-1/2/63-1/31/63. George wants Henry and Helene to be character witnesses for Paul but Henry refuses because he’s not sure Paul really didn’t murder Anne. A sympathetic Helene visits Paul in jail to try to convince him to stop being so self-incriminating just because he feels guilty for Anne’s death. She says Henry could be just as guilty for insisting that Anne buy the gun that ultimately killed her. Alex goes over to Bert’s to tell her that Doris shouldn’t be staying there. Bert tells him to mind his own business. Doris starts seeing a psychologist to help her recover her lost memory. Mike decides he wants to be a lawyer instead of an engineer. Alex warns Julie, from personal experience, not to force a marriage unless there is mutual love. Jane starts to work at the clinic to help Pete but the two don’t like each other. George arranges for Johnny to visit with Paul in jail in hopes that he will inspire Paul to fight. Henry is not happy about this. Jane blasts Mike for being insensitive to Julie which causes Mike to break up with her. After Johnny’s visit, George reminds Paul what it was like growing up with a father and how much worse it will be for Johnny if his father isn’t there for him because he killed his mother. This causes Paul to tell George the whole story and decide to plead Not Guilty.
-2/1/63-2/28/63. Julie is furious at Jane and says she’s sick for letting her hatred for all men chase Mike away. Jane says Julie is sick for letting Mike have the milk for free, hoping he’ll eventually buy the cow. Robin takes Doris’ old job as a receptionist at the clinic. Paul’s trial for the murder of Anne gets underway. The DA makes an issue of Paul being illegitimate when Jane takes the stand. Alex tries to help out George by searching the bars looking for a bartender that might remember Doris from that night. He has no luck but learns of a bartender who worked that night but now lives in Las Vegas so Alex catches the next plane out to Vegas. The bartender remembers Doris coming in the night Anne was shot and talking about having a gun in her bag and that she was going to kill herself. Doris takes the stand and the DA accuses her of lying about her amnesia to protect Paul because she’s in love with him. The bartender that Alex brings back with him from Las Vegas remembers that Doris had on gloves the night she was in the bar, the reason why her fingerprints weren’t on the gun. They later find them in the lost and found. When George cross-examines Doris and brings up what they know about her visit to the bar, Doris’ memory comes back to her of the time she blocked out. She testifies that she had intended to kill herself with the gun but Paul grabbed it out of her purse, that she grabbed his wrist and that the gun accidentally went off and killed Anne. After Paul takes the stand and gives his testimony, the DA drops the charges and the judge rules that Anne’s death was accidental. A free Paul picks up Johnny and brings him back home.
-3/1/63-3/29/63. Mike tells Robin that the problem with him and Julie is that she wants to be married and he doesn’t want anything to do with marriage. He wants to be free to live his own life. Meanwhile, Julie tells Jane she’s pregnant. Since she’s broken up with Mike and she knows he doesn’t love her and doesn’t want to marry her, Julie is desperate and wants Jane to help her get an abortion. Jane refuses and demands that she tell Mike about the baby. Doris is feeling responsible for Anne’s death. She tells George and Bert that if Paul would have let her kill herself, then Anne would still be alive today. Alex and Robin agree to an amicable divorce. Alex toasts to a new beginning and says, “If it can’t be ours, here’s to yours”. Robin toasts back, “And yours, Alex”. Alex tries to comfort Julie by saying that it’s better that Mike broke up with her because there’s no worse trap than being married to someone who doesn’t love you. This only makes Julie feel worse. Jane wants to move in to take care of Paul and Johnny but Paul wants her to have her own life. Bert is singing a different tune as she now hopes Mike and Robin will get together. Henry apologizes to Paul for not supporting him. Paul wants to move out of the house/clinic to get away from the memories and his guilt. Robin apologizes to Doris for the way she treated her. Bill comes home for a visit from Seattle and says his company is sending him to Lucerne for a year. Jane makes Julie call Mike and invite him over so she can tell him she’s pregnant. Mike wants Julie to give the baby up for adoption.
-4/1/63-4/30/63. Doris moves out of the Bauers and Robin moves out of the Bannings. They move into apartments across from each other. Jane tells Bert that Julie is going to have Mike’s child. She also tells her that Mike wants the baby to be given up for adoption. Bert says that won’t happen to her grandchild. Bert tells Papa about the situation and Papa is outraged that Mike isn’t going to take responsibility and marry Julie. Pete is interested in dating Robin but she’s put off by him. Pete is trying to talk Paul out of moving away. Alex starts to get interested in Doris again. Robin asks Mike why he’s postponing law school. Mike says he wishes he could go back to sharing everything with her but they can’t go back to where they were three years ago. Robin asks, “Would we even want to, Mike?” Mike replies, “Right now, I’d give anything to go back, Robin”. Bert tells George about Mike and begs him to try to talk some sense into him. She fears her dominating nature as a mother led Mike to crave independence so much that it’s made him irresponsible. Pete accuses Paul of trying to run away from Anne’s ghost instead of facing his problems which angers Paul and causes him to throw Pete out of his home and back into the clinic. Julie tells Jane that she’s not going to give up the baby. She says she will tell Mike she did but keep it and move away with it. She wants Jane to come with her. George lays down the law with Mike and tells him he’s going to take responsibility as a man and marry Julie. Mike and Robin reminisce about the “good ol’ days” when they were growing up together and would play Sir Lancelot and damsel-in-distress. In a moment of foreshadowing, intentional or not, Robin says she read the story and learned that Lancelot was really in love with King Arthur’s wife and had an illegitimate child with Lily Maid of Astelot. Then he left her and went back to being a knight and being in love with King Arthur’s wife. Mike asks what happens to Lily and Robin says she kills herself. She says that she prefers the Lancelot that Mike was pretending to be when they were kids.
-5/1/63-5/31/63. Mike tells Julie that he wants to marry her. Julie is relieved somewhat but still sad because she knows he doesn’t love her like she loves him. Mad at Jane for taking matters into her own hand, Mike makes her promise that she won’t tell Julie that his marriage proposal to Julie was coerced by Jane, Bert and George. He doesn’t want to hurt Julie anymore than she is. Mike then goes to blast Bert for interfering in his life again and getting George to do her dirty work. Jane tries to cheer up Julie as she prepares to elope with Mike. Jane tells Julie that she’s finally getting the family she always wanted. Julie asks which would be harder, being an unwed mother or an unloved wife. As Mike gets ready to leave on the elopement, he remembers the phrase he would repeat as a child playing Lancelot, “Death before dishonor”. As he leaves, he feels like he’s forgetting something, looks around, and then realizes it’s love. Alex offers Paul an endowment to stay and run his clinic. Mike and Julie cross the state line and are married by a Justice of the Peace. Paul tells Henry that he’s decided to stay where he is. Henry says he’s not going to let Johnny grow up in a place Anne died to get him out of. Alex enters and Henry accuses him of playing God by using his money to purchase Paul’s dedication when Paul should be more concerned with his son than his missionary stance. Alex gets riled up and says Henry is only interested in Johnny emerging as a Benedict instead of a Fletcher. He says Henry is arrogant and stupid and, listening to Henry just now, he sees there’s already one Benedict too many as it is. Henry warns that, now that he’s met Alex, Paul is making a huge mistake. Mike takes Julie to dinner at the Bauers and Bert and Papa welcome her into the family. Since Mike hasn’t gotten a wedding ring for Julie yet, Papa gives Mama Bauer’s wedding ring for Mike to give to Julie. Julie is moved. Robin drops by unexpectedly and it lends to an awkward moment. She later tells Papa that she knows Mike well enough to be able to tell that he’s not happy and not in love. Papa dodges her questions but Robin gets the epiphany that Mike and Julie had to get married. Henry and Helene move back to San Francisco but Helene stops by Paul’s to say goodbye and reassures him that, though she shares his grief over their daughter, she doesn’t share Henry’s resentment towards Paul. She says that Johnny needs a father who is fully alive in the professional calling that he feels and she hopes he can find another woman to love. Bert wants the newlyweds to come live with her. Julie is for it but Mike is dead set against it. Mike admits to Papa that he feels trapped that the rest of his life will be a life he didn’t want to live. Papa says that Mike shouldn’t be talking that way even to him. Yet, at the same time, even after commending him for finally taking responsibility, Papa can’t help but feel sorry for Mike.
-6/3/63-6/28/63. George tells Doris his marriage proposal still stands but Doris is as afraid of marriage as she is of drinking. George suggests she might need to go away to learn the difference. Doris leaves town but not before a heartfelt goodbye with Paul. Mike and Julie move into the Bauer house with Bert, Papa and Ed. Bert is already fighting her urges to interfere as she thinks Julie is doting too much on Mike and being a doormat. Mike is having a hard time giving up his independence and it’s manifesting in his lack of desire to include her in his life. Johnny wants his Aunt Jane to live with them since she’s alone in her apartment now. Paul doesn’t like that Pete asked Jane out as he thinks he might hurt her. When George learns from Doris that she’s leaving, he goes to the airport to meet her and try to convince her to stay. Doris says she has to go to find out who she is and make sure she can stay that person. When her plane’s departure is announced, Doris turns to walk away as George calls her name. She stops but refuses to turn around. She says, “Don’t move, George. Stay right there. Goodbye” and walks to her plane. Alex comes back from the Virgin Islands after having gotten his divorce from Robin with the intention of asking Doris to remarry him. He is disappointed to learn that Doris has left and he angrily accuses George of encouraging her to leave. Alex demands to know where she went. George said her flight had seven stops–Phoenix, Albuquerque, Amarillo, Wichita, Kansas City, Chicago and New York–and he doesn’t know which place Doris got off the plane. Ed decides he wants to be a doctor. Julie announces to the Bauers that she’s pregnant and they all try to act surprised. She also tells George and Alex, who also try to act surprised.
-7/1/63-7/31/63. Julie can’t understand the hatred and resentment Mike has for Jane while also fearing that she’s keeping Mike from living the life he wants to live. She doesn’t see the connection. Papa, Bert, Mike, Julie, Bruce, Meta, George, Pete and Jane attend the Bauer BBQ. Bert is missing Bill who is still in Europe. Robin is in Europe as well, visiting Mark and Ruth. When Meta mentions that she’s heard from Robin, Mike’s ears perk up. Julie notices this and her insecurity about Robin shows. When Mike says he wants to go for a walk alone and leaves, Julie sadly says to herself, “Independence Day”. Jane confides to Julie that she’s fallen in love with Pete. Julie warns her not to make a fool of herself with unrequited love like she has. Julie feels jealous every time she sees Mike looking at other girls. Mike admits to George that he never looked at other women until he was married. He is frustrated because he’s trying to love Julie but he can’t. Papa is going to visit Clyde and Trudy at their summer place on Long Island and wants Bert to go to Switzerland to see Bill so that Mike and Julie can have the house alone and hopefully grow closer together. Bert says Switzerland is too much money but she might go visit her mother’s sister in Phoenix. (I guess Elsie is dead by this point). Pete tells Paul he wants to leave because Jane has fallen in love with him and he’s not in love with him. Paul’s hunch that Pete was going to break Jane’s heart turns out to be right. Papa buys a plane ticket to Lucerne for Bert as a gift. George gets a letter from Doris. He learns she stopped in Chicago to visit friends but then learned there was a VA Hospital in Nashville that was hiring so she moved to Tennessee. Pete and Jane go to dinner where Jane thanks Pete for bringing her back to life after her heartbreak and starts to talk about their future. Pete reluctantly breaks the news to her that he doesn’t love her and doesn’t think he ever could. He apologizes for not realizing how deep things were going for her but Jane is hurt, embarrassed and angry. She breaks down later to Paul saying that nobody’s ever going to want her. The first guy broke her heart because he wanted to marry someone else but this rejection from Pete is worse because he just didn’t want her.
-8/1/63-8/30/63. The only thing keeping Jane wanting to live is Paul and Johnny, Julie tries to comfort Jane but Jane is despondent thinking she is destined to only love, never be loved and she’ll always be alone. With Papa and Bert gone, Julie is happier than she ever has been, playing domestic life at the Bauer house alone with Mike, dreaming of the future and planning more kids. Mike feels trapped. Johnny gets sick and is diagnosed with rheumatic fever. Paul is devastated because Johnny could die from it and he is all he has now. Jane volunteers to be Johnny’s nurse as he will be bed-ridden for weeks, if not months. George sets up Mike at the clinic to oversee the construction of the expansion which puts him in close proximity to Robin who is working at the clinic which brings out all of Julie’s insecurities and jealousy. Johnny’s fever gets very high and he starts to hallucinate his mother.
-9/2/63-9/30/63. While Papa, Bert and Julie are visiting at the Bannings, Julie sees Mike drop off Robin in his car. When she confronts Mike about it later, he said that Robin’s car broke down at work and he had to give her a lift home. Julie can’t believe it. Pete and Robin discuss which is worse, trying to love someone who loves you or loving someone who doesn’t love you. Both have had experience with the former and they both sympathize with Jane who keeps experiencing the latter. Jane envies Robin because men want her. Paul says she shouldn’t envy Robin and points out that Robin has failed twice in romance as well but her failures are bigger because they weren’t just unrequited love, they were marriage, which is a big commitment and, therefore, bigger failures. Pete wants to get serious with Robin but Robin just wants to be friends. Julie overhears Mike tell Robin that everybody knows Julie was pregnant before she and Mike married and they were just pretending to be surprised when Julie told them all that she was pregnant after they had been married. She also hears him say he only married Julie because she was pregnant. A distraught Julie races off, gets in her car and, calling herself a fool, gets into a car wreck. Julie is brought into Cedars with a head injury and in a coma. Paul tells Mike that even if Julie dies, they might still be able to save the baby. Julie, still unconscious, goes into labor.
-10/1/63-10/31/63. Papa, Bert and Meta wait for word about Julie. Bert is guilt-ridden because, though she now desperately wants the baby to survive, she was hoping at one time that the baby didn’t exist and that there had been a choice. Papa warns her not to say something she’ll regret saying. Bert says, “I’ve learned that when life happens, you have to accept it and not wish you could play God”. Mike becomes hysterical as the guilt for how he’s treated Julie finally hits him. George snaps him out of it. Julie, still in a coma, delivers a baby girl. Julie starts to gain consciousness and Paul tells the Bauers that having the baby saved Julie’s life because the loss of amniotic fluid in the birthing process relieved the fluid on Julie’s brain. A grateful and relieved Mike rushes in to see a now-conscious Julie but her first words to him are “Go away”. Paul tells Julie that she’s given birth and asks her if she wants to see the baby. He is shocked when Julie says no because she doesn’t have a baby. Bert goes to visit Julie and Julie throws her out too, saying, “You don’t want me anymore than I want you”. Julie blasts Jane when she comes to visit her for telling Bert she was pregnant and making her get Mike to marry her. Julie feels like a joke and a fool because everybody knew the truth that Julie got pregnant while still unmarried but they didn’t let on that they knew and let her think she was fooling everybody. She thinks also that Mike just married her because he had to and not because he wanted to. She is depressed and doesn’t want to have anything to do with anyone. Including Mike and her baby. She tells Jane that she wants to divorce Mike, give the baby up for adoption and that she just wants to die. She bitterly chastises herself, as well, for having been such a romantic dreamer that it caused her to fall into a trap. Chasing after her dreams so much that she chased after someone who doesn’t really love her and getting the family she thought she wanted has turned out to be a trap. Bert tells Bruce that Julie looked at her with such hatred in her eyes that it scared her. Jane lets Mike know that Julie overheard him and Robin talking and that Julie wants to die. Bert talks Papa into going to try to talk to Julie since she might respond to him. Julie says she’s the joke of the Bauer family and Papa reminds her that he wouldn’t have given her Mama Bauer’s wedding ring if he didn’t love her. Julie gives him back the ring. Mike tells Paul he’s worried what will happen to his baby girl now that Julie wants to give her up for adoption. Paul encourages him not to give up hope. Jane sees that Paul seems to be getting interested in Robin romantically. Robin wants to leave the clinic, working alongside Mike, because of the guilt of her part in what Julie overheard and for Julie’s benefit. Paul, having gotten attached to Robin, tries to talk her out of it. A territorial Jane tries to encourage Robin to go with her original decision and leave.
-11/1/63-11/29/63. Julie plans on leaving for New York City just as soon as she gets released from the hospital. Mike tries to talk her into staying and into not putting their baby up for adoption. Julie says she has to give the baby away because she will always be a reminder of him. “So there’s no hope for us, Julie?” Mike asks. Julie replies, “No hope.” Although Julie doesn’t want to see her, Paul brings the baby in for Julie to see and puts her in her arms. He’s successful in bringing down Julie’s defensive wall. Although Julie has fallen in love with her baby, she still doesn’t want anything to do with Mike. Robin can tell that Johnny resents her presence and only wants to be with Paul and Jane. Jane suggests to Julie that she name the baby Little Julie because she looks so much like her. Julie says that she doesn’t want her baby to be like her because she wants the baby to be happy. She tells Jane of her unhappy childhood with a father, now-deceased, who divorced her mother when Julie was young and never gave her any attention and a mother who used Julie to try to get as much as she could from her father. She recounts that she spent most of her time alone, miserable and living in a world of make believe. Julie tells Mike she’ll live with him only for the sake of her baby. Mike says he loves Julie but Julie says she doesn’t think she’ll ever believe him again. Bert is disappointed that Mike wants to give up law school and drive a truck in order to afford a home for Julie and the baby. Julie names her daughter Hope. Paul and Robin establish that they are in love with each other. Robin assures Julie that there’s nothing between her and Mike anymore but Julie says she doesn’t care about anything but Hope at this point. Mike puts Mama Bauer’s ring back on Julie’s finger.
-12/2/63-12/31/63. Jane starts to go into a panic when Pete makes her see that Paul and Robin are in love. Jane and Johnny cling to each other out of fear of losing the dependence they’ve developed on each other. Julie is back living at the Bauer home but now has a wall up around everybody. Bert tries to assure Julie that Mike loves her but Julie says he only loves Hope just like she only loves Hope. Bert says mutual love of a child isn’t enough to keep a marriage together and Julie states that it’s good enough for thousands of couples, why can’t it be enough for them? George tries to contact Julie’s mother in Chicago to tell her about Hope but the number is unlisted and Mike says Julie hasn’t had anything to do with her mother in years. When Mike tells him of his plans to go to work as a truck driver to support his family because he won’t have enough money to go to law school now with his new responsibilities, George implores him not to sacrifice his intellect and dreams for his family because they’ll never thank him for it and the day will come when he hates them. Johnny asks Jane to tell his dad not to let Robin stay with him if Paul and Jane aren’t there. Jane says she can’t tell Paul that—but he can. Paul gives Jane the news that he and Robin are in love and planning to get married. Jane asks how he could do that to Johnny. George convinces Julie that Mike going to law school would be better in the long-run if more difficult in the short-run. Julie thinks only of Hope when she decides it would be better for Mike to go to law school. George believes so much in Mike, he’s willing to financially support him through law school with a loan that Mike can pay back by coming to work for George after getting his degree. Johnny has a meltdown when Paul tells him he wants to marry Robin and he begs Paul not to. He says Jane is his new mommy and doesn’t understand why Paul would want a wife. Bruce is not happy to learn about Paul and Robin’s romance. He thinks this, as it was with Alex, is another neurotic search for the father she never had. Jane tells Robin that she’s afraid, after having lost his mother, that Johnny will look at Paul’s marriage to her as losing a father as well and she’s afraid of how it will affect Johnny for the rest of his life. Julie is willing to sacrifice her own home to live with the Bauers so that Mike can go to law school for the sake of Hope’s future. When Meta notices Robin losing the joy she’s had since she announced her relationship with Paul, Robin tells Meta that she can’t help remembering what it did to her when Mark remarried after Kathy died. She doesn’t want to put Johnny through the same thing she went through. Henry and Helene visit the Fletchers for New Year’s Eve on their way to a Pacific cruise and Henry can’t believe how isolated and dependent on Paul and Jane that Johnny has become.
-12/25/63. Paul and George talk about Paul marrying Robin and how difficult it will be for Johnny. Mike tells Bert that he wants him, Julie and Hope to live with her while he goes through law school.
By
Reverend Ruthledge ·
