Steffy Forrester creates a family on demand

Last week on the Bold and the Beautiful, Steffy gave new meaning to the phrase "blended family." She hand-picked a sister, father, and aunt for her Phoebe-reincarnated baby. How long before Steffy appropriates Hope's husband? Blended families can be beneficial, but someone should put the top on Steffy's blender before the crap hits the fan.

They say you can't pick your family -- unless you're Steffy Forrester. Like I Dream of Genie, Steffy blinks, and Kelly has a sister. Steffy blinks, and the sister has a father. Steffy's sister is dead, but with another blink, Steffy makes her stepsister Hope the child's aunty. Now, if only Steffy can blink away the fact that, no matter how many titles she doles out, Liam is still Hope's husband.

Steffy can buy babies, try to resurrect Phoebe through her namesake, and hang portraits of Liam all over the house. None of it will change the fact that Steffy is single. None of it changes the fact that the relationship in the portrait is dead and gone, just like Phoebe.

Beth, on the other hand, is alive. Once Hope figures that out, Steffy's make-believe family will fall apart. Aunty Hope might have been stupid enough to donate her husband as a male role model in Steffy's cliff house coven, but there isn't a chance in the universe that Hope will let Steffy keep Beth once the truth is revealed.

Reese conducted the illegal adoption with surgical precision. Having typo-Carter as Steffy's counsel and the fact-challenged Taylor as Steffy's benefactor made it as easy as taking a baby from a passed-out mother. A fake document here, a fake birth mother there, and sprinkle a fake Social Security number on it. Good to go.

Florence waffles between wanting to roll around naked in her blood money and berating herself for stealing a baby from "Peterina" to sell it to "Paula." Reese feels guilty, too, but not enough to recognize the wrongfulness in forcing Hope to lose her daughter just because he feared that he might lose his daughter. He doesn't feel guilty enough to stop gambling, either, and he continue to lose at online gambling.

Reese's biggest gamble was on Florence, whom he left alone and plagued with guilt in his apartment. It's a gamble that could land him on INTERPOL's most wanted list if Florence ever confesses to Hope. Let's get two scoops deep into whether Florence will reveal the truth about Beth and whether Hope will be able to unblend what Steffy has blended together on The Bold and the Beautiful.

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Liam felt an uncanny bond with Faux-Phoebe and instantly knew that she belonged in the family. Ridge wasn't so certain. Even though he supported the adoption, it happened kind of fast for his liking. And whoa, Ridge thought; what is Taylor buying with all that money? A platinum baby? Grand parenthood isn't free, Ridge. You have to pay for it in sweat and unmarked bills.

Ridge felt bad that Hope had to see Steffy with a new baby so soon after Hope's loss. Remember when Ridge told Taylor that he never really liked "that one"? Well, now, according to him, Hope is his daughter "in a way," and he hates seeing her hurt.

Where was that empathy when Ridge was taking away Hope's line funding? Or when Ridge was trying to convince Liam to marry his daughter and not Hope? It's mighty convenient that Ridge wants to claim that he is "kind of/sort of" Hope's father around the same time that they are discussing whether Liam should "kind of/sort of" be a father for Steffy's adopted child.

We all know where Ridge's empathy will wind up when Liam once again struggles with whether to be with Hope or Steffy. If Ridge was any kind of father to either woman, Ridge would chase Liam away with a stick instead of opening Ridge's granddaughters up to a lifetime of the same waffling Liam does with Hope and Steffy.

In unrealistic plot points, Hope took the news of the adoption a lot better than she did the puppy visit. She additionally sent her husband straight over to his ex's house, proclaiming that the women of the cliff house coven are his family, too, and he needs to be a father to Faux-Phoebe.

Cut all the crap, and just give Liam back to Steffy, Hope. Just give Liam back.

That's all I thought about as Hope practically shoved Liam back into Steffy's arms with the lame idea that, because he is Kelly's father, he has to be a father to Steffy's other child. Steffy and Hope must have agreed on that notion by telepathy because Steffy was at her house, telling Liam that he was Faux-Phoebe's daddy, too.

I just can't with these three and the husband and daddy sharing. There must be a shortage of heterosexual males in L.A. Is that it? Are males who want to date females endangered species on the West Coast or something? Hope and Liam should just move into the cliff house. Liam can sleep in Steffy's room one night, Hope's room another night, and on the third night, they can all fall asleep together on the couch while watching Bob Hope movies. How's that for a "blended family"?

Even Ridge and Brooke thought it was weird that Hope sent Liam to Steffy's house to be a father to a kid that was not in Hope and Liam's family nucleus. Brooke was all like, "But Liam isn't Faux-Phoebe's father." What Brooke was really saying was, "But Liam isn't Steffy's husband." Hope didn't get the hint and defended her decision by saying that Ridge had been a father to her, even though he wasn't her real father.

Okay, Hope, but so had Eric, Whip, and Nick. All of them were fathers to you while married to your mother. It's called a "stepfather." Google it. Ridge was there for Hope as a child because Ridge was married to Hope's mother. My guess is that Liam will be married to Faux-Phoebe's mother, too, if Hope doesn't stop lending her husband out like a library book.

Hope doesn't want to begrudge Steffy the joy over the adoption, but does Hope really have to add to the joy by giving Steffy a complimentary husband/daddy rental? What married woman on this planet is okay with her husband going over to his ex's house and agreeing to be a father to his ex's other child? I mean, what in the actual heck?

Being a father is a serious full-time commitment. Do not get me wrong. I understand that people live in blended families with custody arrangements. But that's just my point. There are boundaries and formal arrangements like custody agreements.

For example, Bill and Katie. Just imagine if Bill adopts a daughter while Katie is married to Thorne, and Bill tells Katie, "Gas up for the carpool lane because she's your daughter, too. Oh, and tell Uncle Thimble to sew some ballet skirts." Yeah, not.

And besides, what happened to honoring loved ones by making them godparents? If Steffy respected Liam and Hope's marriage and the children they could have in the future, she'd make Liam the godfather or let him be the uncle through marriage to Hope.

I can't complain about it because Hope is letting it happen. That is why I say Hope should give Liam right on back to Steffy before Liam and Steffy are folding laundry together, and the next thing you know, they trip and fall between the sheets.

For a while, we thought Reese and Taylor might hit the sheets, but when Florence arrived in town, we gleaned that she was the true woman in his life. Nope. He was playing Flo, too. Reese was all cash in briefcases with Taylor, and when he packed to leave for London, he told Flo that she couldn't go. Reese claimed to care for her but said she needed a man that didn't drag her down in his problems like Reese had. In other words, "I used you, but you deserve a guy who won't use you. But, hey, you can have my last month in this crummy apartment if you want."

Reese permitted Florence to stay at his place, but wasn't she checking her schedule for her job in Las Vegas the other day? Why would she hang around in a city where she just committed a crime, in the apartment that is the scene of that crime? Flo was worried about her name being on those fake documents, and now Reese perched her like a sitting duck in that apartment to await her inevitable arrest.

The week culminated with Hope sending Liam to meet the baby and ultimately feeling compelled to do the same. Steffy introduced Hope to the baby as her aunt. Um, but I thought Liam was the daddy? Can't Hope at least be the stepmom like she is to Kelly? How does Hope get demoted to aunt? Well, I guess it makes sense if Hope is Steffy's stepsister, and Steffy thinks of Liam as her own husband, right?

And in case you were dying to know -- the answer is no. Emma, Tiffany, and Zoe are not the next Diana Ross and the Supremes, no matter how big Zoe's hair can get. They didn't get a callback from the talent show. It's back to the catwalk and the supply room for this harmonizing trio.

The viewers' views

Let's take a look at what you think. From Soap Central's message board, I gathered a few posts to give you an idea of what other viewers thought of the unfurling plot last week:

"Deacon wanted to be her Dad. Brooke did not allow it. She threatened him to stay away...Ridge never thought of Hope as a daughter. They never had a close relationship, Hope did not care too much about Ridge ever," -- Rike

"I am not exactly sure if Ridge considered Hope as his daughter. I think he realized that Hope was part of the package if he wanted to be with Brooke. (I do think that Nick was a better father to Hope). However, there was the point when Steffy acted like a spoiled brat and wanted to get rid of Hope. That is when Taylor got in his ear, and as a result, the father-daughter act became tainted...The so-called bond was severed when he forced Hope to go to the family dinner and toast to Liam and Steffy and I never saw him as a father from that point on. A loving father would have never done that to his child... " -- Bandwagon

"Of Course Ridge thinks of Hope like his daughter. He has always treated her way better than Steffy. Everyone must prop Hope no matter what. Ridge needs to realize Hope is not his daughter. He has a daughter and for once he needs to be there for her more than Hope," -- Chabby lover

"Reese is leaving the country, putting many miles between himself and the crime. Flo wanted to go but Reese turned her down. Why did he offer her the apartment? She shouldn't want to stay around where she might be seeing Steffy and Taylor. It would seem more natural for her to head back to Las Vegas. Somehow, this will work toward getting Beth home I hope," Taramartin

Yes, Taramartin, I definitely agree that Flo's presence will advance the storyline and hopefully get Beth back home to Hope. We know it sure won't be the presence of typo-Carter, who couldn't even find the flaws in Lizzy's adoption for over a year. There's very little chance that Carter will discover the fake birth certificate, fake Social Security number, or the fake lawyer behind them. Carter is one person who might actually need to quit his day job!

In a look ahead: The Biggest Threat

According to next week's preview video, "Reese stole from one woman, and he conned another. Now his biggest threat is his own daughter..."

Zoe thinks her father is in town to bond with her, and she's taken aback by his latest news. Zoe seeks answers at Reese's old apartment. There, she finds Florence and more questions than answers. Zoe confronts Florence, demanding to know what is going on and what it has to do with Steffy Forrester's baby.

Could Zoe actually be about to bust this plot wide open and get Beth home for Valentine's Day?

In other spoilers, as Zoe investigates her suspicions about her father, Hope becomes drawn to Steffy's newly adopted daughter. Brooke questions Taylor's involvement in the adoption, and Wyatt and Sally notice a resemblance between Steffy's daughters.

Everyone in L.A. has "baby fever," but I've got "baby upset stomach, heartburn, indigestion, and diarrhea." So, let's raise our Pepto shots and toast to the hope that Zoe gets Florence to spill the tea about what really happened to baby Beth.

Let us know what you think. Should Steffy expect Liam to take on the role of father to Faux-Phoebe, or would it have been more appropriate for Steffy to ask him to be a godfather to the child? Until we scoop again, stay bold and beautiful, baby!

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