Storyline
The Heart of Gus Aitoro: Olivia and Natalia's love story starts with the death of Gus Aitoro (Ricky Paull Goldin). His death is an indirect result of Olivia and Natalia fighting for Gus’s love and attention. Gus is Olivia’s supportive friend while she suffers from a fatal heart condition for which a heart transplant is the only means of survival for Olivia. His newlywed bride Natalia, who is also his long lost high school sweetheart and mother of his teenage child Rafe (E.J. Bonilla), feels guilty about having played a part in Olivia missing her first opportunity for a heart transplant.
On April 1, 2008 Gus dies at Cedars Hospital from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash. A heart becomes available for Olivia and Gus drives recklessly trying to find Olivia. After Gus’s death, it is determined that his heart is a match for Olivia. Natalia does not want Olivia to get his heart because she thinks he died because of Olivia. But then Natalia sees Olivia’s young daughter Emma (Jacqueline Tsirkin) and decides Emma should not be motherless. So, despite her hatred for Olivia, Natalia makes the incredibly difficult decision to give Olivia his heart.
After the transplant, when Olivia finds out that she is alive because Gus died, Olivia becomes angry and depressed. The guilt over the transplant, the grief over Gus’s death, and the pain from the surgery all combines to put Olivia in an extremely despondent state. She does not want to live.
Being a housekeeper at the Beacon affords Natalia the opportunity to nurse the despondent Olivia. Though Natalia still hates Olivia, she decides to try to force Olivia to recover from her transplant surgery because she wants to keep Gus' heart alive. However, Natalia’s goodwill is tested by Olivia’s cruel actions and words. Despite Olivia’s cruel behavior, Natalia declares her determination to keep Olivia alive. Because of Natalia's determination, after many bitter confrontations with Natalia, Olivia begins to recover from the transplant and decides to take care of Gus' heart.
Olivia's Sacrifice: As the seasons change from spring to summer, Olivia and Natalia begin to forge their own unique friendship. Their friendship centers around both of them trying not only to heal from Gus’s tragic death but to deal with the resulting ramifications. Olivia and Natalia are drawn closer because of Rafe’s suffering over the loss of Gus and the troubles caused by his actions. After Rafe accidentally shoots District Attorney Jeffrey O'Neill (Bradley Cole), Natalia asks Olivia for money so that Natalia can travel to find Rafe. Olivia decides to help Natalia.
By the fall, Olivia and Natalia are drawn ever closer because of Rafe's return to Springfield. Rafe is arrested and sentenced to two years in prison. Olivia is supportive of Natalia during this trying period. Olivia and Natalia also grow more dependent on each other. They create an inseparable bond due to Olivia’s worsening heart problems (a bout of heart rejection) and Natalia’s worry over Rafe’s safety in the maximum security prison. Because Olivia's frail health is deteriorating, Natalia helps Olivia to fulfill her duties as the owner of the Beacon Hotel and also as the high-profile spokesperson for Galaxy Hotels – an international hotel chain run by the savvy businessman named Larry Decker (Tom Wiggin). Olivia is determined to fulfill her duties without Decker knowing she is ill.
One day in October 2008, Olivia suffers cardiac arrest. As Remy (Lawrence Saint-Victor) attempts to resuscitate Olivia, Natalia pleads to Olivia to stay alive for not only the sake of her children but for Natalia. Remy eventually resuscitates Olivia and she receives a pacemaker. Despite the pacemaker, Olivia continues to weaken. Yet, even in her weakened state, Olivia tries to solve Natalia’s problems.
Just days after her pacemaker procedure, Olivia physically confronts the prison warden over Rafe being beaten by the other inmates. Later, Olivia works out a deal with the governor where he purchases Natalia’s house for above market value so he can complete a transportation project. Also, Rafe being transported to the minimum security prison is part of the transaction.
And most difficult of all, Olivia tries to convince Decker to return to Natalia the $ 80,000.00 (the money from the house sale) that Natalia loses when she invests the money in Decker’s risky hedge fund scheme. Natalia invests her money in the risky scheme because she overhears Olivia and Decker discussing the risky scheme. Olivia blames herself, and Frank (Frank Dicopoulos) also blames her, for Natalia investing her money in the hedge fund. Olivia makes what Decker calls “an impassioned” plea for him to return Natalia her money.
Olivia’s impassioned plea to Decker drains her strength. She is admitted into the hospital. While in the hospital, Decker confronts a bed-ridden Olivia. Decker says he will return Natalia’s money, but only if Olivia publicly resigns her position with Galaxy and then publicly acknowledges that she deceived Decker concerning her medical problem. For Natalia’s sake, Olivia reluctantly accepts Decker’s demand and the public humiliation.
In December 2008, Natalia uses her freshly returned money to buy the farmhouse which she has wanted to own. When Olivia gives Natalia the check from Decker, Natalia quickly realizes that Olivia has made a huge sacrifice on her behalf. Natalia surmises that Decker found out about Olivia’s illness and forced her to resign as part of the deal for Natalia to receive her money. Wanting to own the house and to help Olivia, Natalia convinces Olivia to move herself and Emma into the farmhouse while Olivia recovers from her heart problems. In a joyous moment, Olivia agrees.
"My Two Mommies": The new family moves onto the farm and into the farmhouse. Olivia and Natalia find it difficult to live together because of their different lifestyles. Being a devout Catholic, Natalia has religious symbols, such as crosses and statues. Olivia is not religious. On Christmas day, Natalia convinces Olivia to stay despite their differences and bickering.
The family is still basking in the joy of their home life when Emma is given a school project about what makes her family unique. Emma decides to make her presentation on her two mommies. Olivia and Natalia are unaware as to the subject of the presentation because Emma insists on it being a surprise. The presentation is revealed to them when Emma presents it to the crowd of children and parents at the Family Day school presentation.
Olivia quickly realizes that people construe “the two mommies” to mean that she and Natalia are lesbian lovers. Seeing the presentation through her own naïve eyes and also wanting to see it from Emma’s innocent perspective, Natalia does not understand the inferences being drawn from Emma’s presentation. Olivia tries to explain the inferences to Natalia; however, she is unable to say “lesbians” and skirts the issue by using ambiguous terms. Finally, after Natalia still does not comprehend the meaning, Olivia impulsively kisses Natalia to make her understand the inference. It works. Natalia then understands the lesbian inference. The kiss, however, unsettles the both of them.
In the aftermath of Emma’s school presentation, Olivia realizes that she indeed has romantic feelings for Natalia. Natalia, concerned with public perception and her religious beliefs, is having problems facing her feelings for Olivia. Instead, Natalia tries to date Frank Cooper, a man infatuated with Natalia, but someone that Natalia considered only as a friend prior to Olivia’s kiss.
In the following few months, Olivia and Natalia engage in a figurative dance over their burgeoning romantic feelings. Olivia deals openly with her romantic feelings toward Natalia by discussing them with several people in town, including the closeted lesbian mayor of Springfield Doris Wolfe. Olivia even attempts to verbalize these feelings to Natalia, but Natalia foils Olivia's attempts.
Natalia has a difficult time facing her romantic feelings for Olivia because of her religious beliefs and her value system. Nonetheless, Natalia continues to spend time with Olivia, especially in dealing with Olivia's fears over the return to Springfield of Olivia's ex-husband/Emma's father Phillip Spaulding (Grant Aleksander). The two women grow closer while the tension between them worsens over their unspoken romantic feelings.
Natalia's Confession: As a result of her confused feelings for Olivia, Natalia has a sexual encounter with Frank, and immediately regrets it. She prays to her Virgin Mary statue to help her deal with her confusing feelings. An extremely distraught and sobbing Natalia tells Olivia that she slept with Frank and she does not know why because she does not love him.
Frank proposes to Natalia. Natalia spends many weeks debating the decision. Then one day when Olivia is lightly sedated following a pacemaker procedure, Natalia tells the sedated Olivia that Olivia makes her happy. Natalia kisses Olivia on the forehead and then moves in for a kiss. Olivia awakens and in doing so, stops the near kiss.
After the near kiss, Olivia is concerned about acting on her feelings for Natalia. Olivia vents her fears to Mayor Doris Wolfe. Olivia is afraid to lose her heterosexual identity and to subject Natalia and Emma to potential ridicule by others. Olivia goes to the farmhouse and tells Natalia that she should marry Frank.
Natalia accepts Frank's proposal. The wedding occurs shortly thereafter. Prior to the wedding, at Gus' graveside, a visibly distraught Olivia is forced by Natalia to tell her why Olivia is so upset. Olivia screams through her sobs that she is in love with Natalia. Despite an emotionally intimate moment after Olivia's declaration of love, Olivia convinces Natalia that marrying Frank is best because Natalia deserves a better life than Olivia thinks she could provide her.
At the wedding altar, with Olivia as her Maid of Honor, Natalia is unable to say her vows to Frank, and flees the church. Olivia finds Natalia and tries to get her to return to the wedding. Natalia refuses as she declares that she cannot marry Frank because she does not love him - she loves Olivia.
Natalia is unable to tell Frank why she did not marry him. Olivia intercedes and blames it on Natalia's lingering grief over Gus. Frank accepts this explanation and agrees to give Natalia space. Later, Olivia tells Natalia that she is ashamed of her feelings for Olivia. Olivia walks away from Natalia after saying they have no relationship because someday Natalia will regret loving her and Olivia is unable to live with that prospect.
A Love Supreme: In the aftermath of the failed wedding, Natalia convinces Olivia that she understands the consequences of her declaration of love and that she wants a relationship with Olivia. The two women are trying to establish their relationship by dating and spending time with each other.
The newness and challenges of the relationship (not to mention the on-going dramas of Springfield!) keep their progress on a "Two Steps Forward, One Step Back" trajectory, however. More often than not, it is Olivia who initiates the two steps forward, with Natalia's doubts pushing back (or at least slowing things down). Nevertheless, in the first six weeks following the Wedding That Wasn't, Olivia and Natalia have grown more comfortable with each other, gradually letting others in on their changed status (Olivia to Jeffrey: "Friends...and a little bit more" 5-22-09). They have frequently received a (dubious) assist in this regard, from Mayor Wolfe (who informs Natalia's ex-fiance Frank about their relationship, before Natalia can do it herself). Notably, after he guessed, Natalia confirmed to her priest, Father Ray, that Olivia is indeed the "Someone Else" who ended her engagement to Frank. In so doing, Natalia made a signal break in letting the opinions of others (the Roman Catholic Church) define her own morality (which nevertheless remains strongly grounded in her personal faith).
As both Olivia and Natalia are mothers, each remains strongly concerned with how to explain their new (coupled---more or less!) relationship to their children. Olivia has visited her older daughter (out-of-state, and offscreen), Ava, but it has not been stated whether or not she was informed of her mother's changed relationship to Natalia. More immediately pressing, is how to tell the two children in Springfield: Natalia's 19 year-old son Rafe (freshly released from prison), and Olivia's 8 year-old daughter, Emma (who, with the "My Two Mommies" project behind her, may be the most instinctively supportive member of the family).
In all their struggles, however, Olivia and Natalia seem entirely resolved to face their challenges together. As they do so, consciously or not, they seem to be evermore drawn to each other on a physical level, in ways both tender and flirtatious: increasingly expressing that they are in love.
Read more about this topic: Olivia Spencer And Natalia Rivera Aitoro