Hope Williams Welch Brady
Hope Williams Brady is the daughter of
Doug and
Addie Williams. Here is where her genealogy gets weird: she is the half-sister of
Julie Williams, who also happens to be her stepmother. In addition, Hope also has half-brothers
Steve Olson and Charles LeClair. She is the ex-wife of
Larry Welch and current wife of
Bo Brady. Hope is the mother of Shawn-Douglas Brady and John Brady. She has been one of Salem's long-suffering heroines. Somehow, Hope manages to pull through every ordeal with her strength and intelligence...and sometimes the help of her true love, Bo Brady.
Hope Williams was born in Salem University Hospital on January 10, 1974 (this is in real time. Later, for aging purposes, her birth date would be changed to December 24, 1963.) Her mother, Addie, had been suffering from Leukemia during her pregnancy; neither Addie nor the baby had been expected to survive the delivery. Addie had been determined to fight her illness and refused to give up. Hope's birth symbolized that no one must ever give up hope on something, hence the name Hope.
Three months after Hope's birth, her mother died by pushing Hope's baby carriage out of the way of an oncoming truck. Hope was sent to live with her grandparents,
Tom and
Alice Horton, while her father recovered from the tragedy. By 1975, she was back in her own home living with Doug. The following year, Hope proudly participated in Doug and Julie's wedding ceremony as the flower girl. For most of her childhood, Hope grew up with Doug and her grandparents. But in 1979, Doug precipitated into a marriage to Lee DuMonde. Although Hope was upset about the marriage at first, Lee spent time with her, and eventually earned Hope's trust. In fact, they got along so well that the following year, when Doug and Lee's marriage was coming to an end because of Lee's machinations against Julie, Hope took Lee's side! Lee continued to manipulate Hope in order to remain in Doug's life, so Doug sent Hope away to boarding school.
The following year, Hope returned as a fifteen year-old girl. She had been corresponding with Lee from her boarding school. Lee had convinced Hope via letters to stop Doug and Julie from remarrying, so she ran away from school. When she finally arrived in Salem, she was met with the fact that Lee had been pulling her strings. Hope quickly forgot any opposition against Julie and Doug's marriage and settled in Salem. She soon began to unknowingly flirt with danger, as she developed a crush on
Jake Kositchek. Fortunately, Jake was not interested in Hope. Although they went out a few times, Jake never really took to her. Plus, Doug and Julie disapproved of Hope dating a much older boy. Besides, Jake found a girlfriend named Angel and dated her on the side. Jealous, Hope followed Jake and discovered that Angel was none other than Jessica Blake, her cousin! He and "Angel" were planning to elope soon. Concerned for Jessica, Hope informed her aunt
Marie of Jessica's double life. Hope continued to keep her eye on Jake, while the Salem Strangler stalked Salem. Eventually, the body count began to mount and Hope felt more alone than ever, so she decided to go back to boarding school. It was a lucky thing that she left, because the Strangler was none other than Jake himself.
In 1983, Hope returned once again to Salem. Although it seemed like a relationship between her and Bo Brady was destined to occur, Hope first became infatuated with his brother, Roman Brady. Although there was plenty of playful flirting between Bo and Hope, she felt that Roman was the perfect man for her. Hope had moved out of her house as a result of a fight between her and Julie; Roman and his wife
Marlena had offered to take her in while she and Julie worked out their differences. It was while living with Roman, and seeing how great he was to Marlena, that Hope developed her crush. Over the span of two months, her attraction to Roman grew into a what she thought was love. A confused 17 year-old, Hope came to the decision that she had to prove her "love" for Roman by making love to him.
She believed her best chance for this would be one weekend when Roman was to go to Lake Ewing for a fishing trip with his wife, Marlena. To keep Marlena from meeting him at the lake, Hope asked her friend Jane to feign a suicide attempt at Marlena's clinic, The Right Connection. While Marlena was busy with Jane, Hope hopped on a car and went to Roman's fishing shack with the excuse of bringing him a fishing pole he'd forgotten. Alone with him in the shack, Hope finally admitted her feelings to Roman. Roman gently explained to her that she was not in love with him. Although Hope was crushed, she understood that Roman could never love her. Nevertheless, she attempted to win him over and abruptly kissed him. At that point, Marlena and Bo, who had finally settled the Jane situation, walked in on Hope and Roman. It was not a pretty scene, and Bo punched Roman for "taking advantage" of Hope. The entire incident was cleared up, and Hope finally resolved her feelings for Roman. She soon began spending a lot of time with Bo. Eventually, she fell in love with him. However, she kept her feelings a secret.
While fighting her feelings for Bo, Hope was consistently courted by a little weasel named Brett Fredericks. Hope wasn't exactly thrilled with Brett and turned him down at every possible moment. Meanwhile, a sort of scavenger hunt propelled a relationship between Bo and Hope. When Renée DiMera was murdered,
Tony DiMera announced a $100,000 reward for information on her killer -- a reward all of Salem, including Bo and Hope, was after. Though they didn't get the reward, the constant work together brought them very close. Bo was obviously interested in her, but continuously was annoyed with her. Bo was a very busy man at the time, planning a prison break for his friend Liz Curtis. Hope continued to get in the way and Bo was afraid that she would be hurt in the process. Bo was also involved with a gang called the Vipers, who took it upon themselves to beat the life out of Bo for having Pete Jannings, a gang member, arrested. Hope strayed from home for days to nurse Bo back to health, knowing full well that she was as much in danger as Bo. While Bo was delirious, he called for someone named Megan -- Hope felt her first pang of jealousy.
In time, Hope admitted her feelings to Bo. Likewise, he began to soften. They planned to show each other their love on Hope's upcoming 18th birthday party. In the meantime, Hope, Alice, and Julie made extravagant preparations for the party. Knowing that she would inherit a fortune from her mother on that day, Hope began buying expensive things for everyone. On the night of Hope's 18th birthday, everything initially went well. However, when Bo gave Hope a meaningful gift -- a poetry book given to him by his father -- she merely tossed it aside and gave Bo a present. It was a cashmere sweater. Knowing that Hope hadn't even bothered to put thought into that gift, Bo got angry stormed off. The argument continued throughout the night. Finally, Hope looked at the gift Bo had given her and realized how special it actually was. Wanting to apologize, Hope went to Bo's flat and made up with him. They almost made love, but the experience was interrupted by Doug, who disapproved of Bo so much that he had a heart attack when he witnessed what she was about to do with Bo. Doug's heart attack was the first of many obstacles for Bo and Hope, as the guilt of causing Doug's attack caused her to distance herself from Bo.
Trying to forget about Bo, Hope began seeing district attorney Larry Welch, who Doug found more suitable. And though Larry was very interested in Hope, all she could think of was Bo. Soon, Doug and Julie left for Europe to continue Doug's treatment. Hope was now free to see Bo once again. Unfortunately, Bo was busy trying to clear Roman of murder charges against him. The Salem Slasher, a serial killer who had begun his spree with Renée's murder months earlier, had framed Roman for his crimes. Bo wanted to keep Hope away from harm and constantly pushed her away. But Hope was her usual stubborn self and defied Bo's wishes. After Hope herself almost became a victim of the Salem Slasher one night, Bo seemingly gave up on her. He had a woman named Diane Parker move in with him and made it appear like he and Diane were lovers. Their ruse was quite convincing and crushed Hope. She turned away from Bo and, unfortunately, fell into Larry's clutches. Though she still loved Bo, Hope began to depend on smooth-talking Larry, who knew how to push all the right buttons. He finally whisked her away on a whirlwind trip and proposed to her. Hope was quite moved by the gesture but decided to think about it. Larry tried to get her drunk almost every night to get her to accept; she almost did, but then she received news from Salem. Bo had been shot trying to capture the not-so-dead
Stefano DiMera, who had masterminded his nephew
André "The Salem Slasher" DiMera's killing spree. Hope and Larry quickly flew back to Salem and Hope rushed to Bo's bedside. But he didn't want her there; he had just been told that he might be paralyzed and pushed Hope away. Heartbroken, Hope turned to Larry once again and finally accepted his proposal.
Despite her acceptance to marry Larry, Hope loved Bo. But whenever she tried to see him at the hospital, Diane would tell her to go away. Delirious, Bo was only asking to see one person, Megan. Whoever this Megan was, she was really irritating Hope. Wedding preparations were soon underway, and Larry did anything possible to keep Hope from seeing Bo. Thinking that Bo no longer loved her, Hope continued with her wedding plans despite everyone's disapproval of slimy Larry. Up until the last moment, Hope anguished over her feelings for Bo, knowing she'd be miserable with Larry. And at the last moment, before Hope was to walk down the aisle, Bo burst into her room and warned her of making the biggest mistake of her life. While arguing with Bo, Alice came upon them and helped them buy some time. While Bo forcefully took Hope on his motorcycle away from the Church, Alice arranged for Howie Hoffstedder, a friend of Bo's, to put on a wig and a wedding dress and pretend he was Hope. Once away from the Church, Bo and Hope argued about their current situation. Hope was deeply hurt by Bo and Diane's "affair"; Bo explained everything and, thankfully, worked everything out.
Unfortunately, everything worked out for about one hour. Bo took Hope to the Simmons farm in Brookville, where they hoped to become more intimate. Just as they were about to make love, sirens were heard outside and Bo had to hide. While waiting for Bo to come back, Hope was confronted by two men who forced her to write Bo as Dear John letter; they threatened to harm her family if she didn't push Bo away and marry Larry. She reluctantly obliged and was then kidnapped by the men. Later on, however, she informed them that she would never marry Larry. To show her that they weren't kidding around, the men had someone almost beat Bo to death in his jail cell (he'd gone to jail for committing several small crimes on his way to the Church.) The men, part of a mysterious group called The Cartel, were working not for Larry, but for Maxwell Hathaway, a New Orleans banker who wished for Larry's political career to soar. Convinced that Bo's life depended on her, Hope went back to Larry and promised to marry him. This time, they married for real, although she didn't make her misery unknown to Larry. Following the wedding, they agreed to sleep in separate bedrooms.
Following The Cartel's orders, Hope and Larry pretended to be blissfully wed, even though by now they despised each other. To keep an eye on them and ensure that nothing went wrong, The Cartel placed a man named James London as butler in the Welch home. However, London was quickly replaced by another butler who seemed to be extremely intrusive. Meanwhile, she longed to be with Bo. Not much later, Megan, girl Bo had often called out for when he was hurt, arrived in Salem. She was none other than Megan Hathaway, Maxwell's daughter and Bo's high school sweetheart! Hope was destroyed as she watched Bo and Megan spend time together but continued to put on appearances for his sake. At this time, Hope overheard a conversation between one of the members of The Cartel and Larry. The Cartel wanted him to get Hope pregnant, in order to boost his political career. Before Larry could even propose the idea to Hope, she told him that she was pregnant with Bo's child. Working against the clock, Hope created a false hospital file order to have Larry and The Cartel believe her story. Alice caught her as she was faking the documents, and Hope was forced to tell her everything! Fortunately, Alice agreed to help her, since it was a great relief to her that Hope didn't love Larry but Bo. Since Hope was already pregnant, supposedly, Larry decided to pretend that this baby was his. It wasn't long before Hope's pregnancy became public.
Hope and Alice knew how much these news would hurt Bo, so Alice devised a plan for them to meet in the underground tunnels that ran beneath Salem. Alice lured Bo there. When arrived, only Hope was there. Finally, they were able to talk, and Hope explained the entire situation to Bo. With that mess finally cleared up, Bo promised Hope that he would stop Larry and the people that controlled him. Suspecting Maxwell Hathaway, Bo used Megan to infiltrate his organization. He soon began working for Maxwell, although he had to prove himself several times. Meanwhile, Bo pretended to date Megan. Knowing that she and Bo couldn't afford to be seen together, they used a clever gadget created by Eugene Bradford to communicate with one another: walkie-talkie watches. And of course, Hope and Bo continued to sneak visits with each other in the tunnels thanks to Alice and Eugene.
One night, Maxwell invited Hope & Larry and Bo & Megan out to dinner at Blondie's. The night began very well, as Hope and Bo silently demonstrated their feelings for one another as Liz Curtis sang their song, "Whatever We Imagine." But later in the evening, Hope received a terrible blow. In the restroom, she found Megan crying. Megan explained to Hope that she'd had a child with Bo many years ago and had given him up for adoption. Bo acknowledged that he had been aware of this and had been meaning to tell her. Although Hope was angry at first, she decided to stand by Bo. In the meantime, he was ordered to go to New Orleans by Maxwell to guard an art exhibit at the World's Fair. A particular piece in the exhibit seemed to be very important to Maxwell -- a prism. Bo and Hope agreed that they would steal it in hopes that it would lead them to the truth behind Maxwell.
In New Orleans, Bo and Hope dodged Larry, Megan, Maxwell, and even Gwen Davies (who was sleeping with Larry), in order to see each other. Then Howie and Alice arrived and a plan was made to steal the Prism exhibit. Hope, Howie, and Alice distracted the guards while Bo stole the Prism and replaced it with a fake. The plan was almost perfect but the alarm went off. Bo and Hope narrowly escaped from the guards thanks to an unknown person who shot at the guards. Unfortunately, this same unknown person later attempted to take the Prism from Howie and caused the Prism to fall into the Mississippi River.
Following the attempted robbery, Hope secretly met Bo at Oak Alley Plantation after taking great pains to keep their meeting a secret (Hope hitchhiked her way to the plantation with a tribe of gypsies.) The Plantation's only living soul was a drunken caretaker who too out out of his mind know what was going on. Hope and Bo rejoiced at their being able to be with one another. After she dressed up in an Old South period gown from the plantation's museum, Hope and Bo playfully acted as if they were in the Old South. Bo then carried her upstairs to one of the bedrooms, where the two finally made love for the first time...and the second time. They spent the next day with each other, playing dress-up with Old South period costumes. They topped off their magical day with a symbolic wedding in the drawing room of the plantation house.
#PRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=Bo and Hope marry symbolically"
After this, suspicion from The Cartel began to fall upon Bo & Hope after Howie was found at the scene of the robbery, and after they discovered the fake Prism on the exhibit. As Hope and Larry returned to Salem, The Cartel made its feelings known to Hope and they kept her on a very short leash. Nevertheless, she and Bo continued to see each other whenever possible. Meanwhile, Hope spied on Megan and discovered that she was not as innocent as she seemed. Even though Bo insisted that Megan had always been an honest girl, Hope noticed that she was plotting to manipulate Bo through the son he and Megan were searching for. A child, Zachary Parker, was actually found, but in no time it became known that Zach was Diane's, Bo's friend, missing son. Megan was indeed trying to manipulate him. They would later learn that Megan was the daughter of Stefano DiMera.
Meanwhile, Hope continued to fake her pregnancy. By now, she was needing to to use a pillow to demonstrate some development. While she did this, she prayed that Bo would soon unmask The Cartel before she ran out of time. But her time ran out too quickly. One night, one of the members of The Cartel who guarded her, Will Robbins, discovered the pillow. Knowing that she wasn't pregnant, Will attempted to rape Hope. But just as he was about to do that, Larry arrived and threw him off of Hope. However, Will wasted no time in telling Larry that Hope had been faking the pregnancy. Following a fierce argument, Hope punched Larry so hard that the blow sent him falling down the staircase. The fall had only knocked Larry unconscious, but Hope was afraid that she might have killed him. Not knowing where else to turn, Hope ran to the airport; Bo and several other people were on a plane that was preparing to take off for Haiti. Hope managed to get on the plane and told Bo everything that had happened. They would just have to wait until their return to solve the matter of Larry.
In the meantime, other problems arose. The plane they were on crashed on a Caribbean island. Although Hope came out of the crash barely unscathed, she and everyone else were afraid they'd never be rescued because the island was deserted. One day, Hope was on the beach when she stepped on a stingray. Naturally, the poison caused her to become ill but Bo nursed her throughout her sickness. Not long after she recovered, Hope happened to see a yacht off-shore and waved to it, not knowing that it belonged to Stefano DiMera (a second Prism that Stefano, the leader of the Cartel, needed was on the island in the form of a necklace that
Daphne DiMera had owned.) At this point, two of Stefano's "Amazons" (beautiful but dangerous female mercenaries that worked for him) captured Hope and held her hostage on the yacht. Luckily, Bo rescued her once again. As they were heading back to the island on a zodiac, Bo and Hope watched as Stefano, atop a cliff on the island, struggled with Roman (Roman had tracked Stefano down to the island and had arrived to capture him.) Moments later, Stefano shot Roman, sending him falling off the cliff and landing on the beach below. By the time they got to Roman, he was barely alive; Roman died in Bo's arms. Bo and Hope briefly left Roman while they went to get help from the others, but when they returned Roman was gone. Apparently, Bo's body had been washed out to sea. Bo was devastated by Roman's death but kept his feelings to himself. All he could do was shut Hope out. Following Roman's death, the U.S. coast guard arrived and rescued everyone.
Upon returning to Salem, Hope discovered that she hadn't killed Larry at all. In fact, he had used the plane crash and her disappearance as a method of getting sympathy from voters to win the election! But at a press conference held for the returning plane crash survivors, Hope ruined Larry's victory. In addition to exposing Larry's connection to The Cartel, Hope declared that she was *not* pregnant, that she only loved Bo Brady, and that she was preparing to divorce Larry and marry Bo! While she received the expected reaction from Larry, Hope was shocked by Bo's. All he could say was that Roman's death changed everything. During one particular argument, Hope finally understood what Bo's problem was: he blamed her for Roman's death. If he hadn't been saving her from the yacht, he could've Bo...or so he thought. Knowing that Bo needed to work this out on his own, she decided to step aside. In the meantime, she prepared for her divorce from Larry (who was forced to resign his position as Lt. Governor) and began packing her bags. However, Larry was so furious with her that he threatened her. Fortunately, Alice was present to punch Larry in the jaw and keep him away from Hope.
Despite her separation from Bo, Hope still cared for him. One day, she heard that he'd been arrested for causing trouble at the Fish Market. While trying to visit him at the police station, Hope accidentally stood in the wrong line. When Bo was brought out of Abe's office and saw Hope, he laughed hysterically -- the line was for police academy applicants. Steamed at Bo's reaction, Hope sought to prove that she wasn't just a pampered princess and decided to join the police academy. To everyone's surprise, she was admitted and with flying colors! Bo continued to tease her, along with everyone else. And with good reason. On her first day of training, Hope showed up perfectly made up, clad in a fur coat. Naturally, everyone in the class poked fun at her. However, she began to take her classes more seriously after that day to prove that she wasn't just as spoiled rich girl.
Bo continued to shut Hope out of his life. During the holidays, however, she attempted to demonstrate that she still loved him. However, he continued to ridicule her for having joined the police which really pushed Hope's buttons. On New Year's Eve, Hope attempted to reconciliate with Bo following an argument they'd had. She was going to give him his Christmas present. But when she arrived at his apartment, she found her cousin
Melissa wearing nothing but one of Bo's T-shirts. In tears, Hope smashed the present she'd bought Bo and left. Melissa later explained to Hope that nothing had happened, they had just hung out together -- Bo had spilled beer on her dress so he had given her one of T-shirts to wear while it dried. Nevertheless, it still hurt Hope to think that Bo had "traded" her for someone else. Since Bo was willing to spend time with other people besides her, Hope decided to dedicate herself to her police training. Despite her determination, some students still saw her as a cream puff. One in particular, Norma Kirkland, didn't think Hope had it in her to be a cop. Admitting that she did need to tone physically, Hope began working out at The Body Connection most nights; she also began ice skating, which she had done as a child.
Unbeknownst to Hope, Megan, who still wanted Bo, began to develop a serious hatred toward her. Even though Bo and Hope were separated, he still longed for her and ignored Megan. Several arguments sparked between Megan and Hope that caught everyone's attention. One evening, Hope arrived at The Body Connection to take a dip in the hot tub. As she was about to get into the tub, she found Megan lying in the tub seemingly unconscious. As she was about to help her, one of Hope's hairpins fell into the tub, producing sparks. An electrical current was running into the tub. Shocked, Hope ran into the machine room and turned off the electricity but it was too late: Megan was dead. By the time the police arrived, Hope was in a state of shock. However, Bo arrived and comforted her; when he had heard about the dead woman in the tub, he had thought it was Hope. Unfortunately for Hope, a murder investigation was opened, and it pointed her as the prime suspect. Not only had she and Megan been fierce rivals, but also her fingerprints were all over the electrical controls at the spa. In addition, one of the workers had seen Hope coming out of the machine room when Megan was lying in the tub. Even though Hope explained how those things happened, the police remained doubtful of her innocence. Bo, on the other hand, firmly believed in her. In fact, he deduced that Megan had been trying to set a trap to kill Hope and it had somehow backfired! Although the police didn't think that Bo's theory held water, there was not sufficient evidence to indict Hope on murder charges. Some time later the police found the evidence to support Bo's accusations against Megan and the entire matter was dropped.
Meanwhile, the whole matter of the Prisms became very clear when a third one was found to have been smuggled into the U.S. by a Soviet ice skating troupe. An invention of Larry's natural father Victor Chorvat, the three prisms held the key to curing Stefano from his tumor. It also was the key to amazing power. As everyone would later learn, this last Prism was actually the most potent bomb the world had ever seen, capable of destroying not only Salem but the entire state. Working with Bo and Shane, Hope infiltrated the Salem Ice Arena (where the skating troupe would perform) and searched for the Prism. After a series of mishaps, the Prism wound up being sewn into the headdress of one of the skating costumes. To keep it away from Stefano's people, Hope adopted an awful Russian accent, pretended to be part of the troupe, and performed in the show while wearing the Prism on her head. Unfortunately for Hope, the coach of the troupe, Sonia Romanov, caught on to her game when she saw Hope's pathetic performance on the ice. As soon the curtain came down, Stefano's people slid over to Hope and held her down while Sonia took the Prism from her headdress. The Prism was eventually recovered following a struggle between Marlena & Bo and Stefano. Later that night, however, Hope and Bo returned to his apartment only to be ambushed by Jimmy Porterfield and Kate Honeycutt, two of Stefano's goons. They were still looking for the Prism and mistakenly thought that Bo and Hope had it. Yet another fight ensued. During the struggle, Hope was shot by Honeycutt.
Hope had been seriously wounded. Although her condition was stable, the doctors advised Bo to give Hope something to look forward to. And did he ever! Bo proposed marriage to Hope! She tearfully accepted his proposal and they were finally on their way to a lifetime together. Hope managed to pull through and recovered from her gunshot wound in no time at all. As soon as she was up and about, she and Bo tried to prepare their wedding. However, everyone was getting in the way with different suggestions and ideas. Wanting to just get married, Hope and Bo decided to elope in New Orleans. They had a very difficult time getting there, and when they finally got there they decided that they couldn't go through with the wedding without their families. So they hitchhiked back to Salem. Once home, Hope and Bo attended a fashion show hosted by Anna DiMera Designs. During the event, Anna DiMera's boyfriend, Prince (soon-to-be king) Nicholas Arani II, was murdered right in front of Hope. A disturbed man had pricked him with a poisonous ring. Hope managed to elude the assassin, who turned out to be an anti-monarchist named The Dragon. His favorite pastime was killing members of the British royal family. Having actually seen his face (which no one had apparently ever done), Hope was now next on The Dragon's "to do" list. Bo wanted to help capture the Dragon before he and Hope were married, and Hope naturally wanted to help. After much harping, Bo allowed Hope to be part of the ISA mission to capture the Dragon.
On the tip that The Dragon's next Royal victim would be Britain's own Lady Joanna Clapton, Hope, Bo,
Kimberly, and Shane flew to England and stayed in Shane's vast estate outside of London, Donovan Manor. Bo was there pretending to be an American rock star, which would give the group access to restricted Royal events without drawing attention to themselves! While organizing a concert for Bo, Hope was spotted by The Dragon. After chasing her throughout London, he caught her and took her back to his (believe it or not) castle in the outskirts of London. Hope managed to escape, only to be chased by the maniacal gun-toting Dragon. After dodging a few shots, Hope arrived at a bridge on the grounds and jumped into the moat. She stayed underwater long enough to let The Dragon believe she'd drowned. Afterwards, she caught a ride back to Donovan Manor with some American tourists. Hope related her harrowing experience to the others, but couldn't remember where the castle was. Unbeknownst to her, the castle belonged to none other than an old Donovan family friend, the Duke of Earl. Meanwhile, the group deduced that The Dragon would attempt to kill Lady Joanna at the upcoming Noblemen's Charity Ball, a splashy costume event. Bo would be the star attraction. The Ball began without any problems, and a good time was had by all...until Shane's "dead" wife Emma appeared. At that moment, Hope saw The Dragon approaching Lady Joanna. He tried to make a run for it and Bo chased him all throughout London. Hope wound up going after them as well, finally ending up at the bank of the Thames River near the Tower of London. There, she found The Dragon pointing a sword at Bo. However, he turned around and held Hope captive. Luckily, she freed herself and Bo defeated him.
For their crucial role in the capture of The Dragon, the Crown offered Bo and Hope a reward of their choice. Since they had been trying to get married for the past couple of months, Hope and Bo asked to be married in England with their family and friends present. The Crown graciously granted them their wish and arranged the travel arrangements for the family, as well as the wedding dress and ceremony. Although they were going to plan the wedding at Westminster Abbey, Hope asked for it to be held in a small church in the Cotswolds instead. On May 22, 1985, Bo and Hope were married in a spectacular wedding fit for royalty. But as they were leaving the Church, they were met by a gun-toting Emma. Apparently in a trance caused by The Dragon (who had escaped from jail), she was acting out The Dragon's revenge. She'd been programmed to kill Bo and Hope. Luckily, Shane stopped Emma from shooting the couple. Bo and Hope were hurried out of the Church for their safety and taken to their hotel. But when they arrived, they were met by police. While sightseeing a day earlier, Bo and Hope had stolen a milk truck in order to get back home (they'd been very tired.) Also, before the wedding, Bo had stolen a constable's horse in order to get to the Church on time. Because of this, he was arrested. At the police station, Hope tried to get Bo released, but all she managed to do was to get herself arrested. Since there were many people talking at the same time, she picked up a gun and fired it into the ceiling. She and Bo spent their first night as husband and wife in jail. Fortunately, Theo Carver, an old friend of Bo's and Abe's brother, was able to get them released by disguising himself as a magistrate. However, the Dragon oddesy was not over. Once back in Salem, Emma tried to shoot Bo and Hope again, this time while listening to a music box that played "God Save the Queen." Realizing that the song was the trigger for Emma's post-hypnotic suggestion, they her deprogrammed. Meanwhile, The Dragon finally died while trying to kill Shane at his apartment.
When they returned to Salem, however, Bo clashed with a one-eyed hoodlum who frequented Shenanigans, Patch. Now Patch and Bo clearly shared a past and hated one another intensely. But when Hope questioned Bo about it, he clammed up. It was obviously painful for him and the memories of that past began to haunt him. Worried about Bo, Hope unsuccessfully tried to get information out of Patch. All that Hope knew was that it had to do with Bo's time as a merchant marine and that the secret was connected to Bo's knife tattoo. Meanwhile, Bo told Hope that their friend Danny Grant, who had moved to New York earlier that year, had been secretly murdered. They went to New York City to investigate into the matter and found that Danny had been involved in some shady drug business that was connected to Savannah Wilder, a record producer who had recently arrived in Salem. Once back in Salem, Hope and Bo worked with Abe, Theo, and the new police chief, Richard Cates, eventually finding that Savannah's company was merely a cover for a drug smuggling operation.
Meanwhile, Hope graduated from the police academy with high marks, and received Norma as her partner. Norma soon began working with Hope to investigate corruption in the police department in order to find the connection to Savannah. One night, Norma was shot on the docks. Before she died, she told Hope that Cates had shot her. Realizing that Cates was the one covering for Savannah, Hope hurried to tell Bo. The two of them tried to leave town but were followed by Cates in a high-speed chase, which ended when Cates ran Bo & Hope's car off the road. Hope ended up tumbling down a ravine. Before Cates could get to her, she was picked up by a young monk from a nearby monastery. At the monastery, Hope recovered from her injuries with Brother Francis' help. She eventually told him about her situation and begged him to let her hide out at the monastery until she figured out a way to bring Cates to justice. She and Francis finally decided to send a note to Alice telling her where she was. Meanwhile, Brother Francis, who had grown attracted to Hope, kissed her. Francis was immediately troubled by this, but Hope gently told him that he wouldn't have to worry about this once she left. Soon after this, the note finally got to Bo. However, Cates also found out the contents of the note and reached the monastery first. There, he found Hope. Just as he was ready to shoot her, Brother Francis jumped in the way and saved Hope's life. At that moment, Bo arrived. Although he lost Cates, he and Hope were finally together again. Soon after this, Cates was killed by Abe.
However, the mastermind of the operation was yet to be revealed, although Shane Donovan, who had been doing some investigating of his own, had a hunch that it was
Victor Kiriakis, a new citizen of Salem. Teaming up with Shane, Bo and Hope traveled to Miami to look for a certain treasure that Victor was seeking -- part of a puzzling mystery referred to as the three P's, the Purse, the Power, and the Pawn. With four clues to the treasure (the Purse), Bo and Hope roamed around Miami looking for it, beginning at Miami's Orange Bowl. Though they didn't find anything at the Bowl, they did take time out to play a hysterical game of football (Hope won.) Shortly after this, Hope was kidnapped by Patch, who was working with Savannah. He would only release her if Bo handed over the clues to the treasure. While being held hostage, Hope was tormented by Patch. He tied her to a chair and supposedly rigged a pan of acid over her head so that it would spill on her as soon as Bo opened the door. Imagine her shock when Bo came in and all that came down was water.
Despite this horrifying experience, Hope was determined to find the treasure. She and Bo managed to sneak into Victor's estate and found a book of codes (the Power) that Shane was looking for. They also found a map to the treasure, which was underwater in the bay. They successfully brought the treasure chest up from the bottom of the sea. But when they surfaced, they were met by Savannah and Patch holding them at gunpoint from Victor's yacht. Savannah and Patch forced Bo & Hope to give them the treasure and held them captive. But while Savannah was busy conducting a major drug deal on the deck, Bo managed to untie himself and got into a brawl with Patch. Meanwhile, Shane and Chris Kositchek raided the yacht and all hell broke loose. In the madness that ensued, someone opened the treasure chest. But the treasure was a trap - a time bomb that would explode in 5 seconds. In the nick of time, Bo and Hope jumped into the sea while the yacht blew up. Savannah, Patch, and Victore were arrested after the smoke cleared. Following this, Bo and Hope broke into Victor's estate once again to search for the real book of codes (the other one had been a fake.) Instead, they discovered some film in a garbage can. When they developed the film, they found a photo of the last and most important piece of the puzzle -- The Pawn.
Meanwhile, the secret of Bo's past with Patch continued to haunt Hope. Desperate, she sought Patch for answers once again. And once again, all she got was more intrigued. Finally, Bo decided to confide in Hope. It turned out that Bo and Patch had been friends in the Merchant Marines, but they had gotten in a fight when Bo found Patch in bed with his girlfriend, Britta. What tormented Bo most of all was the fact that he had put Patch's eye out. Although Hope was grateful to finally know this information, she still couldn't resist delving deeper into Bo's past with Patch, and especially his past with Britta. She decided to go to Howie for help. While waiting in Howie's office, a client came in. Hope took on the case, which was to capture a magician thief named the Amazing Klipton, and succeeded. She enjoyed working on the case so much that she asked Howie to let her become his partner. After much convincing he accepted and Hope quit the police force to become a P.I. Once partners, Hope told Howie that their first assignment would be to investigate the mysterious Britta. Meanwhile, Bo and Hope topped the year off by buying a new home, a rustic loft on the riverfront.
The character of Hope Brady has been played by the following:Kristina Osterhaut (1974)Kimberly Joy Weber (1974-1975)Natasha Ryan (1975-1980)Tammy Taylor (1981-1982)Kristian Alfonso (1983-1987; 1990; 1994-present)
