Dont' know if this really counts cuz it ties into the secret of Barnabas, but Angelique was left out of the official family history by Joshua so no one in the following decades would know she was a Collins bride.
Tying into Vicki's story, just who was Betty Hanscombe? The fact that the painting resembled Vicki was intriguing but I always thought through the run of the series that it was a painting of Joan Bennett - it had her 1966ish hairstyle and all! My theory on the Vicki parentage deal is that Arthur Hamscombe, the family butler had a wife who had an affair with Jamison Collins, Liz and Roger's father, and the affair resulted in Betty. I would even go far as tos ay that Hanscombe's wife named the child Elizabeth and went by Betty to taunt Jamison. Maybe the old guy promised to marry her and he changed his mind. Betty Hanscombe grew up to be a wild child, suspecting she was a Collins because of the resemblance to Elizabeth but never being told the truth. So when Paul Stoddard comes to Collinwood and romances Liz, Betty seduces him(not that hard to do, apparently Paul had a more than roving eye!) and their union produced Vicki. Liz knew this child was not only her husbands's(making Vicki Carolyn's half sister) but also her niece. Through the Garners, Liz has the child sent to a foundling home and sends the monthly checks. Guilt ridden after all the years by what she did to Paul and his child, Liz sends for Vicki to come be 'part' of the family in a most unusual way. I wish this is what had happened. To tie a supernatural element into wouldn't ahve been hard. Betty could have been an Angelique type witch wannabe who sacrificed her soul to the devil through dealings with Paul and Mr. Strack. Oh well..to dream.
