Thursday, March 04, 2010, Episode #5766

Jackie tries to reassure Nick.

At the Marone mansion, Nick starts to pour himself some whiskey, but Jackie stops him, telling him that he doesn't need that. "What I need," he insists, "is my wife." Jackie asks if he called Brooke. He tells her that Brooke isn't answering her cell, either. Wherever Bridget is, he just hopes she's not alone. Looking at his wedding photo, he recalls telling Bridget that he'd always be there for her. Jackie assures him that the core of his and Bridget's commitment to each other is still intact. Nick kisses her on the cheek and reflects on the fact that Bridget is suffering through the loss of their child by herself.

Owen and Bridget agonize over what they did.

In the living room of Owen's beach house, Bridget and Owen kiss passionately with candles burning around them. Getting up off the floor, their passion grows and they start to undress each other. They lie down on the floor in front of the fire. Bridget hears a noise and wonders what it is. Owen tells her that it's just the wind and leads her back down to the floor, where they have sex. After they've done the deed, Owen holds Bridget in his arms. She awakens, looks around and asks, "What have we done? What was I thinking?" Owen doesn't think either of them was thinking and suggests that they just got caught up in the moment. "We're married!" Bridget exclaims. Owen says that he feels as guilty as she does. He thinks they just got carried away since she lost her baby and he knows what it's like to want a child so badly. "It was a big mistake," he asserts. Realizing that Nick must be looking for her, Bridget searches for her cell phone and sees all the missed calls from her husband. Owen tells her to call Nick, but she frets that she doesn't know what to say. Owen tells her to just calm down, accept her loss and work things out with Nick. Still freaking out, Bridget bolts to take a shower. Soon after, she returns fully dressed and finds Owen, also clothed, straightening up. She takes out her cell phone and calls Nick, who tells her how worried he was and asks if he can come get her. Bridget apologizes for running out on him and tells him that she's on her way home. As she hangs up, she tells him again that she's sorry. A relieved Nick tells Jackie that Bridget is on her way. Jackie tells him to call her and leaves so he can wait for his wife.

Owen keeps his actions secret from Jackie.

Back at the beach house, Bridget tells Owen that she has to tell Nick the truth. Owen urges her to think about what that would do to both their marriages, but she refuses to be a hypocrite and forget how important honesty is to her. Owen urges her to consider that they both have amazing marriages that they'll lose if Jackie or Nick learns what happened here tonight. "We have to keep it a secret," he contends. Unsure of what to do next, Bridget leaves and heads home. Owen then goes home to Jackie, who tells him that Nick and Bridget lost the baby. Not letting on that he knows, Owen takes his wife in his arms and holds her as she weeps about her lost grandchild.

Nick opens up to an anguished Bridget.

As soon as Bridget walks in the door, Nick tells her that he's so sorry. She tells him that she's the one who's sorry. Nick notes that she lost something precious tonight. Bridget responds that they lost their baby, but they also lost more than that. Nick assumes she's talking about how he disappointed her, but Bridget doesn't want to talk about that right now. Nick asks where she went. She tells him that she went to the beach and then says that there's something she has to tell him. Nick says he has something to say, too, and asks to go first. He tells her that he made a promise to himself when they remarried to always tell her the truth because he knows what honesty means to her. But when he kept Aggie's secret, he did just what he promised not to do. He wants her to know that he takes complete responsibility for what happened with Aggie and the baby. He loves her so much and she's the most important thing in his life, so he's sorry for breaking his promise and for keeping secrets from her. He vows not to do that to her ever again. Bridget hugs him and says she loves him, too, but there's something she has to tell him about tonight. "This is going to be the hardest thing I ever had to tell you," she sighs. Nick looks at her, wondering what she has to say.

Taylor and Brooke watch as Steffy makes her request of Ridge.

In Ridge's office, Steffy begs her dad to scrap the Hope for the Future campaign for her. Brooke chides Steffy for putting Ridge on the spot, but Taylor thinks Ridge can speak for himself if he feels like he's being pressured. Steffy tells Ridge that she got the company back so they can share things like this together. [And here I thought she did it to end her dad and granddad's misery working for Bill. Or has that changed now?] She wants to bring Forrester back to its roots, restoring the "classic Forrester image" and shedding the Logan influence. Brooke doesn't think this is about image at all and accuses Steffy of crying out for Ridge's attention, but she doesn't think this is the way to get it. Steffy tells Ridge to send Hope home to be a student again. Taylor advises Steffy to give Ridge time to think. Ridge thanks Taylor for the advice, but he knows exactly what has to be done now.

Hope and Brooke stand by as Ridge makes his point.

As Brooke, Hope and Taylor look on, Ridge turns to Steffy. He apologizes for not being there for her as much as he should have, but he assures that his lack of attention doesn't mean he doesn't love her. He insists that he'd do anything for her, including asking Hope to leave Forrester if he thought that was the solution. But he doesn't think that's the solution. "The strength of our family is our unity," he stresses, "and if we lose that, we're just a bunch of individuals." While he'll promise to give Steffy more of his time here at Forrester, he won't drive Hope out of the company. Brooke and Hope both smile. Ridge declares that this is the time for all of them to come together, because that's always been their strength and the key to their success. He then asks for a moment alone with Steffy. Hope gives Ridge a hug and then leaves with Brooke and Taylor.

Steffy tells her dad how she feels.

Ridge smiles at Steffy, who looks disappointed. He notes that she wanted him to turn his back on Hope. She counters that he turned his back on her instead, but he thinks she's too smart to really believe he'd do that. But that's how she feels, she states, even though she knows she shouldn't feel that way. It's like there's been an emptiness inside ever since he left Taylor, and she just isn't able to handle it as well as Thomas and Phoebe did. She thinks she knows how Bill Spencer feels, having been abandoned by his father, and maybe that's why she connected with Bill. Ridge tells her that he didn't, nor will he ever, abandon her, because he loves her. He feels her pain and wants to take it away, but he won't do that by disappointing a teenage girl who thinks of him as her father. He promises Steffy that the two of them will have private time here at the office, not by kicking Hope out, but by his being there for Steffy when she needs him. Steffy sobs that he doesn't have to say this, but he assures her that nothing is more important to a father than his daughter. He calls her his heart and says that he cherishes her like nothing else in his life, and he hopes she feels that. Steffy weeps that she does feel that, crying that she loves him so much. Ridge tells her that he'll love her more than she'll ever know and they embrace.