Scenes From a Soap Opera

The Prodigal Mother Returns

Jack Abbott was happily handing out candy to the excited trick-or-treaters. He loved seeing all the different costumes, some of these children were so creative. It was getting late, and Jack decided it was time to turn in for the night. The rest of the candy would remain in the bowl, though he wouldn't be surprised if it ended up getting eaten by one of his many family members. He was in the process of turning out all the lights when he heard the doorbell ring. 'One last trick-or-treater' he thought to himself and sighed as he went to get the candy bowl.

"Why, hello there..." Jack started to say before he realized who was standing at his door or more importantly who wasn't standing there. Instead of a trick-or-treater, there was an Asian woman who appeared to be in her mid 40s standing at his door. "I'm sorry can I help you?" Jack asked, confused. The woman looked familiar, but he couldn't place where he would have met her.

The woman smiled at Jack and stuck out her hand. "My name is Gemma Nguyen. I'm your granddaughter's mother. So nice to meet you." Jack shook her hand in a daze and barely noticed that she breezed right by him into Abbott House. Gemma was full of confidence and arrogance in his opinion; this woman had abandoned his son and granddaughter. Jack was sure that she had found out about Allie's success at Jabot and was here for a paycheck. He took it upon himself to question Gemma, for Allie's sake, hopefully she would forgive him for this.

"Allie isn't here right now. I am more than happy to tell her that you stopped by." Jack stated monitoring Gemma's facial expressions. He didn't trust this woman and wanted to protect his granddaughter at all costs.

Gemma's face fell slightly before perking up again. "Where is she, if you don't mind me asking?"

"At a Halloween party. Really, I will tell her that you stopped by. I promise." Jack replied wanting to usher her out of the house. 

Picking up on the brush off, Gemma headed towards the door. "Please do. I'm staying at the Grand Phoenix. I want to see my daughter soon." 

Jack noticed the threat in her voice. He shut the door behind her then locked it. The Jabot CEO let out a deep sigh, there goes his plan for an early night. He wanted to be up when Allie got home, she should hear this news from him. The poor girl didn't deserve to be blindsided by her greedy mother.

Jack was nodding off on the couch when he heard voices on the front porch. Noah had walked Allie to the door and was saying goodnight. Jack waited patiently for the young couple to do their thing. After a few minutes, he heard Noah leaving and the front door open.

"Jack? You're still up?" Allie asked as she walked into the living room to see him getting up from the couch. She was surprised that he was still awake, she thought that he would have gone to bed hours ago. Her grandfather was smiling nervously at her, and she was starting to get worried. "Did something happen? Is everyone okay?" she asked in a panic.

Feeling guilty for scaring her, Jack quickly responded. "Everyone is fine. I'm so sorry for scaring you like that. I had a surprise visitor, and I was trying to think of how best to tell you." Allie stared at him confused so he continued before he lost his nerve. "Allie, your mother stopped by the house. She's staying here in town at the Grand Phoenix"

Allie was stunned, her mother was here. Her mother who couldn't even bother to come see her after her father died. What did she want now? "Are you sure it was my mother?"

Jack nodded, "She said her name was Gemma Nguyen and that she was your mother." Having déjà vu from a few months ago, he told her the same things he told Kyle. What was it about mothers taking off on their kids in the Abbott family? Allie sat down on the couch feeling numb and looking very lost. Jack moved to sit next to her putting his arms around her shoulders. Allie barely felt her grandfather's kind gesture; all the years of insecurities about her mother were weighing on her.

Why would her mother come to see her now, after all these years? Was she finally worth her mother's time and why now? These questions were bouncing around her head like a ping pong ball. The answer hit her like a freight train, the Abbott money. Her mother somehow found out that she had bonded with her grandfather and saw dollar signs. Allie was fuming, of course, all her mother cared about was the money and not her. Never her; why would her own mother bother to care about her?

Jack watched as his granddaughter worked through the conflicting emotions of his confession about her mother. He wanted to reach out to comfort her more than he currently was, but their relationship was still so new that he wasn't sure how she would feel about that. He was startled when Allie shot up from the couch.

"Allie, are you okay?" Jack asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine Jack. Just fine" Allie stated clearly not fine. "I'm going to go to bed. Thank you for letting me know about Gemma right away." Jack raised his eyebrows at her use of her mother's first name. She leaned down to kiss him on the cheek then walked up the stairs to go to bed. Jack stared at her concern written all over his face. He was going to have to keep an eye on her over the next few days. Jabot's CEO was afraid that once the shock wore off his granddaughter was going to spiral. Her mother suddenly popped back into her life after all this time had to leave her with conflicting emotions. Hopefully between him and Kyle they could get Allie through this very difficult time.