DISCLAIMER: Guiding Light and its characters are the property of Procter & Gamble; no copyright infringement is intended.
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The problem with yesterday, Frank Cooper decided, was that people were too happy.
Then he had to snicker. It's a lucky Chief of Police whose worst "problem" is that people in his community are too happy!
The happy people had, after all, been celebrating a happy occasion: the wedding of a terrific couple, Rick Bauer and Mindy Lewis. Sweethearts in their teens, they were finally making it to the altar together, in their forties. Everyone wished them well.
But still, he'd been surprised to see Marina's, Shayne's, and even Josh's faces wreathed in smiles when the three of them arrived at the church. Marina had told him about Josh's plan for Reva. If it had gone well, he wouldn't have been there; he would have carried her off with him the day before. But there he was, making a surprise appearance at the wedding in an ill-fitting suit of Shayne's...
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Josh grabbed Frank's arm, and said in a low voice, "Before you ask - I did see Reva yesterday, and we've agreed that we won't be going away together, won't be lovers, now or ever. I'm okay with that. There'll always be a special bond between us, just...not the kind I thought I wanted.
"Keep it under your hat, okay? Only a few people knew what I was up to. Let everyone else think I just came back to town for my niece's wedding."
"Uh - sure, Josh." By now Frank was puzzling over the way Marina was hanging on Shayne's arm. It made them look more like a "couple" than usual. They were a couple, he knew, but they hadn't been willing to appear as such publicly, for fear of Edmund Winslow.
And where was Henry? Frank had met them in the vestibule as he'd come up the stairs from the church basement. The toddler wasn't with them. So they couldn't be planning to take him to the basement, where volunteers were babysitting a dozen little ones. Frank had known his infant daughter's "mommies" had dropped her off there, and he'd made a quick trip downstairs to give her a hug.
"Where's Henry?" he asked.
Marina said casually, "He's in good hands, Dad. He's at Cross Creek, with Colin and Sarah."
That made sense, he reflected. After rejecting Josh, Reva would be feeling blue - still thinking of her dead husband, in no mood to see Josh again or attend a wedding. Minding the three children would probably be good for her, cheer her up a little.
As he strolled into the church and joined a waiting Blake, he felt sad for Reva and her baby son Colin. No outsider can judge what's best for them. But it's a shame that little kid will have to grow up without a father.
Henry's life wouldn't be normal either, with parents who were forever looking over their shoulders, worrying about Edmund...
For his part, Frank was no longer sure what to believe about the infamous prince.
He knew Marina, the Lewises, and presumably Reva and her son Jonathan, still believed Edmund was alive. He'd murdered the heroic Jeffrey; and now, he or his agents could be anywhere.
But by now, almost everyone else had concluded that Dinah Marler had killed the real Edmund. And yes, tried to frame Reva, in the belief Jeffrey's influence in high places would prevent his wife's ever standing trial. She'd been unwilling to alienate Jeffrey by letting him know she'd planted the false evidence in Reva's car. So she'd played along with his fugitive hunt, to prevent his suspecting she knew for a fact that his theory about a living Edmund was wrong. And he'd wound up dying - tragically - in an accident, in the course of a wild-goose chase Edmund's killer had knowingly let him embark on.
No one doubted that Jeffrey had traveled from Bosnia to Argentina and Florida, and then headed for North Carolina, because he thought he was trailing Edmund. But someone who's willing to pay for leads always risks being given false information. Dinah claimed they'd tricked Edmund into surfacing briefly in Bosnia, and they'd actually seen him; but no one in Springfield had heard that from Jeffrey. It was just a claim made by Deceitful Dinah, after Jeffrey's plane had gone down and it was a safe bet he'd never be able to contradict her.
Frank's musing was interrupted when Blake nudged him, whispering, "Look who's here!"
Reva was coming up the aisle, accompanied by Jonathan. They were both smiling, nodding to friends. Josh actually blew Reva a cheery kiss, and she returned the gesture.
So she wasn't minding the children?
She looked great - or at least Frank thought she did, till Blake, with more expertise in such matters, murmured, "Wow. Is she ever having a bad hair day!"
Did unruly hair imply that her attending the wedding had been a last-minute decision? Whether or not that was the case, Frank figured she must have left all three children with the basement volunteers.
He glanced at her from time to time, puzzled by some difference he sensed in her. While wedding guests were still arriving, she knelt and seemed to be praying, fervently. He'd always thought of her, not as irreligious, but as more the secular type. Then, during the ceremony, he saw her weeping...but with a brilliant smile on her face.
After the wedding, he and Blake walked out of the nave close behind Marina and the Lewises. And he overheard Reva excusing herself to them, saying she wasn't going on to the reception. Laughing, yet with tears in her eyes, she said shakily, "I have to get back to him!"
The Lewises, in turn, seemed good-humoredly indulgent, all smiles and hugs. Marina said, "Don't worry about Jonathan. We'll bring him over when we're picking up Henry, so he can get Sarah and his car."
Then a still-laughing Reva waved goodbye, literally ran down the church steps, and took off alone in her own car.
A baffled Frank caught up with the Lewises, and asked, "What's up with Reva? And who's been minding the kids?"
Billy Lewis said with a smirk, "Maybe she's in love with her babysitter."
All his kin turned and looked daggers at him.
Frank could see why. He thought that remark was shockingly insensitive. Joking about a widow, who'd been so in love with her dead husband that she was rejecting a man who'd loved her all his life?
Marina spoke up, saying mildly, "I think some member of her family is there."
And Frank thought Oh yeah. That makes sense. It must be her dad - he's visited a lot, knowing how lonely she gets. And that explains her being in a rush, not wanting to impose on a guy his age by making him watch three kids any longer than he already has.
But it didn't explain why everyone was so darned happy.
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So now, as he dawdled over paperwork on a slow Monday morning, Frank was still wondering about Josh's smiles...Marina's and Shayne's new openness about their relationship...Reva's girlish giddiness, and the Lewises' not finding it surprising...
He was actually relieved when his cell phone rang. Okay, time to think about something else.
Then he pulled it out of his pocket and saw the screen display: Reva calling.
Huh!
He answered with a casual "Hi, Reva."
"Hello, Frank. I'm sure you're in your office now - are you alone?"
She sounded serious. So he didn't kid around, but said simply, "Yes."
"I need you to come over to my place. Right now, or as soon as you can possibly get here! Just you, alone, without telling anyone where you're going. It's police business, but not a crime in progress - Colin and I are okay, no one's in danger or anything like that. But I really need to see you. Please tell me you'll come."
He'd been trying to get a word in edgeways. "Reva, if there's no danger, I need more of an explanation. The Chief can't just walk out of here without -"
"I understand," she cut in. "Sorry about all that babbling. I wanted you to hear a lot of my voice. This is going to sound strange, but believe me, there's a point to it.
"Tell me this. Are you absolutely sure this is really me, Reva, on the line? Sure beyond a doubt that you recognize my voice?"
By now he knew something serious was going on, "strange" or not. "Yes," he said steadily, "I'm sure it's you."
"Okay. I'm going to hand the phone off to someone else. You'll be...surprised. But if you have doubts about what you're hearing, remember that you recognized me, and I'm vouching for him."
And a moment later, everything fell into place and made sense, when an almost equally familiar male voice said, "Hi, Frank. This is Jeffrey."