1987 (#11) - The past between Eric and Beth and their new dating

Noticing his mother's bright-eyed return from the party at the Forrester mansion, Storm asks Beth for an explanation. Beth admits to having met someone special after so many years. The meeting between Eric and Beth, on the other hand, is not destined to remain an isolated case; the two, eager to embrace each other again, soon meet again with the excuse of clarifying their past after so many years. Here, in fact, an excited Eric finally confesses to Beth the reason why he had left her so long ago at university: Stephanie, a woman with whom he had spent a night of love after getting drunk and who would become his wife a few months later, had confessed to him that she was expecting a child from him, Ridge. Beth, shocked by the news, can't believe Eric's words, revealing in turn that she married Stephen to fill the void caused by her breakup with Eric, who admits in turn that he probably never would have married Stephanie if Beth hadn't married Stephen first. But despite these events, it's clear both Eric and Beth never stopped loving each other; love sealed with a romantic kiss. Stephanie, whose relationship with Eric appears to be deteriorating more and more, does not fail to notice her husband's increasing disaffection towards her; and, imagining that her husband has started dating some other woman, she promises herself that she will not allow anyone to take her husband away, as she intends to defend her marriage tooth and nail. Similarly, it is Storm who notices the increasingly obvious resurgence of feelings between Eric and his mother, to whom he tries to make it clear that Eric is a married man. Helen, who knows well Beth's past with Eric, explains to Storm the bond that bound Beth to the man; a bond that made Stephen suffer so much that he probably decided to leave because he was no longer able to bear the burden of being considered a second choice and to remain tied to a person who loves another man; a man Stephen himself feels unable to compete with. Soon, however, more and more torn by the fact of pursuing the heart of a married man, Beth takes the painful decision to stop dating Eric, who in turn agrees with the decision and decided, in the grip of guilt, to stop hurting his family and give a second chance to his marriage with Stephanie.