Caught like a rat in a trap

Hilary's claim she was pregnant with Devon's child was false! Did the ferocious feline's silence leave Devon caught like a wretched rat in a trap? And will the hellcat manufacture proof to tighten the springs? Will Sharon's guilt unravel the string of lies (and dirt) blanketing J.T.'s impromptu grave? Desperation rules in Two Scoops.

What was Devon thinking? Even after all the warnings, he still thought it would be a good idea to draw up a contract, like some impersonal business arrangement, for the very personal purpose of conceiving a baby. And if that wasn't bad enough, he decided that Hilary would be the perfect partner for it. Yes, Hilary, even though he could never trust a word coming out of her mouth. That Hilary. Remember her, Devon? He must have been temporarily blinded with amnesia to have put himself into such a no-win situation. Only we all know that there's nothing wrong with Devon except for a true lack of common sense. Or even worse, maybe Devon is still subconsciously (or consciously) in love with Hilary and just refused to see or admit to it. Ugh!

The next thing he knew, Hilary was practically swinging her home pregnancy test results in his face and proudly crowing that Devon was her baby daddy. Oh, yes, if it was true, Devon was caught like a rat in a trap with no chance of escape -- at least not for the next 18 years once the baby was born. He would almost remind me of a cartoon mouse, except the mouse always beats the kitty in the end. And seriously, Devon had no hopes of winning against the snarling feline, Hilary, who was constantly licking her chops each time he was around.

Shoot, he didn't even have one of those cute little mouseholes he could run into for cover like in the cartoon. Remember those? I always thought the mice were so clever to be able to carve out a hole so perfectly proportionate. You could almost picture them dressed in their little coveralls with their handy dandy tool belt. But no, Devon wasn't that lucky. He was going to be one regretful rodent by the time Hilary was done with him.

Devon could only hope that Hilary had received a false positive on her pregnancy test or that she went to a woman who really was pregnant to get a positive result. Come on, they do that on soaps all the time. After all, Devon wasn't with her when she supposedly took the test. But if Hilary really was pregnant, she was going to enjoy leading Devon around by the nose for many years to come. Hey, she already had a head start on that. The contract drawn up between Devon and Hilary supposedly stressed that it was a business relationship only and that there would be no personal or emotional attachments between them.

Yet Hilary didn't waste any time setting forth her demands that if Devon only cared for the baby and not for the mother, too, he could take his negative energy far, far away and never get to be around his child. That went completely against the terms of their contract. Besides, Hilary had no legal right to keep Devon from his child if she was pregnant. Not in the real world, anyway. Soaps love to create that type of drama, but the fact is that legally, the father has as much right to spend time with his baby as the mother does. Devon would need to seek Michael's advice pronto!

Plus, Hilary would only be using her child as a weapon against Devon, just as I expected she would. Anytime Devon didn't jump to her every wish and command, Hilary would be sure to use his baby against him in some way. Oh, Devon, why, why, why? Why on earth would you think having Hilary as your baby mama was a good idea? In no way, shape, or form has Hilary ever shown, in any way, that she had changed as she kept insisting she had. If anything, she kept proving that she was still the same underhanded, self-centered, manipulative, scheming, nasty person she's always been. Leopards don't change their spots, and this feline had her prey cornered. And I'm afraid Neil and Lily were too late to help Devon out of this jam -- if he even wanted help.

But seriously, who knew that Devon could be so funny? When he told Hilary that she would not be announcing her big news to his family and their coworkers at her unexpected meeting in that way and not on that day, I started to laugh almost hysterically. Why, Devon could almost make his career as a comedian with jokes like that. He should know better than anyone that telling Hilary not to do something would almost guarantee that she would do it one way or another. And Hilary made sure to do it in the worst way possible -- by announcing it on the air for all the world, including his family. coworkers, and Simone, to hear.

Seriously, Devon should have seen it coming. Hilary had the method and means to get the word out in a huge way. When she told Mariah that she wasn't allowed to speak what was on her mind, she was being pretty hilarious herself. Hey, Hilary and Devon could go on tour together as a dueling duo in the same style as the classic Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. And they could have their own Chastity or Chaz join them at a future date. I guess time would tell which -- or if it would be either.

Oh, yeah, Hilary should just put a ring in Devon's nose and wrap a ribbon around it to usher him around. She had her hook in him, and she could change the color of the ribbon in it to match her outfit each day. That's how bad it was for Devon. It's tough to call a billionaire poor, but if the shoe fits...

Devon was squirming, searching desperately for a way to escape. But the cartoon mousehole in the baseboard did not exist for him, and he knew it. While he looked forward to being a father, Devon regretted to Lily, Neil, and Jack that Hilary was the mother. Who could blame him? Hilary made it clear that she would be forever messing with his life.

So, why was Hilary surprised that Devon seemed ashamed to be her baby daddy? She shouldn't have been. For Devon, it was like looking in a crystal ball when Hilary showed him again how manipulative and underhanded she could be. He would have no say-so over his choice of lady, since Hilary would make sure to ruin any future relationship he would try to have. I can't believe it took Hilary so long to realize that she was her own worst enemy. And believe me, it's more than just sometimes, dear.

And Hilary learned that again, soon enough, when a pregnancy test done by her doctor verified that she was not pregnant. Hilary had what was known as a chemical pregnancy, where her fertilized egg was not implanted into her uterus. Her two home pregnancy tests had each given her a false positive. I knew it. It looked like she ended up being the one twitching and flailing around in the mousetrap.

Since she had rubbed Devon's face into the fact that she could dangle him on her string, Hilary felt she had lost any chance of getting any understanding or sympathy from him. But Hilary has a nasty tendency to judge people by her own standards, so they always fall short. I am sure Devon would let her cry on his shoulder if she told him the truth, because he is a nice guy. But Hilary would never see that.

Hilary put herself in the position of thoroughly embarrassing herself if she admitted the truth. It was stupid to announce her pregnancy on air before she received confirmation from a professional. Well, what could she do to release herself from the trap of her own making? Hilary could try to seduce Devon again, but her lies -- and Simone -- would make that a little difficult to do. She still had time to get pregnant, not necessarily by him, and then pass it off for his. Oh, wait, they just did that on Days of our Lives. But her silence made it seem like she may consider doing that. What else could Hilary do except to tell the truth? But, no, that would be unheard of. Well, the fake baby daddy claim is an oldie but goodie storyline on soaps, after all. The longer Hilary keeps the lie going, the bigger the chance this will happen.

Victoria ended up like a fox in a snare once she agreed with Phyllis, Nikki, and Sharon to keep J.T.'s demise a secret. I would have said like a bear in a steel leg trap, but that's how her brother, Nick, met Sage. Anyway, just which one of those four is a doctor? Wouldn't it be bizarre if they later found out that when they'd buried J.T., he had actually still been alive? That would almost be funny if it wouldn't be so tragic too. But then J.T. could really claim he was the victim, only he wouldn't be able to, of course.

The whole thing reminds me of an episode of Dateline or 48 Hours, anyway, and this would make for one juicy story on either show. A young man with children, who had tried to kill his ex-father-in-law, suddenly vanishes one night, never to be seen again. A person of interest would be Victoria, if the police could ever determine the man was no longer alive. It would just seem that Victoria should be doing a better job of covering their tracks to keep her mother out of trouble, especially since Nikki only hit J.T. to protect her daughter.

However, Victoria's guilt almost screamed to everyone that J.T. was dead and she was to blame. By the way she was acting, she might as well yell it from the rooftop. Victoria came pretty close to telling her therapist, and she pretty much indicated to Reed that he would never see his father again. "He loved you so much." That was past tense, and Reed was savvy enough to catch it. Victor was no help by telling Reed that his father had been out to destroy their family. Reed's head must be reeling. And to top it all off, Reed was then grounded because he drove J.T.'s car with a suspended driver's license. It just wasn't Reed's day.

Shoot, Reed will find out soon enough about the true fate of his father if Victoria can't learn to keep her trap shut. She's been practically declaring to everyone that J.T. was dead, only they weren't reading between the lines. Victoria flat out told Paul that J.T. was never coming back and that even J.T. was aware of it, but Paul could only ask how she could possibly know that. Really, Paul, does she have to spell it out for you? D-E-A-D. How else would she know that J.T. would not be returning?

I thought cops were supposed to use logic when researching a case. Logic and common sense. Well, Paul appeared to have neither of those. Hey, is he related to Devon? No, I guess not, although the way the family trees in Genoa City keep shifting and swaying, we may eventually learn they are long lost cousins.

Reed then decided he needed to move all the way to a boarding house out of state. That's always the case when a young character has used up their time on a soap. Send him or her to boarding school indefinitely. But at least Reed's school is focused on music. The reason was that he just couldn't bear to be around his mother anymore, since she's the one who had encouraged him to rebuild his relationship with his father. Okay, that makes sense. Not really. But it's Reed's time to go, so that's as good of an excuse as any. As Victor said to Jack, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

Sorry, but Reed just hasn't been all that interesting. Victoria should be able to ease her conscience about what they did to J.T. with Reed out of sight. You know the saying, out of sight, out of mind, although it would probably be hard for Victoria to put J.T.'s rotting corpse completely out of her mind.

Finally, the secret was out about J.T.'s physical abuse. But still, Victoria should have been furious about her father's hidden camera being in her house. That really was crossing way over the line. However, Victoria was too busy trying to get past her guilt to be concerned about any outrageous act perpetrated by her father. I guess in comparison, what Victor did was nowhere near as appalling as what J.T. had just put her through. Wow, who ever thought that the scales of justice would balance out in that way with Victor's hat being just a tad shade lighter of black than someone else's? The world must be practically spinning off its axis.

Nick sure wasn't happy to learn of J.T.'s abuse from his father. Who would have thought we would see the normally fierce Victor practically bawling like a baby? Now maybe we can put this whole Victor disowning Nick nonsense aside, since Victor heard for himself how much his son loves him. Nick was ready to find J.T. and kill the jerk himself, except, of course, that had already been done. You know, Sharon has always had such a tough time keeping the truth from Nick. She was always the weak link in Phyllis' scheme, anyway. Since Sharon knew that Nick was gunning for J.T., could she remain silent about J.T.'s demise and not let Nick know that J.T. was already history?

You have to feel for Mac's children. They have to be wondering why their dad has suddenly disappeared and abandoned them. That fact alone should have made Victoria spill the beans, but she was rock solid on sticking to the cover-up -- even Nick couldn't pry any information out of her, although Phyllis stopped that from happening. Dead in its tracks. So, is Phyllis going to follow Nick everywhere he goes to make sure that he is never alone for a minute with his sister? Oh, she'd probably like that, anyway, since it appeared she had the hots for him again. But as Phyllis knew very well, Victoria wasn't the problem. Sharon was.

You could always tell by the expression on her face that Sharon believed it was a mistake not to tell the police about J.T.'s fate. She had never wanted to go along with Phyllis' scheme. Sharon was caught up in her own guilt trip, which was giving her nightmares. That was pretty freaky seeing a hand pop out of J.T.'s grave. Did she think it was going to get any better?

The only way for Sharon to ease her guilt would be to admit the truth to Nick and to Mac. And Reed needed to know the truth, also, even if he had to learn it offscreen at the boarding school. Phyllis was aware that Sharon was an egg about to crack, so she threatened to lock up Sharon in a psych ward if she said a word. As batty as keeping this secret is making her, Sharon's bound to end up back in a mental institution, anyway. Nick may just need to be Sharon's savior again, and Phyllis sure wouldn't like that.

Nikki was wise for not wanting Victor to know about the pact regarding J.T. But Victor was still busy recovering from his injuries and plotting with Kyle to overtake Jabot. See, Victor knew how to change focus, which was what Nikki advised Victoria to do. Victoria just couldn't grasp the concept, though, which Nikki did easily enough by feasting on an early lunch with Arturo -- without the food. However, Abby was only too happy to supply the dessert later on.

It appeared Abby may just provide Nikki with yet another new focus. But Victor did his usual puppeteering with his new dummy, Kyle, who seemed bent on destroying his own family. And since his family suspected he was Victor's mole, Kyle was already not trusted at the family business, which had caused him to be like a fly stuck to flypaper at Jabot. Still, Victor warned Kyle not to disturb Dina's dignity with all their scheming. Wow, that Victor's such a kind and considerate guy.

Jack was wise enough to know that his son's loyalty still remained with the Mustache; however, he let Kyle talk him into taking an extra long lunch with Gloria to celebrate her returning to Jabot. What? You mean to tell me that Jack didn't have a clue that Kyle would be trying to break into his dad's computer the second Jack's back was turned? Jack must be another guy who's clueless. Devon, Paul, and Jack -- it's some sort of epidemic for which there is no cure. That was obvious when Jack agreed to all of Gloria's demands, which were over the top. A new title, a huge bump in pay, two weeks more of vacation time, and a lithograph? I want to be Jack's assistant. Sign me up!

Apparently, Billy thought his duties could expand past those of his new title as Chief Operating Officer to include those of Chief Executive Officer, too, which was Jack's job -- until Jack put that notion to rest. Looks like Jack may need to watch his back and keep looking over his shoulder -- in both Kyle and Billy's directions. And speaking of Kyle, I thought for sure that once Ravi saw what was on the memory card Kyle gave him, he would be more inclined to hand that information over to Ashley, who's always had his loyalty. Or to Jack, his boss.

But apparently, he didn't -- or Kyle's money did some fast talking -- because Ravi had no qualms about sending the video to Kyle. And Kyle learned Dina's truth about Jack not being John's son. Kyle then took Dina out to dinner, trying to pry the name of her lover, Jack's supposed father, out of her, but he was unsuccessful. So, all of Jack's loving memories about John being over the moon over his son Jack could be wiped out in a heartbeat.

But even if he gets the man's name from Dina, how would that help Kyle? If Jack's not a blood Abbott, then neither is Kyle, and he would never be able to become the king of the castle at Jabot. Then how would he be any help to Victor? Kyle should think long and hard before making this known, unless he is able to get rid of the blood Abbott clause at Jabot. But he would still need to eliminate Jack. One step at a time, I guess.

Phyllis practically admitted to Billy that she missed the thrill and excitement of sneaking around with him. Could that explain her sudden concern for her ex-husband Nick?

It's still so strange to see Sharon and Nikki all chummy-chummy now, no matter what the reason.

Congratulations to all of our beloved soap stars who were nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards. My favorite Daytime Emmy Award winner of all time is Anthony Geary of General Hospital. I think back on one particular time he was nominated. As I watched the clips he had submitted, I literally got goosebumps for his acting in the scene. There was no doubt in my mind Mr. Geary had the win that year, and he won. The same thing happened the year Delia died on Y&R, when Billy Miller won as Billy Abbott. I got goosebumps during one part of his performance, and I knew he would win. I was right. But even without the goosebumps, all of our actors and actresses truly gave remarkable performances, so each and every one of them deserves to win.

Until next time, please stay tuned.Teddi

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