DAYS: CHAD LEARNS HE’S CHARLOTTE’S FATHER!
■ After Abigail serves Stefan with divorce papers, she heads to her mother’s home, where the family is gathered for Christmas Eve. Abby isn’t feeling the holiday spirit, especially since the Hortons believed she had turned into Gabby again.
“She really feels that they’ve betrayed her and confronts them about it,” previews Kate Mansi (Abigail). “She was left alone and no one believed in her and she got herself out of that mess. The anger in that scene is rooted in a lot of pain because it comes from her feelings of being abandoned by everybody. This Gabby experience has changed her and it forced her to grow even further. It’s the new normal for her of this next evolution of being very realistic and focused and a survivor.”
At the hospital, Julie wakes up, but has no memory of what happened with Gabi. On Christmas Day, however, she has total recall and reveals to Chad and Abigail that Gabi switched Charlotte’s paternity results. “I think somewhere in Abigail she always knew the baby was Chad’s,” offers Mansi. “His betrayal of putting her in Bayview hurt so deeply, but something just didn’t feel right. She doesn’t put it past Gabi to do something like this. She also feels validated because this is the first real proof that she’s had to show Chad what a conniving woman Gabi is and how she’s spun this whole thing.”
“Somewhere in Abigail she always knew the baby was Chad’s.”
After Kayla confirms Julie’s report, Abigail is relieved. “When Kayla confirms it, it’s redemption for Abigail and for Chad, because it was extremely difficult to believe that Charlotte was Stefan’s,” notes the actress. Then she goes about reuniting Chad with his daughter. “Once Abigail finds out that Chad is the father, she brings Charlotte over so that he can bond with his child because that’s the most important thing,” says Mansi.
But just because Chad and Abigail know the truth doesn’t spell happily every after for the duo. “Peace is sort of restored to their family unit through Charlotte and Chad, but it’s not restored to their relationship as a couple because Abigail’s trust has been so deeply damaged by him,” Mansi explains. “She feels so betrayed. She also has questions about how he so easily could believe Gabi and then was so willing to move into her home and play house with her. It’s quite complicated for her to wrap her mind around healing the relationship with Chad. She just wraps her mind around immediate circumstances, which are, ‘He is the father of Charlotte and they need to make up for lost time. I’ll be damned if anyone keeps me from having a relationship with my kids and them having a relationship with their father.’ ”