Previously…
– Helen confronted Natalie with DNA results proving that Spencer, not Jason, is Peter’s father, but Natalie convinced her not to reveal the truth.
– Sabrina, who helped Helen by swiping a sample of Spencer’s DNA from a can, was impatient the night before Jason and Natalie’s wedding as she awaited hearing about the DNA test results from Helen.
– Diane convinced her estranged daughter, Samantha, to meet up and talk, but it quickly went south when Tempest came upon them and got into a nasty sparring match with Diane.
– As Tori was telling Landon about her breakup with Zane, she suddenly felt faint and collapsed.

The evergreen trees that line the back lawn of Wandering Soul Winery sway gently in the summer breeze. Down on the lush, green grass, rows of Chiavari chairs have been set out to form an aisle, which leads to an iron archway covered in delicate white and pink flowers.

On the back patio of the winery’s main building, waiters circulate with trays of champagne for the arriving guests. Diane Bishop plucks one of the glasses as soon as she steps through the door and out onto the patio. As she takes her first sip, she gazes out at the lawn where, in less than an hour, her sister will marry Jason Fisher.

“Not too shabby,” she mutters.

She scans the crowd and is about to approach Alex Marshall and Trevor Brooks when something else entirely catches her eye and her attention. Her daughter is chatting politely with a dark-haired woman in a floral dress, whom it takes Diane a moment to identify as Sabrina Gage. Diane edges her way toward them, not wanting to interrupt, and as she waits for an opening, she makes note of how polished Samantha looks. She wears a simple but lovely black dress that comes to the knee, with a wide belt cinched around her waist; Sam has never been particularly stylish, but it appears that her job at Objection Designs has rubbed off on her.

A pang of sadness suddenly strikes Diane. The realization that her daughter has grown and changed over the past few months — and that Diane has not been in her life to witness it — hurts terribly. But before she can dwell too much on the thought, Sabrina moves off, and Diane swoops in.

“Samantha,” she says quickly as she approaches from behind. The younger woman turns and takes her in with surprise.

“Hi, Mom.” The response is cautious, measured.

“You look great. So… grown-up.”

“Thanks. How are you?”

The question, so simple and commonplace, might as well be a winning Powerball ticket or a diamond necklace. This is how grand a gift even this small opening feels to Diane.

“I’m okay. Getting by.” She purses her already-pronounced lips. “I’ve missed you. I want to apologize again for how things went when we got coffee–”

“You mean when you and Tempest couldn’t even be civil for two minutes?”

Diane breathes through the verbal punch. “Yeah. That was stupid of me, and unproductive. I promise that I learned my lesson.”

Sam stares back at her, her eyes narrowed and tentative behind the lenses of her glasses.

“What’s most important to me is making things right between us,” Diane says. “Whatever it takes. Please, give me another chance to do that.”

—–

Although Sabrina is enjoying her friendly conversation with Samantha, she concludes it — not too abruptly, she hopes — the moment she sees the older couple step out onto the patio. She hardly considers herself an aggressive person, but the questions have been growing louder and more urgent in her head since she tried to call Helen Chase last night. And after what Helen asked her to do to Spencer, Sabrina believes that she has every right to know the truth.

She steps in front of Helen and her husband as they are taking in the view.

“Mr. and Mrs. Chase,” she says, her heart thumping inside her chest. “Hi.”

Helen glares at her with a certain amount of barely concealed alarm. “Sabrina. Hello.”

Sabrina watches Don react with surprise as he realizes who she is.

“Mrs. Chase came into the coffee shop where I work a few weeks ago,” she explains, “and wanted to make peace. She knows that I had nothing to do with what Shannon Parish did when she stole my identity.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Don says pleasantly, extending his hand. Sabrina shakes it. “It’s nice to meet you officially.”

“Same. Would you mind if I borrowed your wife for a minute? It’s kind of… you know… girl talk.”

“Not at all. Helen, I’ll go say hi to Alex and Trevor. Come find me when you’re through.”

He slides away, and Helen regards Sabrina with annoyance.

“What’s this all about?” she asks through gritted teeth.

Sabrina tips her head toward the side of the patio, and they move that way together, away from anyone who might overhear them.

“What’s going on with the test?” she whispers. “I tried calling you last night–”

“I was mugged!” Helen exclaims.

“What? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, thank goodness. Some madman accosted me with a gun and stole my purse.”

Sabrina lifts a hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry. That sounds really scary.”

“It was terrifying!” Helen says. “And whoever this common criminal was, he made off with my phone — so I never even got your call.”

“Okay.” Sabrina glances around to be sure that no one is going to hear them. She doesn’t see Jason, Spencer, Natalie, or anyone else who might even care standing nearby. “Then tell me: did you get the results? Who is the father?”

—–

“It was so weird,” Landon Esco says, clasping his hands together nervously. “One second, we were talking about Pop Tarts, and the next, she was on the ground.”

Travis Fisher looks up at his roommate, who has been pacing back and forth in the waiting area of the hospital’s emergency room for the better part of an hour.

“I’m worried about my cousin, too,” Travis says as he taps the plastic arm of his chair, “but I don’t think we are gonna figure out what’s wrong by rehashing the whole story again. Unless one of the Pop Tarts poisoned her.” 

“She didn’t even eat it!”

“Then we’re not solving this. Let’s see what the doctors say.”

Landon lets out a heavy sigh.

“She was talking by the time the paramedics showed up,” Travis reminds him. “She might’ve just been dehydrated.”

“Yeah…”

Tori’s parents come rushing in from the elevator bay, Sarah leading Matt by a few steps.

“What’s going on?” Sarah asks. “Have the doctors been out yet?”

“We’re still waiting,” Travis tells them.

“You can go if you need to get ready for the wedding,” Sarah replies. “Matt and I will wait.”

“No, I’ll wait,” Travis says, standing. “I’m worried about Tori.”

“Yeah. Me, too,” Landon adds.

“You said she woke up before they brought her in, right?” Matt says. “That’s a good thing.”

“Travis was just saying that. Yeah,” Landon says. “It seemed like she knew where she was, what was going on, all that.”

Matt claps a hand on Landon’s shoulder. “Thanks for calling 911 and watching out for her.”

Landon puffs out his chest a little. “Of course.”

“I hope it’s nothing serious,” Sarah says before pulling out her phone to check the time. “And I hope we know what’s going on soon.”

—–

Samantha’s hesitation seems to stretch on for hours. Diane tenses, fighting every instinct she has to keep talking, to apply more pressure.

“That’s what I wanted months ago,” Samantha finally says.

Diane gulps. “Has that changed?”

“No.” Samantha shakes her head lightly. “You’re my mom. We have a lot to work through. But that’s what it’s going to be: work.”

“I know,” Diane says. “I’m willing to do it. I’ve missed you. You’re the most important thing in my world, Sam.”

Samantha smiles. “Then let’s try.”

At last, Diane lets out a sigh of relief. “Nothing would make me happier.”

—–

Elsewhere on the patio, Helen’s index finger flies up to her lips. “Shh! What is wrong with you?”

Chastened, Sabrina pauses and pushes a lock of raven hair behind one ear.

“Sorry,” she says in a much softer voice. “Usually I wouldn’t even think this was any of my business, but… well… you convinced me to help out. I still feel guilty about what I did. You know, taking something from Spencer.”

“Oh, dear. It was a can of soda, not a kidney. Besides, the results were in my purse when it was stolen.”

“So you did get them,” Sabrina says as she leans forward. “What did they say? Is Jason…?”

“I’m afraid so,” Helen says. “Peter is his.”

Sabrina’s shoulders sink inward, like a beach ball suddenly stuck with a needle.

“Wow,” she says quietly. “I really thought…”

“I did, too. But there’s no use dwelling on ‘what if’s. The test said what it said, and Natalie is going to get what she wants, no matter how badly either of us might want to stop it.”

“I don’t want to stop it.”

Helen raises an eyebrow at Sabrina, who instinctively withers at the look, knowing that she’s been caught. Before she can protest, however, Helen grabs two flutes of champagne from a passing waiter.

“I’m going to go find my husband,” Helen announces. “Enjoy the wedding — and thank you again for your help.”

With that, Helen winds her way through the crowd in search of Don, and Sabrina stays behind, upset for herself the way her stomach sinks as she looks out over the beautiful wedding site.

—–

Tori lies in the hospital bed, increasingly irritated as she waits for her Instagram feed to load. For some reason, her cell reception in this corner of the hospital is horrible, and she can’t seem to get her phone to connect to the WiFi.

“Come on,” she says through a groan, though even she isn’t sure if she is addressing the app on her phone or the situation in general. Now that she has been at the hospital for a while, has had blood drawn, and received an IV to treat dehydration, she more or less feels fine. Maybe a little queasy and tired, but that’s to be expected after fainting first thing in the morning.

Besides, she wants to get out of here in time to get ready for her uncle’s wedding. She’s already going to be cutting it very close with getting showered and dressed, let alone doing her hair and make-up.

There is a firm knock on the open door. She glances up from her phone to see Dr. Fatehi, with thinning black hair and thick black glasses, standing with a chart in hand.

“Are my results back?” she asks, scooting up straighter in the bed.

“Yes,” the doctor says, his tone inscrutable. Tori places her phone on the side table.

“What is it? Is something serious wrong with me? I haven’t– I mean, I’ve felt totally fine until today, just tired–”

“Victoria, it isn’t anything serious in the sense that it’s life-threatening.” Dr. Fatehi closes the door. “But we should talk.”

“What? Why?” She finds it difficult to breathe as she awaits whatever he is about to say.

“Because,” he explains, “your bloodwork shows that you are pregnant.”

END OF EPISODE 931

How should Tori proceed, given the doctor’s news?
Did you expect Helen to lie to Sabrina?
Will Diane and Samantha be able to reconcile?
Discuss it all in the comments below!

Next Episode