theboldandthebeautiful

Everybody got into the act this time to try to keep Brooke away from Nick so that Taylor could finally be happy. I had high hopes at this point. I began to wonder if the writers were really going to finally let Taylor be happy after over twenty years of grief. For a time it looked like they might actually do it. Much time was spent on Nick’s profession of love and commitment to Taylor.
(”Commitment” being another abused word by the Bold and Beautiful writers.) So Brooke was out in the cold like a cat in heat. Nick wouldn’t have her and Ridge’s ego was too bruised to consider taking her back. What’s a bimbo from the Valley to do?

When Stephanie asked Brooke for her help in putting an end to the relationship between Rick and Phoebe, Brooke refused and the war was on again. While Brooke, Ridge, Rick and Phoebe were on a business trip in Australia, Ridge walked in on Rick and Phoebe and lost his mind. He punched Rick, Phoebe bolted. It was drama, drama everywhere. When Brooke got off the plane, she went straight to Nick’s house, walked up to the bedroom like she owned it and threw herself on Nick.
Not at Nick, on Nick.
This was just a matter of hours after she heard the news that Nick and Taylor were engaged.

There was a momentary truce for Stephanie and Brooke when they went to Big Bear for a weekend with Eric and Ridge. Stephanie and Eric enjoyed a night of passion while Brooke and Ridge got locked out of the cabin and found themselves in the unenviable positions of peeping Toms. During their weekend together, Brooke told Stephanie that she knew that Stephanie really loved her and they shared a hug. Just when we thought the decades long feud was at an end, Stephanie found out that Rick, Eric and Brooke’s son, was dating Phoebe, Ridge and Taylor’s daughter and Eric’s granddaughter.

Once again, Eric was pissed at Stephanie. He encouraged her to leave town and visit her mother for a while so he could cool off so she did. Meanwhile, Eric was enjoying life in Los Angeles with Pam keeping house for him and Jackie sniffing around for a booty call. Jackie was foiled by Pam, who had her own fantasies about Eric. Stephanie eventually returned and Eric was happy to see her and work on their marriage. All wasn’t wonderful for Stephanie though.
Unbeknownst to her, Eric had invited her sister and mother to stay in L.A. They were more than happy to stay and finally enjoy the high life.

As was expected, Stephanie set out to get Nick to give her back the company Eric had so quickly given away. When Nick refused, Stephanie and Ridge dug into Jackie’s past and discovered that she had prostituted herself to sailors in order to support herself and her young son, Nick. Captain Kramer, a man who had befriended a young Nick while he was enjoying Jackie’s services was brought into town. Stephanie set it up so that Captain Kramer walked Donna down the runway at the Forrester fashion show. Once on the runway, Kramer was outed publicly for being one of Jackie’s johns.

Stephanie’s mother, Ann, denied having known about any abused and refused to hear Stephanie speak ill of her deceased husband. Pam, on the other hand, corroborated Stephanie’s claims and helped to put the pressure on Ann. Stephanie had tried to get some closure and got as close to it as she could. She returned to Los Angeles convinced that writing off her mother was the best thing to do. When Ann and Pam showed up at the Forrester home for Christmas, Alexandria, Thorne’s daughter, reached out to Ann and Stephanie managed to find the strength to forgive her mother and welcome her and her sister into the family.

The next chapter of the show had Stephanie seeking therapy for why she was so controlling and overbearing. Eric had had it with her and put her up to it or else he’d leave her. Therapy sessions with Taylor revealed that Stephanie had been abused by her father, who was also
very demanding and overbearing. After confessing to her family that her mother wasn’t dead, as she had claimed for over thirty years, Stephanie took a trip to Chicago to confront her mother and find out why her mother had never tried to stop the abuse. Stephanie’s return to her family in Chicago brought Ann, Stephanie’s mother, and Pam, Stephanie’s sister, into the story.

Eric and Stephanie’s marriage lasted longer than either had thought it would, much to the chagrin of Jacqueline Marone. When Jackie confronted Stephanie, Stephanie accidentally (but not) threw Jackie over the balcony in the Forrester home. Nick Marone pressed the issue and threatened legal action. The only way for Stephanie to stay out of jail was for Eric to hand over Forrester Creations to Nick. Thinking he was doing an honorable thing to protect his wife, Eric folded and gave away the business. Stephanie was livid when she found out and ran up one side and down the other of poor downtrodden Eric.

Stephanie eventually brought Brooke and Eric back but kept them in the basement (a location long ruled by Thorne, the other son). The dust had barely settled when the wild child, Felicia, returned to Los Angeles with her baby boy, Dominick. (Felicia thought the child was Nick (Dominick) Marone’s child but it turned out to be wishful thinking. Felicia’s cancer had returned and seemed terminal this time so she returned to Los Angeles to be in the bosom of her family. Her dying wish was to see Stephanie and Eric remarry, so they did it, agreeing to have it annulled when Felicia finally died.

Stephanie had nearly given up on everything and left town when she discovered documents drawn up between her father (who bankrolled Forrester Creations) and Eric. As it turned out, Stephanie had control of the company, not Eric as had been assumed for all these years.
This time it was Stephanie’s turn to be disappointed in Eric. He knew about it all along but never said one word to Stephanie about her ownership. Stephanie enlisted the assistance of the one person loyal to her, Massimo Marone, and cleaned house. Brooke and Eric were fired. Thorne was made President and Taylor had a new position as Forrester spokesmodel.