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 We
hear about Rita Grant for the first time at the very end of 1987, when
this latter is received by lawyer Julia Wainwright as a new potential
client. Rita was hired by a sterile couple, the Liptons, to carry their
child. But meanwhile, she changed her mind and wants to keep the baby.
Rita
obtains from Julia that she takes her defense, whereas the Liptons are
represented by Mason Capwell. During an audience in front of the judge,
Rita feels assaulted by Mason, who considers that she has no right on this
unborn child, and makes an eclampsia crisis. Led to the hospital in a
serious state, Rita gives birth to a little Carrie. The Liptons, admiring
in front of Rita's courage, agree to give up the baby and let Rita obtain
her custody.
Welcomed
by Julia, Rita gets then offered a job as a waitress in the bar Johnny's
Place. She does not see that the one who made her hired, Pearl Bradford,
fell in love with her. It is because Rita has rather her eyes turned
towards Jake Morton, her waiter colleague, in full love sorrow after he
lost his fiancée, Hayley Benson. Rita, all naive, asks then Pearl to help
her to attract Jake towards her, by using his creativity to write love
letters which she gives then anonymously to Jake. Rita finds Pearl's texts
very beautiful and irresistible, without suspecting that Pearl writes them
above all for her, in the hope that she understands the feelings he has
for her.
While
she is hospitalized for stomach pains, Rita entrusts Carrie to Pearl and
Jake, who commit very seriously into this mission. At her return, Rita
continues to dream only about Jake, and is carried away by reading the
letters which she receives in reply, also in an anonymous way. It is while
finally discussing with Jake that she discovers that this latter is not
the author, and that she understands where is her error. She confronts
Pearl, who admits to have fallen in love with her and to be the one who,
for weeks, shares his passion for her. Rita is flattered, but embarrassed,
because she feels nothing more than friendship for him.
Like
Pearl, Rita disappears suddenly from the show at the time of Jake's
departure. Kind, but maybe too naive, she will not have been lucky enough
to live a real love during her months of existence in Santa
Barbara...
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