Cliff House: The Morning After

Thursday, July 8, 1993

SCENE: Morning inside the CLIFF HOUSE. HOLLY sleeps peacefully. ROGER places a bouquet of wildflowers beside her in the bed. Leaning over HOLLY, he kisses her hand and talks to her softly as she sleeps.

ROGER: Every morning, since the day I lost you, my first waking sensation has been an ache that went straight to the core of me, like a permanent limp, like a nagging reminder of an old wound that nothing could heal . . . until now . . . until you let me love you again.

ROGER places his cheek close to HOLLY’S as she still sleeps.

CUT to Guiding Light opening theme.

ROGER [between kisses]: I tried to let you sleep. . . You're just too beautiful, Holly. [Her lips part in a sleepy smile.] You always were. . . just . . too . . beautiful.

As he reaches her lips, ROGER kisses HOLLY more passionately. She turns over on her back, pulling him closer to her.

But then, HOLLY wakes up, and backs away from ROGER with a startled “No!”

At the BAUER HOUSE, ALAN-MICHAEL asks ED about what happened at CLIFF HOUSE.

ALAN-MICHAEL: There’s just one thing that’s very confusing to me.

ED: What?

ALAN-MICHAEL: You said Roger was up there when you got there?

ED nods.

ALAN-MICHAEL: Well, did he follow Jon Davis up there or something?

ED: Oh, no, no, no. He was already there when Davis got there.

ALAN-MICHAEL: Doing what? [sarcastically] Paying Holly a little social call out of the blue?

ED: I don’t know Alan-Michael.

ALAN-MICHAEL: Well, I don’t understand that relationship at all.

ED: Well, guess what. I don’t think Holly does either.

Immediate CUT to . . .

On the patio, ROGER tries to get HOLLY to acknowledge what happened the night before. As ROGER becomes more certain, HOLLY looks increasingly puzzled—not so much about the night before as much as “what to do about him.” She doesn’t seem to want to hurt ROGER, but what she’s already instinctively doing—pulling away from him—is going to hurt no matter how “gentle” she tries to be.

ROGER [radiant]: Don't you be afraid.

HOLLY [tender-eyed]: I'm not afraid.

ROGER: We can do it. We can do it. We know what we have and that's all that counts.

HOLLY [turning away]: I don't know what I know.

ROGER: Yes, you do. You know that what we have and what we have experienced is brand spanking new.

HOLLY: Roger—

ROGER: Holly, Holly, you know—

HOLLY: No, no, let me say something. You're talking about an “us” and there isn't an “us,” Roger. This is something that you want to be true, so you're going to try to make it true out of sheer force of your will!

ROGER [trying not to hear this]: Holly, Holly, now wait a minute. I didn't force anything on you last night. You came to me freely. I felt it; you felt it.

HOLLY [nodding]: Yes, I did. I wanted you. I needed you to hold me. I was running. I got close to feeling what it would be like to die with a bullet in my lungs.

ROGER: Honey, I don't care. I don't care. I don't care why you came to me last night. I only know that your hands were fire on my skin. Now, I didn't dream that.

HOLLY: But that doesn't mean what you want it to mean.

ROGER: You're wrong. You are wrong. We can make it last this time. I'm telling you I know so much that I didn't know before. And I know I can make you happy. And all I want in this world is to devote myself to that sweet task for the rest of my life. . . [ROGER kneels in front of her.] Holly, marry me. Don't think. Don't try to explain it away. Just marry me.

HOLLY smiles and then shuts her eyes; she can't believe this is happening.

Still on the patio . . . HOLLY looks over the railing as ROGER tries to persuade her.

ROGER: Sure, it sounds logical. We were “swept away.” We were trying to forget our brush with death. It sounds absolutely logical, but I'm telling you it's not what happened.

Holly, we weren't running away. We were coming back to one essential truth . . . that we belong together. Look. Now look. We certainly have tried other things. Lord knows, we have tried other people! But, has it made us happy? Has any of it made us fulfilled? Has any of it made us feel one iota of what we felt last night in there!

In HOLLY’S face, there is agreement with ROGER. She tries to put the brakes on this.

HOLLY: Stop!

ROGER: You didn't want me to stop last night and you don't want me to stop now. Damn it, we should be married! We belong together . . . just . . . could you let yourself believe it? Please let yourself feel it.

HOLLY: I can't feel anything my head is going so . . . I feel like I'm losing my mind.

ROGER: But that's . . . that's okay . . . that's what love is supposed to feel like a little bit . . . like . . . you're supposed to lose your mind and just listen to your heart.

HOLLY: Please, please, I have to think about this . . . I need some time alone, okay? Let me go think about this . . .

ROGER kisses HOLLY’S hand before she goes back inside CLIFF HOUSE. As the scene ends, ROGER wonders . . .

Back at the BAUER HOUSE, ALAN-MICHAEL is gone. ED has been trying to call HOLLY, but there’s no answer. MICHELLE comes into the kitchen with a copy of Highlights magazine.

ED: Oh, what happened? I thought you were going to get some sleep.

MICHELLE: I can’t. I feel tired until I close my eyes. Then I’m wide awake. Were you calling Holly again?

ED: Well, I just can’t figure out where she could be. I mean, she said she was going to come home last night, didn’t she?

MICHELLE [sitting down at the kitchen table, knowingly]: Holly likes people to think that she doesn’t like Roger Thorpe as much as he likes her, but I . . I don’t know if it’s true.

ED: And why do you say that?

MICHELLE: She acts different when she thinks I’m not watching.

ED [joining her at the table]: Different how?

MICHELLE: She looks at him differently. And last night, they were dancing, and I walked in, and it looked like they were going to kiss or something. When I walked in they just stopped, and looked really nervous. It made me feel weird, like I shouldn’t walk in the room.

ED: Oh, no, no. Of course you have every right to go into the room.

MICHELLE: It made me remember.

ED looks up at her.

MICHELLE: After Mommy left to go to the cabin, you and Mrs. Raines were hugging in the kitchen, and when I came in you stopped.

ED [quietly]: Yes.

MICHELLE: You acted nervous like Holly.

ED: I was nervous, but not . . . I mean . . uh, that day . . . that day you’re talking about when I was hugging Mrs. Raines, it was because she was upset. We were both upset . . . because I had just told her that . . . your mom had left . . . and I told her why. But before that day, long before, several months . . . something had happened between Mrs. Raines and me that was the kind of thing that you’re talking about. It happened one time, and it was the worst mistake I’ve ever made. I told Mrs. Raines that it was a mistake, that it couldn’t happen again, but I couldn’t forget what I’d done. I kept thinking about it. I still think about it. I’ll be sorry for that . . . for the rest of my life.

MICHELLE [equally quietly]: Did you love her?

ED: I loved Mommy.

MICHELLE: Did Mommy find out? Is that why she left?

ED: Yes, it is, hon. You see, Mrs. Raines had left me a note explaining things, and your mom found it, and she read it, and that’s when she went to the cabin and I followed her, and I told her I would do anything, anything in the world if she would just ... I wanted her to forgive me.

MICHELLE: What did she say?

ED: She said she couldn’t. And that’s when she ran out and ... got in her car. Don’t look like such a hero now, do I?

Immediate CUT to CLIFF HOUSE ...

The Mourning After, continued