Will the real Ashland Locke please stand up?

They say love is a great motivator. If that's the case, then is Ashland's love for Victoria the real reason Billy is so adamant about uncovering Ashland's past? Who is this mysterious person sending text messages to Ashland? How many hidden skeletons does Ashland have that he is so desperate to keep buried? Who was he before he reinvented himself with this new persona? Let's dig into this week's Two Scoops.

Why is everyone so adamant about knowing Ashland's history? As long as Ashland wasn't a murderer, a serial rapist, or a terrorist, then the rest should be up to him to share or not. It really isn't anyone's business. It appears that Ashland Locke was 20 years old when he was born. If he had secrets prior to that and hadn't included them in his new persona, then who cares what his name was prior to "Ashland Locke"? Am I missing something? I don't understand why Billy and Nick feel the need to have every aspect of Ashland's past exposed.

Ashland told the Newmans and Billy about his past. For the sake of reference to his past, let's call him "Peter Pan." Peter had had an abusive father and a passive mother who blamed "Peter" for provoking his father. After Peter left home, he met an older woman who owned two media stations. She became Peter's mentor, and when she died, Peter acquired the media stations, changed his name to Ashland Locke, and became a very successful -- and ruthless -- businessman.

Was the first part of Peter's story true, or did he put a spin on Victor's story and make it his own? Does it matter? I don't think it does. I believe that everyone has parts of their past they don't want exposed. I sure do. I remember when .... Never mind. This is one of my secrets, and none of anyone's business, just like Ashland's.

I also don't get why everyone is questioning how Ashland acquired the media stations. Billy claimed he'd checked all his sources, asking where Ashland got the money to acquire those media outlets. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are a number of possibilities, again, none of which are anyone's business. Ashland might have been able to borrow the money under his birth name, maybe he'd been a gambler and won the money (Billy could relate. If he won), or the money might have been bequeathed to him by an unknown relative, all under his birth name. There are countless ways Ashland could have gotten the money, and there wouldn't be a record of it under Ashland Locke's name.

Having said all this, and even though I believe it was none of anyone's business, Billy has opened this can of worms, and he has piqued my curiosity. Maybe everyone has good reason to question Ashland about his past. I feel that Ashland is trying too hard to keep his first 20 years buried. In my opinion, he could reveal a number of things about his past without revealing where he lived or what school he attended and without disclosing his birth name or the town where he lived. He could disclose some innocuous incidents about himself without revealing anything of consequence. Surely there were things he could have shared without revealing any information that could be traced.

Who is the person sending him text messages stating they needed to meet? The last message sounded like a threat. Perhaps I have been completely wrong about Ashland's past being kept a secret. If this is someone from his past -- pre-Ashland Locke days -- then maybe there really is a mystery to be uncovered. Wouldn't that be a juicy road to travel.

Spoiler Alert! I have read that the person texting Ashland is someone by the name of Jesse Gaines (who will make his appearance on Tuesday, September 21). I read he was a lawyer (of the shadier variety), but I will stand corrected if I am mistaken. I also read that Jesse Gaines will blackmail Ashland to the tune of three million dollars. Apparently, Ashland paid Jesse hush money over the years to keep his secret. Who is this guy, and did he know Ashland as Peter Pan or as Ashland Locke? Then comes the twist. Someone else has learned about Jesse Gaines's threats and takes matters into their own hands. This just might open the door to who Ashland Locke really was before he reinvented himself. End Spoiler Alert.

Victoria seems to have become the filling in the sandwich between Billy and Nick. Both these men keep hounding her about Ashland's past to the point that she has begun doubting Ashland. You can see how deeply in love she is with him. That begs the question: does Ashland really love her enough to share his information with her, and if he does share that information, will she and Ashland still meet at the altar?

You know, I think I have to reverse my position about it not being anyone's business about Ashland's past. The mystery surrounding him would have a saint asking questions. I am leaning toward exposing Ashland's entire past. Recently, it has been mentioned that Ashland's mentor died a mysterious death. It was a revelation to me because I don't recall hearing that previously. This, too, should be very interesting if it is addressed down the road.

Billy is chomping on my last nerve. He's like a barracuda, a predator. He sank his teeth into Ashland's past, and he will not let go, despite warnings from Lily, Jack, and Ashland himself. I agree with Lily. Would Billy work that hard at uncovering someone's past if Victoria was with anyone else other than Ashland. Is Billy trying to uncover Ashland's past because he feels there is a huge story there, or is he doing it to hopefully stop Victoria from marrying Ashland because he is still in love with her. He claims he is doing it predominantly for his kids, but I don't think that is the case. He has never stopped loving Victoria, and I believe he wants her back. He loves Lily, but not the way he has always loved Victoria.

Lily must be getting really sick of Billy constantly in his ex's orbit. I know I would be. Lily should ask him to either move out and decide whether he wants to be with Victoria or if he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Billy can't have it both ways. I love Lily with Billy as a couple. Until recently, she has been able to keep him in check, something no one else has been able to do. Billy wants what he wants, and he just won't listen to anyone telling him to back off, especially when his determination gets the best of him. Right or wrong, Billy has arrived at his own conclusions, and he believes that he is dead right in his assessment. Billy never looks at all the pros and cons of his assessments. Lily is always the one to point them out to him.

Next week's spoilers indicate that Lily and Billy uncover some stunning information. What could that be, I wonder. Could they have discovered Ashland's birth name and that he might be connected to one of the families in Genoa City? Hmm... This is becoming curiouser and curiouser. Let's suppose he has a connection to one of the families -- which family, and would that connection affect the wedding plans? Then we had the shady lawyer with his nefarious plan to blackmail Ashland for three million dollars to keep Ashland's secret. Good grief, there seems to be enough fodder surrounding Ashland Locke to warrant an Agatha Christie novel! I can hardly wait to see what Billy and Lily have discovered. Things are getting juicier!

Let's move on to Adam and Connor. Connor has lived a lifetime in the few short years that he's been on this planet, but he's smart. When Adam tried to tell Connor that he and Chelsea wouldn't be living together anymore, Connor accused Sharon of breaking up his home. Connor told Adam that he'd heard Chelsea telling Anita about Sharon. Connor told Sharon that Chelsea didn't like her, and he asked Adam why, whenever there was a problem, Adam always called Sharon. Even after an explanation, Connor didn't believe Adam.

Chelsea is still blaming Sharon for her and Adam's failed relationship. Chelsea has inadvertently turned Connor against Sharon, because she obviously told Anita that she blamed Sharon for her breakup with Adam. Chelsea has always blamed others for her misfortunes, and she continues to do so. Chelsea did tell Adam that she'd realized that Sharon had had nothing to do with their breakup; however, from Connor's comments, it appears that it wasn't the case, since Connor believes Sharon was the reason for the dissolution of his parents' relationship.

I'm not a Sally fan, but I have to give her kudos for doing a good job keeping Connor calm and entertained until Adam arrived. I thought it was wonderful that she shared her story with Connor about really angering someone to the point that that person dumped a bucket filled with ice and water over her head. You could see how much Connor enjoyed that story, as did I at the time it happened. I wonder how Chelsea is going to feel when she finds out that Connor overheard her dissection of Sharon. Chelsea was afraid that Adam would turn Connor against her, but she managed to put doubt in Connor's head about Adam and has turned Connor against Sharon. Chelsea got a bargain -- a "twofer." It should be interesting to see if Chelsea is going to try to blame Anita. I used to be a Chelsea fan, but not so much anymore.

It looks like Sally has her sights on Adam, and she seems to be taking a different approach with him. After the Connor incident, she could have hounded Adam to tell her what was going on, but she chose the high road and said she wasn't going to pry. After she left, Adam appeared a little curious about Sally's attitude. I wonder if Adam and Sally will wind up as a couple. I'm not sure I'm going to like it because they are both trouble. Oh, wait! Adam seems to be attracted to "bad girls," and Sally is no exception. Chelsea is a con artist, and look how well that relationship worked out.

I'm sure that if Adam and Sally do become a couple, that relationship will be as volatile as his and Chelsea's was. Adam might be sporting a new Adam persona, but for how long? Sally is not a good influence, and Adam will soon return to his old unlikeable self. If these two get together, there is going to be big trouble in Genoa City, in my opinion. I guess we will have to wait and see.

Who wasn't teary-eyed when Mariah told Abby that she and Tessa were moving out of the Chancellor home because all Mariah wanted to do was to be a mother to "Bowie"? She explained that "Bowie" had grown inside of her, he'd kept her sane after they had been abducted, and he'd been the only one she could talk to while they had been locked in that room. It was gut-wrenching. What a stellar performance by Camryn Grimes. I had such a lump in my throat when she was saying goodbye to "Bowie," and then the lump turned into a river of tears. I just couldn't imagine saying goodbye to a child I had given birth to only a week before.

Mariah told Abby she had only wanted to give Abby and Chance the baby they had wanted; however, she'd had no idea how difficult it would be to give up the child she'd carried for nine months. I think Mariah has made the right choice. Distancing herself from "Bowie" should be the best thing for her. It will give Abby time to bond with Dominic -- and Mariah time to adjust to life without "Bowie."

What about Devon? He seems to be suffering from parental distance, as well. How is he going to adjust to being a father but not really being a father? Spoilers indicate that he and Amanda will be making an important decision next week. Will Devon ask Amanda to move in with him, or is he ready to pop the question and perhaps have a child together? Now there's a morsel to do a little speculating on -- or just wait for the episode to air. Are we that patient?

Does it appear that the show is going to reunite Jack and Phyllis? As I have mentioned on multiple occasions, I would love that. I apologize ahead of time if I happen to repeat myself, but Phyllis and Jack have had quite a history together. They have been married twice. The first marriage ended over a cosmetics war between Newman and Jabot, and Victor's manipulations of his product, and Phyllis had been working at Newman at the time. Victor had been arrested for his manipulation of the product. At Victor's commercial bribery trial, Phyllis testified on Victor's behalf, which really angered Jack. That was the final blow for Phyllis and Jack's marriage.

After Jack and Phyllis remarried, Victor had Jack kidnapped, and he hired a doppelgnger named Marco to stand in for Jack. We all remember how that storyline went. In the end, Phyllis felt Jack had distanced himself from her because he'd been dealing with his issues of abduction and believing he'd killed Kelly Andrews, and he wasn't able to offer any support for Phyllis, who had been repeatedly raped by Marco. In the end, Phyllis turned to Billy, and that turned into an affair with Billy.

Jack and Phyllis eventually put that incident behind them and became friends. Phyllis has always remained extremely protective of Jack, and she always had his back. No matter what anyone might think of Phyllis, you have to admit that she has good instincts about people. She had Sally and Tara's numbers the moment she met them, and she was spot-on. Tara turned out to be an embezzler, and Sally, the schemer and manipulator, succeeded in her plan to drive Summer out of town because she wanted Summer's job at JCV. Jack was eternally grateful to Phyllis for exposing Sally for who she really was. Jack finally admitted that he had never stopped loving Phyllis. We have to wonder what Phyllis is going to do with that information.

I don't believe Phyllis would be so protective of Jack if she didn't still love him. I have a feeling she is questioning her relationship with Nick. I don't know about anyone else, but the only thing I have ever seen between Nick and Phyllis is sex and video games. I always felt that Phyllis' relationship with Jack was much deeper. Maybe I just saw what I wanted to see.

The scene with Nick and Sharon at the coffeehouse was very touching. It felt like the old Nick and Sharon. I wonder if the writers are planning a Nick and Sharon reunion, as well, and doing a bit of recycling. Until recently, I have felt that a reunion between Nick and Sharon shouldn't happen again. There was too much water under that bridge: Sharon's affair with Adam; later marrying Adam; abandoning her family to get away from Adam; her affair with Sam Gibson, the veterinarian, who knew her as Cherie; her affair with Cameron Kirsten; and Sharon's marriage to Victor, to name a few -- and Nick's constant cheating.

Like Jack and Phyllis, Nick and Sharon have been married twice. They tried to remarry on two separate occasions, but those weddings wound up being incomplete. Phyllis interrupted Nick and Sharon's third wedding. When Phyllis woke up from her year-long coma, Phyllis arrived at the church where Nick and Sharon were about to be pronounced husband and wife; however, before that happened, Phyllis walked down the aisle and collapsed. Sharon ran out because she was afraid Phyllis would tell Nick that she'd tampered with the DNA test confirming that Summer was really Nick's daughter, not Jack's.

The second incomplete wedding was because Sharon discovered that Nick had had a recent one-night stand with Phyllis. That was the end of that wedding when Sharon stood in front of the guests and told them about Nick's infidelity.

At this point, I would love to see Sharon and Nick reunite. They have matured, and I think they belong together. At first, I had been rooting for a Sharon and Rey wedding, but I have been extremely disappointed in this union. Rey is always suspicious of Sharon and Adam, and he never fails to take a dig at either Sharon or Adam. Every time Rey sees Adam, he graces him with a dirty look.

There doesn't appear to be any chemistry between Sharon and Rey. Aside from COVID precautions, how often have we seen them hug or show any affection toward each other. You don't have to touch a person to show the love -- a look or a gesture always speaks volumes. I haven't seen any of that between Sharon and Rey, but I saw a lot of chemistry happen between Nick and Sharon while they sat across from each other, talking.

One of the benefits of a Sharon and Nick reunion is the fact that Nick knows the lay of the land between Sharon and Adam. He knows there is a bond there that might never be broken, but Nick accepts the situation for what it is. I think if Nick and Sharon were to reunite, neither one of them would step outside the marriage boundaries. I believe that, like Jack and Phyllis, Sharon and Nick have never stopped loving each other. It has been a long road back for them, and if the reconciliation happens, I believe they would cherish it, and they would have a strong and solid union.

Please feel free to share your comments and opinions, as well as your own thoughts. In the meantime, it's a wrap for me. Until next time, stay safe! Nel

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