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Stolen Treasure: Melinda (Tina Huang) comes up with a plan for Nicole’s baby.
When Sloan learns her and Eric’s adoption has fallen through because the child’s birth mother learned of her unsavory reputation, she resolves to tell her husband the truth – that Nicole’s baby is really his. Melinda, however, tries to talk her down.
Explains Melinda’s portrayer, Tina Huang, “The idea of EJ DiMera raising a baby sort of triggered something for Melinda, and she wants to protect, ultimately. I know this is a very twisted logic, but she feels like that baby will be safer with Eric. She thinks he’ll be a good father. He’s a really good person, and she thinks Sloan would be a good mother because of how much Sloan wants to be a mother. There’s something about Melinda buying in [and] selling to herself that this would be the best for this child. I really do think it’s in her heart to give this child the best future.”
Melinda’s words originally fall upon deaf ears. But later, things abruptly change, when Dimitri arrives at a shocked Sloan’s door with Nicole’s newborn in hand. The fateful situation sparks Melinda to suggest that Sloan and Eric take this child. “Eric is the rightful father of this baby,” points out Huang. “So what better place for it to be than with Eric, who also deserves to be the father? The plan is very risky, but Melinda swings big. She swings for the fences.”
On Sloan’s behalf, Melinda recruits a shady doctor, who gives the baby a clean bill of health. Then she offers him a large sum of money to perform one other task. “The plan is not rock solid. It’s a big gamble,” concedes Huang. “Melinda’s very conflicted about it. She feels terrible about Nicole. I don’t think Melinda wants to hurt Nicole at all. It really is about the scale of how much she doesn’t like EJ DiMera and how dangerous she actually thinks he is overall. The positive sides of [this plan] outweigh the doubts and the reservations that she has.”
