Previously…
– Tori struggled with her plan to terminate her pregnancy. When her cousin, Marcus, found her outside the clinic, she lied to him that she was waiting for a friend.
– Danielle decided to leave King’s Bay for Los Angeles after receiving an offer to write songs for major pop artists.
– Now a law school graduate, Danielle’s daughter, Elly, visited for her father’s wedding.
– Spencer moved forward with his plans to sue for custody of baby Peter.

 

“Morning, kid,” Matt Gray says as he enters the kitchen of his brother and sister-in-law’s house and finds his nephew at the table, finishing his breakfast.

“Morning,” Marcus Gray responds, but there is something slow, even contemplative, about the single word that catches Matt’s attention.

Matt pulls down a mug from an upper cupboard and turns back toward the table. “Everything good?”

“Yeah.”

Marcus continues to push his eggs around on his plate as Matt fills his mug with hot coffee. He picks it up off the counter and watches the steam rise off its dark surface.

“Actually, there’s one thing,” Marcus spits out abruptly.

Matt eyes him carefully over the rim of his coffee. He has already raised one teenager, and although he doesn’t consider himself the most outwardly emotional guy, he found himself constantly attuned to Tori’s shifts in mood and attitude, even in the face of total silence. Sometimes even more so then. He could sense from the instant that he entered the kitchen that something was practically radiating off Marcus.

“I saw Tori yesterday,” the teen says.

Without even realizing it, Matt jolts a little more upright. He sets down the mug again. “Was she okay?”

“I dunno. She seemed kinda… upset.” Marcus chews his lower lip in thought for a few seconds, which stretch on endlessly for Matt’s nerves.

“I was going to do my community service hours at the church,” Marcus explains, “and I saw her outside this… a doctor’s office, I guess.”

“What kind of doctor?”

“It said, like, ‘Women’s Health’ on the sign. I dunno, she looked really stressed-out, but I asked her if she was okay and she said she was waiting for a friend and everything was fine.”

“Okay…” Matt racks his brain. “But you think it wasn’t fine?”

“She seemed weird. That’s all. Like I said, upset.”

“Thanks for telling me.”

Marcus sets down his fork with a sudden clang, his eyes widening. “I don’t think she was doing something bad. Don’t tell her–”

“You did the right thing by telling me,” Matt says as concern for his daughter spreads through his being. “Listen, I need to make a quick call. Thanks.”

He hurries out of the kitchen to retrieve his phone. Marcus lingers  over his eggs and toast uneasily.

—–

Vibrant leaves of red, orange, and yellow cover the sprawling lawn of Molly Taylor’s backyard. On the deck, Danielle Taylor lets out a loud sigh of disbelief.

“Some timing we have,” she says.

“Seriously,” Elly Vanderbilt replies with a wry smile. She has her black trench coat closed over her front, protecting her from the cool autumn air; her red hair falls softly over her shoulders. “We need to work on that.”

“I’m just glad I’ve gotten to have some time with you. It’s never enough, but it’s so special.”

“It’s like you always tell me: we’re only a plane ride apart. You can’t not go to L.A.” 

“I know that now,” Danielle says. “I had my reservations at first, but it’s such a huge opportunity, and… I really never thought I’d be able to make a career of music again. Not in this way.”

“But you’re doing it.” Elly’s smile returns, broader and brighter this time. “You’ve done this all for yourself.”

Danielle’s gaze rolls up toward the wide, bluish-gray sky. “It still doesn’t seem real.”

“It is real.” Elly clasps her mother’s hands. “My mother, the big-time songwriter. Everyone get ready.” 

A small laugh trills out of Danielle’s throat.

“I know I’ve said this already, but I’m so proud of you,” Elly says. “So, so proud. You’ve faced so much, and you’ve come through it with grace and strength.”

“Those things are all illusions. Things we fake until we come through on the other side.”

“Maybe. But you did it. You are going to do amazing things down in L.A.”

“I hope so,” Danielle says. “Still, I’m sorry I won’t be here longer to hang out with you. Have you decided how long you’ll be in town yet?”

Elly shrugs one shoulder. “I told Jimmy I’d help him sort out all the contracts for the new bar he and Kathleen are opening. In the meantime, I can apply to firms and figure out my next steps.”

“Sounds like a good plan. And I know Jimmy is thrilled to have you here. Your cousins are, too.”

“It sounds like someone’s going to need to help keep an eye on Caleb,” Elly says. “Who better than an attorney?”

“With an attorney and the police commander breathing down his neck, you’d think he’d watch himself.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

They stare at one another for a long, quiet moment of appreciation. Then Danielle moves forward and wraps her daughter into another hug.

“I’m so proud to call you my daughter,” she says, her chin on Elly’s shoulder. “I know we haven’t had the most conventional path, but in a way, it only makes the time that we do have more special.”

“I feel the same way,” Elly says. “I can’t wait to see what you do next.”

—–

“Great. Thank you. I’ll make sure the money for the retainer is wired over today,” Spencer Ragan says before hanging up his phone. He sets it down on the round, black table stationed in his new kitchen and looks around. Cardboard boxes and other moving accessories litter the space; packages have been delivered almost nonstop over the past few days as he attempts to fill the house with everything he will need.

The mere sight of it all is overwhelming. He pushes out his chair and attempts to focus on the fact that, with that phone call complete, he now has representation lined up for the custody suit that he plans to bring against Natalie. A firm based all the way in Seattle wasn’t his first choice, but the options in King’s Bay are limited — and the last thing he wanted to have to resort to was calling upon Loretta’s connections to import someone ruthless.

He moves into the living room and admires the white brick facade of the fireplace. This house isn’t nearly as striking or cool as his last one — frankly, it is much more suburban and typical than it is a piece of impressive architecture — but it will make a good home, especially when being evaluated as a place for a child to live.

As he walks slowly through the room, he notes the various high-end candles, in calming scents like leather and sage, sitting on the coffee table still in their packaging. Nearby is a stack of empty picture frames. Spencer picks up the top one, a clean, smooth black wood, and considers it. He doesn’t even have photos to put in them. He has very few photos with the Fishers, and he has none of his own son.

It hits him that what he is doing here is actually creating a new life from the ground up.

Again the thought threatens to overwhelm him. With a deep breath, he returns to the kitchen to get his phone. He can have his accountant wire the money to the law firm, and that will be one less thing to do. One thing at a time.

—–

The numerals on top of the elevator door light up in succession as the car rises through the building.

“Thanks for meeting me,” Matt says. “Seems better if we do this together.”

His wife swivels toward him. “Thanks for calling me. This is absolutely something we need to be a united front on.”

The elevator stops at the appointed floor and lets them off. They walk toward the apartment door and share a rallying look. Then Matt lifts his hand and knocks.

When the door opens, their daughter’s face fills with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

“What… are you guys doing here?” Tori asks tentatively.

“We’d just like to talk with you,” Sarah says, not waiting for an invitation as she moves inside. Matt follows her.

“Is this why you texted asking what I was up to?” Tori says. “So you could ambush me?”

“It isn’t an ambush,” Sarah tells her, her voice already rising.

“We just wanna talk,” Matt says in a deliberately calm tone. “How’ve you been doing?”

“What? I’m fine.” Tori, wearing black leggings and a long gray cardigan, gestures around the living room of your cousin’s apartment. The sofa is still pulled out into a bed, and her open luggage sits beside it.

“You can’t live like this forever,” Sarah says. “I’d really like if you came home. It’s…” She stops, searching for the right words. “It’s good for everyone.”

Tori’s eyebrows leap with alarm. “Why do you think I should come home?”

Her parents trade another serious look.

“The thing we wanna talk to you about,” Matt says with some hesitance, “is… Listen, Marcus told me he ran into you, and he said you were…”

His uncertainty hangs in the air for several seconds.

“We know you were at a women’s health clinic on the north side,” Sarah jumps in. “Tori, please. We’re your parents. If there’s something going on that’s troubling you, please tell us. Please.”

—–

After showering and getting dressed in a pair of dark-wash jeans, a long gray t-shirt, and an open plaid shirt, Marcus comes downstairs again with his backpack. He finds his mother at the kitchen table, enjoying her morning coffee as she peruses CNN on her laptop.

“Dad come down yet?” he asks.

Mia looks up at her son. “Not yet. He should be ready to head to the school soon, though.”

“Okay.”

She glances at the news article on her screen again but notices Marcus looming uneasily.

“What’s up?” she asks as she pushes the laptop aside.

“Nothing,” he says, utterly unconvincing.

“Hon, c’mere.” She pats the cushioned bench on which she is seated. “I’d tell you to work on your poker face, but I’d hate not to be able to tell when something’s bothering you.”

He cracks a grin before setting his backpack on the floor and sitting.

“So tell me what’s up,” Mia nudges him.

Marcus breathes in deeply, as if he has been carrying the weight of the world on his back. “I ran into Tori yesterday, and… I told Uncle Matt about it, because something seemed weird about her, and now I’m worried I, y’know, sold her out.”

“Did she give you reason to worry about her?”

“Kinda. Just where she was, and how she looked, and… She told me she was fine, but it felt weird.”

After a reflective pause, Mia says, “If something wasn’t sitting right with you, you were smart to tell Matt.”

Marcus looks up at her. “What if Tori gets mad at me? Or if it was something private?”

“Sometimes things aren’t so cut-and-dry. It could be private, and she might be upset with you at first, but you told your uncle because you care about Tori. That’s okay.”

“I don’t want her to think she can’t trust me or something.”

“What she’ll understand is that you love her. I promise,” Mia says as she slings an arm around him and pulls him closer.

“I hope you’re right,” Marcus says quietly.

—–

Danielle opens the front door and rolls her suitcase outside behind her. Her guitar case, in her other hand, gets placed at her feet.

“So this is it,” Molly says as she joins her former sister-in-law on the small porch.

“This is it,” Danielle repeats. She turns from one side to the other, taking in the large, circular driveway, lined with evergreen trees and shrubs.

“I cannot thank you enough for all your support over the years,” Molly tells her. “With the boys, with my personal life, with… you’ve been a sister to me even after Brent and I split up.”

“You’ve been the same for me. I’m going to miss our chats every night.”

“Hey, we still have our phones, and FaceTime, and we’re going to have a lot to talk about once you’re in L.A.” 

“Don’t act like things are so quiet around here, either,” Danielle says with a laugh.

They go quiet as Brent’s car pulls into the driveway. He parks and hops out, hurrying toward them.

“Almost ready to go?” he asks.

“You don’t have to drive me to the airport,” Danielle says. “I could get a cab.”

“Please. You’re my sister.” He sees her becoming emotional and steps into her open arms. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of you, Danielle.”

“Thank you guys for having me here for so long,” she says as she holds onto her brother. “Especially because I didn’t get to raise Elly myself, getting to be such a big part of the twins’ lives…”

Brent looks over his shoulder to Molly. “I actually don’t think we could’ve managed without you.”

“No way,” Molly agrees.

The sound of footsteps draw all their attention to the open door, where Christian is hurrying toward them, with Caleb trailing him.

“Your aunt is about to leave for the airport,” Brent says. “Why don’t you guys say goodbye?”

Danielle tears up even more as a reluctant Christian steps up to her.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” the teenager says.

“Neither can I.” Danielle pushes a smile across her face, even as a tear falls from her eye. “I’m going to miss you guys so much.”

“We’ll miss you, too,” Christian says.

She squeezes him tighter and rocks back and forth.

When they part, she focuses on Caleb. “And you…”

“Good luck with everything,” the more stoic twin says. “You’re gonna kill it.”

“Let’s hope so,” Danielle says before moving over to embrace him. “Stay out of trouble, okay?”

“I’m gonna,” Caleb says with a hint of annoyance, though he lets it pass as quickly as it came.

Danielle draws a deep, calming breath as she takes a step back. Brent takes her suitcase and guitar and brings them down the three steps to the driveway.

“I guess this is it,” she says, taking in the house that she has called home for years now.

“Now let’s get you on that plane,” Brent announces. He places her suitcase and then guitar case in trunk of his car.

Danielle opens the passenger door but turns back one more time. She sees Molly and the twins standing there on the porch, each clearly emotional in her or his own way.

“I love you all,” Danielle says, “and I’ll miss you so much.”

“We love you, too,” Molly says, and her sons and ex-husband all murmur their agreement.

Another smile, this one involuntary, spreads over Danielle’s lips as she sinks into the passenger seat. After steeling herself for a moment, she closes the door.

Brent gets in beside her and starts the car.

“Here we go,” he says. “Off to conquer the world.”

“I don’t know about that,” Danielle says. “But my little corner of it, just maybe.”

With a nod, he puts the car into reverse and backs out of the driveway. Molly, Christian, and Caleb all wave from their post on the porch, and Danielle waves back.

“Goodbye for now,” she says softly as the car starts down the road. “I’ll see you all later.”

On the porch, Molly hugs both her boys as they watch the car disappear into the autumn sun.

—–

After stopping by Vision Publishing to use the fax machine to send his accountant an authorization form — which struck him as absurdly outdated, but they left him no choice — Spencer steps out onto the streets of downtown King’s Bay. He is headed for his BMW, parked down the block, when something stops him cold in his tracks.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he asks Elly, who has herself stopped several feet away.

Her sneer transforms into an eye roll.

“My father just got married,” she says. “Whose life are you out to ruin today?”

“Funny. Does that go with the whole red hair thing? You’re all fiery and sassy now?”

“Considering what you did to Travis and me, you deserve all the fire and sass I can dredge up.”

He holds up both hands. “All I did was tell the truth. Travis was the one who did that.”

“You know what I don’t want to waste time on?” she says, hitching up her purse on her shoulder. “Reliving the past.”

“Good. Because I have things to do.”

He starts to move past her.

“Like what?” Elly questions. “Are you off to crash your car into Molly’s house again and let someone else take the fall?”

“I thought you weren’t interested in digging up the past.”

“You make it difficult, considering what a terrible impression you made on me when I lived here.”

“For your information,” he says, “I actually have a lot going on. I start working at Vision again soon, and I have a son to take care of.”

“I heard that. Poor child. What’d he do to deserve that?”

He scoffs. “You are such a riot. But I really need to go take care of actual important things.”

“For the record,” Elly says, “the courts almost always side with the mother in custody disputes. And considering your background…”

“His mother doesn’t exactly have a spotless record.”

“I’ll say a prayer for your son,” Elly says. “He’s going to need it.”

Before he can get out one last rejoinder, she turns and walks off down the street. Seething, Spencer watches her go.

“I’ll show you,” he mutters as he returns to his car. “I’ll show all of you.”

—–

Tori freezes as the two pair of eyes boring into her demand an answer.

“I told Marcus,” she says with a note of irritation, “that I was waiting for a friend.”

“What friend?” Sarah asks immediately.

“I’m–” Tori shakes her head. “That’s her business. I’m not doing that.”

“Tori, if something is going on, we want to be here for you,” Sarah replies. “We are here for you. I know you’re still angry with me because of everything that went on with Zane, and I get that, but we are your parents. You can tell us anything.” 

“No, I can’t,” she says before she even realizes she is doing it.

Matt crosses his arms. “Why not?”

“Because…” She looks down at the oatmeal-colored carpet. “It’s complicated.”

“Then we’ll help you make it easier,” Sarah says, in a tone that manages to be both gentle and firm. “Are you sick?”

“No.”

“Are you…” Sarah has to swallow before she can even get the word out.

When Tori meets their gaze, the answer is obvious. Tears brim in her eyes.

“I couldn’t go through with it,” she says through a sob.

“Oh, sweetie,” Sarah says, moving right toward her. Tori accepts the embrace without hesitation.

“Is it Zane’s baby?” Matt asks.

Tori nods as she cries against her mother’s chest.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” Tears strangle her words. “I’m just finishing college, and I don’t have a job, and it makes no sense for me to have a kid, but I went to the clinic and thought I could do it, and I just…”

“You have options, and we can sort this all out together,” Sarah tells her as she strokes her daughter’s brown hair. “You do not have to do this alone. You shouldn’t.”

“The first thing we’re gonna do is get you moved back to your grandma’s house,” Matt says.

Tori sniffles. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“What if I move back, too?”

Both women look to Matt with surprise.

“Do you mean that?” Sarah asks.

He takes a step closer and places a hand on her back. “Yeah. It’s time. We all need to be together now. What do you say, Tor?”

“Okay. Yeah. I’ll move back home,” she says before another sob overtakes her. Matt wraps his arms around both of them, drawing them closer, and they stand like that for minutes, a family reunited in the face of a brand-new challenge.

END OF EPISODE 949

What will Tori decide to do about the baby now?
Will Sarah and Matt repair their marriage?
Does Spencer stand a chance in the custody case?
Are you sad to see Danielle leave King’s Bay?
Discuss it all in the comments below!

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