1988 (#1) - Victor's feelings and Ashley and Steven's marriage

With the start of the new year, Ashley once again finds herself at a difficult crossroads in her life. Although she has been engaged with Steven for months now, who loves and respects her as no man has done before, Ashley cannot forget and get Victor out of her mind. Steven understands Ashley's melancholy moments, and understands the private torment she is going through, but at the same time he is confident and certain about his relationship with the woman, convinced that he is the only man who can offer her the security she needs. And he is even more so, strengthened by Ashley's commitment to her. For Ashley, however, there is perhaps the toughest test to face, which is to tell Victor that she is marrying another man. Although she doesn't know how to tell him something like that, in the end Ashley is convinced that the time has come for her to move on and finds the courage to inform him of the wedding, which leaves the man completely astonished and annihilated. Now convinced that Victor no longer poses any threat to his union with Ashley, Steven thus marries the charming Ashley in a quiet and private ceremony at the Abbott house, in front of the whole family. John is thrilled to welcome Steven into the family, while in a completely opposite mood is Victor, who feels betrayed and heartbroken to see Ashley, the woman he loves, married to another man. With Ashley away from Victor, meanwhile, it is Nikki who sees renewed and rekindled hope for a possible reconciliation with the man, convinced that she knows him all too well and knows exactly what he needs to be happy with a woman.