The wedding day had barely begun, and already the air was thick with tension. Mike and Billie stood outside the church, exchanging barbs about the bride’s sanity, about whether she was still playing with a full deck. Their bickering over a wedding gift had nearly made them late, and Mike muttered that they never should have made it to court at all. Bo came roaring up, announcing he’d had to hot-wire the truck just to get back into town, and Billie wondered aloud what had gotten into people lately.
Inside, Sami wobbled on unfamiliar high heels, and her mother Marlena tried to soothe her, calling her the most beautiful maid of honor. But Marlena’s eyes kept drifting to the door, searching for John, wondering why there was no sign of him. The tension only mounted as Eric cornered Nicole, his voice low and vicious. “I’m going to prove that you killed Franco,” he said, “and then I’m going to prove that your mother helped you cover it up and frame Sami for it.
” Nicole just stared back, cool and defiant. Meanwhile, John wasn’t at the church at all. He was with Hope, or rather, with the woman who wore Hope’s face. She coached him, reminding him of the years he’d spent with Princess Gina, telling him all he had to do was remember.
He resisted, insisting Stefano would never have a hold on him again, that he wasn’t even sure he could stay in Salem. But she was relentless. “You’ll do what I say because I paid you $5 million to do it,” she snapped, before leaving him with a cryptic warning not to trash the place while she was gone. Back at the church, the whispers grew louder.
Carrie denied any feelings for Mike, her face pale, while Alice tried to assure everyone it would all be fine. Laura clutched her gift to her chest, refusing to hand it over until after the wedding, muttering that something always went wrong. “All your dreams are going up in smoke,” she said to Marlena, her smile thin and knowing. Marlena tried to dismiss the fear, but she couldn’t shake it.
John would never be this late. Something had happened. As the guests gathered, waiting, the emptiness at the altar felt like a dark omen hanging over all of them.
The minutes ticked by, and still, there was no groom.
