me.”

Sienna nods eagerly. “That sounds great. I just want her to know you as her dad — and for you to know her.”

He watches her carefully, measuring each word. He wants to believe that this is as clean-cut as it appears on the surface. But he cannot shake the lingering feeling that Sienna has an angle here, something she isn’t revealing yet.

“Maybe we start with visits and build up to a sleepover at my place,” he suggests. “Ease her in.”

“I like the sound of that,” Sienna says. “We’ll figure this out, Isaac. That’s all I want. I promise.”

“Good,” he says, nodding tersely and hoping beyond hope that that is the truth.

—–

Warm air circulates through the car’s vents as Marcus pilots his used sedan down the quiet streets near the campus of King’s Bay University. The hum of the engine fills the space between himself and Bree, who sits stiffly in the passenger seat, hands wedged between her knees. Marcus quickly glances over, seeing the glow of passing streetlights flickering over her face.

“You know,” he says, “your mom’s gotten herself out of trouble plenty of times before. I’m sure she’ll do it again. Especially with your dad helping–“

“Why do you assume she has trouble to get out of?” Bree asks confrontationally, whipping her head toward him.

He crinkles his face as he looks forward, in order to keep an eye on the road. After the car accident that he and Tori were in shortly after he got his license, he became an incredibly careful driver, often not even turning on music for fear of becoming too distracted.

“Because she literally called your dad asking for legal help?” he ventures, thrown by the edge in her voice.

“It doesn’t mean she did anything.”

“I just mean, statistically speaking…”

“Oh my god. Marcus. Do you actually believe that my mom killed Loretta Ragan?”

“I… I didn’t say that,” he replies, keeping his voice as even as possible.

“Good. Then don’t.”

They ride in silence as Marcus turns into the large campus parking lot. He starts to turn down one of the aisles to find a space, but Bree speaks up:

“You can stop here. I’ll get out.”

“What?”

She unclicks her seatbelt and throws the door open. “I want to go to sleep.”

Marcus feels his stomach turn. “Are you sure?”

“Very.” She steps out of the car. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bree,” he says, but that is all he can get out before she shuts the passenger door. He watches her stomp up to the front door of her dormitory and let herself inside.

“What the hell?” Marcus asks himself as he throws his head back against the headrest with a sigh.

—–

Sienna eases the SUV to a stop as the yellow light turns red. Her iPhone plays the rollicking acoustic track “That’s So True” by Gracie Abrams, but Sienna’s mind is on her conversation with Isaac.

“Don’t you worry, honey,” she says. “Everything’s going to work out.”

Adjusting the rear-view mirror slightly, Sienna can see the back of her daughter’s head in the backward-facing car seat. Noelle is bouncing her doll up and down, seemingly without a care in the world.

“Your Daddy is such a good man,” Sienna says quietly. “I know he’s going to forgive me if we just give it some time. Everything we did will have been worth it.”

She thinks back to those weeks she spent quietly moving around King’s Bay, watching Tempest in order to get a sense of her life so that she could stage the perfect “accidental” run-in and get Isaac’s sister on her side before revealing herself to him.

“Everything’s going to work out,” she says again, as the light flips from red to green, “just the way we need it to.”

Taking her foot off the brake, Sienna proceeds through the intersection, knowing that she and Noelle are one step closer to having Isaac back for good.

END OF EPISODE 1254

What lengths will Sienna go to in her quest?
Should Isaac take a different approach?
Was Marcus wrong to voice what he did?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

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