-1/4/60-1/29/60. Paul and Anne name their baby John after John Lipsey. Karl asks Robin to marry him and she’s tempted to say yes just to have a place to belong. Bruce and Meta have the Bauers over and announce their wedding plans for the end of the month. Mike and Robin take a walk to the drugstore and Mike tells Robin he knows Karl wants to marry her and asks her not to do it if she doesn’t really love him. Dick and Marie meet with Nora’s parents, the Hansens, to discuss the custody of Nora’s baby. Nora’s mother doesn’t like Dick. The next day, they go over to Marie’s to tell her they’ve decided not to let her have the baby and that they’re leaving with the baby. Marie becomes hysterical and blocks them from taking the baby. The Hansens go to the police. Although Nora wanted Marie to have the baby if anything happened to her, Dick reminds Marie that Nora didn’t have her wishes in a legal document and the Hansens have the legal right to their grandchild. The Hansens come back with the police and take baby Marie away. Bert goes over to comfort Marie and Marie vows to get the baby back. After talking with Papa Bauer, Robin decides that, though they’re not strong, she might have feelings for Karl and that she’s not just using him to get back at Mark and Ruth. Robin accepts Karl’s marriage proposal. Marie tries to go the legal route to get the baby back and asks Joe to be a witness that Nora wanted Marie, not her parents, to have the baby. Joe agrees and an angry Dick, who hates Joe, wants Joe out of their lives. Mike tries to warn Karl against marrying Robin. Karl tells him that even though he’s his best friend, he needs to mind his own business.
-2/1/60-2/29/60. Karl apologizes to Mike for their row and pressures him into apologizing to Robin. Marie resents that Dick doesn’t want to fight for the baby like she does. Before Meta’s wedding, Bill has an alone moment with her and says he’s happy it’s turned out this way for her. Later, Bert and Meta share an alone moment. Bert tells Meta how happy she is for her and Meta says she never thought she could be happy again like she is now. Papa comes up later to take Meta down to give her away and he tells her this is what he’s been praying for for so long. Papa, Bill, Bert, Mark, Ruth, Marie, Dick, Anne, Paul, Karl, Robin and Mike all gather at Meta’s house to watch as Bruce Banning and Meta Roberts are married on February 5th. After the wedding, Karl and Robin announce their engagement. Mark tells Robin the hopes this will bring him and Robin closer so things can be like they were when they were close. Robin tells Bert that she thinks she’ll love Karl after they’re married for a while even if she doesn’t right now. Bert assures her it will all work out. Mike thinks Robin just wants to marry Karl because she wants a family, not because she loves him. Papa thinks Mike is against Karl and Robin marrying because he doesn’t want to lose his best friend. Karl is pushing Mike and Robin together so that they will bury the hatchet. Ruth gives Karl her mother’s diamond ring to give to Robin but can’t get over the worrying feeling that something’s not right. Marie thinks Dick’s refusal to help her fight for the baby is because he’s up for Chief of Staff and selfishly doesn’t want any negative publicity even though Marie cares about being a mother just as much as Dick cares about his career. She says if he won’t help her fight for the baby, their marriage is through. Dick thinks Marie cares about being a mother more than being his wife.
-3/1/60-3/31/60. Marie is forced to accept the fact that she’ll never get the baby back but feels dead inside. Seeing no point in the marriage, she leaves Dick and moves into an apartment at the Bowden Art Gallery. Karl asks Mike to be his Best Man and continues to try to force Mike and Robin closer as friends for the sake of peace. Dick thinks Joe is the cause of all of it. Laura goes to Marie and tells her that the scandal she’s causing by leaving Dick is making it difficult for him at Cedars and his possible promotion. A fellow doctor at Cedars, who is jealous of Dick, makes sure the rumors of Dick’s personal problems are known by the current Chief of Staff considering making Dick his replacement.
-4/1/60-4/29/60. Mike suggests to Karl that he and Robin elope. Karl is for it but Robin the idea upsets Robin and nobody can figure out why Mike would suggest it. Robin’s emotional turmoil as the wedding nears causes her to get physically ill. Even though the marriage looks good on paper, she knows deep inside that she’s not in love with Karl but now feels trapped. Robin goes into Cedars for tests. Dr. Walter Pierce, the doctor who wants the Chief of Staff position, feigns concern for Dick and pumps Robin for information on Dick and Marie. He learns about the separation and goes straight to the Chief of Staff with the information who lets Dick he’s no longer under consideration for the position due to the distraction he has in his personal life. An angry Dick confronts Marie and tells her that she’s now gotten more than even with him for taking away her chances for a baby by taking away his chances for the position. He says he never wants to see her again. Robin is “forced” to postpone her wedding and Karl is frustrated as he is very eager to get married. Paul is shocked to learn that he, not Walter, has been granted the Chief of Staff position that Dick wanted so much.
-5/2/60-5/31/60. Robin overhears that Dr. Pierce got his information from her and the guilt she feels for what happened to Dick causes her physical symptoms to get worse. Dick begins to think her illness is psychosomatic. Ed is the only one to figure out that Mike is sweet on Robin and Mike gets angry when Ed teases him about it. Now that it’s just become the 49th state, Mark’s company is doing a construction project in Alaska and Mike wants to go work there in the summer, consciously or subconsciously to get away from his growing feelings for Robin. Even though Dick says Robin should hold off on setting a date for the wedding, Karl is determined that it will be in June just as soon as the semester is over. Mike tells Bill he wants to go to Alaska and he doesn’t care if it means he’ll miss the wedding, even though he’s supposed to be the best man. Bill can’t understand Mike’s hurry to leave. True to form, Laura sticks her nose into Dick’s life and tells him he should leave Marie because she was never right for him anyway. Robin admits to Dick that she doesn’t love Karl enough to marry him but just thought marrying Ruth’s son would make her part of a family and keep her from feeling isolated from Mark now that he’s married to Ruth. Bert tells Marie that she thinks Joe thinks of Marie as more than a friend. Marie asks Joe about it and Joe doesn’t deny it but says he wants Marie to stay married. Karl, working hard to save up for the marriage, asks Mike to take Robin to the Memorial Day fraternity picnic until he can get off work and join them later. At the picnic, Robin admits to Mike that she doesn’t want to marry Karl and it’s because she now knows what love is. Mike kisses her.
-6/1/60-6/30/60. Paul and Laura run into each other at Cedars and Laura mentions that she thinks it’s best that Dick and Marie have split. Paul ruffles her feathers by telling her to quit trying to run Dick’s life and reminds her that she’s his mother, not his wife. Robin is tortured as the voice of Karl saying he doesn’t want to postpone the wedding any longer, the voice of Mike saying he couldn’t do anything to hurt his best friend and the voice of Dick saying it would be worse to marry Karl without loving him than to break his heart now all swirl around in her mind. Laura purposely doesn’t give Dick the message that Marie called the apartment wanting to talk to him. Robin admits to Mike that she’s in love with him. Meta is throwing a going away party for Papa as he embarks on a trip to NYC to visit Clyde and Trudy. Bert can’t figure out why Mike doesn’t want to go to his Aunt Meta’s for the party, not knowing it’s because Karl and Robin will be there. She also can’t figure out why Mike wants to run off to Alaska. She asks Bill to talk to him and Mike finally admits to Bill that he and Robin are in love with each other but he could never take Robin away from Karl. Bill feels for him and tries to comfort him. Robin tells Karl that she can’t marry him. Mike and Robin discuss their predicament. Mike still plans on going to Alaska. Robin says she wants to go with him and she could if they were married. Mike is dubious about her plan until Robin makes him see that if they were married, it would help Karl get over her faster. Karl is the only one still in the dark as everybody else starts to realize the truth about Mike and Robin. Meanwhile, Mike and Robin cross the state line and get married.
-7/1/60-7/29/60. Unable to accept the fact that Robin doesn’t love him, Karl looks to blame someone and targets Dick. He confronts him saying that he poisoned her mind by telling her that her problem was psychosomatic and she should put her marriage off. He even goes as far as to accuse Dick of being in love with Robin. Ruth begs Mark to go look for Karl but Mark refuses, saying that the kids need to work out their own problems. Ruth worries he’s making a mistake. Bert lets Bill know that she has figured out about Mike and Robin and is furious to learn Mike had told Bill and they kept it from her. Meta and Bert fret over the Mike/Robin/Karl triangle. Karl walks in on Mike and Robin on the Banning patio. Robin tells Karl she loves Mike, not him, and Mike tells him he and Robin got married. An angry Karl starts hitting Mike and, as Mike tries to leave, Karl lunges for him, loses his balance and hits his head on the iron patio table which knocks him out. Paul and Anne’s evening at home is interrupted by a call from Mike asking for help with Karl. Paul rushes over to the Bannings to check on Karl. Later at the hospital, Paul tells Mark that Karl is going to need surgery. Marie finds out about Karl and joins Meta at the hospital. Meta fills her in on what happened and Bruce tells them that Karl is through with surgery and now they have to wait for the results. Bill and Bert learn from Paul what happened during Mike and Karl’s fight and how Karl sustained his injury. Mike convinces Robin to keep their marriage a secret. Paul delivers the news to Mike and Robin that Karl has died. Ruth verbally attacks Robin, blaming her for her son’s death. She bitterly declares to Robin that Robin should be satisfied as she has finally gotten even for Ruth taking away her father by taking away Ruth’s son. Bill tries to comfort his guilt-ridden son as Mike blames himself for Karl’s death. Robin suggests that Mark take Ruth to Europe and perhaps move away from Los Angeles. Mark agrees and, right after Karl’s funeral, Mark takes Ruth to Europe to help her recover from the shock and to keep her away from Robin. Bert takes the torch of bitterness and blame towards Robin from Ruth’s hand before she goes. Bill, Bert and Mike are on edge as Mike is questioned by Detective Wyatt due to Karl’s death being violent. Marie confronts Laura and asks her if she gave Dick the message that she calls. Laura dodges the question and tells Marie that Dick never wants to see her again. Lt. Wyatt questions Robin. Robin tells the true sequence of events but Wyatt doesn’t believe her.
-8/1/60-8/31/60. Joe and Marie are doing work with a children’s home through the art gallery and Joe thinks Marie has taken an interest in a young orphan boy, Phillip Collins, to try to fill the void she feels with little Marie gone. Wyatt doesn’t believe that Mike didn’t fight back with Karl and goes for a manslaughter charge. There’s to be a Coroner’s Inquest into Karl’s death which makes the Bauers nervous. A reporter with the newspaper named Grimes goes to Papa and Robin to interview them. They are shocked to learn that Bert had told the reporter that there was nothing between Mike and Robin. Just infatuation on Robin’s part. Paul thinks Laura is lying about giving Marie’s message to Dick so he takes matters into his own hand and asks Dick if he got the message which he says he didn’t. Robin lets only Dick know that she and Mike got married. Mike feels responsible for Karl’s death and his extreme guilt is making it difficult to be around Robin. Anne befriends a young widowed volunteer at Cedars named Amy Sinclair but there’s something about her Paul doesn’t like. The Coroner’s Inquest begins and Lt. Wyatt makes his statement on the witness stand that he believes it was manslaughter and not an accident.
-9/1/60-9/30/60. Mike is forced to admit on the witness stand that he and Robin had gotten married the day Karl was killed. Everyone is shocked but the confession helps the coroner rule Karl’s death as accidental and dismisses the case. Mike comes down with viral pneumonia. Dick confronts Laura about not giving him Marie’s message. Laura tries to weasel out of it but Dick doesn’t buy it this time. He angrily tells Laura to stop trying to control his life and heads over to Marie’s to apologize for his mother’s actions. He interrupts a friendly dinner between Joe and Marie and thinks it’s something more. Bert and Robin’s claws come out when Robin stops over the Bauers to see Michael. Bert says Mike can’t have visitors and Robin retorts that she’s Mike’s wife, not a “visitor”. When Meta hears from Robin that Bert is trying to keep Robin from seeing Mike, Meta angrily defends Robin to Bert. Bert secretly consults a lawyer about Mike’s marriage.
-10/3/60-10/31/60. Bert learns from the lawyer that the marriage can be annulled because he was underaged in the state he got married in and so, therefore, Mike must have lied about his age. Bert is not deterred by the fact that Mike would have to assent to the annulment, as she is determined to end the marriage no matter what it takes. Dick and Marie talk and Dick says that, if they got back together, he would want her to quit her job at the art gallery and stay at home. Marie says if he doesn’t want children, there would be nothing for her to fill her time with since he’s always at work. Marie later confides in Joe that her and Dick’s differences seem too much and it might be better to make a clean break now than to let the relationship die a slow, tortured death. Paul doesn’t trust Amy and thinks she’s after Dick. Bill tries to assuage Mike’s guilt of Karl’s death by encouraging him in his future with Robin. Mike answers Bill, “I married Robin because I was in love with her but you can’t deny that Karl would be alive today if she hadn’t become my wife. You can’t deny that, Dad”. Anne shocks Paul by saying that Marie would be better off with Joe and Dick would be better off with Amy. Joe tells Marie that the reason why Dick doesn’t want her working at the art gallery is because he thinks Joe is in love with Marie and Joe confirms that it’s true. Joe goes to Dick with characteristic straightforwardness and tells him that he’s in love with his wife and asks him if he intends on divorcing her. He bluntly tells Dick to either get back together with his wife or let him have her. When Joe says that he can make Marie happier than Dick can, Dick shows him the door.
-11/1/60-11/30/60. Dick’s talk with Joe shakes him up enough to go to Marie and demand that she come back to him. When Marie learns that Joe told Dick that he wanted to be with Marie, Marie refuses to go back to Dick just because he doesn’t want another man to have his wife. Joe tells Marie that he would be happy to adopt the children she wants. Paul tells Joe to leave Marie alone. Dick points out that Dick is too selfish to really love Marie and the only reason he wants her back now is because he knows someone else wants her. Joe won’t stop pursuing Marie because he knows he can make her happy and Dick can’t and he says he couldn’t care less if Paul doesn’t like it. Alex Bowden, owner of the Bowden Art Gallery, comes back from his world travels. He immediately picks up on Joe’s feelings for Marie and Alex tells him to stay single because it’s the best way and he knows first-hand. Though not as on-board with the annulment idea as Bert is, Bill talks to Mike about it. Mike’s guilt and the difficulty it causes being around Robin, makes Mike agree with the idea of an annulment. He doesn’t think he could make her happy and thinks Robin deserves more than he can give her right now. Robin goes over to see Mike, excited about plans for their future, but is crushed when Mike tells her he feels their marriage would be wrong and wants an annulment. Sensing Bert’s hand in this, Robin quickly gets angry but Mike assures her that it’s what he wants as well. She runs out of the house and when Papa and Meta come by to pick Robin up, they learn of what happened. A furious Meta unleashes on Bert, accusing her of lying and brainwashing Mike while he was laid up sick at home. Marie tells Alex she saw Robin at the park across the street and she’s worried about her. Alex volunteers to go talk to Robin while Marie calls the Bauers. Alex tries to talk sense into Robin by admonishing her not to wallow in self-pity because nothing or nobody is worth the tears, especially a youthful romance with a boy. When Bill and Mike return to the Bauer household without Robin, Meta lays into Mike as well, pointing out that he’s always had a family and home but Robin hasn’t been so lucky. Papa tries to calm Meta’s anger by reminding her that Mike is her nephew. Meta says Robin has been like the daughter Meta never had and nobody is thinking about her, only about Michael. She’s the only one there is to protect and defend Robin. Joe tells Marie he’ll give her the life she’s always wanted, with a house full of adopted kids, and kisses her. Dick files for divorce from Marie on grounds of desertion.
-12/1/60-12/30/60. Paul drops in at the Bauers to see how Mike is doing and has an argument with Bert. She says she’s only concerned about Mike but Paul bluntly tells her she’s only thinking of Bert Bauer and keeping her close little family in one piece as long as she can. Bert angrily tells him to mind his own business. Paul tells her to get another doctor. Meta talks Bill into talking Mike into not getting an annulment right away but going away somewhere alone for a while. Marie doesn’t like Alex, thinking that he’s cynical but doesn’t really believe the things he says. She thinks he just purposely says things to bait people. Joe tells Marie he wants to marry her and adopt Phil. Marie is served the divorce papers by a deputy. Meta and Bert declare war on each other. In front of Mike, Bill and Bert argue about Meta’s influence on Bill’s opinion of the annulment. Sick of the family drama, Mike yells at them both to shut up and says he doesn’t want an annulment but he wants to get away from everything. Alex announces his plans to sell the Art Gallery which devastates Phil as it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him. Mike tells Robin that he doesn’t want to get an annulment but wants to go away alone to New York City for a while. Robin has mixed feelings. Bert tells Anne that this was the first Christmas that she and Bill haven’t spent with Meta and Papa since Bert joined the family and she blames Meta for splitting the family. Papa tries to encourage Robin by noting that Mike wants to stay married but just needs some time. Robin despondently says that it’s only postponing the inevitable. She knows they won’t stay married and she wishes she had died instead of Karl. Alarmed, Papa goes over to tell Mike about Robin’s mental state but Bert forbids him to. Marie consults her own lawyer in the divorce and says she doesn’t want any kind of settlement from Dick. Alex gets a letter that he burns without reading. Meta takes Robin to the art gallery to visit with Marie. Alex takes Robin on a tour of the gallery and tells her to toughen up and forget about Michael.
-12/23/60. Amy, Dick, Paul and Anne gather at Amy’s apartment to celebrate Christmas. Paul encourages Dick to reach out to Marie, who he is separated from. Marie gives Joe and Phil a Christmas they aren’t used to.
By
Reverend Ruthledge ·
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