Thorne and Katie relive the good old days; Eric and Donna get something started; Brooke gets a dose of reality; Ridge proposes
“You proposed?” an incredulous Ashley asks Ridge, her gaze on the rock on Brooke’s finger. A flustered Ridge looks like he’s caught in a pretty tough spot. Two women – one ring...
Thorne stops by Brooke’s house to see Katie. Katie’s oohing and ahhing over Donna’s ring before handing it back to Thorne. He tells her it would have been a mistake for both he and Donna to have married one another and thanks her for stopping him from making the mistake of a lifetime. He then whips out a picture of he and Katie years ago at Ridge’s and Brooke’s wedding. Katie focuses on how young and pretty she looked back then, but Thorne is more focused on how happy they were that day. “Who says our two families can’t get along?” Thorne asks and they smile fondly at one another.
In the Forrester living room, Donna and Eric are still up close and personal, kissing and gazing at one another tenderly. Suddenly Eric pulls back. “What’s wrong?” Donna wonders. “I don’t know. Maybe nothing. Maybe you should go home,” Eric answers. He jumps up and paces, telling Donna he doesn’t want to take advantage of her. Again, he says he thinks it’s best for her to go. Reluctantly, Donna sees herself out. Eric watches her go, the weight of the world on his face. At the door, Donna casts a wistful backward glance at Eric. Is he okay…?
“This is a very, very unfortunate misunderstanding,” Ridge says to Ashley. Brooke says she doesn’t understand how such a beautiful engagement ring could be a misunderstanding. “It wasn’t for you, Brooke,” Ridge says, shocking her. Brooke starts to flip out – “How could you do this?!” – and Ridge asks Ashley to give him and Brooke a moment alone. Ashley steps out, leaving the two of them to hash things out. “You’re going to marry Ashley,” Brooke says. “You love her more than you love me.” He confirms and tries to apologize, but Brooke doesn’t want to hear it. “You can’t marry Ashley Abbott – not when we have such a perfect future ahead of us!” Brooke says. “You don’t feel about her the way you feel about me and you know it!”
Out on the patio, Ashley gets a phone call from Rick. She tells him that Ridge is going to propose to her. She’s smiling, happy, but Rick’s looking pretty sour about it.
Inside, Ridge tells Brooke that he doesn’t want to lose Ashley, especially since he knows that he and Brooke would crash and burn together just like always. Brooke tries to tell him that it was always Stephanie’s fault in the past and it would be different this time. She tries to throw RJ into Ridge’s face, asking him how it would make RJ feel to know that Ridge passed up on the chance to make them be a family again. Ridge throws it back on her, pointing out all the things she did against him (Ridge) without thinking about RJ’s feelings. “You and I are just not meant to be,” he says.
Back at Brooke’s, Katie votes that she and Thorne keep the photo as a reminder of how good she feels about herself now. Thorne agrees – they should keep the photo but for a different reason. He talks about a band that they danced to that night and teases her about having a crush on the lead singer. They joke for awhile about Katie being impressed by the singer’s leather pants. Then Thorne tells her about a club that plays that kind of music all the time and asks her to go with him sometime. She agrees – it would be fun! He leaves, all smiles, with a flushed Katie watching him with interest.
Back at the Forrester house, Eric is turning in for the night…alone. No sooner is he in bed than he feels motion next to him. He turns to find Donna there! “I couldn’t leave,” she says and touches his face. He looks like he may not be entirely thrilled with her presence there. “Are you upset with me?” she asks. “Donna, you are just about the most charming, captivating woman I’ve ever met,” he says. When she questions that he’s resisting her because of their age difference, he says it’s not that. He jokes, “Although you should be careful about sneaking up on a man my age,” and they laugh. Donna guesses that the problem is Stephanie. She tells Eric that he owes Stephanie nothing and then urges him to do what he thinks is right. They grasp hands and he pulls her to him. They begin kissing again. It looks like things are heading in an amorous direction for the two of them tonight!
Brooke is fighting with all she’s got to keep Ridge front and center in her life. “You will always have a place in my heart, Brooke,” Ridge says. But… “Ashley is my future. She’s the one that ring was meant for.” Sadly, Brooke takes the ring off her finger and places it in Ridge’s palm. She turns to go and walks out without another word, only a fleeting wan glance in Ridge’s direction before shutting the door. With her gone, he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, holding his forehead. Ashley enters and immediately and silently wraps herself into his arms.
Katie greets Brooke at home and immediately recognizes that something’s wrong. Brooke tells Katie about the ring and about Ridge’s plans to propose to Ashley. “He can’t propose to her…he just can’t do it!” Brooke says, tearful. Katie embraces her, sympathy all over her face.
Ridge tells Ashley that he didn’t plan for things to happen this way. He laments that Brooke had misread the whole evening before she’d even seen the ring. He tells Ashley that he’d been planning a proposal to her, not Brooke – one that Ashley’d never forget. “How would you feel about getting proposed to at 35,000 feet?” he asks. “I was thinking Tahiti.” “Tahiti’s nice,” Ashley says. He then gets down on one knee and takes her hand. He tells her how much he loves her and promises to give her and Abby “the happiest, most amazing life imaginable.” “Would you, Ashley, do me the honor…the GREAT honor…of becoming my wife.” “Are you sure?” Ashley asks. “I’ve never been more sure of anything…or anyone,” he answers. He slips the ring on her finger and stands up. They kiss. Engaged!
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