Amanda sat at the dining room table, lingering over her morning coffee. She was still in shock. Not only had she and Alma lost their mother, but they were about to lose their home as well.
Alma was still bitter about it. When she heard the news, all she could think about were all the years they had worked to support the family, while their mother had been saving away money in a secret bank account. They had done so much for her and she left them with nothing but a few trinkets.
Alma was angry, but Amanda was just hurt.
When she saw Alma walk through the house, dressed as if she were going out, Amanda stood up from the table and approached her.
"Where are you going?"
"To work," Alma replied, as if the answer was obvious.
"So soon?"
"Why shouldn't I? We need the money, now that mother left everything to some stranger."
Amanda looked shocked. She knew Alma was angry about the situation, but she couldn't believe she said that.
Alma softened her tone a bit and reluctantly admitted that wasn't the only reason she was going to work. "Besides, I'd rather stay busy.
After Andrew left for his first day of work at his new job and Amanda was left alone in the house, she decided keeping busy would be a good idea. She got out her mother's old address book and decided to make some calls and see what she could find about Dorothy Alice Summers.
Summers had been her mother's maiden name, so chances were the mystery heiress was somehow related to her. She didn't remember hearing that name before and she didn't see it anywhere in the address book as she flipped through it. But she did recognize a few of the other names listed. She decided to try calling some of the numbers in the book. Maybe one of her distant relatives would know something about who this woman was.
When Lawrence walked into work that Monday morning, everyone was gathered around Hector, shaking his hand and giving him their congratulations. Immediately suspicious, Lawrence wandered over to the group to see what Hector was up to now.
"Laurie!" Hector greeted him cheerfully. "I'm glad you're here. I have good news."
When Hector paused for effect, Lawrence was certain that he was going to announce that he had been promoted to vice president. He braced himself, preparing to give a convincing congratulations.
"Congratulate me. I'm getting married to Eileen."
Stunned, Lawrence asked without thinking, "She said yes?"
Hector slapped him on the back and laughed. "Don't act so surprised."
Before Lawrence could even begin to speak, Arthur interrupted, "Congratulations, son. I know you'll take good care of her."
As the others talked, Lawrence slipped away from the group and retreated to his desk.
He couldn't believe the news. Did she really say she was going to marry him? He thought Eileen said that she didn't want to marry Hector. It didn't make sense, unless he had misunderstood what he had heard outside of Arthur's office that day. Maybe he had everything wrong.
He didn't want to think about it or about how foolish he felt, so he sat down at his desk and tried to focus on his work.
Eileen and Lucy greeted each other outside of the restaurant where they were meeting for lunch.
"Congratulations," Eileen said, as she gave Lucy a hug.
"Thanks," Lucy beamed. "I can't believe we haven't seen each other since Craig and I got engaged."
"I know. I've been so busy. Let me see your ring."
As they walked up to the restaurant, Eileen asked Lucy all about the proposal and Lucy happily shared all the details.
Only after they were seated at their table and Lucy had finished telling her story did Eileen share her big news.
"Guess what. You're not the only one who's engaged. I told Hector I'd marry him," she said with a smile.
Lucy frowned. "You did what? How could you do that, Eileen? You cannot marry Hector!"
"Why not?" Eileen asked defensively. "Just because you don't like him?"
"No," Lucy replied sharply. "This doesn't have anything to do with me. You're the one who's always saying that you aren't ready to settle down and now suddenly you're going to marry Hector. It doesn't make sense."
"But it does. Hector and I get along great and we've known each other forever. I've thought about it and this is really the best thing for everyone."
"No, it's not. How can you even think that?"
"I think I know what's best for my own life," Eileen snapped. "And I don't see what gives you the right to judge my choice. At least I'm not getting married to a man that I barely know."
"I know Craig," Lucy defended herself. "Maybe I haven't known him forever, but I definitely know him now and I know that I love him. And I can say it. I love Craig. Can you say that about Hector?"
"My mind is made up and I'm not going to change it," Eileen said with a defiant glare.
"I can't stop you from marrying Hector, if that's what you want, but I won't be a part of your wedding."
"Then don't count on me to be a part of yours either," Eileen said as she stormed out of the restaurant.
Reese tapped lightly on the door. When the voice inside invited her to enter, she walked into Quentin's office. "I just dropped by to see how the search is going."
As if on cue, the man in question appeared in the doorway of Quentin's office.
Lawrence walked out of the office at the end of the day, deep in thought, mulling over the news and events of the day. Not watching where he was going he almost walked into a woman coming the other way. "Excuse me," he mumbled, before looking up and seeing that the woman was Eileen.
"Hey there," Hector greeted the pair cheerfully, breaking the silence as he walked out of the office. "You two look like you were in a heavy conversation."
A few hours later, when Lawrence walked in to class, he was ready to concentrate and to stop thinking about awkward moments and the people at work. He just wanted to think about his studies. But when he entered the room, the person standing at the front of the classroom took him totally by surprise, and the reaction was mutual.
As he listened to Andrew's lecture, Lawrence noticed the cold looks that Andrew gave him whenever he happened to look in his direction. Lawrence wasn't concerned about it at first, but then he started to wonder if Andrew's animosity could affect his grade. By the time class was over, he was convinced that he should have a talk with Andrew and set things straight.
As Lawrence started out of the classroom, he ran into Lauren.
"You're in an odd mood tonight," Hector remarked to Eileen as the couple walked out onto the patio behind the restaurant after dinner.
"Don't worry about it," Eileen said as she leaned against Hector's shoulder. "I'm glad I found out now, so I won't waste anymore time chasing silly ideas."
After finally losing Lauren, Lawrence started towards his apartment. On the way there, he decided that he wasn't ready to go back there yet, so he took a walk around the neighborhood.
"I'm glad we ran into each other," R.J. remarked as they sat at a table and waited for the barmaid to bring them their drinks. "We've never really gotten a chance to talk at the office. I've talked to Hector quite a bit, especially since he announced the engagement." R.J. noticed a dark look pass over Lawrence's face, so he continued, "So you and Hector go way back?"
"I've never had any problems with anyone."
Lucy stood at the desk in her bedroom going over her finances. If she scrimped and saved here and there and cashed in some investments, she could make up part of the money her father had stolen from the company, but it still wasn't nearly enough. She buried her head in her hands and sighed in frustration before she started to pace around the room. There had to be something more that she could do without drawing attention to herself. 
Lucy looked up, startled when the door to her bedroom opened and Craig entered.
"Listen," Craig said softly. "I don't care about having a ceremony or about who's there and who isn't, as long as I get to marry you and as long as you're happy. But I don't think you will be happy if you skip the big wedding. I mean, this is it. This is going to be the only wedding we're going to have."
Later that afternoon, Lucy dropped by Chloe's house for a visit. When she asked Chloe if she would be the maid of honor in her wedding, Chloe was delighted.
"If you want to be a part of that wedding, it's up to you," Lucy said. "but I won't support her if she decides to go through with it. I can't be a part of it."
"Yes," Lucy reluctantly agreed. "But what kind of friend would I be if I let her make the biggest mistake of her life."
At work, Hector was spreading the news about the pending engagement party and was freely passing out invitations around the office.
Meanwhile, Chloe and Eileen were making plans for the party. When Chloe looked at her watch, she couldn't believe how late it had gotten. They had spent most of the afternoon working and still hadn't finished as much as they had hoped.
"Ok, calm down," Chloe said, taken aback by Eileen's outburst. "I just meant that you're not leaving yourself a lot of time to plan."
On Friday afternoon, Blaine and Reese met at the computer lab to research the mysterious Dorothy Alice Summers. Quentin had offered to let them use the law firm's computer system, but Blaine preferred to use the college's system where he already had his own databases set up. While Blaine went about his search, Reese started checking her own resources on another computer.
Reese had a thought, "What if she changed her name? Maybe she got married or something and is using a different last name now."
"I'm back," Blaine said, just as Reese made her discovery.
Amanda rapped on the bedroom door and then walked in without waiting for an answer. "Alma, have you seen this picture before?" she asked, pointing to a baby picture in an old scrapbook. "Is this me or you?"
Amanda backed out of the room and walked downstairs very upset. When she ran into Andrew in the living room, he asked her what was wrong.
On Saturday morning, Eileen joined her family at the breakfast table just as her father was hanging up the phone.
"He thinks I should try some dream therapy to find out why I've been having trouble sleeping."
When Eileen opened the front door, she was surprised to see who was standing on the other side. "Hi, Cassandra." As she invited Cassandra inside, she asked, "What brings you here?"
"I'm sorry to hear that," Cassandra said with disappointment. "I was really looking forward to having someone to talk about this stuff with."
"No, I just don't believe in it anymore," Eileen shrugged.
"Hello, Mr. Arrendale. It's nice to meet you," Audrey greeted Lawrence as he walked into the real estate office where she had just started working. "I'm Audrey Jordan. Please, have a seat. How can I help you today?"
Saturday was a busy morning at work for Reese. She had planned on coming in just in the morning to finish up a few things before calling the Bay Pointe Orphanage. But she got so busy that it was noon before she found time to make the call.
When Reese arrived at the orphanage Blaine was outside waiting for her. Once they greeted each other, Reese led the way to the director's office.
Reese explained the situation. They were searching for the heir to a client's will and the only lead they had so far had brought them here. "We were hoping you would be able to give us some information that could confirm this is the person we're looking for and help us find out where she is now."
"It's a good thing you've got connections," Blaine remarked as he and Reese walked out of Annie's office. When Reese didn't reply, Blaine stopped her in the middle of the hallway and asked, "I don't want to pry, but I'm too curious not to ask. How do you know everything? You knew just where to look on the computer and you know your way around here. How is that?"
"I hope so," Blaine said as they walked outside and Reese started glancing through the file.
"I'm leaving now," Alma announced as she walked through the living room. Originally she had planned to move out the night before, but she decided to wait until the next day, claiming she still had some sorting and packing to do before the big move.
When the phone rang, Amanda set the papers aside to go answer it. As Amanda walked out of the room, Alma dropped the letter she was holding onto the stack with the rest and picked up her bags to leave. She was about to walk out the front door, when Amanda motioned to her to wait.