"Learn this from me; holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves." – Mitch Albom
Had anyone bothered to forewarn Emily Thorne that, if she implicated herself in Amanda Clarke's devious little scheme, she would remain indebted to the woman, and her children, until the end of time, Emily was fairly certain she would have refused. When Sophia Grayson appeared on her beach-house porch, with Victoria Grayson alive and well at her side, Amanda Porter would have most definitely refused. Yet, before she could slam the door in their faces, the young woman showed her shade of Grayson with blackmail - the truth of her identity switch with Sophia's mother had been revealed, to everyone but her son.
"I must say, it's remarkable how much you've mellowed," Victoria cattily commented, still an unnerving figure for Amanda, even after all the years that had passed by.
"If only I could say the same," Amanda appeared not to pay much attention to the elderly guest in her home, as she read the morning paper.
"I'm sure motherhood could only be responsible for the transformation." Her wrinkled hands stroked the wooden frame to the family portrait of Jack, Amanda and their only son. The men of the Porter family home were suspiciously absent. "Where did you say your family were?"
"I didn't," Amanda snatched the photograph from the mantlepiece above the fireplace. Fortunately, Sophia had decided to break off her relationship with Chris - unable to face Amanda's son, with her newfound truth - and Jack had whisked him for a father-son weekend away. "All you need to know is we have the house to ourselves," she concluded, as she replaced the photograph to a safer position.
The older woman clicked her tongue, as mistrustful of Amanda as she always had been, when the intruder first appeared in the Hampton's. Victoria was thankful the woman hadn't hooked her claws into Charlotte, once the truth of her paternity had been revealed. "I see."
"You can't be out there!" Amanda scolded, when Victoria wandered onto the porch in broad daylight, "They'll see you!"
Victoria's eyes lingered upon Grayson Manor, as she positioned herself on the porch swing-seat, which had stood the test of time. She spied the balcony, near the master bedroom, and exhaled softly. After David Clarke's arrest, it had been her retreat from the world, where all she wished was to return to his beach-house; flash-forward, years later, and all Victoria wished for was to return to Grayson Manor. The grass was always greener in the garden of another. "I assure you, they won't notice me," she dismissed Amanda's concern, all the while praying for the opposite. "I'm sure you wonder how I survived all these years."
"I'm curious," Amanda admitted, "But it's not the first time Emily's kept me in the dark." She had long accepted her role as an outcast.
"It must have been difficult for you," Victoria softened, and Amanda scooted to the empty space beside her. "To have kept the truth from the man you love, your son..."
The hint of kindness appeared alien from her, and Amanda nodded her head, "It was."
"...to live in her shadow, for so many years, with the knowledge that your husband could never love you, the way he did her." The generosity slipped away into a cruel, sour statement and Amanda bristled at how rapidly Victoria transformed. "You may have fooled my family, along with Amanda's petty quest for revenge, but you've only lived to condemn yourself to a life with a husband, who will always be in love with another woman, Miss Thorne."
The name was a bitter taste on her tongue and Amanda's eyes watered, in sad realisation that Victoria was right. "Hey," the cheerful sound of youth interrupted them, and Sophia carefully trekked in their direction.
With her life and marriage in tatters, Amanda fled inside the beach-house. "She's tired," Victoria explained, when Sophia scowled, in confusion. "I'm afraid, I didn't treat her very well all those years ago and she may be rather distrustful of having me here, in her home." Victoria patted the space Amanda had vacated and beckoned her granddaughter to sit, "I didn't expect you so soon."
"I snuck out before anyone woke."
"Have you spoken to your father?" Sophia softly shook her head; they had equally agreed Daniel would require time to adjust and process his mother's return. "What about your mother?" Once again, Sophia responded in negative, and Victoria breathed a sight of relief. "Thank you." She instinctively rubbed Sophia's bare arms from the cold chill in the morning air and rose to her feet, "Why don't you come inside?"
From afar, Emily curled her arms around her upper-body, and observed the scene at the beach-house below. Ever since Victoria returned, Sophia had been secretive, on-edge even. Daniel interpreted her reluctance to communicate as the aftermath of the break-up from the Porter's son, but Emily had suspected there was more. Powerless to address the deception, Emily showered and searched for her husband, who had already set himself up in the home-office. "...and there's no record of her, or anyone who matches that description?" He impatiently implored the caller, "Have you checked the name Harper, or Clarke?"
"Try Porter."
"Porter -"her husband carelessly repeated, too exhausted to even consider the relevance, let alone her insinuation.
"Your mother didn't book into a hotel, Daniel, she's much closer to home." Daniel abruptly ended the call, "Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, right? Victoria's staying at the beach-house with Amanda," Emily informed her husband. "I don't know why we didn't suspect it. Sophia must have convinced her to do so."
"Wonderful!" Daniel rounded his desk, "My mother's been back in our lives less than a week, and she's already manipulated our daughter against us!"
His mood heightened and Emily sensed the restorative need for calm. "As much as I dislike your mother, Daniel, her intentions toward you and our children aren't malicious. I don't think there's reason for concern. Sophia will come to us, when she and Victoria are ready. One thing we know for certain, neither one of them have ever been afraid of confrontation," his wife lightened his mood, prior to her tone becoming serious. "In any case, your mother's older and she's been lonely. She has nothing and everything to lose, all at once."
"Isn't that when vultures are at their most vicious?"
"Hey!" Emily lifted his cheek, forcing him to meet her eye. "Don't hate your mother out of some warped loyalty to me. I'm more than capable of looking after myself," she assured her husband, never one to underestimate her mother-in-law. "The past is history. It belongs there, where it can't hurt anyone." Daniel frowned, unable to forgive his mother for the pain she had willingly caused his wife. "I won't be used as your excuse, Daniel. If you can't accept your mother back into our lives, you do so on your own terms," she instructed, "I told you once before; the only way to escape your mother's control is to forgive her. The rule still applies."
"I'm worried, that's all," Daniel raised her hand to his mouth and kissed it. "Our family's at breaking point. If she hadn't engineered Sophia learning the truth -"
"Then I wouldn't have felt the huge sense of relief I have," his wife completed the sentence. "Daniel, believe it or not, I'm actually grateful to Victoria for doing so. Maybe, I should be the one to welcome her back into the family fold," Emily offered. After all, she and Victoria were the ones with unfinished business. "Victoria has known who I am for some time, so perhaps we should have a long-awaited discussion about my father. If she and I can settle our differences, there's nothing else she can do to hurt us, right?"
"You would do that, for me?" He stammered, endlessly amazed at her bravery.
"Daniel, I would do that for you and for our family," she wearily replied, "But mostly, for myself, because I need to." From the day her father had been arrested, to her release from Allenwood detention centre, Amanda Clarke had never lost hope that "the lady with the dark hair" would save her from her fate. When she discovered the very lady had been responsible, her hatred Emily suffered twisted her into a lifetime of deception. If she hoped for her family to recover from that deception, Emily would have to remove the final remnants of Amanda Clarke's bitterness... once again, she needed Victoria Grayson.