FLASHBACK: 'Another World' The Story of Steven, Rachel & Alice (Part 22)

Another World expanded to 60-minutes each weekday
on January 6, 1975.

ANOTHER WORLD: The Story of Steven, Rachel & Alice

The Soap Box
Vol. IV No. 8 August 1979
by Bryna Laub

(continued from Part 21)

With Russ sworn to secrecy, Alice's desire that Steven never know she was sacrificing her happiness for his would have been achieved had not Rachel been suffering increasingly-frequent dizzy spells. She arranged to see a doctor at Bay City Hospital and while she was waiting, she discovered the file placed before her on his desk was that of Mrs. Steven (Alice) Frame, not Mrs. Steven (Rachel) Frame. Finding the results of Alice's latest tests inside, Rachel managed to copy them and return them unnoticed.

Rachel then barged into the Matthews' home and confronted Alice with the documents. She demanded Alice divorce Steven immediately so he could return to her, a woman who had already given him a child and who could give him another. Either that or she would tell Steven and all of Bay City about Alice's inadequacies as a woman. Alice capitulated, desperately wanting only to keep the truth from Steven.

But Rachel decided Steven should know the facts as this would prove she, not Alice, was the woman for him. However, Steven merely thanked Rachel for solving the mystery of Alice's aura of secrecy. Rachel was sure she had won, that he was coming back to her.

But Steven went directly to Alice and told her he knew she couldn't have children, but that didn't matter, he wanted her back as his wife. When Alice sadly reminded him how important the idea of more children had always been to him, Steven, his voice husky with deep emotion, replied, "You're the only woman I want. I can live without children but I can't live without you. Do you care what happens to me?" Suddenly knowing the truth of what he was saying, Alice told him how much she cared, how much she loved him as he took her in his arms.

Convinced that Steven was making plans to remarry her, Rachel was destroyed to learn he had flown off with Alice to St. Croix on a romantic reconciliation honeymoon. For the first time Rachel now had to admit to herself it was all over. And with that realization came a sense of being totally alone with no future and no reason for living.

Douglass Watson played Mackenzie Cory.

It was Mac Cory who rescued Rachel from her abyss of depression. Sensing the deep pain within this young woman who had been his daughter's friend, Mac would occasionally take the time to talk to Rachel when she brought Jamie to visit Dennis. Seeing the compassion and understanding within Mac, Rachel didn't try to lie or rationalize her past. For the first time in her life she opened up to another person without trying to protect her image. At Mac's urging she laid out her past deceptions, her lies, her cruelties, and finally her deep-seated fears and insecurities. To her surprise, he assured her that just admitting honestly what she had done was the first step toward another kind of life. A life of respect and honesty and dignity.

Their friendship gradually turned to love. In Mac, Rachel found not only a man who loved her but also a father image, a protector and a champion. In Rachel, Mac found a vulnerable, wounded young woman who needed someone who could cushion her from life's hurts and make her feel secure and important for the first time in her life.

Ironically, just as Rachel had always stood in the shadow of Alice's happiness, now Iris stood in hers. Iris, neurotic and demanding, saw Rachel as a threat to her father's love for her and schemed to drive Rachel out of his life. But Iris' attempts only made Mac more defensive of Rachel and soon he proposed marriage.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Stay tuned for the final chapter (Part 23) of Another World - The Story of Steven, Rachel & Alice.

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