<HR>



Mindy and Marah Lewis shuffle around their room at a posh Manhattan hotel. Marah paws through her jewelry box, grabs a pair of earrings and slides them through the holes in her ear lobes. She asks Mindy to remind her who they were about to meet for dinner.

“Sheila Randolph of Randolph’s Boutiques,” she answers.

“Sorry. My mind seems to have wandered elsewhere,” Marah apologizes.

“You sure you want to do this?” Mindy asks. “We can always postpone dinner until you’re ready.”

“No, I’m fine. We’ve put this woman off too many times as it is. Let’s just get this over so we can sell the new fall line.”

Suddenly, the phone rings and Mindy picks up the receiver. After a brief conversation, she tells Marah that the car is waiting for them in front of the hotel. Mindy makes a final check of her purse and the two women exit the room.

<HR>



Alan walks into Olivia’s hospital room carrying a bag full of gifts for the baby. “What is all that?” Olivia asks.

“Oh I just had Nolan do a little shopping for the baby. No price is too expensive for my little girl,” Alan responds. “Has the nurse told you when you can leave?”

“Nope. You know how hospitals are. It takes forever.”

“I’ll be back to pick you up after the big presentation at Cedars. I want to be there personally to make sure Alan-Michael doesn’t screw it up.”

“I’m sure he won’t. But please be quick. I cannot wait to get out of this hospital bed and back home.”

<HR>



At The Journal, Holly sits at her desk inspecting the layout for the next issue. She places the cardboard on her desk when she hears a knock on the door. “Come in,” she says. The door swings open to reveal Tammy Winslow. “Tammy, what are you doing here? What can I do for you?” Holly asks.

“I just…I just wanted to know if you would do me a huge favor?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“I need some help and you are the only one who can help me.”

<HR>



Alan-Michael paces up and down the hospital lobby. He arrived early for the presentation. Ed walks over to him.

“Alan-Michael, are you ready for this?” he asks.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” A-M responds.

“You’ll do fine, I know it,” Ed assures him and then walks into the board room.

A-M takes another look at the revised portfolio as Josh and Billy arrive. Alan-Michael hurriedly closes the folder. “Alan-Michael, I heard you were back in town,” Josh says. “So you’re the one who is representing Spaulding today, huh?”

“Yeah, My father put me in charge of the project.”

“Well may the best proposal win,” Josh smirks as he and Billy walk into the board room to give their presentation. Alan-Michael stares as they enter the room then turns his attention back to the proposal. He can barely contain a smile as he imagines the shocked faces of the Lewis boys as their proposal is rejected.

<HR>

And now, The Guiding Light!



<HR>

Tammy continues, “I’ve decided to apply to George Washington University and I need someone to write me a letter of recommendation and I immediately thought of you.”

Holly smiles, “Sure, I’d be honored to write your letter, but why did you choose me?”

“Journalism has appealed to me since I was a little girl. I’m considering declaring that as my major. So I thought, who better to write my letter than the owner of a paper?”

“Well, just give me the information and I will be glad to send a letter. Actually…if you aren’t doing anything, why don’t you hang around here? You can see some of what we do around here.”

“That’d be great!” Tammy replies.

“Journalism can be a rather tough business, remember that. But someone’s gotta do it, right?”

“Yeah.”

<HR>

“Have you decided on a name yet?” Alan asks.

“No, I haven’t. I was so set on a boy that I’m back to square one.”

“We could name her Penelope after my mother,” Alan offers.

“Penelope? I don’t think so Alan sorry. But we can talk more about names later. You go to your meeting so that you can get back here to take me home,” Olivia says. Alan kisses her cheek and leaves the room.

Meanwhile, Lillian and Beth sit on the bed in another part of the hospital. “I wish you would listen to Ed and stay another night Beth. I don’t think you’re ready to leave yet,” Lillian insists.

“Mama, Lizzie is going to prom tomorrow. No one in this hospital is going to keep me from seeing my baby off.”

“I can’t say I blame you, but just be careful. Don’t strain yourself. By the way, where’s Phillip? Isn’t he going to take you home?”

“He’s at the presentation for the Cedars renovations. He said he would come as soon as it was over,” she says.

<HR>



Mindy and Marah sit in the car on the way to dinner. Mindy rattles off a bunch of names and numbers as Marah’s head spins from all the information. Mindy asks her if there is something on her mind. After a second, Marah decides to confide in her cousin as to what she saw.

“I went back into the mansion to get something—I can’t even remember what it was—but when I got there I heard Michelle and Danny talking. I looked around the corner and heard that they were talking about the baby. Danny asked Michelle that if the baby was his, he would like another chance with her.” Marah’s eyes well up with tears. “And then they kissed. I was so surprised that I ran out of the house without even getting wjat I came back for. I just had to get out of there.”

“Oh Marah. I’m so sorry.”

Marah begins to calm down enough to continue. “Ever since Tony died, Danny was the one thing that kept me going. He was the only thing in my life that actually made sense. I thought we were getting close, but I don’t know now.”

“Does Bill know about this?”

“No. I didn’t tell him.”

The car slows to a stop. “Well what are you going to do?” Mindy asks.

“I’m just going to pray that Bill is the father of the baby. But if not, I’ll just have to fight for Danny.”

<HR>

“Alan-Michael, are you sure that you have everything?” Alan asks.

“I’m sure dad. I have everything under control. Before the day is over, we will have that project.”

“I hope so. May I remind you that that project will bring in millions for the company?”

“Dad, stop badgering him. I’m sure he will do okay. It’s not like it’s his first time,” Phillip says.

“Fine. Just get that contract,” he says as the three men walk into the board room. Before them, the hospital board members sit shoulder to shoulder like a row of toy soldiers. Dr. Charles Grant sits at the head shuffling papers around and jotting down notes. He looks up to see if the presenters are here and motions for them. The Spauldings take their seat as A-M rises to give the presentation. A-M glances at his uncle Ed and gives him a smile. As he walks over to the projector, Charles passes out copies of the written proposal to the other board members.

“You really aren’t going to need those,” A-M says to the board. “I actually have a revised proposal here with some changes that were made specifically for the presentation.” He hands them out to the board members and begins his presentation.

<HR>

Mindy and Marah saunter over to the table where Ms. Sheila Randolph is waiting. “Melinda darling, you’re here. It’s been awhile since we’ve met up, hasn’t it?” she says.

“It’s been too long,” Mindy replies. “And this is my cousin Marah Lewis. Marah, this is Ms. Sheila Randolph.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Sheila responds then motions for them to have a seat at the table. The ladies order their food and then get down to business.

“I wanted to see you Melinda because I have a business… proposition for you that I just know you will be interested in. I’ve decided to sell all of my boutiques and I was wondering if you would like to buy them.”

“You’re selling your boutiques, but why?” Mindy asks.

“Oh, my doctor says I’m getting a bit too old to run so many stores. He seems to think that I should cut down now that I’m in my 70s, not that I want it to get out to the press. So I decided to put them up for sale and spend the remainder of my days in the lap of luxury,” Sheila explains. “When you ladies get to be my age, you’ll understand I’m sure.”

“I think I’m beginning to understand,” Mindy replies. Marah laughs and tells both woman that they still look divine. Sheila giggles at the compliment. Sheila grabs a slip of paper out of her chain purse and gives it to Mindy. “Here is my offer for the boutiques. I do hope that you will consider buying them.”

“Well ladies, it has been a pleasure to talk with you, but I must run. My daughter is flying in from London to see me. I keep insisting that she put it off, but she didn’t listen. Ciao!”

Sheila walks away, leaving Marah and Mindy looking at the price of the boutiques. They can’t believe how expensive the cost is, but the wheels begin turning in their heads.

“Well, it was a nice idea, but there’s no way that we can raise that kind of money,” Mindy says.

“Well why not, we have our trust funds from HB and I’m sure that we can get some money from our fathers. We have to figure out some way; this is an offer too great to let it pass by,” Marah says.

“Maybe,” Mindy offers.

“We have the determination to make this work, I’m sure of it. All we need is a little bit of help. Mindy, you could have your own label instead of working for someone else.”

“’A Mindy Lewis original,’ I kinda like the sound of that.”

“I told you. We can do it. Let’s toast to new beginnings,” she says as they clink their glasses together.

<HR>

The Lewises and Spauldings have gathered outside the board room when Charles opens the door and ushers them all in. He says that the board has made a decision.

“It was a tough decision, but we decided to go with Spaulding Enterprises for the renovations.”

Alan-Michael sighs in relief as the Spaulding men silently gloat. The Lewises seem a bit taken aback that their proposal did not make it.

“Alan-Michael, come to my office tomorrow and we can discuss the project further.”

A-M nods and the Spaulding men leave the room to go celebrate, leaving the Lewis men behind. Phillip tells them that he wants to see if Beth has been discharged yet and he will meet up with them in a bit.

Meanwhile, the Lewis men wonder what they did wrong. “Charles, I thought you said that you really enjoyed our proposal?” Josh asked.

“I did Josh. It’s just that Spaulding had what we were looking for at a lower cost than Lewis Construction. What’s weird though is that Spaulding completely revised their proposal for the presentation. They even dropped their price bid by about a couple thousand dollars.”

“That is unusual,” Josh agrees. “Thanks anyway Charles.”

Dr. Grant leaves the room.

“They had two proposals?! Something is wrong in the state of Texas little brother,” Billy says.

“I know. I’m going to get down to the bottom of this. Spaulding may have had some inside information. The only question is who?”

<HR>

Olivia sits on the bed waiting for the nurse to come with the wheelchair to take her from the hospital. She looks at her baby, wrapped neatly in a blanket. She hears the door shut and looks up to see Phillip. “Hello there,” he says.

“Want to come see your baby,” Olivia smiles.

“About that Olivia. When are we going to break the news to dad and Beth? We need to break the new gently. I don’t want Beth to get hurt.

“Soon. I decided to go back to my suite at the Beacon. Once everything hits the fan, there’s no telling what Alan will do.”

“No, I really think that you should stay at the mansion for awhile longer. Trust me, I’ll work things out okay?”

“Okay,” Olivia nods. “I’ve decided to name the baby Hannah Marissa Spaulding. I’ve always liked the name Hannah and then Marissa for my sister.”

“It’s a beautiful name,” Phillip whispers as he leans in to kiss Olivia. As he pulls away, Olivia grabs his arm and tells him “I love you.”

Suddenly, the nurse barges in with the wheelchair to take Olivia out. They help Olivia into the chair and then begin to wheel her out.

“Ready to go home to the fireworks?” Phillip says.

“Guess so,” Olivia replies.

<HR>

Meanwhile, a nurse notices an envelope with test results had just come in. She checks the name on the envelope: “Spaulding.” The nurse takes Beth’s chart and thinks that they must be for her. She puts the envelope with the rest of Beth’s paperwork.



On the Next ‘The Guiding Light…’
- The kids get ready for prom night.
- Beth learns the truth!