624 - (Alexandra Moltke) - The first rays of the morning light fall on the towers of Collinwood, and in a strange house by the sea, a woman has taken a mysterious journey into the past. When the clock strikes six she will return-and her return will set off a chain of events that will terrorize Victoria Winters.
Nicholas plays solitaire, looking very gloomy. It's 5:45 AM. He's pissed. Where has Eve been all night? Did she run away? No. She wouldn't dare. Adam enters. Why aren't you asleep? Asks Nicholas. I found Eve gone and couldn't sleep, replies the big guy. She went out for a walk, Nicholas says--she hasn't been gone long. Adam wants to go after her, but Nicholas says she needs moments of privacy; Adam will only antagonize her. Adam sulkily says she never wants to be with him. Untrue, says Nick, but Adam says I'm not stupid as you think. Nick says it takes Eve time to become adjusted. Eve doesn't care for me and never will, protests Adam. Nick promises she will. Adam wants to know how Blair can make her care if she doesn't. She will, repeats Nick, and I've always kept my promises--go to your room and let me handle it. Adam catches Nick glancing at the clock and asks what's wrong. Nothing, says Nicholas, I will let you know the moment Eve returns. Adam leaves, Nick, furious, sips some coffee. Where could she have gone--if she's run away, gone against his orders, he will destroy her and handle Adam another way. He turns around and finds Eve sitting in a chair, grinning at him.
She bids him good morning, the Collins history book on her lap. Where have you been? Demands Nicholas. Out! She replies--no where in particular. You've been out all night, he snarls. She claims she took a long walk and lost track of time. Adam might be gullible enough to accept that excuse, but not me, says Nick--you've been with Jeff! No, she says--you must believe me. He asks about the book and wants to see it. She hands it over and he glances through it. While he's engrossed, Eve hides her letter behind the clock. Nicholas realizes it's a history of the Collins and asks where she got it. At Collinwood, she says. Why did you want it? he asks. I just wanted to know more about the illustrious Collinses, she replies. He accuses her of hiding something, and you'd better cooperate with me, he warns--you know why I've allowed you to live--because of Adam--and you had better make Adam think you love him--you haven't been very successful so far. She promises to do better. She smiles winningly at him, and he asks why she's suddenly so cooperative. Because I know what will happen if I'm not, so I must obey you, she says. He asks if she will concentrate on making Adam happy, stay away from Jeff and Vicki? Yes, she says, but Nicholas still doesn't trust her at all. I fear you, she says, and that's why I obey you. Nicholas wonders if she means it.
Innocently, she sips her coffee, grinning.
Vicki is in her room, in her stunning white wedding gown. Liz comes to see how she's doing. Vicki remarks that she dressed for the hundredth millionth time and hopes Jeff will think her beautiful. Of course, says Liz--you look absolutely radiant. Vicki has never been so happy, nor has Liz, not in a long time. Vicki feels both happy and frightened--I love Jeff and want to be a good wife--I don't want anything to go wrong--I'm just nervous, she admits. (leave Collinsport!) Liz assures her that she and Jeff will be very happy together. Vicki gazes at herself in the mirror, adjusting her gown.
Eve says she could almost feel sorry for Vicki, thinking she's going to marry Peter today, but she's not--because her plan is going to work, and that marriage will never take place! She touches a wrapped box addressed to Vicki.
Adam reads a book, then slams it shut with annoyance. He paces the room, irritated. He glances out the window, then goes out into the hall, where Eve enters the house. She greets him and tells him she went for a walk. He is angry, complaining that she's been gone a long time. I lost track of the time, says Eve. She starts to sail into the living room; Adam follows her. Where do you go on these walks? He asks. The woods, she says. Nicholas told me you were walking on the beach, says Adam. He was mistaken, says Eve. Adam finds it strange that she always uses the walking excuse when she goes away for long periods of time. She likes to walk, she says. He wonders why she never asks him to join her, and doesn't even want him to. I want to protect him, given that you're wanted by the police, she replies, while I can come and go as I please--no one knows who I am now that Barnabas and Julia have gone--I like to get out once in a while. I understand, he says sullenly--is there someone else? He gets down on the floor with her next to the fireplace intimately close--are you seeing someone else? he asks again--you are very beautiful and I know a lot of men would be interested. How can you think such a thing? she asks--I don't want to say, your not knowing the truth about me hurts me--you don't understand much about women--it's difficult to say--don't you know how I feel about you? She asks softly. I think sometimes that you hate me, he says. Hate you? Yes, that's how you act sometimes, he says. Are you surprised to hear me say it? asks Eve--I haven't understood you at all, I'm sometimes irritable because I've had a difficult adjustment, just as you have--don't you understand?--my outbursts of temper have nothing to do with you--I was created for you so we could be together, and I want that. You do? asks Adam. Of course! She says--when I look at your scars, aren't they ugly. She takes his face in her hand, assuring him she doesn't care about his scars--she thinks he's the most handsome man she's ever seen.
His face curves into a delighted smile--he can't believe she said that. She did--and means every word. He says she has changed, so suddenly, and she says it probably happened so gradually, he didn't see it happening. I care for you more and more every day, she says, holding him. I so want to believe that, says Adam. They kiss, briefly. She smiles at him and they kiss with more urgency and passion. Now do you believe it? she asks. Are you happy? Adam asks. You make me very happy, he says--I feel I should apologize for thinking there was someone else. She presses her hand over his mouth, kisses him, and tells him to forget it ever happened--she has. Adam says if there were someone, he thinks he'd kill him. They kiss again, passionately.
Vicki asks Liz if she can borrow her car, she needs a few things. Vicki tells Liz she's going to carry roses, Peter's favorite flower, at the wedding. Both are perturbed she called Jeff Peter--he's no one else but Jeff Clark. Liz assures her she hasn't done anything wrong, and only she heard her say it. Vicki wishes she could stop remembering -what happened to her, and Liz assures her while she doesn't understand it, it's only natural for her to think about it. Vicki doesn't want to, it upsets Jeff and confuses her--I want to pretend I made it all up. Liz says that's what she should do. Vicki wants to think of the present and future, and she's marrying Jeff Clark--that's all she knows and all she needs to know.
Adam holds Eve in his embrace in the love seat. She has her arms wrapped around his neck, and apologizes for leaving him alone when she takes her walks, admitting she's selfish--I can go out and you can't, and I know how lonely you get--I've been unfair. Adam denies that--I know how hard it is to be cooped up in that house--if I could, I'd leave, too. She hugs him and promises never to leave, to stay with him. He doesn't want that, because he knows she wants to leave sometimes, and he warns her to do anything that pleases her. They kiss, long and hard, and she cuddles up to him and calls him sweet. I'm happy, he says. The camera zooms in on her face, and we hear her unspoken thoughts--"If only he knew the truth--how much I DETEST him! There's only one man in the world I want, and I'll have him before this day is over--Peter will belong to me!"
Adam is grinning like an idiot when Nicholas comes in. He happily reports to Nicholas that Eve cares for him--it happened--she loves him! Of course she does, says Nick smugly. Adam never believed it would happen, and it did so so suddenly.
You worried about nothing, says Nick. Adam asks if he had anything to do with it, and Nick says of course not--I couldn't make Eve love you--I have no control over human emotions, says Nick, and if Eve learned to love him, she did so of her own accord, as I told you she would! Adam is ecstatic, in disbelief. Nick says Adam will spend the rest of his life with Eve--they're leaving soon. Adam realizes he needs to learn more about the world, study, learn. Nick agrees. Adam grabs him and tells him he's never been so happy in his life! Adam leaves. Nick's smile fades. Eve enters. Are you satisfied? Demands Eve. Yes, very, says Nicholas. I'm cooperating and will continue to do so, she assures him--I kept my end of their bargain. He gazes after her, still not sure he can trust her.
Vicki returns to Collinwood, where Liz told her more presents arrived. Vicki finds a necklace, wrapped tightly, from Miss Norris, a nurse at the foundling home who was very fond of her. It was in her family for generations and she used to let Vicki wear it--I can't believe she gave it to me, says Vicki--I used to feel so alone at the foundling home. Liz observes that there must have been many people who cared about her. Vicki next opens a large package--the Collins family history book. Liz doesn't recognize it. It's the book I took into the past and left there, says Vicki, upset. Impossible, says Liz. Vicki wonders who sent it. Liz finds a card and Vicki opens it. She gasps. She hands it to Liz. PETER is all the card says.
NOTES: I did love the way Eve seduced Adam. Hard to believe she could put so much passion into her scenes with Adam, considering how she hates him, but then again, Adam is innocent to the ways of the world of women, so it was easy for her to fool him. He suspected there's another man, but she was so easily able to slide his mind right away from that.
Nicholas isn't sure of Eve, nor should he be. Even as she's probably having sex with Adam, she's plotting her next move to steal Jeff/Peter away from Vicki. I say let Eve have her, Vicki! Now Nick is a man of the world--the underworld, too!--yet he's as fooled by Eve as Adam was, at least right now. Will both of these men wake up before it's too late?
Now that Vicki's gotten this strange gift of the Collins family history book, what will it mean to her? Would she cancel the wedding because it showed up like this? Didn't Alex Moltke look gorgeous in that gown Even pregnant? I bet she was teased a lot over that.
I miss Barnabas and Julia and Angelique!
625 - (Louis Edmonds) - Happy is the bride the sun shine son. And this day, on the great estate of Collinwood should be a happy one indeed. But as the guests assemble to celebrate a marriage, there are certain signs of dark clouds nearing the sun--for a book has mysteriously disappeared, a book which Victoria Winters carried with her into another century, a book which she left there. On the terrace, the groom waits nervously to go in and take his marriage vows, while one woman secretly watches, determined to stop him before that time comes.
It's Vicki's wedding day, but this is Collinwood, so dark clouds are already overtaking the sun. Vicki, dressed in her bridal gown, stands in her room touching the Collins family history book as if she's about to swear to tell the truth. Liz, in fetching blue, is behind her, reassuring the worried young woman and gazing sternly at her. Out on the terrace, a nervous Jeff, in tie and tails, lights a cigarette, for the ceremony to begin. Eve watches him from the gate, determined to stop his wedding. He spots her and orders her to get out. I have a message, she says, and if you love Vicki, you'll listen, especially on your wedding day--Peter Bradford--you died on the gallows 200 years ago, she says, and I have proof of it.
She hands him the letter and tells him to read it, a letter he wrote to her when she was Danielle Roger. He was in prison. He tries to escape her, but she warns him she will follow, so he stops. She offers to read the letter to him. He asks her to go away and leave him alone for the rest of his life if he allows her to read it. Dear Danielle, it begins. I am not going to escape with you tonight. I am not afraid, I was the last time I heard him, because of Vicki. She shows him that it's his handwriting, and it mentions that Vicki, the woman he loves, is waiting. Jeff hesitates as he reads some of it aloud himself, and turns to a triumphant Eve. "The guests are waiting for your wedding," she jeers, "a dead man's wedding."
Jeff is stricken by this news. Eve says she survived death too, and knows how lost and hopeless he feels. They can't live as others do, she says, they will always be different. He demands she leave him alone. She knows he will change, he will have to. You need more proof, I know, she says--you won't believe this. He knows where to find more proof--if he has risen from his grave. He feels his forehead, distracted. Roger calls him. Jeff begs Eve to leave. Roger, decked out handsomely, tells him it's time to start the ceremony. Jeff slips Eve's letter into his pocket and Roger teases him about being nervous. He sees something is wrong and tells him the guests are waiting. Jeff says he can't--bring Vicki to me. She's dressed and in her room, waiting for you, protests Roger--get yourself under control, Clark! Jeff insists he see her now.
Liz adjusts Vicki's veil, telling her the beautiful veil was imported from France for Naomi's wedding to Joshua--it will bring Vicki good luck (after what happened to Naomi and Joshua?--burn it!!!). Vicki thanks Liz for the veil, the wedding, everything. She remembers how she felt the day she was coming to Collinwood on the train, not knowing her, Roger, anyone. She wondered if they would like her, a stranger. Liz assures her she was never that (this would have been the perfect time to reveal her true identity to her, sadly, they didn't). Vicki says she always felt like a stranger--now, sometimes I think I dreamed it all and I actually grew up here. Liz fondly says it seems you've always been here--before you, Vicki, David was so much more difficult than now, and it's thanks to you--we'll miss you very much. Vicki assures Liz Collinwood will always mean home to her. They hug. Roger comes in, grim-faced. Vicki is smiling, radiant, and Liz asks her brother if he isn't going to tell her how beautiful she is. Roger agrees, but he didn't bring up her flowers--Jeff wants to see you, he tells her. Before the ceremony? demands Liz--impossible! Where is he? asks Vicki anxiously. On the terrace, answers Roger. Liz wants to go tell him it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, but Vicki wants to go. Liz is upset.
Vicki glances at Roger's face and, knowing it's important, heads out the door, Liz calling after her, Roger looking miserable.
Liz asks Roger what happened. He doesn't know. Liz fears this will hurt Vicki; they love each other, what can change that? Roger tells her not to get worked up, but she can't be calm. He assures her he isn't calm or unemotional, and she says she didn't mean to attack him. She prayed that for once, everything would be well. Perhaps it will be, says Roger, not convincingly. Liz can tell he isn't sincere. Whatever happens, says Roger, you must not allow it to affect you--the expression on Jeff's face spoke of bad news--Vicki might need you more now than ever before, so you must be strong.
Vicki comes out to the terrace in her bridal finery. Jeff tells her how beautiful she is, and that he loves her. They hug. I was afraid you'd changed your mind, she says. I haven't, he says, but we have to postpone the wedding--there's something I must find out, then I'll know. Vicki is angry at him for never letting her understand. He takes out the ancient letter Eve presented to him and shows it to her. She recognizes it as his handwriting. It's dated 1795, he points out--if this is true, says Jeff, then I lived in 1795. She asks where he found it. If I am Peter Bradford, says Jeff, I can't marry you. She wants to know where the letter came from, and who. A woman named Eve, he says, who claims she knew him in the past. Be honest with me! demands Vicki.
He asks not to argue about it now. She agrees, but asks about this woman. Jeff can't explain--he doesn't understand himself, that or anything. Who is this woman, asks Vicki, what does she want-you?--did you love her in the past? I don't remember! Jeff shouts. You don't love her now, but you're allowing her to ruin our lives, points out Vicki. If I lived then, asks Jeff, what am I now? (Don't ask!) You're real, she says, as real as I am. He doubts that--I'm going to the old cemetery to check something out, but refuses to tell her what. She begs him not to let this woman do this. I don't want to!, protests Jeff--I want to marry you right now. Vicki doesn't care what the truth is, but Jeff says she will later. He walks away, Vicki calling desperately after him.
Roger and Liz worry about what's going on. It's been half an hour. Roger frets the ceremony should have been over by now. We can't do anything, says Liz, turning the tables and telling HIM not to worry--we must wait until she gets back. Roger wants to go speak to the minister, but Liz asks him not to leave her alone. Nothing ever works out for any of us, she says morosely. Roger chastises her for saying it. Liz wants Vicki to be happy. Perhaps she will, says Roger--perhaps they will solve whatever problems there are. Why hasn't she come back? asks Liz. Roger doesn't know.
Liz senses Vicki needs her--it's almost like she can see her, on the terrace, alone, not knowing what to do. Roger argues that she shouldn't interrupt their conversation, but she ignores him and races out.
Jeff kneels at the grave of Peter Bradford. Born 1771, died 1795. IIf I open the grave, will I find the bones of Peter Bradford? Wonders Jeff--if the coffin is empty. . .it's better not to know, better to go back, take Vicki away from this town and never know. Lightning flashes, thunder crashes. No, I must find out, he says, taking off his coat. He grabs a shovel and begins digging frantically.
Liz stands by the gate with Vicki, who tells her Jeff is gone. Pulling away from Liz attempted embrace, Vicki tells her he went to do something he felt he had to. Roger is standing, listening. Vicki supposes she could have stopped him, but I didn't want to spend the rest of my life knowing that I had. Liz comforts her, but Vicki says she chose Jeff and must accept what he does--he'll be back, but there will be no wedding today. She asks Liz to make some explanation. Roger promises to handle that, and leaves. Vicki apologizes to Liz for the planning and such. Don't think about it, says Liz. I should have known when I got the book wrapped as a gift that something or someone would try to stop us, laments Vicki. Liz wants to know who. Vicki says the past follows us, no matter how independent we think we are. If you could only cry, says Liz. I cried when he left, says Vicki sadly, but tears are no good now--there's nothing to do but wait.
Jeff has completely dug up Peter's grave. Roger comes upon him. Leave me alone, insists Jeff--I'm going to answer a question. He pries open the coffin, asking, is Jeff Clark really Peter Bradford?--you don't care about the answer, says Jeff. Roger says he can't open that. Do you know what I'll find? Demands Jeff. Roger threatens to call the police. Jeff sarcastically inquires if there's a law against opening his own coffin. "You're mad!" pronounces Roger. Jeff breathlessly continues to work, remarking, I wish I were crazy--it wouldn't be so bad then. Roger asks if he really thinks he comes from the past. Jeff doesn't know, but is going to find out. Be sensible, begs Roger--what will this prove? Whether or not Peter Bradford is dead, says Jeff. He opens the coffin, pausing a moment. He looks at Roger. We focus on Jeff's face, then Roger's. The coffin is empty!
NOTES: So what does this mean? That Peter is Jeff and Jeff is Peter? Why can't he marry Vicki? So he was transported from 1796 to 1968--marry the woman you love and be happy, you imbecile! Why cancel the wedding? Because of Eve? There's nothing between you two anymore, so who cares? Jeff is clearly not dead (at least from the neck down), so why is he acting so crazy?
Weddings are either aborted or unhappy on this show. Remember Liz' wedding-that-never-happened with Jason, and Barnabas' eventually disastrous wedding to Angelique? Who sees future happiness for Adam and Eve? Vicki should have just lived with Bradford/Clark, whatever. Doesn't Vicki Bradford sound better than Vicki Clark, anyway?
Poor Liz and Roger, lamenting what's happening to Vicki while they lament their own failed marriages and sorrows. Too bad--you'd almost think there was a curse on Collinwood, wouldn't you?
Love, Robin
