Previously…
– On a threat from Loretta, Sonja was forced to read the results of Peter’s paternity test aloud at Jason and Natalie’s wedding. Everyone gathered was stunned to hear that Spencer is Peter’s real father.
– Natalie managed to convince Jason that, although she had slept with Spencer before getting serious with Jason, the DNA results were fake. He agreed to continue with the wedding.
– Helen interrupted the ceremony to reveal the full truth. Spencer’s memory suddenly returned, and he confirmed it. Jason left Natalie at the altar.

The world has become grotesque. Jason Fisher moves numbly over the grass, but all around him, the beautiful grounds of Wandering Soul Winery appear distorted, stretched and streaked as if by a funhouse mirror. The blue sky now taunts him with its cartoonish brightness. When he enters the winery, Jason sees the gift table, with its melange of bows and colors and shiny paper, and he keeps on moving through the building. Out front, he descends some stairs and finally pauses in a patch of gravel.

This can’t be real, he thinks, as the disaster that was supposed to be his wedding replays on a loop in his head.

He hears the crunching of gravel and turns sharply, ready to lash out. But then he sees his brother and two sisters standing there.

“We’re all here for you,” Tim says.

“I need to be alone.” Jason shakes his head insistently. “I need to– I need to go home and be alone.”

“We aren’t letting you do that again,” Sarah says. “Not like last time. You aren’t locking yourself away from the world.”

“You have Sophie this time,” Molly tells him. “And we’re all going to be here to make sure you both get through this.”

Jason wants to tell them to leave him alone, to go away, but as he attempts to force out the words, something else happens. A sob escapes his throat, followed by another, and then he feels himself breaking down into a pile of tears. His siblings crowd around him as Molly’s outstretched arms pull him closer.

—–

Out back, Natalie Bishop is on her knees, pressing the once-immaculate white chiffon of her wedding dress into the grass. Her eyes are wild, and her fists are balled as she slams them into the ground.

“Go ahead! Stare all you want!” she screams at her wedding guests, half of whom are gawking at her in disbelief and the other half of whom are averting their gazes.

“Get off the ground,” a voice commands, and Natalie sees her mother stomping over the lawn to get to her. Claudia sticks out her hand, but Natalie simply stares up at her, too shaken to move.

“I said, get up,” Claudia says through gritted teeth. “You’re making a fool of yourself.”

“They already did that for me,” Natalie spits back.

“And you’re only making it worse.”

Natalie knows that she can’t stay there forever, even if she would like to; once she moves, this is all real. It will be her new reality. Everyone knows that Peter isn’t Jason’s son, and Jason isn’t marrying her. But she has children inside that building. Reluctantly, she takes her mother’s hand and stands.

“Let’s get you out of here,” Claudia says.

Natalie looks around. She can see and feel the judgment emanating in waves from all of them. Paula Fisher looks appalled. Helen Chase looks so pleased with herself. That idiot Sonja Kahele is folding her hands together, no doubt frightened that her misdeeds are about to be outed, too, and with no clue that she is the one who caused this entire shitstorm to happen.

And then there is Spencer Ragan. He glares at her from several feet away, but even from a distance, Natalie can see that he is back to his old self. There was a kinder, more understanding Spencer in place when he didn’t have his memory, and now that it is back, so is the old vitriol.

He marches toward them.

“Not so fast,” he tells both Bishop women.

“Now is not the time,” Claudia says.

He rolls his eyes. “I’d say it’s way past time. I have a two-year-old son I barely know — and who barely knows me — because of you.” He jabs his index finger right at Natalie. “You tried to kill me–”

“I did not!” she snaps. “I never, ever wanted to hurt you, Spencer.”

“So, what? I fell down those stairs by accident and you left me for dead? That’s way better, obviously.”

She wants to respond, but she has no idea what to say. In her mind, she can still see him lying there at the bottom of the staircase in his gorgeous modern house. She can recall the panic and the confusion so readily.

“I never wanted any of this,” she says.

“Well, it’s too damn late, because this is what you’ve got,” Spencer barks at her. But as soon as the words emerge, as forcefully as they possibly could, he stops, as if he has suddenly lost his balance. He pauses, mouth half-open, as he attempts to right himself.

“What’s wrong?” Claire Fisher asks as she hurries toward her son. She offers an arm, and he instinctively steadies himself against her.

“I’m fine,” Spencer says. “I just…”

“You should sit down,” Claire says. And then his half-sister is on his other side, and the two of them help him to a chair in the front row.

He looks up at Natalie, his gaze cold and penetrating.

“This isn’t over,” he tells her. “Not by a long shot.”

Claudia stares back at him, her expression almost impressively judgmental, as if this is somehow his fault.

“Come on,” she says to her daughter. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Spencer remains in his chair, flanked by family as his head spins.

—–

Meanwhile, Paula watches the drama play out in absolute shock. She hardly has any idea how to process this. She came here today for a joyous occasion — to see her son cement his new family, to take hold of the happiness that they all feared he would never find again. Instead, she has lost a grandson, gained a great-grandson, and discovered a tear in the fabric of the family that she fears might not be repairable.

She finds herself approaching Helen, who is standing by Don’s side, also observing the aftermath of the disaster.

“How are you doing?” Don asks. “This must be quite a shock–”

“Yes, and all thanks to your wife,” Paula says.

Helen’s eyes go wide, and she touches her hand delicately to her chest. “Me? This is very clearly all Natalie’s fault.”

“Oh, please, Helen.” Paula struggles to find the proper words and lets out a frustrated huff before going on. “If you were sitting on this information, there were other ways to go about dealing with it besides turning my family’s celebration into a three-ring circus.”

“I’m not the one who did that,” Helen says. “Loretta Ragan did.”

“And then you jumped to your feet and gleefully made a mess of things, too! What is wrong with you?”

Helen looks to Don for back-up, but he stands there silently.

“I tried to reason with Natalie last night,” Helen explains. “I gave her the chance to come clean and avoid all of this. But she spun another web of lies and convinced me to let it go.”

“But you were all too happy to destroy a bunch of lives in front of an audience,” Paula says.

“Once everything came out, I had no choice. I wasn’t going to let that indecent woman become Sophie’s stepmother, after all the lies she told. I won’t apologize for that.”

Paula grunts with annoyance.

“That was the only way to get Natalie to come clean about everything she’s done,” Helen says. “She had already manipulated Jason into going through with the wedding–”

“And now his life has been decimated, and he’s humiliated.”

Don steps between the women.

“Why don’t I take Helen home?” he says. “Everyone has a lot to work through right now.”

Paula narrows her eyes at Helen. “We’ll finish this later. I need to go be with my family.” She storms toward the winery building, leaving the Chases standing there.

—–

On the front side of the building, the four Fisher siblings cluster together. Jason’s head is bowed in the center of the ring.

“How can he not be my son?” he wonders aloud, his voice shaky. “He is my son.”

And my grandson, Tim thinks for the first time now that some of the fog has lifted. But he knows that he shouldn’t say it out loud, not yet.

“You’re in shock right now,” he instead tells his brother. “This is a lot to have thrust upon you.”

Jason lets out a heavy sigh. “I am such an idiot. How did I not see what was going on? How did I stand up there–”

“Because you’re a good man,” Molly says. “You see the best in people. Natalie took advantage of that.”

They are all quiet for a long moment.

“I should get Sophie,” Jason says. “I don’t know how I’m going to explain this to her. And Bree…”

“Why don’t I go get Sophie?” Sarah offers. “We can get the two of you home.”

“Conrad can take Bree tonight,” Molly says. “She’ll be okay with him.”

“And what about Peter?” Jason gulps. “Who will…”

“Jason,” Natalie says suddenly as she emerges from the building’s front door.

“Now is not the time,” Sarah warns, turning to the disgraced bride. “Give him space.”

Jason simply stares at Natalie in her dirty wedding dress, with her smeared makeup. There is no softness in his gaze, no affection.

“Why don’t I get Peter?” she says. “I’ll get him, and we can take him home, and–”

“No!” Jason says. “You aren’t going anywhere with him. Peter is my son, and I’m not letting you have him.”

—–

“I guess everyone got their money’s worth from the show,” Spencer says. He remains seated in the front row, with Claire and Samantha on either side of him.

“I’m sorry you had to find out that way,” Claire says softly. “Or at least remember.”

He looks at her with surprise. “You aren’t mad?”

“Mad? No. Why would I be mad?”

“Because I…” He waves his hand around, indicating the flower-covered archway and the rest of the wedding setup. “I’m the reason this all went to hell.”

“That’s not true,” Samantha says. “The part about you and Aunt Natalie — it makes sense, the way she explained it. It isn’t like you went behind Uncle Jason’s back.”

Disbelief floods Spencer’s system.

“I thought everyone would hate me,” he admits.

“We could never hate you,” Claire says. “Am I shocked that I’m a grandmother? Yes. Am I shocked that this is how we found out? Of course. But do we blame you for that? No.”

“Me, neither,” Samantha adds.

“I didn’t want everyone to know because I thought you’d all blame me,” he says. “I thought you’d all hate me for ruining Jason’s life, even though…” He stops and shakes his head, as if trying to straighten out the thoughts jumbled inside. “I swear that I didn’t even know Peter was mine until I got that second DNA test, and when I tried to talk to Natalie about it, I…”

The memory of arguing with her and falling down the stairs is so vivid now that it almost physically pains him. He can’t believe there were all these months when he didn’t remember it.

“I have a kid,” he says, testing out the words, the idea. “I have a son.” Dazed, he turns again to look at his mother. “I have no idea what I’m going to do.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Claire says. “Together.”

Samantha squeezes his arm, and the show of support somehow makes this seem even less real to Spencer than it already did.

—–

Natalie sneers at Jason from the front steps of the winery. “You don’t get Peter if you don’t have me.”

“Legally, he’s my son,” Jason says to her. “I can take him–”

“And so can I!”

“Let’s see what a judge says. After what you’ve done–”

“Calm down, Jay,” Tim says, his grip on his brother’s shoulder firm. “You don’t need to do this now.”

“She can’t take my son,” Jason says desperately. “If she leaves with him…”

“Then let me stay at the house,” Natalie says. “Let Peter and me come home.”

Jason’s face is stony, but his head is racing. He doesn’t want to be under the same roof as her. But, on the other hand, he wants to keep an eye on Peter. He wants to know where his son is. He thinks about what it would be like to have Natalie in the house tonight… as if everything were normal…

“I have an idea,” a voice announces, and they all turn to see Alex Marshall standing at the entrance to the winery, with Trevor Brooks right behind him. “Why don’t Natalie and Peter stay with us tonight?”

“What?” Jason says in confusion.

“We have the guest room,” Alex says. “This way, Natalie has somewhere safe to go, and Jason can have his space without worrying about where Peter is. In the morning, you guys can talk about what comes next.”

Natalie looks to Jason. “Or we could come home with you.”

He finds that he can’t even make eye contact with her.

“Alex, thank you,” Jason says. “That’s a great idea.”

Natalie sighs in annoyance. “You guys don’t get to tell me where to go.”

“We could also have Brent take you in to question you about Spencer’s fall,” Trevor says.

“Trev,” Alex says quietly.

“I didn’t push him!” Natalie counters.

“I’m just saying.” Trevor holds up both palms. “Crashing in our guest room with your son is a better option than spending the night down at the station, right?”

“Fine,” she concedes after a tense pause. “But you had better not try to pull anything on me.”

Jason lets out a bitter laugh. “They aren’t the ones I’m worried about.”

The utter scorn in his voice is like a knife in Natalie’s gut. Suddenly she needs to be away from him, away from this place.

“Let’s go,” she says, stomping back inside the building.

Jason makes eye contact with Alex. “Thank you.”

“We’ve got this under control,” Alex says, and he and Trevor follow Natalie back inside.

“See? We’ve got this worked out for tonight,” Molly says.

“And you have people around you who care and are going to help you figure this out,” Sarah says.

Jason closes his eyes, grateful for the blackness that edges out this horrible scene around him and lets him focus on the supportive contact from his brother and sisters.

“We’re all here,” Tim says quietly, and Jason does everything he can to focus on that thought.

END OF EPISODE 937

What will happen to Peter now that the truth is out?
Is Spencer prepared to be a father now?
Is Paula right to be angry with Helen?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

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