-1/2/58-1/31/58. Dick pushes Kathy to have the surgery that could get her out of the wheelchair but Kathy is reluctant because her life is so happy now and she thinks being in the wheelchair is somehow responsible for the change. Ed has a ruptured appendix and Dick is going to perform his first surgery since he injured his hand on him. Papa has his doubts and Bert is adamantly against Dick performing the surgery but Bill allows it. The crisis tempts Bill to drink again but Papa snaps him out of it. While taking care of Ed, Paul remembers what it was like to be his age and without a father. Bruce seeks Clyde’s advice on whether he should propose to Meta, which he later does but she puts off giving him an answer. Meta remembers when Mark broke things off with her for Kathy and Bruce wonders if Meta is still in love with Mark. She also wonders if she could ever love anybody else like she loved Joe. Trudy has the realization that, ironically, she’s over her long-standing jealousy of Meta and actually feels sorry for her now. Paul, better with children than with adults, bonds with Ed as he recovers from his operation and Paul considers going into pediatrics now that his old medical partner, Dick, is going back into surgery.
-2/3/58-2/28/58. Robin doesn’t want Kathy to have her operation. Now that she is finally content in life, Kathy is afraid successful surgery could ruin that. She doesn’t want to rock the boat and she is afraid of dying in the surgery. Meta tells Bruce about her lingering feelings for Joe and Mark and that she’s still not sure she wants to marry him. Kathy tells Mark she’s decided not to have the surgery. The Bauers are excited that Meta may marry Bruce. Paul becomes a medical resident at Cedars and says that he never wants to have children. Bruce and Meta’s talk about marriage is interrupted by Bert calling with news that Kathy was knocked over into traffic in her wheelchair by a group of boys on bicycles and killed. Dick, Marie, Paul, Mark and Alice deal with the death of Kathy. In shock, Mark glances at the Tree of Life Kathy was weaving on the loom and sees that it’s finished.
-3/3/58-3/31/58. The aftermath of Kathy’s death. Meta postpones accepting Bruce’s marriage proposal to take care of Robin and leaves New York City to return home. Paul comforts a despondent Robin. The death of Kathy has made Trudy think about how she would be alone if something happened to Clyde since they decided not to have children. Clyde reminds her that, just because someone has a child, there’s no guarantee the child would stay around when they got older or be a comfort. Marian, a woman from Paul’s past, moves to town which Paul isn’t happy about and dodges her attempts to reach out to him. Trudy tries to get Bruce to go out to California to visit Meta and bring her back as his wife but Bruce is concerned that Meta is interested in Mark again now that he’s single. Dick begins working under Dr. Henry Meyers at General Hospital and he meets a nurse working with Dr. Meyers who turns out to be Marian Winters. When she recognizes who Dick is, she inundates him with questions about Paul. When Paul catches wind of this, he is not happy. Bill thinks Meta needs to concentrate more on Bruce and less on Robin. Marian finally gets a hold of Paul on the phone and he tells her to leave him alone before hanging up on her.
-4/1/58-4/30/58. Paul is haunted by memories of being fatherless as a child. John Lipsey, Paul’s pharmacist friend, thinks that Paul’s plans to move to NYC is just another way for Paul to try to run from himself. Bill continues to worry that Meta is too obsessed with Robin and is trying to get close to Mark again, so he eagerly tells her that Mark’s Aunt Ruth is planning on coming from Connecticut to run the house. Meta is subconsciously disappointed. Robin finally feels like Mark is a father to her and Alice is like a sister to her. Marian finally makes Paul talk to her and threatens to tell the other doctors at the hospital about his past. The Bauers celebrate Meta’s birthday and a dissatisfied Meta perks up when roses arrive from Bruce Banning. It is revealed that Marian is Paul’s mother. Paul takes care of a new patient at the hospital named Anne.
-5/1/58-5/30/58. Bruce comes for a visit. The reality of Kathy’s death finally starts to hit Mark and Robin. Bruce tells Meta he plans to marry her but Meta is still in love with Mark and is torn when Paul says he thinks Robin should live with Meta to help her heal from her mother’s death since she’s fallen into a depression. Marian reveals to her friend Edna that she couldn’t give up her child, Paul, even though she was an unwed mother, and told her son that her father died. Paul’s move to NYC is aborted when Anne’s physical condition becomes even more serious. Bert gets choked up when Michael goes on his first date. Paul’s feelings for Anne grow as he becomes more and more concerned about her. She gets diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis.
-6/2/58-6/30/58. Marian turns out to be the best nurse to be able to take care of Anne so Paul reluctantly hires her but makes her promise not to tell anyone that she’s his mother. Bruce tells Meta he no longer wants to marry her because he realizes she’s still in love with Mark Holden. Tom Sloane, Anne’s fiancé, comes to visit Anne from San Francisco. Paul tells Anne he’ll never get married because he doesn’t want a child because he wouldn’t wish himself on any child. Before leaving to go back to New York City, Bruce helps Meta face her feelings for Mark. Bruce tells her to let him know if she ever stops loving Mark because he, Bruce, “will probably still be around”. Paul throws himself into the care of Anne as the shame of being an illegitimate child seems to reach a crescendo with Marian’s presence and all the questions from his friends and co-workers about his past. Meta wants to go on a vacation with Robin to Lake Louise and Bill is disappointed it’s not to NYC to see Bruce.
-7/1/58-7/30/58. Mark hasn’t been feeling well and is in Cedars for tests and it turns out to just be nervous exhaustion. Trudy tells Clyde that Meta needs to be honest about herself and realize she’s glad Kathy’s dead. Janet tries to get her hooks into Mark but Mark lets her know she’s barking up the wrong tree because he’ll never love any other woman than Kathy. Now that she’s about to be released, Anne is reluctant to go back home to San Francisco and while Marian is nursing her, she hears Anne say Paul’s name in her sleep.
-8/1/58-8/28/58. Anne tells Marian that her hospital stay has caused her to think about things for the first time and now she’s not sure she wants to live the pre-ordered life that’s been laid out for her in San Francisco by her family. She wants to stay in Los Angeles and doesn’t think she wants to marry Tom. Bert tries to point out to Meta that she’s not Robin’s mother. Meta is defensive and says she loves Robin now as much as she loved Chuckie then and, since Robin’s mother is dead, she is the next best thing to a mother Robin has. Paul is fighting his feelings for Anne so he tries to get her to go back to San Francisco. Meta admits to Bill that she never stopped loving Mark. Paul works up the nerve to ask Anne out for dinner but quickly loses heart when Anne is surprised by a visit from her mother Helene.
-9/1/58-9/30/58. Anne tells Helene she wants to break off her engagement to Tom. Paul gives in to his feelings for Anne. Mike says he might want to be a doctor one day. Helene learns from Anne that she’s in love with Paul and Helene, worried and disappointed, ironically tries to find out about Paul’s background from Marian. Henry Benedict, Anne’s father, comes from San Francisco for a visit and is told by Helene that Anne is breaking off her engagement because she’s in love with Paul. Henry thinks Paul is after Anne’s money and vows to get to the bottom of all this. Tom comes down for a visit as well and Anne breaks the news to him. Meta meets the Holdens new housekeeper, Ruth Jannings, who is from Austria and has come to the U.S. via her brother’s home in Switzerland where her teenage son is still.
-10/3/58-10/31/58. Robin overhears Meta and Bert talking about Meta’s feelings for Mark which excites Robin but Meta is afraid that Robin will tell Mark. Anne wonders to Marian if Paul’s mother would have liked her, not knowing Marian is Paul’s mother. Marian assures her she would have. Paul continues to fight his feelings for Anne due to her high social status and his illegitimate status, thinking he’s not good enough for her. Mark offers to loan Ruth the money to bring her son over from Europe. Marian urges a self-hating Paul to meet his father.
-11/3/58-11/24/58. Bill loses another job and tries to hide it from everybody but Bert. Paul confesses to John that he is illegitimate but John had already guessed. Paul decides to meet his father. Henry encourages Tom to try to win Anne back from Paul. Paul finds his father’s house and meets his half-sister Jane outside. He doesn’t tell her who he is but they have a discussion and Paul learns that he had an older half-brother who died in the Korean war in 1950. Paul chickens out and leaves before he’s able to meet his father, Fred Fletcher. Mark offers Bill a job with his firm but it would mean moving to Boston which Bert is against because it would mean Mike having to leave his school and friends for his final semester of high school.
-12/1/58-12/31/58. Papa Bauer suggests that Bert and the boys stay with him and Meta when Bill moves to Boston until Mike graduates. Meta isn’t happy about the idea because she’s hoping things will work out for her and Mark soon. Marian confesses to John that she is Paul’s mother. Under pressure that his past will come out, Paul convinces Anne to elope with him and they are married by a justice of the peace. When Paul and Anne return to San Francisco from their elopement, their picture is taken for the society pages. Fred and Jane see the picture and see that the man who was looking for Fred and looks so much like the deceased Fred Jr., is using the last name “Fletcher” and an intrigued Fred determines to get in touch with Paul. Fred sends a letter to Paul via the Benedicts. The letter arrives after Paul and Anne have left on their honeymoon and the return address of “Fred Fletcher” intrigues Henry. He decides to go to the return address to find out more about Paul. Marian and John celebrate Christmas Eve with Paul and Anne in their new apartment. Meta, Papa, Bill, Bert, Mike, Ed, Mark, Robin, Alice, Dick, Marie, Paul and Anne all gather at Meta’s house to celebrate Christmas. Bill takes a picture with a tripod of them all together to take with him when he moves to Boston. As Paul and Anne spend New Year’s Eve alone, Paul worries what the future holds.
By
Reverend Ruthledge ·
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