Carter and Steffy’s secret is going to come out on The Bold and the Beautiful. However, the fallout looks primed to settle firmly on Carter’s shoulders. While Steffy has been carrying the emotional weight of how they conceived, he’s the one who orchestrated the surrogacy lie. The way they handled telling Daphne, Finn, Ridge, and Taylor about the pregnancy gave viewers a look at what to expect once the truth is finally revealed.
Key Takeaways
- The fake surrogacy storyline positions Steffy as a victim of Carter’s coercion.
- Carter has less to lose and more to gain, which is why he’s the villain of the plot.
- Ridge’s assumption that Carter and Daphne forced her to become their surrogate will come back to haunt her.
- The groundwork has been laid for Steffy to have custody of the child she’s carrying.
Carter Manipulated Steffy into Giving Up Her Baby
B&B has been clear that Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) and Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor) are both complicit in the surrogacy lie. But Steffy has, from the beginning, wanted to be honest about their infidelity. Carter convinced her to stay quiet to save their marriages. He knew she and Finn (Tanner Novlan) would survive, but he and Daphne (Murielle Hilaire) wouldn’t.
Steffy agreed, yet struggled not to tell her husband what really happened after she left Monaco and came home. When she found out she was pregnant, she immediately wanted to tell the truth. Carter told her that she couldn’t. He insisted. Then he came up with the idea that they could lie and say she’d be Daphne’s surrogate.
His scheme shocked Steffy. She refused. Steffy told Carter that she’d already given up a child and it had nearly broken her. She couldn’t go through that again.
The Surrogacy Lie blindsided Steffy
Trying to get her to see his point of view didn’t work, so Carter presented the idea of Steffy being their surrogate to Daphne. Before Steffy could stop him, he told Daphne that she agreed to consider it.
This put Steffy between a rock and a hard place. She didn’t want to break her friend’s heart after her excitement over the possibility of becoming a mother. But even Finn’s refusal to get on board with the surrogacy didn’t slow Carter down. He pushed for Steffy to further the lie and say that they’d gone through with the procedure.
Carter was concerned about the ticking clock. He’s aware that the timeline for the pregnancy is implausible, but he’s more worried about losing Daphne. If that means using Steffy’s love for Daphne to push her to give up a child, then so be it.
He told Steffy that she’s giving him and Daphne a gift. Carter has spun the result of their infidelity into a miracle. He told Steffy that she’ll still be a part of the child’s life and that this was meant to be. She’s resisted the urge to turn an ugly lie into a beautiful blessing, but that’s the narrative he’s pushing.
The Surrogacy Storyline Is A Part of Carter’s Villain Era
Most storylines on the soap opera have to have a villain. Carter has managed to skate by with his bad behavior being explained away as “following his heart.” For the past few years, he’s occupied the same role Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) often has. His relationships, except his romance with Katie (Heather Tom), have been ill-advised.
Carter carried on an affair with Quinn (Rena Sofer), which ended his romances with the Buckingham sisters, Zoe (Kiara Barnes) and Paris (Diamond White). He nearly ruined his friendships with Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) and Eric (John McCook) over Quinn and then Hope (Annika Noelle). But Quinn and Hope were the scapegoats for his choices in those storylines. His excuse was that he was in love.
Carter’s Fear Is Leading Him Astray
Love can’t be Carter’s reason for the surrogacy secret because it’s not love that’s motivating him. It’s the fear that he’s going to lose his future with Daphne because of an impulsive decision he made after she told him she was leaving him. Carter has waited a decade to be a husband and start a family; he’s not willing to let that dream die just because Steffy wants to be honest.
Carter’s inability to see past himself and his scrambling to keep this lie, even as it continues to make less and less sense, has landed him in his first true villain era. He is trying to paper over his mistake by forcing Steffy to give up their child so he can give the baby to Daphne.
In doing so, Carter believes everything will work out. He’ll be a loving husband, doting father, and keep his promise to Daphne without having to come clean about his infidelity. The only thing he’ll have to give up is his integrity, which isn’t a trait he’s ever held that firmly in his grasp anyway. But this storyline isn’t set up to see him win; it’s designed to see him lose everything.
Ridge Was Right About Carter’s Intentions
Ridge wasn’t far from the mark when he accused Carter and Daphne of forcing Steffy into being their surrogate. He hadn’t told them what he believed, but he did share it with his daughter. Ridge thought this because nothing about the surrogacy made sense to him.
The facts, as he and Taylor (Rebecca Budig) know them, are that Steffy made this decision without talking to them or Finn. She even went against her husband’s wishes and had the procedure done while he was out of town. No one from her family knew she was going to be inseminated, and now she’s pregnant with Carter’s child. He, too, had not said anything. He had every opportunity to do so, including a three-hour tennis match with Ridge.
All of that stinks to high heaven. It’s no wonder Ridge thought Steffy was guilted into being a surrogate. She was not liked by either Carter or Daphne. Only Carter holds that distinction.
Protecting Steffy Is Ridge’s Priority
Historically, Ridge has never been able to see Steffy’s mistakes as choices that she’s made. In a past storyline, he refused to listen to her when she said Bill (Don Diamont) didn’t take advantage of her. His insistence that his rival did harm her led to Taylor (then Hunter Tylo) shooting Bill because she thought the billionaire had raped her daughter.
Given Ridge’s personality, once the surrogacy lie comes out, he’s going to revisit his belief that Steffy was forced into participating. However, in this storyline, Ridge will be partially right. While Steffy did make her own choices, she was manipulated into them, and that’s not going to be something he can forgive Carter for.
When Carter thought Ridge was mad because he wasn’t told about the surrogacy, he said he’d accept being fired. That’s certain to happen when everyone knows the truth, but that will be the least of his worries. He’s likely to be more concerned with Daphne and the custody of his child.
Steffy Is Going to Have Custody of Her Baby (Prediction)
The sole reason why everyone is working to accept the surrogacy is Daphne. Finn, Ridge, Taylor, and Li (Naomi Matsuda) are all aware of the pain she suffered after her diagnosis. They’re happy for her, but Carter hasn’t received the same amount of understanding. Most of the dialogue is reserved for what this will mean for him, and how selfless Steffy is for helping her become a mother.
Ridge and Taylor have also been honored as the baby’s grandparents. That’s a notable decision considering the child already has two sets of grandparents through Daphne and Carter. Positioning Steffy’s parents in that role is a reminder that the baby is biologically tied to Steffy and hints at a reversal of her choice down the road.
Whether that’s due to the secret being exposed by a sonogram, or Steffy realizing she can’t go through with the surrogacy, it does plant the seed that the next hurdle will be a custody fight.
Finn is only going along with the surrogacy because he wants to support Steffy. The same can be said for Ridge and Taylor. If she changes her mind, all three will advocate that she keep the baby. If the secret gets out, they’ll likely advocate for her to get sole custody.
No sympathy will be spared for Carter. While she’ll receive heat and possibly even lose Finn, she’s pregnant and will need her family to rally behind her. Especially once they learn she always wanted to be honest but felt compelled to lie because Carter forced her hand by manipulating her through her love for Daphne.
Steffy isn’t going to be left out in the cold, but Carter certainly will be.
