Stephanie tells Eric that he made a big mistake.

At the beach house, Stephanie keeps watching as Eric and Brooke kiss passionately on the sofa. Brooke pulls away; she can't do this with Stephanie here and asks Stephanie to talk to Eric some other time. She can't talk to him while he's slobbering over Brooke, Stephanie retorts, so she asks Brooke to do them all a favor and fulfill Eric's fantasy of getting her into bed. "Not until you leave," Brooke replies. Stephanie says she'll leave once she convinces Brooke that this is a mistake. This kind of behavior convinces Eric that he made the right choice. So he's punishing her by throwing his life away with this slut? Stephanie asks. Brooke's had enough and says she's leaving unless Stephanie does, so Eric asks Stephanie to leave. Stephanie repeats that this is a mistake. Eric bids her goodbye and leads her to the door. He then returns to his new bride as Stephanie watches through the window.

Taylor laments Ridge's running to Brooke in a crisis.

At the Bel Air mansion, Ridge tells Taylor that Stephanie didn't deserve to be tossed aside, no matter what she's done. Especially to be tossed aside for Brooke, Taylor adds. She suggests canceling her trip to Sacramento, because she remembers how humiliated Stephanie was the first time Eric married Brooke. She asks Ridge if he expected this; he says he didn't. Then neither did Stephanie, Taylor says, and that only adds to the humiliation. She still can't believe that Eric married Broke. Brooke claimed that she and Eric wanted to bring order to the family by having a life together, Ridge explains. It may bring order, Taylor says, but it won't bring peace. Ridge thinks his dad should know better. Yet he married Brooke anyway, Taylor says. Ridge guesses that his dad apparently never got over Brooke. That seems to be common for men in their family, Taylor quips. Ridge tells her not to go there, but she reminds him how upset he is that Brooke is unavailable. Ridge tells his "Doc" that his dad is just making matters worse. He asks her why they're arguing about this. Because somehow, Taylor says, it always comes back to Brooke.

Ridge reminds Taylor that he left tonight after a distraught Bridget called him. And she told him that Brooke got married, Taylor points out - and that was all it took for him to rush off in Brooke's moment of crisis. And it is a crisis, Ridge insists, because his dad and Brooke made a mistake, and he couldn't stop it. He doesn't think there is anything more he can do. They can support his mother, Taylor says. Ridge says he was talking about Brooke; she's acting impulsively and recklessly, and now his mom is upset, his dad is set for a fall, and his son is caught in the middle. That;s why he won't let this affect his marriage and his family. He won't let RJ get caught up in this, because he has had it with Brooke! Taylor can't believe it: she's needed to hear him say those words for so long. They're not just words, Ridge assures her. He kisses her and tells her that he wants their marriage to be as it should be. He knows he's been distracted, but he's here for her now. They kiss again and he lays her on the bed.

Stephanie tells Nick to put an end to Brooke's marriage to Eric.

Stephanie comes home and looks for her bourbon decanter, only to find Nick there holding it. He asks if she feels like celebrating. Not really, she says. He thinks she should. She says she's no happier about Brooke marrying Eric than he is. And she caused it to happen, he says: he begged her not to interfere, but she just had to tell Bridget about him and Brooke on the boat. They both take some bourbon.

Nick asks how it feels to lose her husband; he bets some would say she got what she deserved. Stephanie says that she didn't want Bridget to be married to another man who loved her mother. Nick reminds her that he made a promise to Bridget; he only wanted to make good on that. What if he couldn't? she asks. Nick can't believe she is playing a game of "what if." He told her what would happen if she did this, he reminds her. She asks if he's going to make her walk the plank. He says he won't have to do anything. He gestures to all her family photos and points out that she's lost all that now, including Eric. He thinks that's punishment enough. Like he's being punished by having to watch Brooke with another man? she asks. She bets that must be killing him. Brooke wants to do right by her daughter, Nick insists. But that doesn't make them less married, Stephanie states. And they have her to thank, Nick says. Stephanie tells Nick that there's one person who can stop this, and that's him. With this marriage, she says, Bridget isn't the only one who's hurt. He asks if she means Eric. What about his mother, she asks, who expected Eric to propose? And does he want Hope, who is like a daughter to him, calling Eric "Daddy"? He asks what he can do, since Brooke is married. He can convince Brooke to annul the marriage, she says. That marriage won't last, she says, because even Eric knows deep down that Brooke loves Nick. That's why she wants Nick to stop this. Nick asks where they are. Stephanie tells him that they're at the beach house, so Nick finishes his drink and heads out.

Brooke tells Eric that she's not ready.

At the Beach House, Eric pulls away from kissing Brooke and laments that Stephanie ruined tonight for them. Brooke disagrees. Eric's glad to hear that, since it's been so long since he's been with her this way. He feels lucky to have had her twice in a lifetime. And Nick and Bridget can move on now, Brooke adds. Which means they can move on with their's, Eric says, starting to kiss her again. Brooke leaves the room and returns in some black lingerie. She asks if he left this for her. He says he did; he originally picked something else for her, but there was a bit of a misunderstanding. Brooke suggests they have some champagne outside, but Eric thinks it will be better right here. He toasts to their future. And to Bridget's, Brooke adds. That reminds her that she wanted to call Bridget. He suggests she do it in the morning. But Bridget had doubts, she reminds him. Calling Bridget on their honeymoon night won't dispel those doubts, Eric says. He suggests they give Bridget some time to move on, like they have. He starts to rub her shoulders, but Brooke can only think of Nick coming to her house earlier, telling her that she'll never feel the passion she feels for him with Eric or any other man but him. Eric starts to kiss Brooke's neck, but she pulls away. She says she's sorry, but she can't do this. Eric blames Stephanie for spoiling the mood, but Brooke says this is about her. She thought she was ready, but she's not. She knows she made a promise to him, but she's in love with another man. One who she can never be with, Eric says. Brooke says she knows that. She tells Eric that she wants to be a wife to him in every way, but to make love to him tonight would just seem like empty sex.

Eric tells Brooke that he understands. She thanks him. She then walks out on the deck for some air. Once she's gone, Eric gets a call from Stephanie. She's glad he's done with Brooke, because she thinks he owes her an apology, as she's not the only one who's been humiliated by the scandal. Eric doesn't see it as a scandal. Because he doesn't see Brooke for who she is, Stephanie insists. She thinks Brooke will only hurt him, like she did when they were first married, and like she did to Bridget, Thorne and Ridge. She loves him to much to see him hurt that way. This isn't about concern for him, he says, but about her hatred of Brooke. She says that Brooke will leave him. They made a commitment he says. Yes, Stephanie agrees, they did, but they only did it to reassure Bridget, and to keep Brooke from Nick. That's why she's afraid that his marriage isn't real and is doomed to fail. When it does, she predicts, he'll be alone. She thinks he might even realize that, but he doesn't see that it will happen sooner than he thinks.

On the deck, Brooke looks into the night as Nick appears. She asks why he's here. He asks where Eric is. In the bedroom, she says. Nick asks if she and Eric... She says she couldn't. That should show her that her heart isn't in this, Nick tells her. Bridget knows the truth now, he says, so there is no longer any reason for them to hide their feelings. Brooke says she is doing this FOR Bridget, but Nick says there has to be another answer. Brooke reminds him that Bridget loves him and is carrying his child. She refuses to hurt her daughter by being the one to take him away from Bridget. Nick reaches out to comfort her, but Eric then calls for Brooke from inside. Tears running down her face, she pulls away from Nick and says she has to go. She goes inside the house, leaving Nick alone on the deck, looking in at Brooke and Eric standing close inside by the candlelight.