A grief that knows no bounds

Paternity issues, more paternity issues, and the search for the epic love -- as one huge secret is revealed, while other secrets remain hidden. It's a story of pain and heartbreak in this week's Two Scoops column.

Wow, the big reveal that Nick is not Summer's biological father has finally been confirmed through the results of the paternity test this week! You could almost see that coming, because if the test had verified that Nick was Summer's father, life would have just gone back to normal, and there would have been no additional drama, as a result. Jack had to be Summer's father, or what would have been the point of it all?

Plus, we all know that Cassie is returning, so maybe her (ghostly) presence will bring some comfort to Nick -- or maybe even bring him more pain. I would think that Cassie would try to help Nick through his pain, though, since the reason he had never resubmitted the samples for the test before was because he had not wanted to lose another daughter after Cassie had died. Nick's grief had known no bounds at the time, so, instead, he lied to Phyllis and Jack when he said that Summer was his daughter, even though the results had been inconclusive.When you think about it, even if he had not intended to hurt anyone, what Nick did to Jack was even worse than what Adam took from Sharon. Sure, Adam stole the first six months of Faith's life from Sharon by letting Ashley and Sharon believe that Faith was Ashley's, but Nick took eighteen years of Summer's life away from Jack as her father. Eighteen years! That was Summer's entire growing-up years.

Jack never got to experience, as Summer's father, the thrills of her first baby tooth, her first walk, her first word, her first tumble off of a bicycle, her first day in school, her first A in school, her first crush...well, I could go on and on. Jack missed out on the precious experience of raising his daughter!Many of you fans had suspected all along that Jack might just be Summer's biological dad, and even as the years passed (although not 18 years, for sure,) you had never forgotten that. Y&R fan Michelle commented to me on this very topic back on May 20th, and since her insight proved to be dead-on, considering the developments now, I have listed her remark in its entirety:

Given how angry everybody is that Adam stole Sharon's baby and deprived her of 6 months with her child, it should be equally unforgivable that Nick was aware that the original paternity test was inconclusive and he lied about it and potentially deprived Jack of Summer's whole childhood and adolescence.? I think of this as even more horrible than what Adam did.? Nick's decision to divorce his then wife Sharon who was still grieving the loss of their daughter Cassie, was supposedly in part due to wanting to be a father to this child. Jack, whether or not he had a shot with Phyllis (who was madly in love with Nick), still could have been a huge part of Summer's childhood.? And, if Nick was afraid of losing Summer before, Summer will also be really angry that she was lied to.? I feel particularly sorry for Jack who has never been able to experience the role of fatherhood with his various kids. So this would be the third child who grew up without regular contact with Jack but this one would be particularly painful because this child grew up in Genoa City right under his nose.

You really have to feel for Jack, since he never seems to get a chance to show what a loving father he could really be. Needless to say, Phyllis went ballistic once Nick came clean, and she told Nick that he had robbed Jack of the opportunity to read Summer stories and to comfort her at the hospital, along with all the other things that loving fathers do. And think of poor Summer. Phyllis said it best when she remarked that Summer's entire life had been a lie. As far as Summer knew, she had always been Nick's "Super-girl." Summer never had the chance to love and to grow with Jack, as a daughter does with her father, during her early years.Summer still does not know the truth, as of this writing, and she is still hot-to-trot for Jack's son, Kyle. At least, Kyle postponed Summer's quest for sex after graduation, which allowed Phyllis and Nick more time to tell her the truth. Summer is going to be so humiliated once she realizes that she hit on her own brother. Imagine if word got out about that to her friends -- she would be crushed and embarrassed, if her friends were to find out. The news that Jack is actually her biological father will totally rock Summer's entire world anyway, and I don't know how she will deal with it. I honestly cannot wait to see how she reacts to this, and to how her parents (any of the three of them) will help her to cope with the news.Phyllis also compared Nick to Adam and stressed that Nick's lie had robbed the young girl of spending time with Jack as her father. At least Sharon got to raise Faith, while Jack never had the chance to raise Summer. The funny thing is that Nick was furious with Adam when he learned that Adam had hidden the truth about Faith's parentage after Faith's birth. Yet, Nick had already known, at that time, that he might be doing the very same thing with Summer, however, he chose to blind himself to it, because he wanted to be Summer's father.

Nick can claim that he had only wanted to do the right thing at the time, but so did Adam in his own warped way, when he gave Sharon's baby to Ashley. Nick's reason for not sending a sample for the retest was entirely selfish, even if it was due to grief over Cassie's death. Once the feelings of grief had subsided, Nick could have pushed on to find out the truth then.Okay, Chloe and Chelsea, pay close attention: this is exactly why you don't pretend that your baby was fathered by another man...because of all the heartbreak that can develop from the lie. Summer's life will be completely changed as a result of Nick's action, or in this case, inaction. She will be devastated once she learns the truth, and she will probably have trust issues for the rest of her life, as a result.

Chloe stated that Adam didn't deserve to be the father of Chelsea's baby, but the facts are the facts. You can't change the truth, just because you wish it to not be true. Just ask Nick -- he hid the possible truth of Summer's paternity, just because he wanted her to be his daughter. But his wanting it did not make it true. And now it is Summer's life that will be destroyed. She is the innocent one, but she is the one that will have to pay the price.Don't get me wrong -- I actually think that Dylan is a great guy, and if he was really the father of Chelsea's baby, I would be all for it.? However, the lie of the baby's paternity will only hurt the child in the long run.? It's the lie that I have a problem with. Dylan continues to get closer and closer to the baby, and after Chelsea declared that she loved Dylan, he decided that she could be the epic love that he had searched for all his life.

But how will Dylan feel about Chelsea when the truth finally comes out? Open your eyes, Chelsea. See what is happening with Nick, Jack, Summer, and Phyllis, and the pain that this type of deceit can cause. Tell the truth before it is too late! Please don't put your child through the type of heartache that Summer will have to go through. Don't rob Adam of the chance to be a father to his own child, as Jack was robbed. Learn from Nick's mistake!So, Y&R has two paternity issues happening at the same time that are so different and yet, at the same time, are very similar. Lies can still result in misery. Over the weekend, I watched a classic episode of General Hospital from June 19, 1980, where Monica was at the hospital to get a blood test on her baby because she suspected that her child was actually the son of her husband, Alan, not her lover, Rick, as they had all believed.

Monica's doctor told her, and I quote, "Medical science has come a long way, Monica, see, and women have to be more discreet, 'cause they can't do what they used to do in the history books, not any longer...pass off one man's son as belonging to another." I laughed so hard after I heard that line! My first thoughts were of the Nick/Phyllis/Jack and the Adam/Chelsea/Dylan storylines, and then I laughed some more. That was 1980, this is 2013, and the fake baby-daddy storylines are still scorching hot on soaps these days. The more things change, the more they stay the same, right?While Adam is definitely no angel, the one thing I have realized more and more is that fans have very strong feelings about him, whether it be love or hate. If you dare to say anything against him, the Adam fans will jump up and defend him to the death. (Well, almost anyway.) But if you say anything in his defense, the "I extremely do not like (I do hate the word, 'hate') that squirmy little worm Adam" fans will be offended that you could ever say a kind word about the guy. Adam Newman is the type of character that will always bring about very strong emotions from the fans -- and the writers love it!Y&R fan Tony made a very astute observation regarding soap opera characters:

I remember years ago seeing some of those old 'black and white' serials they used to make for the movies, with no sound, only music and screens with 'dialogue' on them, and the villain came to collect for the unpaid mortgage, or tied the damsel to the railroad tracks, and I read people loved booing at the villain in the theatre and cheering for the good guy. That is what the writers want us to do.

That is so true! If the fans are booing and jeering Adam, then Michael Muhney is doing his job. (And he does his job so very well.) But there are also those ladies who love "the bad boys," so they are drawn to the misunderstood Adam, who had never had the love from his father, but who will not hesitate to manipulate and con others to get a step ahead. The misunderstood Adam is the one that Sharon fell in love with.

Actually, with Sharon, I think that "is obsessed with" is a better term. She just can't seem to get Adam out of her system, no matter what she does. Even though she realizes he is toxic for her, she just can't find the cure. That is just the way it is for some people, even soap characters. They are just poison for each other and would be better off with someone else, if they truly want happiness.At one point, I could not stand Adam as a character, as I have mentioned before. That would be the time that he stole the first six months of Faith's life from Sharon. However, I have actually grown to like Adam some since he was first paired up with Chelsea. The writers have shown a different side to Adam, and it appears that he really does want love. Adam seemed not to have an ulterior motive when he was with Chelsea.

Sharon even said to Adam this week that, deep down, he wanted to be in love, and of course, Adam was right in that Sharon wants to be the person that he would be in love with. (By the way, I am glad that Sharon listened to Dylan and met Wayne out for some fun. A fling with a stranger can be ultra-hot, but she will have to be careful, because it can also be ultra-scary. What kind of skeletons does Wayne have in his closet?)To me, Adam is evolving even more into a multi-dimensional character, which has resulted in him being more interesting to watch. Sometimes one can almost picture Adam with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, as his conscience battles it out -- although it does seem as if he listens to the devil more often than the angel. But he still wants the love and acceptance of his father, and he pretty much said to Avery that he wants that one true love with the "perfect wife, 2.5 kids, and a penthouse with a picket fence."

If this Adam is willing to open himself up to it, he can attain that love. It is unlikely that it would be with Chelsea now, after everything that she has done to him. I don't know if Adam would ever be able to forgive Chelsea, once he learns, for a fact, that he is the father of her unborn baby.I love Nikki's suggestion that Victoria create her own book of stories and illustrations, and I thought the two potential titles were very clever, Picture This and A Picture's Worth. Victoria has had problems in deciding what she wants to do with her life, and her waffling back and forth to and from Newman Enterprises has not helped. However, there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel with Nikki's idea for Victoria's new career. A storybook career would get Victoria out of the shadow of her brother, Adam, and would give her a life of her own, away from her father's constant interference.

Just let me say, sometimes Nikki drives me a little crazy, but I always really like her when she tries to protect her children from her husband, their father. Nikki sees this as the perfect opportunity for Victoria to get out from under Victor's thumb, and for Victoria to have a life of her own with Billy. If Victoria truly wants to have a baby with Billy, this would be the chance to concentrate on that, if she were to start a career with children as the focus.In the meantime, however, Billy's main focus appears to be gambling again, so Victoria may have waited too long. Victoria suspected that Billy might be cheating, and he is...but not with women, with a deck of cards. Unfortunately, Billy has not been winning, and he had the best line of the week (which suspiciously almost sounds like my life's philosophy, and I don't even gamble.) "It's not all about the money. Ahh, there's something about just holding a dead-pan hand. Your adrenaline is pumping...you're wondering if you're going to get away with it, just hoping that Lady Luck will reach out and kiss you. Turns out, she's a tease. She only gives you enough to keep you coming back for more. She gets you every time." Lady Luck has given you a loving wife, wonderful children, a beautiful home...anything a man could dream for. Please don't lose this, Billy!The fans breathed a sigh of relief this week as Lauren and Michael began to try to repair the damage done to their marriage with the help of board games. While they played the game Blind Trust, true feelings and emotions flowed out as they struggled to find their way back to trust in each other. I have confidence that their love will help them to work past their problems, but Carmine continued to lurk around to make sure that their reunion won't last. Lauren has stressed to him numerous times that their affair is over, but Carmine always refuses to listen.I do wonder if the writers are now transforming the somewhat bland character of Carmine into the new role of a stalker. In this case, the transformation sure could not hurt Carmine, who has not exactly lit the screen on fire. The definition of a stalker is: "A person who harasses another person, as a former lover, in an aggressive, often threatening manner." While Carmine seems to be always underfoot in Lauren's and Fen's lives, he has not yet carried his obsession with Lauren over into the violent side, but could that happen in the not-too-distant future?In other notable items throughout the week, Chloe finally left Kevin because he was still robbing from people's houses. All I can say is it's about time. Enough said. Did you see the look that Lily gave Tyler after he told her that she put her husband and kids first over her career? Her eyes shot daggers at Tyler, which is rather a strange reaction for a loving wife and mother. Almost any other mother would have jumped up and declared that to be true, which indicates that Lily seriously needs to reevaluate her priorities. With Cane hiring very attractive Hilary Curtis, who actually buttered up Lily to get the job, Lily had better keep her eyes on her man. And I mean the one that Lily is married to.Fen turned to getting high with Raven to avoid facing that he had become the town pariah. So, Michael and Lauren will have their hands full with Fen, even after they get their marriage back on the right track. Someone is sending blog posts and using Neil's own words against him and his family, and Neil went vigilante and decided to fight back. Who could possibly want to hurt Neil that much to go after his entire family? That remains to be seen. Finally, the new Clark and Michaelson firm is open, and Leslie is their first client. Avery will be the advocate on Leslie's behalf to get her legal access to Gus's mysterious safety deposit box, which could possibly contain something that Gus never wanted Leslie to see. Apparently, this Gus storyline has not yet been completely dropped, so it will be interesting to see where this goes.I have (former) cast news: congratulations to Julia Pace Mitchell on the birth of her new baby boy! Also, we will say a fond farewell to Alyvia Alyn Lind, and we will welcome in Mckenna Grace as Faith in July. It appears that Tucker will no longer be returning to Genoa City to shake things up with Katherine's willg. Could Mr. Nichols be headed towards Port Charles as Stefan Cassadine?

Please remember that the 40th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards will be telecast live on Sunday, June 16th, at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT on HLN. If you get a chance before the telecast, take time to check out the Emmy section on for more information about the Emmys, and don't forget to take a peek at the Daytime Emmy Predictions Panel selections. A special Y&R Two Scoops Super-Duper shout-out goes to The Young and the Restless for 23 Emmy nominations! I know that I will be watching on Sunday, and I will cheer each time one of the Y&R nominees wins. Good luck, Y&R!

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