Marlena and Maggie Celebrate Their Anniversaries Without Their Husbands — Plus, Brady Learns the Truth About Kristen

On Friday’s Days of Our Lives, Marlena reads an anniversary card from John delivered with some beautiful flowers. The doorbell rings and it’s… Kristen, much to Marlena’s dismay. Brady’s not home, but Kristen just invites herself in to wait. She notes the flowers and Marlena explains it’s her anniversary, but John’s out of town with his dad.

Marlena slaps Kristen’s hands away from the flowers after she makes a comment about John missing the happy day. “He won’t be missing it. He’ll be home tonight.” Kristen makes some more snide comments, then says she wanted to know if Marlena liked the cookie Rachel made for her.

The doorbell rings again, and this time, it’s Belle. The hug in greeting before Belle sees Kristen and they trade a few barbs about their love lives. Another knock and Andrew shows up. Marlena asks if Paul is with him, but no, he’s back in San Francisco. (Or not.) But Andrew is there on Shane’s behalf — with a message about John. He’s been called to D.C. to consult on an important case.

Kristen interjects a comment before Marlena tells her to shut up and thanks Andrew and Shane. Andrew gives her a gift from John in his stead. It’s a bracelet charm that says, “All my love, all my life. John.”

Johnny shows up with Paul, who’s shocked to see Andrew — and vice versa! They explain why they’re both here, at which point Kristen gets in a huff for being “ignored” and asks where the hell Brady is. He had to make a stop, Johnny says, so Kristen leaves after wishing Marlena a “happy anniversary. Without your husband.”

Once she’s gone, Paul gets down on one knee, pulls out a ring and asks Andrew to marry him.

Tate runs into Holly in the square. He awkwardly asks how it’s going and they both realize their grandmothers share the same wedding anniversary. He’s on the way to the family baseball game and — “Have fun,” she walks away. He stops her and says he feels terrible. Holly tells him there’s nothing left to say and leaves.

Sarah finds her mom gazing lovingly at Victor’s portrait at the mansion and wishes her a happy anniversary. She then gives Maggie a stuffed elephant, much to her mom’s confusion. Sarah explains that ivory was the 10th anniversary gift standard, so an elephant… “Ah,” Maggie says uncertainly. “Clever.” She admits she was thinking about last year’s anniversary, feeling lost, but comforted by Konstantin and his fake present.

Kon the Con never had a chance with her. She had two wonderful marriages and he was always going to fail. And now she has Victoria, Maggie’s next big love. Sarah tells her mom that the elephant is from Victoria, complete with a recording of Victoria’s voice. Maggie doesn’t know if elephants never forget, but she’ll always remember Victor.

Sarah gets a twinge of pain, but doesn’t want Maggie to get her pills. She wants to be present today. Maggie tells her daughter that Philip was wrong to block Xander’s sale of Titan. Victor would have agreed. Julie shows up with treats, and Doug wishes his best. He’s been feeling down and he’s fighting a cold.

Talk then turns to all that Chad’s been going through, and Julie takes some delight in telling the ladies that the conwoman was Konstantin’s granddaughter. If you believe anything she says. But John didn’t kill anyone! And, Sarah points out, Victor didn’t use The Pawn to kill Catharina, either. Maggie can let go of that guilt.

Maggie’s grateful to know Victor was innocent, but now they know Konstantin killed him for nothing. Holly pops in, acting kind of awkward and admits after some prodding from Maggie that she ran into Tate. They talked the day before and he’s moved on already. They’re done for good. “Oh, my dear,” Julie says, “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

Holly doubts that, but the others all point out that they’ve all been there with breaking up and getting back together again — a lot. There was Xander and Sarah’s tumultuous relationship and Julie tells Holly about how she met Maggie many years ago. She walked out on Doug after getting scarred in a fire, but she went and got it back, and they celebrated their 49th anniversary two months ago.

Then there was her teen boyfriend who ran off with her best friend… She knows what Holly’s going through. They’ve all had their hearts broken, but “there is more room in a broken heart.” Maggie found happiness twice with Mickey and Victor, and Julie and Doug have gone through so much to hold onto their love. “So, never say never.”

Brady and Johnny are out in the park setting up for a family baseball game to celebrate John and Marlena’s anniversary. Brady asks how things are going after Johnny’s big birthday blowup, but Johnny doesn’t really want to talk about it. They then start talking about Tate and marveling that he’s a senior already and how grateful Brady is to have time with him after that Fiona mess.

Just then, Paul shows up and they joke about their respective baseball skills. Brady notes that Paul isn’t the only surprise in store for John and Marlena. Tate pops by, excited to see Uncle Paul. The last time they saw each other, Tate was visiting Uncle Andrew. But he’s not there, he’s on an ISA assignment. Paul, though, is planning on proposing when he gets back home.

They go and warm up, then ask for details about Andrew and Paul. Everyone’s excited for him, but Paul’s a bit gun shy after his failed wedding with Sonny. They talk about how great it was for John to join Paul for Pride and they all agree John is an amazing dad and grandfather. As they head home, Brady says he’s going to wish Maggie a happy anniversary, too, which is when Tate tells him he doesn’t think it’s a good idea to see Holly… since he chose Sophia.

After some tea and donuts, Julie heads home to Doug and Holly heads over to a friend’s. Maggie had a lovely day. Brady pops in with an anniversary gift and well wishes and tells Sarah that Kristen assured him the serum is just about ready. Great… except since Xander can’t hand over Titan, that means nothing. “What? What are you talking about?”

In the show’s final moments, Holly sees Tate still in the park and runs off. Julie looks wistfully at a photo of her and Doug, then sighs and picks up a tray.

Sarah asks Maggie if Brady got out OK. She thought he knew about the serum drama, but obviously not. Maggie thanks her for a lovely day, and Sarah heads off to check on Victoria. Alone, Maggie wishes Victor a happy anniversary.

Brady pops up at the DiMera mansion, looking ticked as Kristen happily and obliviously greets him. He just told Tate about her selflessness in giving Sarah and Xander the serum — but that was obviously not true.

After a moment of surprise, Andrew joyfully says yes to Paul. The happiness is interrupted when Marlena gets a call from John wishing her a happy anniversary and thanks him for the gift. She hands the phone off to Paul, who tells him about his engagement. Belle then talks to her dad before Marlena wraps up the call, agreeing that they have great kids and great grandkids. “We have built a wonderful family.”