The weddings of Santa Barbara Mary DuVall and Mark McCormick
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The first wedding of this year 1986 concerns one of the most popular characters of the show : the sweet Mary DuVall. This nun came in Santa Barbara the previous season to support her young sister, Christie. As of her arrival, the tortuous Mason Capwell finds in contact of the nun some serenity. And very quickly, while Mary takes care on the coma of C.C. Capwell, the two heroes are attracted the one to the other. But at that time, Mary remains before everything a nun, a young woman linked to God.

During this year, sister Mary DuVall leaves the orders, which largely facilitates the things between her and Mason. And no more obstacle seems to be opposed to their affair. So much more so as Mason succeeded, once for all, to push back the advances of his mother-in-law, Gina Capwell. Unfortunately for them, a new character will stand up against their love : Doctor Mark McCormick, Mary's friend of youth. As of his come-back, Mark will try to move away Mary from Mason because, for many years, he is secretly in love with the young woman. And now that she is separated from God, he has the firm intention to try his chance and to take the vacant place left in her heart.

Whereas Mary feels finally ready to give body and heart to a man, the events will irremediably move her away from Mason, who now makes her heart vibrate. Mark is at the hospital in a critical state, since his days, according to doctors', are counted. He was mortally wounded at the time of an explosion orchestrated by Kirk Cranston in order to kill Eden and Cruz. Feeling condemned, from his hospital bed, he asks, he even beseeches, Mary to marry him, so he can leave this Earth, happy and filled. To the general surprise, Mary accepts his proposal : how could she have refused this ultimate testimony of friendship to her best friend ? The ceremony is celebrated by a priest, at the Santa Barbara hospital, with an extreme speed, justified by Mark's state of health. This wedding, of course, will be followed neither a reception, nor a honeymoon.

Contrary to all the medical opinions, Mark survives his wounds. Mary, from now on unhappy of this situation which confines her, refuses to give herself to Mark. She does not want to be given to him, because she does not love him. She feels betrayed by him. If she accepted his wedding proposal it is by pity. Because her heart is taken : it belongs to Mason Capwell. But by respect towards the marriage sacrament, even if it is with a man she does not love, Mary refuses to make love with Mason. She prefers to wait to have found her freedom again, respecting the exact commands of God. As a proof of love, one fina day Mason kidnaps Mary, leads her in a Renaissance style tent, and offers to her the most romantic day of her life. This day, we discover another facet of Mason, a facet that only Mary could reach. Alone, in the middle of the mountains, Mason and Mary live their love fully. During this prank, they live a day filled of love. Only one day for a whole life. Because, as careless as people who love each other, they hoped that this day would be the first of the life which was going to get offered to them...

Mad of rage towards this relationship triangle, not understanding that his wife can thus refuse to give herself to her husband, Mark, in an access of anger, rapes Mary. Misfortune seems to fall with eagerness on poor Mary. Fortunately for her, in spite of her marriage with Mark, Mason remains at her sides, and offers to her a solid shoulder on which she finds supports and comfort.

But the worst for them, and more particularly for Mason, will not be long in coming up, definitively breaking all the chances for their love. And what nobody thought realizable happens on our screens : Mary finds death... She is mortally wounded by the fall of the "C" of the luminous ensign of the Capwell hotel. The death of Mary upsets Mason deeply. If Mary's love had guided him slowly towards the light, her death plunges him again in darkness and makes re-appear, from the tomb, his cynicism, his rancour, his hatred... Lost of pain, he leaves Santa Barbara, preferring to flee rather than to deal with the absence of his beloved...

The public also cries and terribly regrets the character of Mary DuVall, so much her character was attaching and brought a little humanity in the world of Santa Barbara. As for Mason, after his escape, he will come back to Santa Barbara months later, accompanied by a young evangelist : Lily Light who made it possible to his terrible wound to heal. Actually, he just deferred his anger and his frustration to have lost the one he loves on his father. It will be necessary for him to wait some long months before he can start a such intense relation with another woman, Julia Wainwright.

Text written for this site by Lilian