Denial is a river in Wisconsin

After weeks of hope and speculation, there was no denying that Billy had sired Victoria's baby. Despite serious warnings from his doctor, Michael was in denial about the dangers of cancer. Nick denied that Sharon was a good mother and demanded full custody of Faith. Jack denied his relationship with Kelly, oblivious to Phyllis' machinations. Despite a growing distance with Hilary, Neil continued to deny that there was trouble in paradise.

After months of anticipation the truth finally emerged, and Billy was declared the winner in Victoria's baby blanket bingo. Watching Victoria and Billy bond with their daughter, Katherine Rose, last week was very sweet and the payoff that we all wanted when they were a loving couple trying all kinds of fertility measures to increase their family. That, of course, was before Delia died, and before Stitch spent nine months dancing attendance on Victoria and bonding with his non-baby. Stitch has paid a huge price to love Victoria, arguably one of the most selfish women on the planet, but what else could you expect from Victor Newman's daughter?

In the beginning, I thought it was okay for Victoria to delay finding out the baby's paternity, but in retrospect, I'm not so sure. Either man would have been genuinely heartsick to find out that the baby that he had fantasized about was not really his. For all the joy that Katie has brought to Victoria and Billy, Stitch is left with only heartache and the remnants of a broken career. Fortunately, Ashley and Abby are standing by to pick up the pieces.

Stitch seems destined to be one of those nice guys who always finish last behind the Billies and the Nicks of the world. Stitch and Kelly represent those working class stiffs that no matter how hard they try, no matter how much they sacrifice or achieve, they just never seem to quite fit into that rarefied atmosphere of entitlement and privilege that surrounds the Newmans and the Abbotts.

Victoria has used Ben and will keep using Ben, no doubt unintentionally, until she and Billy eventually reunite, and we know that they will, despite Victor's best efforts to keep them apart. Victoria will declare that she did not mean to hurt Ben, but hurt him she will.

For Ben's part, now that he's been absolved of his father's murder, you have to wonder why he hasn't hopped on a plane for Australia and told his ex-wife everything. Actually, I wonder why he didn't tell her in the first place. It seems to me that it would have been better to break a promise to his mother than to lose custody of his son.

I do think that the acting of all involved in this storyline has been stellar. I was crying for Ben and the pain he was feeling. I momentarily forgot that "it's only a soap!" I do think that Ben should start worrying about his drinking though. Alcoholism is hereditary and tends to run in families. If Ben's father was a mean drunk, then Ben could be one, also, and his behavior with Jeffrey in the Underground could be the beginning of a nasty downward spiral. Drinking is a form of denial. Ben needs to face his demons, not try to drown them.

Ben would benefit by attending an A.A. meeting, where he might run into Nikki, who is basking in the glow of her denial. Nikki swore to Maureen that she was no longer drinking, but I don't believe that it will last, at least it wouldn't in real life, where addicts do not fall off the wagon for a few months and then hop back on without a hitch in their get-alongs. With addiction, there are always consequences, and so far, there have been none for Nikki.

Nikki avoided exposure and helped Maureen get out of town. I loved the last scenes between Maureen and Nikki, where Nikki showed that she might have had just the tiniest bit of sympathy for Maureen's plight, unlike the sanctimonious priggishness Nikki exhibited when she shut the door in Sharon's face at Thanksgiving. Nikki, for all her working class origins, has turned into a first class snob.

Also first rate in the denial department is bobblehead Jack, who has deluded himself into believing that he can keep the secret of Kelly from Phyllis. Jack hasn't been able to keep Phyllis away from anything else, so how deluded does Jack have to be to think that Phyllis will not find out that he moved Kelly into his bedroom? And what kind of setback are those doctors worried about? Phyllis has ferreted out every other possible secret that has been hidden from her. Why is this one any different?

Phyllis gets what she wants, and it doesn't matter who gets hurt. Phyllis is mean and spiteful, but she always feels justified in whatever action she takes. I've never liked Phyllis because of that. I think she goes out of her way to deliberately hurt people. I have to admit, though, in a snarky kind of way, I admire the speed and skill with which Phyllis one-upped Kelly and Jack. There is no doubt that as far as vixens go, Phyllis is one of the best on daytime, and though I may not like her or count on her as one of my imaginary friends, I can't help but admire how cleverly cunning she is, and if I wanted to be a mean girl, she's the one I'd copy.

At least I finally figured out what Nick and Phyllis had in common besides Summer. They both live a double standard: one for themselves and one for everyone else. Nick doesn't cut anyone any slack except himself. Even after his drunken dream with his conscience screaming at him, even after conversations with Noah, and even after seeing the toll that his decision was taking on Faith, Nick still opted to pursue his vendetta against Sharon by saying he was doing what was best for Faith, when clearly it wasn't. What kind of sane, humane person behaves like that? Memo to self, this is soapland, where children are moved from parent to parent like chess pieces and don't suffer actual harm.

In the real world, the courts would never take Faith away from Sharon without proof of serious physical abuse or neglect. What Nick wants to do is far more abusive than anything Sharon has done or would contemplate doing to Faith. Sharon is a very good mother. Yes, she got off her meds, but she got back on them and has been working hard on her recovery. Sharon deserves credit for that, and she deserves a second chance. Instead, Sharon has become a pariah -- with denial issues of her own if she believes that Nick will come around anytime soon.

Nick has already moved on to the next woman in his life and set his sights on the "angel" who rescued him from a bear trap, and who coincidentally also helped rescue Adam. Despite a new face, it was the same old Adam who selfishly chose denial over helping his clearly distressed brother get out of that bear trap. Adam would have let Nick freeze or bleed out rather than risk his own skin if Sage had not forced the issue. As it was, Adam's first thought was to pack and run rather than test out the effectiveness of his "new man" face

Same old self-serving Adam doing what Adam does best, denying that Victor could love anyone other than Nick, planning revenge before there is a reason for it, embracing his inner bully. I have to wonder about Sage's reasons for lying to Constance and helping Adam take Gabriel's identity. I guess it was the only way that Adam could return to town a "new man," escape his past, and court Chelsea all over again.

Meanwhile, what is the history between Constance and Victor? You'd think that Nick would have had a few questions also. On a picky, picky, picky point, I wondered why it took Adam longer to pack for his trip to Genoa City than it did for Nick to find Constance's house, speak to her, and then return to the Underground. Nick has to know a shortcut, or else he put on his ruby tennis shoes and sang, "Over the river and through the woods..." until they all lived happily ever after.

In the crying a river department, Kelly is no slouch, and the hits just keep coming for her. Not only was she the last to know about Jack and Phyllis' engagement, but Phyllis is insisting that Kelly plan the wedding. Talk about rubbing it in. It's not enough for Phyllis that she eviscerated Sharon and manipulated Jack, but she's dead set on skewering Kelly as well. With everything that has been happening to Kelly, I won't be surprised if Volcano Kelly erupts soon and lays some waste in her path. So far, Kelly has been sucking it up, but I don't expect that to last much longer. Her lip is quivering more and more often, and I don't think Kelly will care about Phyllis' recovery if Phyllis keeps provoking Kelly.

Michael's denial is downright dangerous if he thinks that tomato juice is going to slow down stage three prostate cancer. Not telling Lauren and not seeking treatment because Michael fears that it will affect their sex life and that he will somehow be less of a man in Lauren's eyes is dumb, dumb, dumb. I do hope that you ladies will assure your spouses that your love for them is way beyond the physical and that none of them should ever behave as foolishly with their lives as Michael is behaving with his. With all the new faces in Genoa City, I wonder if Michael will still be around if he tries to wait until the New Year to deal with this.

I really wouldn't care if Avery moved out of town. I've never really warmed to her character -- though I may just be jealous of her cleavage -- and I'm not especially partial to Dylan, either. People whose first reaction to frustration is to use their fists scare me. I suppose I should cut Dylan some slack because of the PTSD and all, but Dylan is just so ho-hum. I liked him with Chelsea, but since that story ended, it's been a snooze-fest for me.

Another character I'm not too crazy about right now is Summer, or "Season," as Bessie likes to call her -- again it might be jealousy over the cleavage! Summer is so whiny and vindictive. I guess the apple does not fall far from either tree. It looks like she got the worst of both Phyllis and Nick. I'm with Mariah when it comes to Summer. Get over it. How much did she suffer, really? What actually changed?

It's awfully tough on a girl to have two rich families showering her with attention. Yes, she did lose her mother, and certainly, Summer did suffer, but was she permanently scarred? Did she suffer anything close to what Mariah did at Ian's hands? Isn't Summer the same selfish brat that Nick and Phyllis raised while patting themselves on the back to say what good parents they were? How could they possibly be good parents?

Nick falls in and out of love as easily as most of us change shoes, so what message could he be sending Summer other than that love is conditional. He certainly proved that with Sharon. And Phyllis demonstrated that anything is okay as long as Phyllis gets what she wants. It's no wonder that Summer is such a shrew.

I'm sure that Kyle will be heading home very soon, and I expect Summer to dump Austin for another go with her first love. Austin ought to have a few lovelies waiting in the wings to help him get over Summer. Both Abby and Mariah are due for a new relationship, and since they both seem to go for the same guy...

I suspect that Hilary is going to be getting a little visit from the green-eyed monster, and it serves her right. What was she thinking? It's one thing to have Devon slavering after her, quite another to let him have the milk for free. Now that Gwen is Devon's beard, Hilary can't be sure how much is truth and how much is fiction, which will probably cause some friction between the scandalous duo. Even if Neil never regains his sight -- which we all know he will -- Neil can't remain in the dark forever!

What started for me as a potentially touching love story between Devon and Hilary has quickly developed into something cheap and tawdry. I'm embarrassed for them. Just like "staying together for the sake of the children" is usually a bad idea, so is "staying together so I don't hurt my blind husband." No matter when Neil finds out, it's going to hurt. The longer Hilary delays divorcing Neil, the more she is going to hurt him and the more he will be devastated and humiliated.

Devon and Hilary are dishonoring themselves and devaluing their love for Neil and each other. They need to stop the affair, or Hilary needs to break it off with Neil. I feel so sorry for Neil that I can barely watch them together, even though he was an idiot for thinking that he could be happily married to someone young enough to be his daughter.

Our prayers are with Kristoff St. John and his family during this time of tragic and devastating loss.

On the "Some enchanted evening" front, Chelsea did indeed "see a stranger across a crowded room," but I don't believe that she will be flying into his arms. Adam did recognize Chelsea, but she won't recognize him. Chelsea will be flying into Billy's arms in the deluded belief that she and Billy can stay together despite the growing parental bond between Billy and Victoria.

Adam will have the chance to court Chelsea all over again as Gabriel, and just as he is about to be happy again, it will all be snatched from him, but such are soaps, and this is the reason that we watch as the eternal dramas are played over and over again. What separates us from soap characters is that we can change because we can learn from our mistakes.

Soap characters don't usually do that. They just keep making the same mistakes over and over again. A liar keeps lying. Look at Nikki and Victor. No matter how many times they agree to be truthful with each other, they never are. It's now part of their dysfunction.

As I think about it, if it weren't for lies, there would be no daytime drama at all because there would be no secrets and nothing to cover up or to be evasive about. How boring -- and way too close to my own life for comfort. I think I'll stick with the far-fetched drama and my hysterical over-the-top imaginary friends. Like I always say, I'd rather gossip and talk trash about my imaginary friends than my real ones.

Next time, fellow fan addicts, I will be writing my annual best and worst column. Meanwhile, "Tis the Season" -- and I don't mean Summer! Enjoy your family, the holidays, and all the good things in your life, whether real or imaginary.

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