Previously...

After viewing photos of Will's body at the crime scene, Brooke realized that he was in different clothes than when she shot him.  James found a bullet hole in a wall in Will's study and surmised that Brooke missed Will when she fired the gun.  He went on to presume that someone else came into the house after Brooke left and fired the fatal shot.  Brandon presented their case to the judge, who refused to drop charges against Brooke without another suspect. Miranda manipulated Baines into letting her hear the tape of the witness hotline that wrongly accused Stormy of the murder.  Michael was taken into foster care until DNA tests came back proving he was Brooke's.  Renee's adopted daughter, Sierra, showed up at her door, making Renee extremely nervous.  Gunplay at the courthouse sent Heather into hysterics, puzzling Stormy as to her reaction.

Episode 50

"The Ghost of Myself"

Brett walked down the staircase at the Blackthorne mansion, dressed in a pristine navy blazer, khaki pants and a striped blue shirt.  He adjusted the lapels on his jacket and looked up just as a vase went whooshing past his head.

“What the-“ he exclaimed, ducking the flying object and placing a hand on his beating heart.  Seeing the broken shards of porcelain shatter all over the staircase landing, he quickly stood up and turned out to the foyer.

“You lying son of a bitch!” Miranda screamed, hurdling another vase from a table in the entryway.  This time the make-shift weapon exploded into jagged pieces of glass at Brett’s feet.  “You’ve been lying this whole time!”

“Miranda!” Brett exclaimed and darted down the staircase, using his briefcase as a shield for her next assault.  “What the hell's gotten into you?”

Furiously, she picked up another vase, decided she liked the markings, and returned it to the table.  For a second Brett thought he was in the clear, but just as quickly Miranda grabbed another and threw it across the room at him.  The porcelain remains skipped across the tile floor and sounded like pebbles hitting the ground.

“You lied to me about Stormy!” she shrieked, her hair whipping into her eyes.  “You did set him up!”

Brett immediately knew that he’d been caught.  Miranda had been suspicious for the past few days and it was only a matter of time before she got proof.  He cursed himself for being so stupid, but decided to continue his charade.

“I set Stormy up?” he asked defensively.  “Janet Harper was the one who saw him at Thomerson’s house!  I didn’t twist his arm and force him to go there that night, waving a gun around and getting himself knocked out in the process!” 

“No, but you wanted to make damn sure that he was a suspect!” Miranda berated him.  “Jordan gave the videotape to Heather and then you found it.  You put it in Stormy’s closet and then you phoned in that phony tip.”

“Miranda, you’re being ridiculous!”

“I heard the tape, Brett!” she yelled.  “I have to give you credit for trying to disguise your voice, but even I know my own husband when I hear him.  Not only that, but the call was made from a lot right next to Sunset Studios.  Just how dumb do you think I am?”

Brett felt light in the head.  He swayed on his feet, distraught by how far his wife had gone to prove he was guilty of setting up Stormy.  “Listen to me, Babe.  I have to make you understand why I did it.”

“Understand?” she shrieked.  “You almost got my brother sent to prison!  What possible reason could you have for doing that?  You two have been at each other’s throats ever since he came back from his tour with Lauren last year.  Why is that?  What happened with the two of you, anyway?”

That was a bag of worms he definitely didn’t want to open again.   If Lauren stayed the topic of discussion for too long, Miranda may start to believe Stormy’s claim that he’d blackmailed her into sleeping with him.

“He’s jealous of me, Miranda!” Brett said, running his fingers through his hair and exhaling deeply.  “He’s jealous because your father has more trust in me than in his own son! You saw how he almost ruined the chances of getting the pipeline injunction stopped when he slept with Senator Fallmont’s wife!  Your father was furious!  And of course Stormy blamed me for that.”

Miranda quickly leveled her eyes on him, walking closer and balling her fists at her sides.  “And I wonder how my father found out about that,” she said smugly, studying his face as she waited for any indication of guilt to surface.  “Could it be that was yet another one of your sabotage efforts?”

Brett shook his head.  “Of course not.  I had nothing to do with that.”   The truth was he did blab to James about Stormy and Samantha.  The opportunity was just too perfect to pass up.  And it did discredit Stormy quite a bit in his father’s eyes, at least where the studio was concerned.

Shaking her head, Miranda turned and walked across the room.  “Well I don’t believe you,” she said, then turned to glare menacingly at him.  “I don’t believe anything you tell me anymore.”  She walked toward him again.  “Like the sick way you used Heather to steal from Will Thomerson.  You didn’t even think about what that would do to her, did you?  And what was all that about you wanting to have a baby?  Was that just another way of cementing yourself into this family?”

“No!”

“You wanted to bring an innocent baby into our lives just so you could have a coat tail to hang on to?” Miranda accused.  “Is that it?”

“No!  I love you!  And if you can’t believe that then-“

“Save it!” Miranda spat, then took a deep breath and shook her head with despair.  “I would never put a child through that kind of torture.  You’d probably use him to get what you want for his entire life.”

“That’s not true,” Brett insisted.  He was losing the battle.  He knew it.

Miranda shook her head with contempt, nauseous about how disillusioned she’d been with her husband.  “You just can’t stop lying, can you?” she asked, then leveled her eyes firmly on him.   “I don’t even know who you are.  Before you came here you were Rick Shively the con artist.  Well I’m not so sure that Brett Armstrong is any better.”

With that, she turned and stormed up the stairs to her room.  Brett stood behind, devastated by the turn of events.  Miranda knew everything he’d done to discredit Stormy, and in her eyes it was the worst kind of betrayal because he lied to her face about it.

Luckily the rest of his past deeds hadn’t been uncovered.   Lauren, Gwen, the affairs, the miscarriage, the blackmail.  He’d been too smart with everything else.  He might still have a fighting chance.

The frothy ocean waves crashed up onto the beach where Stormy and Heather strolled leisurely, their feet sinking into the cool sand.  Stormy picked up a rock and threw it into the water.  He stared out at a lone seagull that preened majestically through the air.

“Do you remember our prom?” he asked.

Heather smiled and looked up at him as they walked.  “Of course I do.”

“You got really drunk and fell down the stairs at the Valley Sheraton and they almost didn’t let you graduate,” Stormy jibed.

Laughing, Heather hit him playfully on the arm.  “My father had to let the Dean win every time they played golf for a whole year just to get him to go easy on me.”

Stormy smiled and put his arm around her as they continued walking.  “I think that night was the first time I realized that I loved you.”

Heather stopped and looked into his deep blue eyes.   “Really?” she asked.

“Yeah, you don’t believe me?”

They continued walking along the sand and Heather shrugged.  “Back then I just thought you were with me because you felt sorry for me,” she said.  “You know, because of my mother leaving and my dad sending Benji to boarding school.  I was kind of a loner there for a while.”

“That wasn’t why I loved you though.  I loved you because we could tell each other everything.  I think you were my best friend since the ninth grade.”

Heather couldn’t help but smile.  If only things were as simple as they were in high school.

“That’s why I want you feel like you can tell me anything,” Stormy continued.  “I know I messed things up between us, Heather, but I still love you and I still want to help you if I can.”

She stopped and looked into his eyes.  “I don’t know what to say.”

“Something’s going on with you,” Stormy replied, taking her hand in his.  “I’d never seen you like you were yesterday at the police station.  The way you attacked Brett, then ran outside when all that business was going on with Missy Armitage.”

Heather squinted hard, finding it difficult to remember clearly.  She shook her head.  “I remember running outside, but I…I don’t remember attacking Brett.  Are you sure I did that?”

Frowning, Stormy looked at her closely.  “You don’t remember?”

She nodded, running her fingers through her long brown hair.  “I mean, I remember little bits and pieces of it, just like that time with Miranda at Will Thomerson’s house, but I don’t remember it clearly.”

“You mean you’ve been having blackouts?”

“I guess,” Heather replied with some confusion.  “The night that the Fallmonts were at the house for dinner, Miranda and I went to Will’s to try to find that videotape.  He caught us, and I guess I went berserk and attacked him.  Miranda had to physically pull me off of him.”

Stormy couldn’t help but feel bewildered by the new information.  It wasn’t like Heather to have these kinds of episodes.  He wondered if something changed after she was taken advantage of by Thomerson and Armitage.

Putting his arm around her, they continued walking along the beach as the frothy waves swirled around their feet.

Meanwhile, Miranda walked out of her bedroom at the Blackthorne mansion and proceeded down the hall to the staircase.  She stopped mid-step, hearing the faint sound of Hawaiian cursing coming from down the hall.  Turning back, she went into Heather’s room where Leilani was busy sweeping the floor and muttering to herself.

“Leilani, what’s the matter?” she asked.

“You tell me,” Leilani replied without slowing her erratic cleaning pace.  “After seventeen years of service to your family I’m probably going to get fired.”

Miranda frowned and took the broom from her.  “What are you talking about?  Everyone here loves you.  You’re not going anywhere.”

Leilani snatched the broom from her and continued sweeping.  “If I can’t keep this house clean then I deserve to be fired.”

“This house is spotless,” Miranda insisted.  “I’ve never seen a speck of dirt or an unwashed dish in this house in my entire life.  Now what’s going on?”

Hastily, Leilani propped the broom against the wall and led Miranda to Heather’s bed.  “Look at this and tell me if you still think this house is clean.”  She grabbed a nightgown of Heather’s and thrust it at Miranda.  “That kind of dirt just doesn’t show up out of nowhere.”

Miranda examined the bottom of the floor-length nightgown, frowning at the rim of dirt and dust surrounding the hem.  “This is very strange,” she said.

“See what I mean?” Leilani asked.  “I come in to get Miss Heather’s laundry and I find this.  There’s no excuse for dirty floors like this!”

Shaking her head, Miranda looked across the room at the closet doors.  “I don’t think this is from the house, Leilani,” she said.

Down the hall, James stood in the nursery watching Michael sleep peacefully in his crib when the door opened and Ethan entered the room.  James turned and nodded happily to him.

“The social worker just brought him by a while ago,” James said as they both stood by the crib.  “The tests were one hundred percent conclusive that he’s Michael.  Like there was ever any doubt.  I looked at him and knew right away that he was my son.”

Ethan closed his eyes for a moment, aching over the fact that James still believed Michael to be his.  And with Brooke still in jail, was it his place to tell his uncle the truth?  That Michael was really his son?

“He sure did get big in two months,” Ethan finally said.  He realized it would only make matters worse to tell James the truth now.  As soon as Brooke was cleared and home again they would both deal with James together.

“At least the Armitage’s took good care of him,” James said, then turned to face his nephew head on.  “Look Ethan, I don’t know how to thank you for everything you did to bring Michael home.  If it wasn’t for you…”

Ethan cut him off quickly.  “You don’t have to say anything, James.”

“No, but I do.  Last year when Brooke left for Phoenix I was horrible to you.  I ostracized you from the family, from the industry, and made you turn to that bastard Will Thomerson.  And after all of that that you still went out of your way to find my son and bring him back.  I’m forever grateful to you for that.”

It was all too much for Ethan to handle.  He wanted to change the subject as fast as possible.

“I got a note from Janet,” he finally said.  “She said she was sorry for everything.  I guess she went back to Denver.”

James shook his head in disgust.  “When I think of how much damage she could have done to our family.  If Will hadn’t been killed he would have made that manuscript into a movie and our name would have been dragged through the mud.  I’m just sorry that you had to be hurt in the process.”

Ethan feigned a smile and turned back to Michael.  Janet’s deception hadn’t hurt him.  He used her to get over Brooke, something that he was convinced he still hadn’t been able to accomplish.

Renee and Sierra sat in the elegant dining room at Hotel Terranova having a brunch that was anything but peaceful.

“So how many women were there exactly?” Sierra asked with a frown as she delicately sipped a glass of grapefruit juice.  “Was Kenny ever faithful to you in the fifteen years you were married?”

“That is not for you to discuss,” Renee warned her daughter.

But Sierra continued to push.  “Well I’d like to give him a piece of my mind.  How can he have treated you that way?"

Renee was more than uncomfortable by the discussion of Kenny.  “Sierra, I adopted  you long before Kenny and I were ever married.  As far as I’m concerned the two of you have nothing to do with each other.  I don’t want you going anywhere near him.  I can take care of him myself.”

“But Mother-“

“Not another word about Kenny,” Renee cut her off, then quickly changed the subject with a smile and a flourish.  “There’s a charming boutique in the hotel that I want you to see.  They just got a new line in and the minute I saw it I thought of you, Darling.”

Sierra regarded her mother carefully.  “That’s wonderful, but when are we going to go out and see the sites?”

“What do you mean?”

Laughing, Sierra leaned back in her chair and twirled a curly lock of black hair around her finger.  “Mother, everything you’ve suggested we do today is in this hotel.  Tennis, manicures, pedicures, facials, shopping, lunch.  I get it that they have everything here, but I want to go out and see Los Angeles.  I’ve never been here and I’m dying to see what it’s like.  I want to see some movie stars.”

Renee sighed.  She didn’t know how to tell her daughter that she couldn’t have her seen in public.  It was too risky.  There was too much to lose.

“I don’t think there’s any rush,” she finally said.  “Sierra, you’re here for the entire winter break and I-“

“Exactly, and I don’t want to spend it cooped up in this hotel,” Sierra cut her off and lifted her glass of juice to her mouth.  “Besides, I told you that I don’t just want to stay for winter break.  I want to stay here for good.”

Renee struggled to find the words to make her daughter understand.  “Darling, it’s just not that simple.”

“Why?” Sierra demanded.  “I don’t understand it.  Are you ashamed of me, Mother?”

“Of course not.”

“It sure seems like it.  I get it that you adopted me when you were very young and maybe you weren’t ready to be a mother.  My real parents were killed in a car accident.  They were friends of yours.  You adopted me and sent me to school in Europe.  But Mother, you’re not a young girl anymore.  I think you’re a fantastic mother.  Granted, I only got to see you about once a month when you came to England to visit, but now I want more.  I want to have a real relationship with my Mother.  Is that so wrong?”

Renee knew she couldn’t argue.  “Of course not.”   She glanced across the room and spotted Kenny enter from the lobby.  A streak of panic coursed through her veins and she quickly sprung to action.  “Would you excuse me for a minute?”

Before Sierra could respond, Renee was up and moving across the dining room with determination.  She cornered Kenny at the entrance and expertly distracted him from their table.

“Kenny, what are you doing here?” she asked.

“I had to see you,” he replied.  “Renee, I’m miserable without you.  Please come home with me.  Let’s forget all about that awful business and just start over.”

“You don’t quit, do you?” she seethed, her hands firmly planted on her hips.  “Kenny, I don’t want to start over with you.  You’ve run out of chances with me.  Now please leave.”

Sighing with frustration, Kenny turned and walked back through the lobby of the hotel.  When she was satisfied that he’d gone, she returned to the table and took a sip of orange juice.

“So what do you say, Mother?” Sierra asked with a big smile.  “Can we please go somewhere today?  Somewhere that we actually have to drive to get to?”

Renee couldn’t help but smile at her daughter’s persistence.  “Okay,” she finally agreed.  “But I get to pick the place.”

She took a bite of quiche and tried to calm her nerves after the close call with Kenny.  The last thing she needed was him asking questions about Sierra.

Ethan started down the stairs at the Blackthorne mansion just as Stormy and Heather came in through the front door from their walk on the beach.