1990 (#13) - Esther's pregnancy complications and meeting Brock

As time passes in the darkness and despair of her own imprisonment, Esther's pregnancy becomes more and more evident. Until the last moment she tried to hide her condition because of the shame of the night of love spent with Tiny. And although she doesn't want to talk about it, she finally opens up to Katherine, revealing everything about her experience with Tiny. Katherine, frustrated that someone may have stolen her identity and filled with anger and vengeance for whoever may have hatched such a plan, eventually convinces Esther that her baby may be the key to getting out of prison. Esther, thus, seeks Morey's help, confessing to her that she is pregnant and needs treatment. Lil curses the day of the kidnapping when they had to take Esther away as well as Katherine, while Morey realizes that Esther may need to go to the hospital. Lil, however, is adamantly against it and so decides to call a doctor to examine her on the spot. In reality, it's a fake doctor who is Lil's accomplice and who, while still reassuring Esther, thwarts Katherine's desperate attempt to communicate from the outside by leaving a help note in her jacket pocket. On Esther's birthday, Morey brings the woman a larger maid's uniform as a gift, given the protracted pregnancy. Katherine realizes that Morey is the couple's weak point and the one to leverage and approach for a possible friendship; noting that he likes to play cards constantly, Katherine devises a plan in which Esther would challenge the man while she would try to take his gun away. The ruse works and Katherine finds herself within seconds pointing the gun at the man, who backs away; however, Lil returns in time and hits Katherine by breaking a liquor bottle over her head. Katherine falls to the floor unconscious and Lil orders Morey to confine her to her room with Esther. Esther, meanwhile, has a sudden panic attack due to stress. Worried about the child's health, Morey asks Lil to take Esther to the hospital and, at the umpteenth desperate request of the woman, Lil is convinced. The two guards then inform Clint of Esther's state of pregnancy and the need to go to the hospital. Clint's worries and fears of being discovered are realized when Esther is seen at the hospital by Brock, who immediately tries, in vain, to reach her. Knowing that he cannot stop the man's intentions, Clint decides to arrange a meeting with Marge as well and, after Brock's numerous insistences, she finally decides to go to the hospital to visit the woman. At the hospital, Esther is overjoyed to see Brock, who insists to the presumed Katherine that she bring Esther home; Marge, in the guise of Katherine, however, refuses the offer and, in private, threatens Esther herself to cooperate and be annoyed by her presence, so that Brock can be convinced not to insist. In the end, Esther admits that she does not want to go to Katherine's and that she has a very happy life away from them. When the doctors rule that Esther must remain in observation for two more days, Lil is increasingly nervous; and her concerns prove to be well-founded when Katherine convinces Morey to let her talk to Esther on the phone just as she receives a visit from Brock. Taking advantage of the fact that Marge and Lil are outside talking to the doctors, trying to convince them to have the woman discharged immediately, Esther manages to get the real Katherine to talk to Brock, who, shocked, greets the woman with his nickname by which he has always called her, "Duchess," leaving a hopeful smile on the woman's face.